Welcome to the Brooklyn Oratory
What is the Brooklyn Oratory?
The Congregation of the Oratory is a group of priests and lay brothers living a common life without vows. The Oratorian vocation is unique in the Church where most priests are either secular (diocesan) priests, or Religious priests (e.g. Franciscans or Jesuits), who normally live in community, and are bound by vows.
An Oratorian lives in his own community and cannot be moved around from one house to another. Unless he leaves the Oratory, or makes a new foundation, he will spend his entire life as a priest or brother living in the same place.
The Oratory was founded by St Philip Neri in Rome in 1575. He sent many of his followers to join religious orders, but never himself felt called to it. Instead, he founded an institute where the bond between members is not a formal canonical vow, but rather a bond of charity. The ideal of St Philip, after which the members of the Oratory strive, is one of community life and service lived in a spirit of prayer, and where obedience is offered out of fraternal love, and not any external compulsion.
The Oratorian vocation allows for a degree of flexibility in pastoral work, provided that it is not incompatible with the demands of the duties of the Congregation. In the brooklyn Oratory, our primary work is providing pastoral care for the parishes of St. Boniface (Downtown Brooklyn) and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Brooklyn Heights) and the many college students in these two neighborhoods. In addition, some of the members have and continue to work at several different Catholic high schools and colleges in New York City. Internationally, Oratorians are involved in ministries as diverse as school, hospital, prison and university chaplaincies, teaching, and work in Rome, as well as the more traditional parish ministries.
Each Oratorian house is fully independent and autonomous. However, since 1944, there has been a loose Confederation of Oratories, whose main purposes are to provide a central point of contact for Oratorians with the Holy See in Rome and the oversight of new houses seeking to become independent Oratorian Congregations.Meet the Oratorians
Fr. Anthony D. Andreassi, C.O. (Provost)
Born in Yonkers, Fr. Anthony did his undergraduate studies at The Catholic University of America and trained for the priesthood at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie. He later earned a doctorate in history at Georgetown University with a concentration in American Catholicism. He joined the Oratory in 2004 and was ordained in 2007. In addition to his work in the Oratory parishes, he serves as the principal of Regis High School (www.regis.org) where he has taught for the last 15 years. Father Anthony has written articles and book reviews for both “America” and “Commonweal” magazines and in 2014 published with Fordham University Press, “Teach Me to Be Generous: The First Century of Regis High School in New York City.” In addition to history, Father Anthony enjoys film and running.
Father Dennis M. Corrado, C.O.
Father Dennis Michael Murphy Corrado, co-founder of the Brooklyn Oratory is a native New Yorker. Having entered the seminary training system at an early age, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Brooklyn after studies at St Bonaventure in Olean, NY. Prior to his assignment to the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn in 1978, Father Dennis served for three years at Good Shepherd Parish in Flatbush followed by work at the Diocesan Offices of Education and Communications. Further graduate studies included attending Fordham University, the University of Denver and the University of Southern California. He taught film history while studying film and aesthetics at USC’s Cinema department. His twelve-year tenure at St. James saw the development of a flourishing community celebrated by the New York Times as a model for the revival of urban Catholic communities. Working closely with the late Father James Hinchey, they sought and received Pontifical recognition for the establishment of the first Oratory in the New York metropolitan area. This change to the Oratorian vocation included departure from incardination in the Brooklyn Diocese. While at St. James, the fledgling Oratorians supervised the restoration of the Cathedral buildings while also being able to have it named a Minor Basilica by the Holy See. In 1990 Father Dennis and four confreres relocated the Oratory to St. Boniface Church during the massive redevelopment of the Downtown Metrotech Campus. Again, the community restored the church buildings and a moribund faith community. He organized and is currently the president of The Breukelein Institute (www.breukelein.org), which specializes in fundraising and grants for needy local groups. For over 20 years, in addition to participating in the pastoral life of the Oratory parish community, he formulated The Oratory Mission Ministries preaching week-long retreats in 26 States and three foreign countries.
Brother James Simon, C.O.
Born in Kingston, PA, Br. James completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Penn State University. A member of the Brooklyn Oratory since 1990, Br. James is the Director of Development for the Congregation for which he coordinates the Newman and Seminarian Scholarship Funds. He is a founding Board member of the Breukelein Institute and continues to serve as a Director. His current ministry is with Dominican Academy in New York where he is the Fiscal Officer and Director for Advancement.
Fr. Mark Lane, C.O.
A native of Australia, Fr. Mark was ordained for the Archdiocese of Sydney in 1983 and later obtained a Pontifical License in Sacred Theology in 1994. He served as a parochial vicar in several parishes in Sydney before moving to the U.S. to join the Brooklyn Oratory in 1990. He served as parochial vicar at St. Boniface from 1991-2000 and then as pastor from 2001- 2011. He is co-founder and board member of the Friends of Turkana (www.friendsofturkana.org). After working as campus minister at Regis High School for five years, in 2019 Father Mark again took on pastoral leadership of St Boniface.
Father Michael Callaghan, C.O.
A New Jersey native, born in Passaic, Fr. Michael spent a good bit of his childhood moving around the country with his family. When they settled in Maryland, he attended Dulaney Senior High School in Baltimore County (yes, he was a “public”!) He graduated from Loyola University in Maryland with a BA as a double major in political science and philosophy, in a pre-law program track. He continued his education in graduate studies at Marquette University in Philosophy. Milwaukee was too cold so Fr. Michael went to work in medical sales in northern Virginia where he became involved in his local parish and discerned a vocation to the priesthood. Fr. Michael did his seminary studies at Catholic University and St. Mary’s Seminary and University completing his S.T.B and Master of Divinity. He was ordained on the Feast of St. Philip Neri, May 26, 1990, which led him to come to know and love Philip and his Oratory model of faith and community. In 1991, Fr. Michael met the Provost of the Brooklyn Oratory and a friendship began with the house that culminated in his joining the Congregation in 2005. In 2013 he completed a Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) through the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.
Fr. Michael has served in a variety of ministries over the years including parishes, ministry with the deaf, hospice chaplaincy, housing, and education. He is currently parochial vicar for the Oratory Parishes in Brooklyn and teaches religion at the Cornelia Connelly Center, a Holy Child sponsored school in the Lower East Side. He serves as an Almoner for the Havens Relief Society and is the Managing Director for Project Haiti, supporting the development of education and catechesis through the parish of St. Francis Xavier in Desarmes Haiti. The project is completing a pre-K through high school campus supported by solar power and provides food and other resources to over four hundred children each year. He enjoys travel, reading history and biography and cooking.
Father Mark Paul Amatrucola, C.O.
A lifelong Brooklynite, Fr. Mark Paul holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Spanish (Bucknell University), and masters degrees in Computing and Education (Teachers College – Columbia University), Catholic School Leadership (Fordham University) and Systematic Theology (St. John’s University). He completed graduate seminary studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum) in Rome, Italy – and was ordained a transitional deacon on June 30, 2019. After a brief career in public accounting, he joined the faculty of St. Edmund Prep (www.stedmundprep.org) in 2000, where he currently serves as Technology Director, while also leading retreats and other ministries/outreach endeavors. Shortly after his ordination in January of 2020, Fr Mark Paul began working as a chaplain at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. A Scout for many years, Fr. Mark Paul enjoys spending time in the outdoors as a member of the BSA. He is one of two children of Miriam and the late Joseph Amatrucola. His identical twin brother, Joe, is also a teacher/administrator at Regis High School in NYC.