My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

At this time of year, Ordinations to the Priesthood certainly add to the excitement in the diocese. Each year, as Ordination occurs, we recognize new life for the Church of Brooklyn and Queens, new priestly ministers who will tend to the sacramental needs of the Church while fulfilling many other priestly responsibilities. This year, the diocese is fortunate to have three ordinandi. Two are natives of Poland, Daniel Rajski and Dariusz Strzelecki. They have studied at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Michigan, a place that prepares Polish-born candidates for the priesthood to serve in various dioceses in the country. Our other Ordinand, Rodnev Lapommeray, is a native-born Haitian-American who did his undergraduate studies at Yale University and is a graduate of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington. These three candidates reflect our national trend where many of the new Ordinandi are foreign-born and also represent racial minorities.
The situation in our diocese has changed over the past seven years. When I became bishop, we had 27 seminarians in formation for philosophy and theology. Today, we have 62 seminarians in formation. In the meantime, I have ordained 24 men to the priesthood. This is a hopeful sign for our Diocese in Brooklyn and Queens. Although there will never be enough priests to serve all of our needs, the increased number of candidates, as well as the ordinations, remind us that we must pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send many more laborers into the vineyard, while at the same time recognizing that the vineyard is not left unattended.
My own approach to vocation recruitment has been to work closely with our vocation directors, first, Father Kevin Sweeney and, now, Father Kevin Abels. Both of them have contributed to the increased number of men in formation by their apostolic zeal and hard work. Our own program for recruitment consists of personal contact with the candidate. This is normally done on the parish level. The cooperation of our parish priests is essential, since direct contact cannot always be made by a vocation office or by myself. In order to assist our parish priests, we have asked for the re-establishment of parish vocation committees to assist in identifying those young people who may have vocations to the priesthood or religious life, while at the same time praying for vocations and assisting the Vocation Office in the various tasks that bring vocations to the fore.
One of the main means of recruiting vocations has been Project Andrew, named after St. Andrew who was the first to introduce Peter to Jesus. There are many Andrews in our diocese who have brought young men to me as bishop and successor of the Apostles to be introduced to the need for priestly vocations. We also run Project Miryam which supports women discerning a religious vocation.
The various modalities in preparation for the priesthood form a wonderful continuum from the Cathedral Preparatory Seminary to the Douglaston College Seminary Residence of the Immaculate Conception for philosophy students and pre-theologans, to the Huntington Theologate of the Immaculate Conception where most of the candidates for the diocese study.
This coming September, we are happy to announce that the Cathedral Seminary Residence of the Immaculate Conception at Douglaston will now form not only the seminarians for the Diocese of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, but also those from the Archdiocese of New York. Most of these men attend St. John’s University. There are also other dioceses that are joining us this year in Douglaston, and, hopefully, the purpose for which Douglaston was built will return to a house of formation for college-level students studying philosophy in preparation for theological studies.
Msgr. Robert Thelen will continue as rector, and will be assisted by Father Luis Saldana of the Archdiocese of New York as vice rector, as well as three spiritual directors – Father Fred Morano, rector of the high-school level Cathedral Preparatory Seminary; Father Joseph Fonti, Secretary for Pastoral Support; and also Father Joseph Kelly, from the Archdiocese of New York. Father Marc Swartvagher will serve as academic dean and continue on the faculty, which is supplemented by other adjunct faculty members. Father Brian Barr, from the Diocese of Rockville Centre, will serve as dean of Students. The program of priestly formation in Douglaston has the advantage of being in the same building with the Bishop Mugavero Residence for retired priests. I recently told our seminarians that they had 42 grandfathers watching over them. Many of our senior priests do assist the seminarians with tutorials when necessary.
As we put out into the deep of searching for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, we must recognize the Lord’s command to lower the nets again and never to be discouraged. The work of recruitment for vocations really is the Lord’s work and we are instruments in His hands. Join me in praying for our newly ordained in our diocese and all over our country, that they may be an inspiration to others to join the work of the Church in bringing the presence of Christ to the world.