BUSHWICK — Even as a boy, Father Carlos Velásquez knew he wanted to be a priest, but it was the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church that inspired his “early vocation.”
Now, Father Velásquez, pastor of St. Brigid Parish in Bushwick, is preparing to become the new director of liturgy for the Diocese of Brooklyn. His tenure will begin in January when he succeeds the current director, Father Alonzo Cox, pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Father Cox has been serving in that role on an interim basis at the request of Bishop Robert Brennan.
Father Velásquez’s appointment to the director of liturgy role results from a lifelong devotion to Roman Catholic worship and a passion to ensure its doctrinal integrity and spiritual beauty.
“The Church has always taught that the liturgy is where heaven and earth meet,” Father Velásquez said. “There’s something mysterious happening, but it’s not like we’re going to see God come down from the cloud and say ‘hello.’
“God is speaking to us within the celebration of the liturgy. And we are coming to him in liturgy to offer him worship, to adore him, and to be sanctified by him — nourished by his grace, which we receive in the sacraments.”
To make that happen each Sunday, a liturgy director is needed. That’s especially true in the Diocese of Brooklyn, where Mass is celebrated in some 30 languages throughout its nearly 200 parishes.
It’s a big job for any diocese, according to Bishop Brennan, who highlighted that the director also plans major diocesan events, such as ordinations and the Chrism Mass. Another important task for the director is overseeing the training for extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, lectors, and ushers.
“It’s a lot of detail,” Bishop Brennan said. “But that’s important, because what we are aiming for is a very reverent celebration of sacred liturgy.”
Such details have enthralled Father Velásquez since childhood. He recalled sitting at Mass with his mother in Sacred Heart on Adelphi Street, now part of Mary of Nazareth Church in Fort Greene, stirred by the aroma of incense, the sound of organ music and singing, and the images of the priest’s stunning vestments and elaborate gestures.
And yes, Father Velásquez was one of those future priests who, as kids, pretended to celebrate Mass at home on the living room coffee table. His family played along.
“My mom had these little raincoat ponchos in every color for the vestments,” he said. “Also, I would have a cracker and a glass of juice for the sacraments.
“And of course there was most definitely a collection taken up at that Mass!”
Still, as a child, he didn’t fully understand the mysteries of real liturgy.
“But I could, at the very least, understand that it was beautiful,” he said. “Later, I was able to understand how all those things were pointing me towards God. That’s what first made me start considering a vocation to the priesthood.”
He was ordained a priest in 2014, and around 2018, then-Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, knowing Father Velásquez’s passion for the liturgy, asked him to start training for the director’s post.
Since then, Father Velásquez has been pursuing a licentiate in sacramental theology, working both remotely and in person at Mundelein Seminary, located at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois.
At the start of the process, he was the pastor of St. Mary Gate of Heaven in Ozone Park, but was suddenly “bumped off the cycle” when his father, also named Carlos, died in June 2019.
Father Velásquez eventually got back on track and recently completed his thesis for the program.
When Bishop Brennan was installed in Brooklyn in late 2021, Father Cox was serving as the temporary director of liturgy to cover a vacancy, and Bishop Brennan asked him to stay on in an interim basis.
“I needed his help,” Bishop Brennan said. “And he’s been extremely generous in doing that, and quite capably. That turned into four years of service.”
But now that Father Velásquez has advanced in his academic work, “we’re ready for the changing of the guard,” Bishop Brennan said.
“It has been a great four years,” Father Cox said. “It has gone by very quickly.”
However, he is eager to have more time to focus on his other responsibilities.
He is the pastor of a parish comprising three churches (Our Lady of Victory, Holy Rosary, and St. Peter Claver), serves as the vicar for the Vicariate of Black Catholic Concerns, and works on the cause of canonization for Msgr. Bernard Quinn.
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“Celebration of the Eucharist is the source and summit of who we are as Catholics,” Father Cox said. “And celebrating the Mass, beautifully and well, is important for me. For priests, it is, for lack of a better word, a craft.
“I’m just glad that I was able to be a part of that on a diocesan level.”