10/05/2026
Brothers at the Shore: Pastor's Week 2026
Oct 5, 2026 · Kinda
A Shepherd Also Needs to Be Shepherded
From October 5 to 8, 2026, the pastors of the Archdiocese of New York gather at The Breakers in Spring Lake, New Jersey, for Pastor's Week. For four days, the men who carry the daily weight of parishes set down their keys, their budgets and their phones to pray, learn and rest together beside the Atlantic.
The week opens on the memorial of St. Faustina, apostle of Divine Mercy, and of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, a tireless parish priest and confessor. It is a fitting doorway. Before a priest can be a channel of mercy for his people, he must first receive it himself.
The program is simple and rich: Lauds and Vespers each day, Mass celebrated together at St. Margaret's Church, conferences, a panel, time for confession, shared meals, and the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the hotel for the whole of the stay. Christ is not a guest who visits the gathering; He is the host who keeps it.
A Message from the Road to Santiago
Archbishop Ronald Hicks is not in Spring Lake this week. He is walking the final 100 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago, and he sent his brother priests a message from the road.
He explained how the pilgrimage began. Cardinal Dolan had shared with him that one of his deepest regrets was never walking the Camino, and urged him: "Do it, and do it now." Moved by those words and, as he wrote, guided by the Holy Spirit, the Archbishop set out.
He assured the pastors that he is with them in spirit and in prayer, carrying each of them and their intentions in his heart. He called these gatherings essential for our ministry and our common mission, and gave the reason for his own retreat in a single line: "You cannot give what you do not have." He is taking this time, he said, to be renewed so that he can return ready to serve alongside his priests.
He closed with gratitude for each priest, with the hope of knowing one another more deeply and working together, and with a request: pray for me, as I pray for you along the way. In that request, the whole meaning of the week is gathered. A pilgrim archbishop and pastors on retreat are walking different roads, but toward the same renewal and in the same communion.
His message also echoes Cardinal Dolan's gesture. One shepherd shared a regret so that another could take a step in time. That is priestly brotherhood in action: passing on wisdom so that a brother may live his vocation more fully.
Priestly Brotherhood: Not a Luxury, but a Grace
A priest is ordained into a presbyterate, not into solitude. The Second Vatican Council teaches that priests are bound together in an intimate sacramental brotherhood (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 😎. Fraternity is therefore not a pleasant extra to the priesthood; it belongs to its very nature.
Yet parish life can quietly isolate a pastor. He is surrounded by people all day and may still have no one with whom to share his own burdens. Weeks like this one break that isolation: the social hour after Vespers, the table in the dining room, the walk along the boardwalk become places where priests can say honestly how they are doing.
The gathering also shows the face of today's presbyterate in New York. Pastors born in the city sit beside priests from Latin America, Asia and Africa, among them Fidei Donum missionaries lent by their home dioceses. This diversity is not a problem to manage but a sign of the universal Church. Each brings a different experience of faith, and each enriches the others.
The Wednesday conferences of Fr. Michael Bruno of the Diocese of Brooklyn place this brotherhood at the heart of the week, under the theme of being consecrated for fraternity and mission. The two belong together: priests who support one another are sent out stronger, and a mission shared is a burden halved.
Renewing Spiritual Knowledge for a Fruitful Ministry
Ordination is not the end of formation; it is the beginning of a new stage of it. St. John Paul II reminded priests that ongoing formation is a requirement of the priestly ministry itself, so that the gift received at ordination may be rekindled (Pastores Dabo Vobis, 70; cf. 2 Tim 1:6). A pastor who stops learning will soon find himself answering questions his people are no longer asking.
The program of Pastor's Week responds directly to this need:
• The Word of God. On Tuesday, Fr. Bill Cleary offers a Scripture presentation. Preaching that touches hearts flows from a preacher who has first let the Word touch his own.
• The prayer of the Church. Fr. Matthew Ernest presents the new Breviary. The Liturgy of the Hours is the daily voice of the priest praying for and with his people, and knowing it well helps him pray it more deeply and teach it to others.
• The signs of the times. A panel of three pastors, Fr. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, OP, Fr. Jonah Teller, OP, and Fr. Daniel Ray, LC, discusses the resurgence of young people at Mass, in OCIA and in young adult groups. Where young people are returning, pastors need to understand why, and how to welcome them.
• The life of the archdiocese. On Thursday, the new leaders for clergy, vocations, the permanent diaconate, the tribunal and priest personnel present their work. Knowing the structures that support priests helps each pastor serve within a coordinated mission.
Pope Francis often urged pastors to have the smell of the sheep. Ongoing formation makes sure that the shepherd also knows where the pastures are today. Theology, liturgy and pastoral practice keep developing, and the faithful deserve priests who grow with them.
Knowledge Rooted in Prayer
Updating knowledge is not the same as accumulating information. For a priest, true learning always returns to the altar. That is why the intellectual sessions of the week are woven into a rhythm of prayer: Lauds in the morning, Mass at midday, Vespers in the evening, and Compline before rest.
Fr. Bruno's three conferences follow this movement: Consecrated to the Priestly Heart of Christ, Consecrated for Fraternity and Mission, and Renewing our Consecration in the Eucharist. They fall on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a reminder that Mary keeps watch over her sons the priests.
On that same afternoon, confessions are available. A priest who hears confessions every week also needs to kneel and receive mercy himself. Here the circle closes with the opening day: from St. Faustina's message of Divine Mercy to the sacrament of mercy offered among brothers.
Returning to the Parish Renewed
The true fruit of Pastor's Week will not be measured in Spring Lake but in our parishes: in homilies better nourished by Scripture, in liturgy celebrated with more care, in a warmer welcome for the young people knocking at our doors, and in priests who know they are not alone.
Our parishioners have a part in this too. When they see their pastor leave for a few days of prayer and formation, they should know he is not stepping away from them. He is going to the well so that he can come back with water for them. Please pray for your priests this week, and for all who serve in the Archdiocese of New York.
Like the apostles who returned from their mission and heard Jesus say, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while" (Mk 6:31), the pastors gather this week to be with the Lord and with one another. Then, renewed in brotherhood and in knowledge, they will go back out to the people entrusted to them.
