A school visit by Bishop Robert Brennan served to reinforce his view that parents of students in the Diocese of Brooklyn deserve vouchers, tax credits, or some other type of state-funded support. That would give families a real choice in educating their children, he said.
U.S. bishops prayed that those affected by a series of tornadoes that tore through six midwestern and southern states over the weekend find “peace, comfort, and hope” in the Catholic faith as they grieve, rebuild and recover.
Thousands of Catholic school students will receive scholarships thanks to donors who attended the 2021 Bishop’s Christmas Luncheon, one of the biggest events of the holiday season in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Soon after Bishop of Brooklyn Robert Brennan took the pulpit at St. Thomas More Church on the campus of St. John’s University to deliver his homily Sunday night, the 200-plus congregants filled the circular nave with booming applause.
Bishop Brennan was officially installed as the Eighth Bishop of Brooklyn, succeeding Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who served the diocese for the past 18 years.
The right half of the shield in Bishop Robert Brennan’s coat of arms, the side personal to a bishop, contains a blue cross, gold lamb’s head, two red scallop shells, and a white star with seven points.
Since Bishop Robert Brennan is already a prelate, there will be no rituals for ordaining a new bishop on Nov. 30. Instead, the ceremony involves his installation as shepherd of his new flock — approximately 1.5 million Roman Catholics in nearly 200 Catholic parishes across the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
Bishop-designate Robert Brennan doesn’t view his arrival in the Diocese of Brooklyn in the midst of a time-sensitive global synod as a challenge, but rather as a “blessing,” because it’s an avenue to integrate himself into the diocese.
There isn’t a single day, or moment, that Bishop Robert Brennan considers to be his “calling” to the priesthood. Instead, he attributes that call to a number of smaller moments from his early Catholic life in the New York area.
After Bishop Robert Brennan of Columbus missed the annual Bishop’s Golf Classic reception recognizing a student who drew artwork for the event’s program, he paid her a visit at school to extend his congratulations.
