{"id":219370,"date":"2026-05-04T15:59:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219370\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:59:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:59:44","slug":"eighth-graders-in-diocese-of-brooklyn-attend-graduation-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219370\/","title":{"rendered":"Eighth Graders in Diocese of Brooklyn Attend Graduation Mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

PROSPECT HEIGHTS \u2014 Eighth graders graduating from Catholic schools or academies in the Diocese of Brooklyn\u00a0received final\u00a0reminders\u00a0of God\u2019s love\u00a0from their shepherd, Bishop Robert Brennan.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bishop Robert Brennan extends best wishes to middle schoolers from throughout the diocese at the diocese\u2019s Eighth Grade Graduation Mass on May 1 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph. (Photos: Bill Miller)<\/p>\n

His\u00a0message\u00a0came at this year\u2019s first graduation Mass\u00a0for eighth\u00a0graders\u00a0on May 1\u00a0at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph.\u00a0Several hundred students from 32 schools \u2014 joined by teachers, chaperones, administrators, and parish pastors \u2014 attended the\u00a0Mass. A similar congregation was expected on May 8 at the Co-Cathedral, but with 35 schools.<\/p>\n

The 2025-2026 school year was the third year\u00a0in\u00a0which\u00a0two Masses were scheduled to accommodate the more than 1,000 students\u00a0who are\u00a0destined for high school after completing their elementary-school journeys at Catholic schools in the diocese.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Catholic School Students in the Diocese of Brooklyn Find Peace, Mystery at Lenten Eucharistic Rally<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Isabella Guidice from St. Margaret Catholic Academy in Middle Village said the Mass inspired faith.<\/p>\n

Isabella Guidice from\u00a0St. Margaret Catholic Academy in Middle Village\u00a0said the Mass inspired faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps us to learn more about God and connect with our faith on a higher level,\u201d said Isabella, who will attend Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be sad to leave your class, but also a very exciting experience to get to go and meet new people and continue to grow with your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeshua Garcia of St. Brigid Catholic Academy in Bushwick said the Mass was a wonderful send-off to secondary education. His destination is Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary in Elmhurst.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels really good to know that I\u2019ve gone all this way and now we\u2019re going to high school,\u201d Yeshua said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0also\u00a0kind of scary\u00a0leaving my school. But going to a different school, learning different stuff, with different classmates \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0going to be exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Brennan delivered\u00a0a\u00a0lesson during his homily.<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0he\u00a0reminded\u00a0students that\u00a0God keeps his promises, but that does not guarantee that they\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0experience sadness or suffering in their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d Bishop Brennan added, \u201cwhat he does promise us is friendship with Jesus Christ. He promises that Jesus will always be with us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll never be alone. And he promises us that with Jesus, we will live forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Brennan\u2019s second point was a reminder of how much the students are loved.<\/p>\n

\"\"Yeshua Garcia of St. Brigid Catholic Academy in Bushwick said the Mass was a wonderful send-off to secondary education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that you leave here knowing that you are\u00a0loved beyond belief,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll\u00a0say it\u00a0over\u00a0and over\u00a0again:\u00a0You are loved by God.\u00a0You are\u00a0loved\u00a0by\u00a0your own families.\u00a0You\u2019re\u00a0loved by the people in your school, and\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0loved by your bishop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Bishop Brennan urged the\u00a0grads\u00a0to stay connected with\u00a0the faith.\u00a0A great way\u00a0to do that, he said,\u00a0is\u00a0through\u00a0programs offered at Catholic high schools.<\/p>\n

But,\u00a0he noted,\u00a0all students, including those headed for public schools, can\u00a0participate\u00a0in the vibrant youth programs at\u00a0local parishes. He referred them to a\u00a0QR code that links users to the organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some amazing youth programs,\u201d Bishop Brennan said. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0always amazed when we have\u00a0youth\u00a0days;\u00a0hundreds, even\u00a0thousands of\u00a0young people\u00a0attend.\u00a0I say it all the time,\u00a0God is doing amazing things here in Brooklyn and Queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd God\u2019s doing amazing things with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Bishop Robert Brennan referred eighth graders to a QR code that links users to the many vibrant youth programs in the diocese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PROSPECT HEIGHTS \u2014 Eighth graders graduating from Catholic schools or academies in the Diocese of Brooklyn\u00a0received final\u00a0reminders\u00a0of God\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-219370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}