JAMAICA — Nearly 100 religious sisters and brothers from across the globe, but now serving in the Diocese of Brooklyn, gathered Jan. 31 at St. John’s University’s St. Thomas More Church to celebrate the annual World Day for Consecrated Life. 

Pope St. John Paul II instituted the annual observance of the World Day for Consecrated Life in 1997, to be held on or near Feb. 2, coinciding with the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. The event at St. John’s adhered to the annual observance’s intended purpose of encouraging vocations among sisters, brothers, and religious priests who serve God’s people through their vows. 

Therefore, the assembled congregation renewed their vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert Brennan. 

“I’ve come to know a good number of you,” he said. “I know what you do and where you do it, and how you live it. You embrace the Beatitudes with your consecration, rejecting the world’s possessions, pleasure, power, and popularity in favor of poverty, chastity, and obedience.” 

Among the nations represented were China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Korea, Nigeria, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the United States.  

Although they represented different cultures, languages, and ministries, the attendees all had the same mission — living the Gospel as servants of the universal Church. 

Bishop Brennan reflected on the Beatitudes conveyed by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12). The Savior then proclaimed a radical solidarity with the poor and suffering. 

Bishop Brennan said that true happiness — contrary to worldly expectations — is found in poverty, mourning, meekness, and persecution, all of which formed the characters of the women and men seated before him.  

He urged them to keep internalizing the values of the Beatitudes each day.  

“You know better than anyone that this isn’t a one-time commitment, but a daily call,” he said. “As you do just that, you are for all of us, all the Church, living witnesses to the truth and riches of the Gospel.” 

The event was moderated by Sister Maryann Seton Lopiccolo, episcopal delegate for religious in the Diocese of Brooklyn. 

She praised the assembly for braving icy road conditions to celebrate consecrated life and to help renew their passions for their various ministries in parishes and charitable organizations throughout the diocese. 

The attendees’ habits were white, black, brown, grey, or Marian blue, while others wore secular attire. But they did not cluster in their own groups. 

At Sister Maryann’s direction, they freely mingled with joy and laughter, enjoying renewed acquaintances and making new friends. 

A discussion with the theme “Serving Those Who Are Poor” was presented by the leadership team of the food ministry, St. John’s Bread and Life — Sister Caroline Tweedy, the executive director, and Sister Marie Sorenson, the associate director. 

They described how the ministry started in 1982 at St. John the Baptist Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant. It now operates emergency food programs serving about 1.5 million New Yorkers each year. Last year, its digital food pantry distributed more than 5.5 million pounds of food, Sister Caroline said. 

The ministry has responded to major humanitarian calamities, including the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001; Superstorm Sandy in 2012; the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020; and the recent influx of immigrants to New York City.  

Sister Caroline said the ministry has managed to avoid significant debt despite its growth. She said the team is inspired each day by the Gospel stories of how Jesus fed more than 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. 

“If you have faith, and you have courage, and you have strength, there will always be enough,” Sister Caroline said. “God blesses what is insufficient, but in giving and in trusting, we always know there will be enough.” 

Sisters expressed the liturgy of the Mass in their Spanish, Ghanian, Chinese, Korean, English, and Hindi languages. Cultural gifts were brought by sisters from Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Indonesia.