{"id":248579,"date":"2026-05-30T05:20:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/248579\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T05:20:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:20:06","slug":"young-catholic-professionals-diocese-of-brooklyn-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/248579\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Catholic Professionals: Diocese of Brooklyn Chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\"\"Kiana Carrington of Mill Basin, Brooklyn is the chapter president of YCP Brooklyn. She was educated in the Diocese of Brooklyn\u2019s schools and now works as an event strategist. (Photos: Bill Miller)<\/p>\n

GOWANUS \u2014\u00a0More than 400\u00a0working\u00a0professionals\u00a0from\u00a0the Diocese of Brooklyn\u00a0turned out\u00a0on\u00a0May 28 to launch the\u00a0newest chapter of Young Catholic Professionals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

YCP Brooklyn<\/a>\u00a0is the 45th\u00a0chapter of the national organization that helps\u00a0Catholic\u00a0workers\u00a0in their 20s and 30s\u00a0grow closer to their faith as\u00a0they\u00a0endure the joys and struggles of their respective careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bishop Robert Brennan\u00a0offered a prayer and blessing for the\u00a0young professionals from Brooklyn and Queens,\u00a0plus at least one from Long Island,\u00a0at the venue called 501 Union, a short stroll from the\u00a0Gowanus Canal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u00a0was a multicultural event, with Catholics\u00a0representing\u00a0various ethnicities\u00a0and\u00a0both\u00a0white-collar\u00a0and\u00a0blue-collar professions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ismenia Ginebra\u00a0of New Hyde Park, New York,\u00a0is a Catholic career\u00a0coach\u00a0who helps\u00a0women in their mid 20s navigate\u00a0job moves. She\u00a0said\u00a0there is no YCP chapter on Long Island, so\u00a0joining the Brooklyn chapter was a great fit for her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means so much to be part of the beginning of a new chapter here,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0been to the Manhattan chapter a few times, and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0been so nice to be part of something\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0already\u00a0established.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ginebra noted that\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0something\u00a0\u201cspecial\u201d\u00a0about being a part of a new community.
\u201cTo see that the faith is so alive here in this part of the city is just\u00a0a\u00a0testament to how much work God\u2019s\u00a0going to do\u00a0here,\u201d\u00a0she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peter Blute,\u00a0executive director of\u00a0YCP, which is based in Dallas,\u00a0attended the launch party to welcome the new members. He described how the group\u2019s founder,\u00a0Jennifer Baugh,\u00a0had a career, but in 2010,\u00a0she felt God was calling her\u00a0to create YCP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u00a0quit her full-time job and embarked\u00a0on this unbelievable journey,\u201d Blute said.\u00a0\u201cBack then,\u00a0she had no idea that this would eventually spread to 45 cities across the country, literally from coast to coast.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Young Adults Fueling Accelerated Growth at NYU\u2019s Catholic Center<\/a><\/p>\n

YCP has chapters in\u00a0large cities like\u00a0Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, and Los Angeles.\u00a0They all host networking events, happy hour get-togethers, mentorship programs, and conferences\u00a0with\u00a0guest speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Bishop Robert Brennan joins 400 working folks from the Diocese of Brooklyn on May 28 to launch the newest chapter of Young Catholic Professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYCP continues to get better and better,\u201d Blute said, \u201cand it\u2019s much better now that Brooklyn and Queens are part of the family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steven Mezzacappa, the\u00a0northeast regional chapter manager of\u00a0YCP\u00a0in\u00a0Manhattan,\u00a0said the group\u2019s aim is\u00a0to inspire\u00a0\u201cmodern-day saints\u201d\u00a0by equipping\u00a0members to\u00a0integrate\u00a0faith into\u00a0their\u00a0professional and personal lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir faith isn\u2019t just for the weekends, it\u2019s not for home, it\u2019s in every area of your life, especially at work,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s all about bringing together people of like-minded values and building community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mezzacappa\u00a0said\u00a0members explore\u00a0hard topics,\u00a0such as\u00a0virtuous leadership\u00a0in\u00a0secular\u00a0workplaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a journey that you embark on alone,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a journey that you embark on in fellowship and in community with other people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kiana Carrington\u00a0of Mill Basin,\u00a0a\u00a0chapter president,\u00a0joined\u00a0the\u00a0launch team\u00a0three years ago. She is\u00a0an event\u00a0strategist\u00a0who, as a child, attended\u00a0Holy Cross Catholic School in<\/p>\n

Flatbush,\u00a0Midwood Catholic Academy in Marine Park, and Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School in Windsor Terrace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carrington\u00a0said YCP has a missionary\u00a0aspect\u00a0because it inspires Catholics to rekindle their faith, while drawing others\u00a0to join the Church.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0wouldn\u2019t think of myself as an evangelist,\u201d she said,\u00a0\u201cbut\u00a0this is exactly what the mission\u00a0is\u00a0\u2014\u00a0bringing people back into the\u00a0Church and\u00a0also\u00a0serving as\u00a0a funnel into other ministries throughout the diocese.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Through Social Media and Social Outings, Young Catholics Are Flocking to Mass<\/a><\/p>\n

Bishop Brennan told the audience how their chapter\u2019s launch was a\u00a0\u201cdream come true\u201d\u00a0because efforts to form the group were in their opening stages when he was installed in late 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he already had experience with YCP,\u00a0having supported its Columbus, Ohio chapter during his time as bishop there.\u00a0He said that\u00a0chapter\u00a0members reached out to him soon after he arrived and\u00a0helped him learn\u00a0about the people and\u00a0geography of the Diocese of Columbus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey became a network of great support, enthusiasm, and excitement,\u201d Bishop Brennan said. \u201cSo, when there was some chatter about possibly starting\u00a0a\u00a0YCP chapter here, I was all in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bishop also\u00a0helped arrange start-up funding\u00a0by\u00a0enlisting\u00a0the\u00a0Catholic Foundation of Brooklyn and Queens\u00a0and its executive director,\u00a0John Notaro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI dreamed about this day,\u201d Bishop Brennan told the chapter\u2019s charter members,\u00a0\u201cand you\u2019ve exceeded my greatest hopes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiana Carrington of Mill Basin, Brooklyn is the chapter president of YCP Brooklyn. She was educated in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-248579","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\/248579","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=248579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}