In his 96 years of life, Msgr. William Rodgers could boast of numerous noteworthy achievements. He mastered multiple languages and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at St. John’s University. But even more importantly, he was known as the first black priest ordained in the Diocese of Brooklyn — a distinction that made him proud. But he was humble about it.
Bishop Robert Brennan (above) celebrated the 11:30 a.m. Mass at St. Peter Claver Church, Bedford-Stuyvesant, on Sunday, February 27.
From humble beginnings in the parlors of dedicated laypeople, the diocese’s outreach to Black Catholics has become one of the largest and most vibrant ethnic ministries in the United States.
The year was 1917. America had just entered World War I. It was also a somber time in church history — black Catholics were not welcomed to worship within the same space as their white Catholic brothers and sisters.
The turmoil on the streets in cities across the U.S. in reaction to the killing of George Floyd, an African-American man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis is reminding many older Americans of the unrest that took place at the height of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
On the evening of June 18, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio will be presiding at a vespers in the chapel of Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston, during which he will accept the findings of the diocesan investigation for the cause of the canonization of Msgr. Bernard John Quinn, who felt more comfortable when he was called “Father.”
For the third year in a row, St. Peter Claver Church, a worship site of St. Martin de Porres parish, Bedford-Stuyvesant, hosted its blessing of the animals service in the church parking lot.
Father Pablo Sans, who lives at Our Lady of the Cenacle rectory in Richmond Hill, marked his 65th year as a priest on March 15.
A Filipino Fiesta with Little Jesus; St. Francis Catholic Singles; The Sisterhood of Catholic Women and Adolescents; The Sisters in Faith of St. Athanasius, Bensonhurst; Feast Day of St. John Bosco Bensonhurst Youth Cluster Style; Angelic Service
Msgr. William J. Rodgers, the first black man ordained for and in the Diocese of Brooklyn, died Jan. 21 at Queen of Peace Residence, Queens Village, where he had been living and serving as chaplain. He was 95.
