{"id":256324,"date":"2026-06-05T13:07:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256324\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T13:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:07:46","slug":"diocese-of-brooklyn-welcomes-new-deans-incardinated-priests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256324\/","title":{"rendered":"Diocese of Brooklyn Welcomes New Deans, Incardinated\u00a0Priests"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"New deans in the Diocese of Brooklyn posed with Bishop Robert Brennan after their installation on June 3. They are (from left) listed with their deanery (Q-Queens, B-Brooklyn): Father Thomas Pettei, Q6; Father Ikenna Okagbue, B7; Father Paul Anel, B3; Father Brian Dowd, B9; and Father Frank Shannon, Q10. (Photo: Bill Miller)<\/p>\n

DOUGLASTON \u2014 The Diocese of Brooklyn on June 3 installed longtime pastors to lead five deaneries<\/a> and incardinated three priests who were already serving local parishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bishop Robert Brennan conducted the dual rites of dean installations and incardination following a Eucharistic Holy Hour at the chapel of the Immaculate Conception Center<\/a> (ICC) in Douglaston.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bishop Robert Brennan leads a Eucharistic Holy Hour at the chapel of the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston, before the installation of five new deans and the incardination of three priests. Father Carlos Vel\u00e1squez (right), director of liturgy for the diocese, helped facilitate the rituals. Also participating were Msgr. Joseph Grimaldi, vicar general for the diocese, and Father Peter Purpura, its chancellor. (Photo: Bill Miller)<\/p>\n

The ceremony was held prior to the June 2026 Pastors Meeting, also held at the ICC.<\/p>\n

Under Canon Law, a bishop\u00a0organizes\u00a0neighboring parishes into regions called \u201cdeaneries.\u201d The bishop also appoints a senior priest, or \u201cdean\u201d, to be his liaison to the deanery with administrative and pastoral support.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrothers,\u201d Bishop Brennan said to conclude the ceremonies, \u201cwelcome aboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bishop Robert Brennan Restructures Diocese of Brooklyn Leadership<\/a><\/p>\n

Applause ensued from\u00a0the attendees, many of them\u00a0diocesan priests\u00a0who came for the\u00a0pastors\u2019 meeting.<\/p>\n

The installation of deans usually takes place during a solemn Mass, but this time, Bishop Brennan chose a Holy Hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done it in different ways at different times,\u201d Bishop Brennan said. \u201cBasically, what you want to do is something along the lines of a gathering of the people who are going to be collaborating most.
\u201cIn this case,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the pastors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The newly incardinated priests are (from left) Father Johnson Chanassery, parochial vicar for St. Joan of Arc Parish in Jackson Heights; Father Cesar Pe\u00f1a, parochial vicar for St. Bartholomew Parish in Elmhurst; Father Franklin Ezeorah, parochial vicar for St. Martin de Porres Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant. (Photo: Bill Miller)<\/p>\n

There are 22 deaneries in the diocese, evenly split,\u00a0with 11 each in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.<\/p>\n

The deans who were installed on June 3, and their deaneries (Q for Queens, B for Brooklyn, with identifying numbers) are:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Thomas Pettei\u00a0<\/a>(Q6), pastor of\u00a0Resurrection Ascension-Our Lady of the Angelus\u00a0Parish\u00a0in\u00a0Middle\u00a0Village.\u00a0He\u00a0has\u00a0served\u00a0numerous\u00a0parishes in the diocese, including St. Matthias\u00a0in\u00a0Ridgewood\u00a0and Holy Cross\u00a0in\u00a0Maspeth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Frank Shannon<\/a>\u00a0(Q10),\u00a0pastor of\u00a0St. Mary Star of the Sea and St. Gertrude, Far Rockaway.\u00a0He previously was pastor\u00a0of Blessed Sacrament\u00a0Parish in Cypress Hills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Paul Anel<\/a>\u00a0(B3), pastor\u00a0of\u00a0St. Paul and St. Agnes\u00a0in\u00a0Cobble Hill.\u00a0He is from France, but he has also served in\u00a0St. Edward\u2019s Parish in Fort Greene (since\u00a0closed), Divine Mercy Parish in Williamsburg, and the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in\u00a0Downtown Brooklyn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Brian Dowd<\/a>\u00a0(B9), St. Patrick Parish\u00a0in\u00a0Bay Ridge.\u00a0He is also the\u00a0pastor of Queen of Angels Parish in Sunnyside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Incardinated priests are clergy who were originally ordained in other dioceses\u00a0or a religious order but were\u00a0subsequently\u00a0called to assignments in another diocese.
Under incardination, the bishop of their original diocese releases them from his\u00a0jurisdiction, and the bishop of the receiving diocese agrees to accept them.\u00a0
The newly incardinated priests are:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Cesar Pe\u00f1a<\/a>,\u00a0from Colombia,\u00a0parochial vicar\u00a0for\u00a0St. Bartholomew Parish in Elmhurst. He has also served similar roles at St. Joseph in Astoria and Blessed Sacrament in Jackson Heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Johnson\u00a0Chanassery<\/a>, parochial vicar\u00a0for\u00a0St. Joan of Arc Parish in Jackson Heights. Born in India, he has also served as parochial vicar for St. Leo Parish in Corona.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Franklin Ezeorah<\/a>, who came from Nigeria, is the parochial vicar for St. Martin de Porres Parish, Bedford-Stuyvesant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bishop Brennan noted that the diocese\u00a0conducts\u00a0pastor meetings\u00a0three or four times during\u00a0\u201cthe rhythm of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always begin with\u00a0prayer,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd\u00a0we always begin with the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Hour,\u00a0so here\u00a0was an opportunity to do the installation of deans, and to welcome the newly\u00a0incardinated priests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it this way because we have already gathered in prayer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Five diocesan priests participate in the rite of installation to become new deans for the Diocese of Brooklyn. (Photo: Bill Miller)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New deans in the Diocese of Brooklyn posed with Bishop Robert Brennan after their installation on June 3.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-256324","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\/256324","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=256324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}