Bishop Brennan returned to Huntington | Tech Reddy

Huntington, NY — Bishop Robert Brennan returned to Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, NY on November 6.

Bishop Brennan accepted the Medal of Excellence during a vespers service in the seminary chapel, followed by the annual Te Deum dinner.

Priests and religious sisters from the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Center attended the event, including Auxiliary Bishops James Massa, Witold Mrozewski and Octavio Cisneros, retired.

Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Center, now retired, established the Medal of Excellence in 2014 to honor senior priests. Ordained a priest in 1989, Bishop Brennan served as Bishop Murphy’s secretary before becoming Auxiliary Bishop of Rockville Center in 2012 and Bishop of Columbus, Ohio in 2019.

When Pope Francis announced that Bishop Brennan would become Brooklyn’s eighth bishop, Msgr. The seminary’s rector, Stephen Camp, saw an opportunity to honor him with a medal.

“It became a very logical thing,” Msgr. Camp said after dinner. “I thought it was the right way to welcome him back to the New York area. It was kind of a wish come true because I was looking for a bishop that I could get to know, and Bishop Brennan is a very good man with a great reputation.”

Msgr. Camp, pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Huntington, has known Bishop Brennan for 35 years. He listed Bishop Brennan’s accomplishments, from parish pastor to secretary to three bishops, and later to vicar general and moderator of the Curia for the diocese. According to Camp, Bishop Brennan has distinguished himself as a mentor to priests.

“Bishop Brennan has an honesty about him,” Msgr. – said the camp. “He is a priest’s priest. So she really understands guys. He works with guys. He talks to guys and hangs out with them.

“He establishes himself as someone who works with everyone on the field.”

Msgr. Camp noted that when Bishop Brennan was installed in Brooklyn a year ago, he visited 100 parishes, schools and deaneries and brought “a certain zeal and vitality.”

During the ceremony, Bishop Brennan credited the seminary, its faculty, its colleagues and the priests of both dioceses for inspiring his pastoral ministry.

“Even now, as a new generation is formed, you continue to inspire me, and more than you know,” he said. “We still talk about the tremendous faculties, the people who shaped us, who shaped us – very brilliant minds, but also very pastoral people.”

The seminary now operates as a retreat center, but Bishop Brennan continues to bring people there for spiritual deepening and renewal. He held his first bishop’s retreat for high school students last March. At the end of September, he held a meeting of priests at the seminary.

“This is a place where we can deepen our friendships and deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said.