WINDSOR TERRACE — The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Generations of Faith fundraising campaign has been likened to a vine whose branches keep reaching out and touching the lives of many fortunate recipients.

Among those whose lives will be made better are Passionists priests and brothers living in the Immaculate Conception Monastery in Jamaica Estates. The Passionists will receive nearly $200,000 from Generations of Faith to provide healthcare for its elderly and infirmed priests and brothers.

Father William Murphy, C.P., a Passionists priest and the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church (located next door to the monastery) said the donation is extraordinary. 

He praised Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio for his decision to include the Passionists among the recipients of funding. 

“It is very, very thoughtful of him. We are deeply touched by his generosity,” he said.

There are 32 Passionists priests living in the monastery, 14 of whom are either elderly or who have additional healthcare needs.

Officially called the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the Passionists is a religious order of priests founded by St. Paul of the Cross in Italy during the 18th Century. Its mission is to connect to the suffering of Jesus Christ during his Passion, and through that connection help people who are suffering in the world today.

Generations of Faith is a capital fundraising campaign launched in 2015 by the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens with a goal of raising $80 million to repair and renovate church buildings, draw more people to the Catholic faith through youth evangelization, and provide housing and health care for senior priests.

“Generations of Faith will leave a legacy of great commitment to further the ministry of Christ at our parishes and the tradition of our Catholic faith for future generations,” Bishop DiMarzio wrote in The Tablet in 2017.

The Passionists priests are receiving the funds from Generations of Faith at a time when the order is making plans to advance its mission in the future. In February, the religious order held a symbolic groundbreaking to mark the reconstruction and renaming of its Bishop Molloy Retreat House.

The three-story building will be called Thomas Berry Place after Father Thomas Berry, C.P., a Passionists scholar who lived in the monastery in the 1960s and taught at Fordham University.

“Our goal is to re-envision the retreat house and to do more to serve the crucified of today,” Father Murphy said.