Photo: Courtesy of RENEW INTERNATIONAL.

November is known as the month of coming together with family and friends to break bread and give thanks. It provides the opportunity to pause and remember all that we are grateful for. For the youth of Brooklyn and Queens, November also brought along Virtual Fall Youth Day.

The first Virtual Brooklyn Queens Catholic Youth Day (BQCYD) took place in May 2020 amidst the pandemic NYC is all too familiar with. It was such a success the young adults who created it for the youth decided to hold a Fall one. Lucia Morales, the Catholic Youth Ministry Specialist, created a committee of youth ministers from Brooklyn and Queens to help this new tradition stay alive. The committee consisted of Brandon Morel, youth minister at St. Michael-St. Malachy (Brooklyn), Lauren Gentry, youth minister at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Queens), Joseph Fortunat, youth minister at St. John Vianney (Queens), German Medina, youth minister at St. Laurence-Holy Family (Brooklyn), & Angelica Taveras, youth minister at St. Laurence (Queens.)

While contemplating on themes for the Fall 2020 BCQYD, the committee looked at the current state of not only the city but the world. It seemed there were lots of division within the political world, the health world, and even amongst Catholics. The committee turned to prayer and scripture as they sought guidance and came across John 17:11 “That they may be one just as we are.” The committee decided to focus on unity and oneness for the teens. They enlisted Fr. Joseph Espaillat as the keynote speaker, Si7 for worship and music, Fr. James Kuroly to bring adoration to all watching. To help run the show, Brandon and Lauren from the committee were the co-hosts. The remaining committee members controlled the YouTube Chat, making sure to engage teens through YouTube and answer any questions they may have throughout the event.

All the young adults involved in the Youth Event have an already packed schedule, filled with schoolwork, family, parenthood, ministry, and of course, their own spiritual lives. Yet, despite the challenges, time constraints, busy schedules, they each said yes to the calling God placed in front of them in order to ensure the teens of Brooklyn and Queens were not left alone as NYC faced yet another potential lock-down.

As we prepare for Advent and the birth of our Savior, may we keep in mind our mission of bringing Jesus to those around us the same way these young adults did.

Read The Tablet coverage here.

Photo on the right: Jacob Bentzinger, Unsplash.

In past years we had our Annual Advent Reflection that was held in person. The small event of 100 people per session, would consist of an evening prayer often led by one of our auxiliary Bishops, a presentation, a dinner, and then a repeat for a second group. This always “sold out” quickly. This event drew catechetical leaders, teachers, catechists, and even diocesan employees. Dinner was a great way to share a meal, socialize with others that we knew or just met. There was no “work” involved, it was a way to bring the participants a moment of reflection and fellowship. If the Covid-19 pandemic had not sent us all into social distancing, restrictions on the number of those gathering, and mask-wearing, we would have had our Advent Reflection as normal, but these are not normal times.

Being led by the Vicar for the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis, the Very Rev. Joseph Gibino called us all to re-think, re-imagine, and re-shape the Advent Reflection. We started with keeping the previously planned date of December 1, 2020. While the youths of our diocese can make videos, conference, and stitch together videos into something seamless, this was a challenge for us. We wanted something that would attract young adults, older adults, and people of various languages.

We started with the things we could do and decided on the languages we wanted to blend into this event. English, Spanish, Creole, Polish, and Chinese are the languages that were chosen. The locations for shooting the various parts were chosen and we were on our way.
The celebrant for the Mass will be Very Rev. Joseph Gibino.

Photo below: James Coleman, Unsplash.

We are blessed to have the homilies given by Deacon Chris Wagner (English), Deacon Jorge Gonzalez (Spanish), Deacon Emmanuel Coty (Creole), Deacon Andrzej Lewandowski (Polish), and Deacon Stanley Tam (Chinese).

The presentations will be given by Sr. Maryann Seton Lopiccolo (English), Ana Taveras (Spanish), Fr. Hugues Berrette (Creole), Fr. Janusz Dymek (Polish) and Fr. Vincentius Do (Chinese).
The Holy Hour celebrant will be Rev. Elias Gil and we will pray an international rosary reciting the decades in the same languages of English, Spanish, Creole, Polish and Chinese offered for the homilies.

The event is pre-recorded, and we pray that it will have a memorable effect on all those that see it. We look forward to events in the future that we will work towards making them live-stream in multiple languages as well.

The video will be posted on our YouTube Channel: Sec Evangelization Catechesis on December 1, 2020, at 4:00 PM. We would love to hear your thoughts. Remember to subscribe and post your comments.

Photo by Scott Umstattd on Unsplash

By: Department of Adult Faith Formation, Diocese of Brooklyn

Silence is a word that we often find contrary to our society. It is perhaps no longer something that we would define as doing as much as being. How do we accomplish this in a world that is so technologically “noisy”? We are bombarded by texts, social media notifications, and emails at the very least. Yet during this new era of social distancing, a group of parishioners was moved to have a virtual retreat mostly filled with silence. They began the day with a song and followed that with a talk based on the passage of Jesus walking on water from Matthew’s gospel (Mt 14:22-33).

At the beginning of the scriptural text, we know that Jesus “went up into the hills to pray” alone. This is in fact what a retreat does for us – it draws us away from the cares of this world and into the silence of being alone with God. It is an opportunity to be rejuvenated in our relationship with Christ so that we can listen to him speak to each one of us in a still small voice.

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

In his book on The Power of Silence, Cardinal Sarah reminds us that “In silence, not in the turmoil and noise, God enters into the innermost depths of our being.” (pg. 59) Indeed, how necessary it is for us to spend time with the Lord recollected in silent prayer. The parishioners from Blessed Sacrament Parish in Queens set apart an entire day to accompany one another, support one another and be in prayerful silence together. The pandemic has made some individuals feel confused, depressed, unable to pray, feeling distracted in prayer or simply not feeling anything at all. For others, it has given birth to the creativity in using social media and meeting platforms to reach out to one another. For these parishioners this retreat was born out of the sheer necessity to have an encounter with Christ, to renew the calling for each one of us to love and serve the Lord, and to discern how one can grow in intimacy with Christ.

St. Theresa of Calcutta once said that the “fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace.” Thus, everything stems forth from being silent and spending time with God. As we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in this month of August, let us remember her example to each of us, she who “ponder(ed) all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51).  May we, through her intercession, continue on our spiritual journey with an increased desire to accompany Jesus ‘up into the hills’ in prayer.

“Flatten the curve,” three words that became the norm for each of us to hear during these unprecedented times. For us in the Secretariat of Evangelization & Catechesis, it meant “hit the ground running.” Maintaining a real presence in the midst of a pandemic was an opportunity and a challenge, and posed innumerable questions:  What does this mean for our ministry? Where do we go from here? How do we continue to evangelize? How does one run a Zoom meeting after being only a participant? We found ourselves meeting as a staff every week as well as meeting with our catechetical leaders on a weekly basis to offer resources and assistance where needed. We often heard the phrase; “we are all in this together” and these words echoed throughout our universal Church. We were not simply in an isolated situation rather we shared in solidarity with all of humanity as we navigate through this turbulent storm of Covid-19. Yet, in all the uncertainty one thing was certain that is faith. “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). We could no longer meet “in person” yet this did not prevent us from meeting virtually and going forth like the Israelites crossing the Dead Sea into the unknown.

Microsoft Teams, Go-to-Meeting, and Zoom became platforms that we used to connect with others, to offer faith formation, guidance for catechesis, and moments of prayer. We have learned that many in our parishes began to do the same: virtual rosaries, Lectio Divina, RCIA and so much more. This pandemic has taught us that we can and must continue to reach out to one another. The year 2020 will not be forgotten in history and we are a part of that history. A year in which all Catholics had to give up the “source and summit of the Christian life” namely, the Eucharist, and the sacraments during lent and for longer than that. Watching the daily Mass offered by Pope Francis, Eucharistic Adoration and other forms of prayer became the new normal for many. But it also became an opportunity to worship together as a family, not rushing out of the “church” at the end of Mass, taking the time to sit with the Word of God and like Our Blessed Mother, to ponder the words in our hearts. For some who participate in the Holy Spirit Institute Volunteer Track in Spanish, the opportunity to complete their last course and seminar was life-giving. It not only gave them an opportunity to gather virtually but also enabled them to go deeper in their relationship with God and with one another. As more than one student remarked, “I look forward to the meeting so that I can be in community with others.” Another shared how the formation he had received and the pandemic gave him “new eyes” to see the needs of others and as an essential worker to not turn a “blind eye”, rather help strangers he never would have thought of helping before.

Throughout these several months, I have been a witness to the gratitude and generosity of others. Those catechetical leaders who were grateful for a call, an email, or just knowing that someone was present in case they had a need. In being that witness, I want to reiterate to you even in this time of enforced solitude the interconnectedness of our parish, our ministries, and indeed, our Catholic community through prayer. “In these difficult times, may He allow us to discover the communion that binds us and the unity which is always greater than any division” (Pope Francis, Homily 4/14/2020).

In the midst of the global coronavirus crisis, the Office of Marriage, Family Formation, and Respect Life Education have consistently sought to protect the health, safety, and overall well-being of our Pre-Cana engaged couples and host couples. With so much uncertainty about the impact and scope of COVID-19, the office made both short- and long-term decisions that are believed to be in the best interest of the Pre-Cana program and the broader community. Since March 2020, All in-person Pre-Cana classes have been canceled.

In order for engaged couples to have their Pre-Cana class and meet the diocesan requirement, the office has developed an online and on-demand Pre-Cana experience. It’s a major change, as the marriage preparation for Catholics has always been done in person. In this new experience, couples will have the same content and material as a live Pre-Cana class.  The topics introduced in the online Pre-Cana include Communication and Problem-Solving Skills, Self-Awareness, Morality in Marriage, Living the Sacrament of Matrimony, Intimacy and Sexuality, Natural Family Planning, and Wedding Liturgy Planning. Once the couple finishes the course, they receive a Certificate of Completion that they can download, print, and email it to the clergyman who is preparing them for the sacrament.

This new online platform was a blessing to Patricia Gianatiempo & Salvatore Musso. They both intended on getting married in June and were worried about how they would finish their marriage preparation before their wedding. Patricia told the office that, “we were relieved to have that option to be able to do it online.” “We are better prepared because [pre-cana] shed more light on how important it is to commit to one another,” Salvatore told us that, “We learned that staying true to one another is going to be most helpful in our marriage.”

The office believes that this new online platform will be very beneficial now during these uncertain times. But it will be an option moving forward into the future.

Couples have also taken advantage of the Pre-Marriage Inventory provided by FOCCUS. The Inventory is designed to help engaged couples appreciate their unique relationship, learn more about themselves, and discuss topics important to their lifelong marriage. Taking the inventory results in a personalized Couple Report that helps target discussion topics important to marital success. While FOCCUS is not a test and is not used to label couples or predict marital outcomes, the report is used by clergy and lay leaders to help couples celebrate their relationship strengths and talk to each other about topics warranting further attention. “After taking the inventory, we believe that we are ready to walk down the aisle. We are more open with our feelings and have better communication skills”, said Lindsey Gossan. With videoconferencing platforms, couples and facilitators have been able to meet safely to discuss the results of their inventory.