FOUR VICARIATE MASSES JULY 20

                                                  TO LAUNCH 150^TH ANNIVERSARY

            A year-long series of events leading up to the observance of the 150^th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Brooklyn in July, 2003, will begin this month with the celebration of Masses in the four vicariates of the Diocese.

            In announcing plans for the sesquicentennial commemoration in a July 1 letter to parishes, Bishop Thomas V. Daily said the opening liturgies will be offered Saturday afternoon, July 20, each with a bishop as the principal concelebrant and homilist.

            Bishop Daily will celebrate the Mass for the Brooklyn West Vicariate at St. James Cathedral Basilica in downtown Brooklyn at 5 p.m. The Mass for the Brooklyn East Vicariate will be offered by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan at St. Mark’s Church, Sheepshead Bay, at 5 p.m.

            In Queens, the Queens North Vicariate Mass will be celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Rene A. Valero at St. Michael’s Church, Flushing, at 5:15 p.m., while in the Queens South Vicariate, Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius A. Catanello will offer Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Queens Village, at 5 p.m.

            Bishop Daily has asked clergy to attend the Masses, accompanied by lay and Religious members of their parishes.

            In his letter, Bishop Daily said the sesquicentennial will close Saturday, July 26, 2003, at a 2 p.m. Mass in Alumni Hall of St. John’s University in Jamaica.

Next Spring, a commemorative book on the history and life of the Diocese will be produced by Editions du Signe, a French publishing house that has prepared similar volumes for more than 20 U.S. dioceses.

Bishop Daily has named Father Peter I. Vaccari, a member of the faculty of the Immaculate Conception Seminary, Huntington, L.I., to coordinate the preparation of the editorial content of the book. Parishes, institutions and agencies of the Diocese are being asked to provide historical material for inclusion in the book by Oct. 1.

The sesquicentennial theme will also be marked at the diocesan pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington scheduled for Oct. 12 and at a convocation of priests Oct. 21-25 to be held at a Legionaries of Christ facility in Thornwood, N.Y. 

Planning is underway for a series of lectures and exhibits on aspects of diocesan life and for the minting of a commemorative medal to members of the Diocese who have “manifested a unique dedication to the service of our local parishes,” Bishop Daily said.

The history of the Brooklyn Diocese dates to July 29, 1853---until then part of the Archdiocese of New York---when Pope Pius IX erected the four counties of Long Island as a distinct diocese with its episcopal See in Brooklyn. On the same day he named Very Rev. John Loughlin, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of New York, as its first Ordinary.

With the growth of the Catholic population on Long Island, the Brooklyn Diocese was divided by Pope Pius XII on April 6, 1957, when he established the Diocese of Rockville Centre, covering Nassau and Suffolk Counties.