I wanted to thank those of you who came out to pray and support our Catholic War Veterans and ladies Auxiliary on Memorial Day. It was great to see so many people come out and parade around our neighborhood!

Next weekend is another great weekend here at the parish. I will be celebrating adult confirmation at the 5:00pm English and 12 noon Spanish. Every Pastor in the Diocese of Brooklyn is given a special indult (permission) to confer the sacrament of confirmation to those adults who have been preparing over the course of time. Please keep them in your prayer, as the Holy Spirit will fill then with the seven gift of the Holy Spirit.

Our annual Corpus Christi Procession will take place after the 6:00pm Mass on Sunday, June 23. I invite all the children of our parish, especially those who received their first Holy Communion, to lead the procession with their parents. I look forward to this event in the parish.

Finally, now that the news of Fr. Joey’s leaving us at the end of the month is out, allow me to clarify some misunderstanding that are out there. I have been somewhat quite about this out of respect to Fr, Joey after speaking with him about it. As I stated previously, I received a call from the Diocese stating that Fr. Joey’s application for Incardination was denied and that his last day in the parish was going to be June 30. Nothing else was said to me as to the reason why. Pastors are never given reasons why. It is a standard process that every priest and those priests who are applying for Incardination knows about. Incardination refers to a priest who is from another Diocese, applies for a period of time to another Diocese. Fr, Joey as we all know came from the Philippines and worked in another Diocese in the U.S.A. before coming to Brooklyn. Fr, joey has gone through this before. He knows well the process. A priest, who is not Incardinated into a Diocese, serves at the pleasure of the hosting Diocese. This pried of time that a non-Incardinated priest has in a particular Diocese can end at any time, either at the request of the hosting Diocese (Bishop of Brooklyn) or the Diocese where the priest come from (Philippines). The letter of appointment I received when Fr. Joey arrived 3 years ago was for a period of 1 year. He has been here 3 years! We were all blessed to have him! But the Diocese of Brooklyn after a specific time reviews a candidate’s application and makes a recommendation to the Bishop. This time around there were a number of priests being considered. Some were accepted and some were not. It’s just the way it is. Please, I ask you; do not try to speculate as to the reason or reasons why a candidate’s application is rejected. In addition, I have been hearing form many of our parishioners, that the Diocese has treated Fr. Joey in an “unjust” way and that because of the Diocese; he is “jobless” and “homeless.” This can’t be farther then the truth. I called the Diocese immediately when I heard this and they assured me this is not true. No Diocese will ever leave a priest in this situation. It is up to the priest to apply to another Diocese (as Fr. Joey has done before) or at the very least return to his original Diocese. I thank Fr. Joey for his wonderful ministry here at St. Sebastian. Let us continue to pray for him as he looks to the start of a new ministry in another Diocese. Fr. Joey requested that his farewell mass be at 3:30pm Tagalog Mass on Sunday June 30, Please come and wish him well!