When Father Kevin Sweeney became the bishop of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, in 2020, he bid farewell to the Diocese of Brooklyn after serving 20 years as a priest here. The transition did not mean, however, that he stopped looking to his longtime home for ideas and inspiration in his own diocese.
When Dennis Morales, longtime member of St. Michael’s Church, died in 2012, his wife Linda was desperate to do something in his memory. The NYPD captain had grown up a few blocks away from the parish, and it was there that Linda went to confide with then-pastor Father Kevin Sweeney.
Sean Conaboy, the St. Michael’s Church parishioner who tackled a suspect who was stabbing a woman at the Union Square station two months ago, received a medal from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio at the Diocese of Brooklyn chancery on July 20.
Bishop Kevin Sweeney smiles when he remembers his reaction to the phone call he received in March of 2020 from a Vatican official, calling to say Pope Francis was naming him the new bishop of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey.
Sean Conaboy is convinced he wasn’t acting alone when he jumped onto a man who was stabbing a woman on a Union Square subway station platform on May 19 – God was with him.
