718-634-4000

Breezy Priest Appointed Pastor In Dyker Heights



Share this:

Rockaway and Breezy Point’s Blessed Trinity Parish will say farewell to its parochial vicar, Father Jeremy Canna, in the coming months, as the 36-year-old priest heads to Dyker Heights to become a pastor.

“I have been appointed pastor of St. Bernadette’s,” Father Canna announced last Sunday to thunderous applause during mass at St. Thomas More Church. “Some of you probably already know this because I know how fast news spreads in this community,” he joked.

Father Jeremy Canna. Photo: Diocese of Brooklyn.

Father Canna’s new assignment to St. Bernadette’s marks his first pastorship since his ordination to the priesthood in June 2014. This new assignment is also a return to his roots.

Born in Marine Park, Canna grew up attending mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Flatlands with his parents and younger siblings. A true Brooklynite, Canna attended Good Shepherd School for kindergarten, St. Agnes Seminary for grammar school, and the Genesis Program at Xaverian High School for middle school.

It wasn’t until high school that Canna headed for Queens, where he attended Cathedral Prep Seminary in Elmhurst. It was here Canna realized his vocation to the priesthood, encouraging him to go study at Cathedral Seminary Residence in Douglaston, Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, and St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers in the years that followed.

But Canna’s journey to the priesthood wasn’t so straightforward. After earning a bachelor’s degree with a double major in psychology and philosophy from St. John’s University and master’s degrees in theology and divinity from Immaculate Conception Seminary, Canna left the seminary in 2008 to study mental health counseling at Fordham University. Soon after, Canna felt God’s call once again and returned to the seminary to complete his studies.

Once ordained a transitional deacon, Deacon Canna served the parish of Our Lady of Mercy in Forest Hills. After his ordination to the priesthood in 2014, the now Father Canna served his pastoral year at the nearby parish of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. In the years after, Father Canna served as the parochial vicar of Our Lady of the Snows in Floral Park until June 2020 when he was finally assigned to Blessed Trinity Parish.

Father Canna celebrating the wedding of Chris Brown and Sabrina Kennedy at St. Thomas More Church in 2021. Photo by John Schilling.

Stuck in Queens for most of his priesthood, Father Canna will now return to Brooklyn, his home borough, to be a pastor and lead a parish on his own. This, however, will be no easy task, warned Father Michael Gelfant, the pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish who Father Canna has worked with for the last three years.

“It’s a privilege to have been with you as a brother priest,” Father Gelfant told Father Canna during mass last Sunday. “I will offer you some words of wisdom along the way if you want them.”

“But the most important thing is, now as a pastor, you’re going to need a lot of this,” added Father Gelfant, who held up a mini whiskey bottle and presented it to Father Canna. “You’re going to need this Black Label to go to sleep at night.”

Father Canna laughed and expressed his excitement for the new assignment, adding that he will always remember the many weddings, first communions, May crownings, and other great memories from his time at Blessed Trinity Parish.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *