Latest / Beyond The Beacon / 6: Fr. Frank O'Grady on tearful meeting with President Biden in Ireland

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6: Fr. Frank O'Grady on tearful meeting with President Biden in Ireland · Beyond The Beacon

0:09
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson.
0:13
SPEAKER_03: I'm Jay Agnis, Communications Director for the Diocese and editor of the Beacon newspaper.
0:19
SPEAKER_03: With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
0:21
SPEAKER_03: Bishop, how are you?
0:21
SPEAKER_03: I'm good, Jay.
0:22
SPEAKER_03: Happy Easter.
0:23
SPEAKER_03: How are you doing?
0:24
SPEAKER_03: I'm doing well.
0:25
SPEAKER_03: It's good to be back.
0:26
SPEAKER_03: Hope you're well rested.
0:28
SPEAKER_03: Got some rested.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: Well, good.
0:33
SPEAKER_03: We have a really exciting uh episode ahead of us here.
0:36
SPEAKER_03: We're going to talk to Father Franco Grady.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: Can you please open it up for days now?
0:44
SPEAKER_01: In the second week we need to uh we sell for interface in the looks of action, we also look for the cell phone to be free to print the classic coming in the holiday period.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: Alan is the wheel, mother of the church, free for the church.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: Amen of the father understand of the period.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
1:29
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
1:29
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I've been looking at the for this episode all the week.
1:32
SPEAKER_03: We're going to interview Father Frank O'Grady over the phone.
1:36
SPEAKER_03: Father Frank is a retired priest of the Diocese of Patterson who made international headlines last week because of a surprise meeting with President Joe Biden at the Knox Shrine in Ireland where he's a chaplain.
1:47
SPEAKER_03: Father Frank, of course, was the priest who administered last rights to Bo Biden nearly eight years ago before he succumbed to brain cancer at age 46.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: The president was visiting the shrine last week when he learned that Father Frank, who he hadn't seen in nearly eight years of work there.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: The internet action was described in the media as a tearful meeting in which Biden cried.
2:09
SPEAKER_03: Father Frank described it as a delightful ten minutes with the president, whom he said he had not seen since uh his son died, adding that the president invited him to the Oval Office following their trip.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: So let's go ahead and uh give Father Frank before um to kind of maybe preface uh visit um can we say some Father Frank when uh when we had talked about uh after the headline scheme in terms of um Father Grady's interaction with the president and I thought we great uh uh opportunity uh for us in the park has to interview police and I see getting that attention and uh and then full disclosure I I say I thought again we wanted to speak up um our president and some mean that be happy that we would highlight him or maybe even some that we mentioned his name and uh and and his things and public policy and president uh Catholic um but he stands and politicians and life are something that we would um many of disappointed in first reader with uh and and many of us I think would be disappointed in first reader with some of our bishops in terms of how we interact with Catholic politicians and um I do someone say um I I do understand and um but I think I think when we're gonna speak with follow up really um here's interaction is a priest with a family that somebody and um headed into action with the present members of the family um and we have to be careful uh in terms of judging we have to be provided.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: We still are free.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Um I think sorry, we really cannot be street or bringing it to the polar case, but I think it's gonna be held in our case.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: So you can speak with following, but I think it will be important to kind of set up the tone.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
5:01
SPEAKER_03: Okay, well further Frank, thanks so much for joining us on the on the panel podcast.
5:06
SPEAKER_03: We're so excited to speak with you about the encounter with the president last week and and some of your history working in our diocese here and and at the Pentagon on 9-11.
5:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh so many interesting things that you've experienced in your life.
5:20
SPEAKER_03: We want to want to learn more about it.
5:21
SPEAKER_03: So can we start with the encounter with President Biden last week?
5:25
SPEAKER_03: Can you kind of set it up a little for us?
5:28
SPEAKER_03: Where were you uh that that morning?
5:30
SPEAKER_03: And and and I understand you you were even c thinking about not going working at the shrine that day.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Well actually, um I was uh I walked over, I was going to go to Sligo that day because everything here was shut down.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, the shrine was shut down.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: But I had the evening mass at 7 30, so I decided um against it.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: And but I walked over to St.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Mary's hotel, which is across the street from you know the Operation Chapel in Loc, and we wanted to get a glimpse of the president going from the Basilica to the Operation Chapel.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: And anyhow, word reached him that uh I was in Noc.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: He hadn't known that because I hadn't talked to him for in eight years.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: It's been eight years since his son died.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: And um so the request then came in, you know, from Father Richard to come over.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: So one of the he called his secretary when that day I didn't have my phone with me.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: I know to bring my phone, but I didn't bring it that day.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: And he called his secretary, who happened to be standing almost next to me, and she says, Um, the president wants to see you.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: So when Father Giddness mentioned that I was here, the president says, I I I I gotta meet him, I gotta meet him, you know.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: So then um the secretary um we walked down to the the the small gate at the bottom of right outside where the confessional chapel is, and one of the high White House staff um walked with me up to the you know, the Operation Chapel because obviously I I didn't have security clearance.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Because it takes about probably about seven or eight working days to get security clearance.
7:06
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, okay.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: I had brought up to Father Father um Richard uh Ken, Father Gibbons, you know, their um Monday or Tuesday of last last week that um why don't we open this up to so the staff could see the president and he said, Well, the embassy kind of controls everything, and it was a private visit, and as such, uh the it was private.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: Nobody was allowed into nobody was allowed to be in the ground.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh except secret service agents.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: So then um I walked up to the operation chapel and the president had left the basilica and was wal and walked to the operation chapel.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: So he um he walked in s into wood and he we we met each other and he gave me a big hug.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: And his son Hunter was with him and he also gave me a big hug.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: And we talked for uh a few minutes, I'd say maybe ten minutes.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: Um and then um, you know, we we we talked about he he told me he was delighted to be in Ireland and all that.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Delighted with the reception he got, and um you know, I told him made a comment to him that he says, you know, you're a man of great faith because I know he's go he's a devout Catholic, he goes to Mass in Washington every Sunday, and um so he kinda n nodded his head and I said, You know, I know he gone through grief and grief sometimes can take a long time and um he kinda said his prayer had his uh faith had kept uh sustained them, kept him going as it were, you know, and um so chit chat a little bit like that, and then uh he says to me, you know, when you're in Washington, come and see me in the Oval Office.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: He gave me two coins, one was his own presidential coin, and the other was a coin commemorating his trip to to Ireland, and then he said, Let's have a a picture.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: So and we had a picture with his sister and hunter and himself and myself.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: And you know, he was um a bit emotional and but he's really uh very much a people president.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: He likes people, he likes to be around people, he likes to talk, you know.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: But um so i it's kind of like um uh you know, I think he looked kinda a little bit tired.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, this was like fourth day of an intensive visit to Ireland.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: He'd been busy all the time, you know.
9:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was the last day.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't prepared.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't prepared at all for it.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: I had a I didn't know what he wanted me for.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Nobody had spoken anything to me about what we were going to talk about.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: So we kind of kept it general, you know.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: Father O'Grady, Bishop Kevin here.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for uh being with us today and uh for sharing your experience.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh I think in the Beacon article and in another place uh and when we spoke earlier, you mentioned the experience of someone going to a shrine um for prayer, for a visit.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: Um I've had the privilege of being at NAC a number of times myself, even this past July.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: And um other Marian shrines um I think have similar experiences where um and many I think of our the people in our diocese have been on pilgrimages or are considering.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: Um can you talk maybe a little bit about your work in the shrine in general and then what maybe that you think the president might have experienced um in in in his visit there last week?
11:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I I mean um a lot of most people I think come to Narc to find peace and healing.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, you ask them like at the end of confession, why, you know, do they come here often and how did they like coming here when they say they love the peace.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Many of them come with a a lot of aches and problems in their hearts.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think the process of healing sometimes people do get flashbacks.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the in the president's case, I'm I think the the you know, the operation the the Operation Chapel and also the basilica and the mosaic that Father Gibbons went over with him, kind of brought him back to the trauma in his own life, of course, losing his wife and losing his son.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: And that's that bred the symptom of emotional involvement, you know.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people do that, come to knock for that reason, you know.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: It's quite amazing the number of people.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: Last year there were close to a million people that went through the the gates here.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Confessions are on here like ten five hours every day, uh ten thirty to uh three thirty in the afternoon, and and the priests that are on get two hours slots.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you will ask to do extra if there's a huge crowd, like last Sunday was Divine Mercy Sunday.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: There was a huge crowd.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: There's the confession, which is a big cost to get the pilgrimage to knock.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: They want to do confession, holy communion, and the rosary and that.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: But to um to to to to get that, you know, they like to come to confession and something about the I guess the Irishmen says they don't like to go many of them don't like to go to their own priests, you know.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: They like to come to knock and then they go like some it's about I'd say about half and half between the you know, face to face or behind the screen, and of course the priest wouldn't be known quite to to the min to majority of them, but um it's a it's a place of healing and a place of peace.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Very very pronounced for that.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we also of course do a huge amount of anointings.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh oh.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: People come in nearly even in the off season, like January, February, they come in after mass, ask them to be anointed.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: And every day the pilgrimages really kick into gear this coming weekend.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: And the anointings are done at at 2 30 before the three o'clock mass on Sundays, and then during the week they're done they're done within the mass every day.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: And it's always like three or four priests assigned for the anointing.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: And then counseling.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Many we find many of our confessional experiences involve counselling.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Um we do have a counseling agency here at NAC, and not around Saturday or Sunday.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, they do a lot of good good work, but people will bring up individual problems and if they're too much to solve in a 15-minute conversation, since we can't spend too much time with one pen in person if there's a line, we advise them to go to the counselor to call in and get an appointment at the counselor here.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: I'll go to a counselor in their own area.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: Many of them will come here because they they prefer to go to a strange place for counseling rather than.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a safe place, a safe place also, right?
14:31
SPEAKER_01: And a and a and a place of of prayer and and so that um ministry of healing in the sacrament, but also um those who provide counseling can provide another form of ministry and healing as well.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh just on that topic, um, as I we've had a couple of interactions.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: I know uh Mike Stealth come into the diocese um during the pandemic in 20 and um and you're moving on to back to Ireland.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, we were blessed with many priests here in our diocese from uh Ireland and from Poland and Colombia and many other places, and we're grateful for those priestly vocations.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: And also um uh many of our priests, uh obviously as asked and priests of majority serving in parish ministry, but some serve as hospital chaplains, and we also have some that are serving as military chaplains.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Maybe just to say a word about your experience as a as a military chaplain, and then also working um in Walter Reed in the in the in the military hospital and and and some of that experience of your priestly ministry in in in those ways Well in Walter Reed, we um I of course I was the only Catholic priest there.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Well because we're very very very short of Catholic priests, but we had a Franciscan brother who was an absolute gem.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: He's still there, brother David, Slater.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: And um we used to always um when patients come into the medical ICU ward, we anoint them straight away.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: If they're in the medical intensive care unit, they are on they can go anytime.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: So we anoint them because we were getting so many night calls, it's just it's becoming impossible to, you know, to do a day's work and then have to be called out at one o'clock in the morning kind of thing.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: So we used to always anoint them.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: So that if they if they were to pass during the night, the young called Protestant chaplain um, you know, could do could do commendation prayers with them.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: And that worked and that worked pretty good for us.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: But um it's it's amazing though, like, you know, they all want to uh talk to a chaplain because the hospital for many of them is their new home.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: And many of them, especially generals, um, lose their independence when they come to Walter Reed.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Just like any hospital.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: You know, they they're they it's decided when they get up in the morning, when they go to bed, what they eat, and and all of that, what tests they have to have, and all of that.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's a big a big uh shock for many of them.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: And they so um and especially generalists who've been who had so much responsibility, you know, having to to come to a place where they're taught totally dependent on on everyone.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: A lot of the work is was visiting patient.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: We used to visit patients every day in the medical ICU work.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: But not just Catholic, if you're the only priest assigned, you had to take care of the Protestant folks as well.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: And the Muslims and any the any religion.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: And if they wanted a Protestant chaplain and a Muslim chaplain, well then that's where you'd you'd get away to talk to the pastoral care office and you'd pass on their name and they would get a visit from and maybe sometimes even an outside chaplain coming in.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: Although that's extremely difficult now with the security.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: But we you know, if we don't work as a team in in the military with folks of other faiths, we can't we can't we can't.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Definitely uh you can uh even listening to you, the the need for teamwork is uh and it's an opportunity, I guess, for uh uh uh some ecumenical and interfaith uh collaboration, right?
17:56
SPEAKER_01: I know Jay has a couple of questions that uh he wanted to ask.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: I want to be respectful of your time, but uh go ahead, Jay.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
18:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Father Frank, I just I I have to ask you.
18:05
SPEAKER_03: I mean, in in recent days, uh obviously um I'm sure you've seen the headlines.
18:09
SPEAKER_03: Um many lawmakers are have been criticizing the Biden administration after um the well the contract with the Franciscan friar to provide the Catholic pastoral services there for nearly two decades was not renewed.
18:23
SPEAKER_03: What are your what are your thoughts about that?
18:24
SPEAKER_03: Um I mean you were there for 12 years.
18:26
SPEAKER_03: Uh obviously that's gonna be a big loss.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: Or what's going on there?
18:29
SPEAKER_03: What do you what are you thinking there?
18:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, the president, the president, like you know, with all due respects, he's got so many layers of power underneath them.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: And um I I'm not sure that there was a directive given not to renew the the Catholic contract.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh there was no directive from the president, I'm sure.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: Um the the layers of power are are always trying to save dollars.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Any way they can cut staff and save dollars by doing it, you know.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: And it's quite conceivable that the president might not have known at the time that was happening.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: We don't have the ins and outs of it, but uh, you know, the contract of course was up.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't that they cut it, you know, it it had it had to be renewed as term has um expired.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, but the tragedy was of course that they they went and r cut it like Holy Week and they didn't exp uh extend it.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: And the other thing, of course, is too that the um the senior chaplain in in Walter Reed, the pastor chaplain had just gotten there.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: And he's not obviously he's not Catholic, but he was asked by Archbishop Raleigh about about it, and he said he he doesn't get into contract issues, but um I my first reaction was he could have done more.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: He could have called him up and just explained the need for Catholic coverage and Catholic priests, you know.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: Do you think that they may be able to get something worked out?
19:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, in actual fact, I got an email yesterday that um you know the priestess there from Nigeria was supposed to leave in June because of an medical discharge.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Um they've extended them for six months and they're they're relooking the Catholic contract.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: The only issue, of course, is that they already have awarded it.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sure legally how that's gonna work out, you know.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Unless the people that have got it um turn around and say, Oh, we really can't do it.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: Something like that will happen, you know.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: But they've got these things have to go through have got to go through so l so many layers of so many layers of bureaucracy.
20:32
SPEAKER_02: Bureaucracy, you know.
20:33
SPEAKER_02: Right.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: Well yeah, you know, yeah, you have some idea of the bureaucracy.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's quite uh it's quite conceivable that that's you know, it could take weeks and weeks and weeks.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: If they wanted to cut the plot and do it quick, they probably could.
20:46
SPEAKER_03: Okay, well we'll be keeping an eye on that force.
20:50
SPEAKER_03: We'll be keeping an eye on that for sure.
20:52
SPEAKER_03: And uh and I I I want to ask you too, um Father Frank.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: So I I have to ask, and and I know obviously you had this very intimate interaction with the president and and his his son and and with Bo back when you administered last last rights to him at Walter Reed.
21:12
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, a lot of a lot of um the president's politics do often fly in the face of of what Catholics believe.
21:20
SPEAKER_03: Um knowing this, it was it was it difficult to have such an intimate re interaction with with President Biden, or or how do you how do you separate the politics from the personal, or is that even possible?
21:32
SPEAKER_03: Can you speak a little bit on that?
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, it's it's it's true to say when he's president of a country that's for the most part a non-catholic country, I think the same discussion come up about Catholic beliefs versus the you know the the cultural media of the of the country.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: And I think this President Kennedy that says, you know, you can never um like you know, because you disagree with something, you can't impose that belief on the entire country.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: And most of these laws are you know, they're they they're run through Congress and the House of Representatives.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Like as far as I remember, President Reagan, God bless him, he was against abortion abortion, and he didn't get anything changed.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, so in many cases the president is just a figurehead.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: Now he is he does worship in Washington.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: I know he's talked to the cabin there um in in Washington, and I'm sure everything was sorted out in terms of the state practice and you know, the the issue the issue that uh is against Catholic teaching like abortion, you know.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: As um uh as Jay mentioned, uh then as as priests, right, when we're called to minister to someone, especially um a family whose son is um uh suffering with cancer and and and nearing the end, um all of that um gets put aside, right, to to try to be the presence of Christ to Yeah.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: Well yeah, you have to yeah you have to.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh we all are a little bit disappointed over the stand, the stand that has taken on on on abortion.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: But on the other hand, then his own private religious views are Catholic views.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: He's he's also devout Catholic.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: And I think the fact that he he he kind of uh you know agrees with kind of abortion, I think that that's kind of the other side of the call with him.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: I think you have to carry several hearts from that job.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, and um it's it's kind of like you know, unfortunately that he comes across as very like very poor abortion, but to me he's a very personable man to me, you know.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: And I think in many ways he's a humble man.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: But even with a big bureaucracy in a country where Catholics comprise like what is it about twenty four, twenty-five, twenty-eight percent, right?
23:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's hard to impose your your views on on that on that issue, you know.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: And right, and I think for some of our people, um and it's understandable that um you know, f to hear him say that he's proud of his Catholic faith, and then to see him, you know, taking positions that um especially on such an important issue as life, um uh I I understand the the frustration of of people, and I think um, you know, we have to um keep trying to ask the help of the Holy Spirit to guide us as and uh as I know the the bishops in the country do, um, his own bishops, and um there's he's not the only one in terms of Catholic politicians uh that um have some uh not only on the on the life issue but other issues.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: Um and somehow we have to be part of that um conversation, right?
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Because we want to bring our faith to the culture, um, but uh uh can be tricky at certainly to say the least at at times.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, too, like working in a place like uh Walter Reed, um, which is let's be honest, it's a part of some outfit.
25:08
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: And um you know, you to to get cooperation and trust sometimes I think you have to look for the commonality rather than trust.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, have to take a strong stand against against abortion.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: And it it's kind of tough to address that in any kind of a big way on the half, but it's sure, sure, sure.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, we try to we we try to uh to gain a system where we'll be trusted and cooperate with us.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: Right.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, you're welcome to try to do it.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: A fine line, a fine line.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: That's where we gotta be guided by prayer, right?
25:48
SPEAKER_01: And uh ask the Holy Spirit to help us to um to know when to speak.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: The fact that the archbishop uh of the cardinal rather than Washington.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: I I I mean obviously some of the cardinals in the country um are very much wouldn't allow a Nazi philosophy, like for example, wasn't it?
26:10
SPEAKER_00: I think that's from a conscious point of view with the president, I feel that that's been sorted out in Washington, you know?
26:17
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, it's it's well we we're we're very grateful for your time.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: Um Jay may have a final question, but uh uh I wanted to say hello from uh two of the Irish priests here in the diocese, Monsignor Flanagan and Monsignor McDonald.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: I was with them yesterday and I told them we'd be talking, so uh they asked me to say hello to you.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: And uh hopefully, uh hopefully you'll come over.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, go ahead.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Well, I had a question for you too.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: You know the suitability for priestly ministry cards?
26:48
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: If those if those weren't out yet or not.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: I believe we're in the process of doing that right now.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Um I'll check with uh Monsignor Mark Condon is the vicar general now, and his office is working on that.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'll I'll I'll see him in a few minutes a little later this afternoon, and I will uh I'll make sure to see.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: No, it's the one we have the ones we have like expired, the 30 expired like the 31st of March.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: That's right, that's right.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we um we'll we'll we'll uh we'll get it over to you um right away.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I don't have any plans to travel anywhere at the moment, so but anyhow, it's good of you to call and um Thank you.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: It's it's good of you to to um but knock, you know, if you come to Knock, uh let me know and we I'm looking forward to it.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to getting back, yes.
27:33
SPEAKER_03: Father Frank, can I can I ask you one more question before we let you go?
27:36
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
27:37
SPEAKER_03: Can you can you um can you tie in your your history?
27:42
SPEAKER_03: So you you were born in Ireland, you were ordained in in 1969, you told me you worked in England for nine years before you came over to the to transfer to the diocese of Patterson.
27:54
SPEAKER_03: And you and you served uh you were here for quite a few years before you joined the military then, right?
28:01
SPEAKER_00: So you were you were sixteen years, yeah.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: And that's how you served in Morris Town.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh right.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: And also on a Lady Pompeii in Paterson, you know.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: I also worked at the a Paterson Catholic high school in the call.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh right.
28:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, so and then joined the reserve.
28:20
SPEAKER_03: Now you mentioned back then there were many Irish back then.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: You said I believe there were about fifty priests.
28:28
SPEAKER_03: Uh huh.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Fifty Irish priests in the day.
28:31
SPEAKER_03: And that was that was the time when the the United States was was uh uh basically bringing in Irish priests, right, from from Ireland.
28:41
SPEAKER_03: That was pretty common back then.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, most of my class actually were two parts of my class in Ireland into the US Florida, California diet, and a few had a fan.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: So had you a few to Brooklyn, we got a few in Brooklyn too.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: I was a time like that.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: Right.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: There were so many priests, so many priests in Ireland that time.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: Like Manut was full and they had it, didn't we?
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Well they were sending missionaries, sending missionaries, and we're glad they a lot of them came here to Patterson like yourself.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Maybe maybe the missionaries will come back now.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: But if you if you come to Mark on Bishop, you know you come to Mark.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: I I we had preached from Missily come here last year.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: They come instead of going back to in the you know, the Philippines or India for their summer break after school in from June to September, they come to Ireland and help our fellow getting welcome from great.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: And we were telling them like to accommodate issues and the uh kind of smaller parishes in Ireland.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't understand it.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: Right.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Because when we get in markets, we get we get small groups from pretty well all over the country.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: And they kind of merge together and they make it look very vibrant.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was it was it was great being back there last summer.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: And uh please give Father Gibbons my best.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: He was a great host to me last summer, and I've got to know him a little bit over the years, and I know he's doing a great job over there, right, with uh running the shrine.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: Yes, well, of course, the big big push now, you know, isn't it?
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh it started started last um Sunday and go through October, the pilgrimage of the city.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh, sure.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: So every weekend.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: And then many, many people come to Nark on their own, not just in groups and buses, but if they travel privately.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Quite amazing, actually.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful place, you know.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:44
SPEAKER_03: Well, good.
30:45
SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for your time, Father Frank.
30:47
SPEAKER_03: It was so nice to speak with you.
30:48
SPEAKER_03: Uh we'll let we'll let you get to Mass.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Thank you much, very much, Father Frank.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: God bless you.
30:57
SPEAKER_03: Have a great day.
30:58
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: Take care.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: Bye bye.
31:01
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so what what do you think of the interview?
31:03
SPEAKER_03: What do you think of Father Frank?
31:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh great.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh thank you for the opportunity for setting it up and uh very generous in his response.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: And as Bishop, you know, uh connecting with our priests and getting to know our priests uh is um important.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: And I know we have many of our priests here local, but especially some of our retired priests are in different places.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: So I again I had some contact with Father Frank, and it was great to have this chance to to chat with him.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: And you know, the um the work he does at the shrine, and even I think the work that he's done throughout his priesthood now, I think it's more than 50 years as a priest.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: Um uh really uh we see how blessed we are with with our priests who who give themselves completely to where the Lord is leading them and and parish ministry, high school ministry, military chaplain working in the hospital and now retired could be relaxing, but he's he's he's hearing confessions and serving and uh full time at at the shrine.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: And um uh it was nice to hear a little bit of knock as well because uh I have some good memories there myself.
32:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so your family is from Mayo, Mayo County, right where the Knox Shrine is.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: And and you were there last summer, okay.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: I was, yeah.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: And uh so it was my first time back, I think, since um since 2018, and um first time there as bishop.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: And uh so good to uh connect with family.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Um and um one of my cousins when I was I would normally plan to say mass at Nock, which I did.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: And as it turned out, one of my cousins uh had had her third child, and uh we had the baptism in that uh they call it the gable wall, the chapel of the gable wall.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: The apparition happened on on the wall of the outside wall of the church, uh where the people saw the image of the Blessed Mother with St.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: John and Joseph and the lamb on the altar.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: And uh now they've they've built kind of out from that wall a beautiful chapel enclosed in glass, and uh and we celebrated Mass there and I and I baptized my my cousin's little daughter.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: So uh so it was it was great.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: It was wonderful.
33:01
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's great.
33:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was so neat to see that connection between you and Ireland and and with Father Frank.
33:07
SPEAKER_03: Um all right, good.
33:08
SPEAKER_03: So moving on.
33:09
SPEAKER_03: So we we have some questions.
33:10
SPEAKER_03: We're getting starting to get some questions from listeners, which is great.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think we might get some questions on on this topic, and and certainly please feel free.
33:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh and as I mentioned, you know, uh we're in this time of the Easter season and asking the help of the Holy Spirit and pray for our bishops, pray for me that um, you know, we are faithful to who we're called to be and and certainly witnesses on behalf of life.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: And but um even those that we disagree with, we have to pray for them as well.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we should pray for our president, for his family, uh and and and and for all of our elected leaders.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh so so don't forget that that prayer part is so important uh and discernment.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Um asking the help of the Holy Spirit.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: But write in, feel free, please.
33:52
SPEAKER_03: And that's beyond at pattersondioces.org.
33:55
SPEAKER_03: And we'll if you're watching on YouTube, we'll have it up on the screen.
33:58
SPEAKER_03: So we've got a question from Camille, who uh Camille N, who attends Mass at St.
34:03
SPEAKER_03: Joseph's in Lincoln Park.
34:05
SPEAKER_03: She was asking about Ascension Thursday, um, which is May 18th, being she said, will it be celebrated accordingly or pushed to Sunday, May 21st?
34:14
SPEAKER_03: I must say that I was very disappointed last year with the juggling of Ascension to Thursday to Sunday.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: I wonder if you could comment on that in our questions.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: Camille, is it right?
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Um thank you, Camille, for the question.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: And um it's a tough subject uh because I think for those raised Catholic, uh holy days in certain families at least were very important, holy days of obligation.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: Um and I know a priest who calls them holy days of opportunity, uh a chance to grow in our faith uh at those special moments.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: But we know over the years that uh in my own experience serving as a parish priest, when those holy days would come up, we would uh you know let the mass schedule be known the night before, the couple in the morning, the evening of, but the attendance um unfortunately was not what we would hope for.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: And um so uh my coming on as bishop now almost three years ago, uh, we've had this conversation with Cardinal Tobin and the bishops of the state.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: Certainly um I remember um celebrating the ascension.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: I think um everyone moved it to the Sunday when we were live streaming in 2020.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: So uh and then I think with uh restrictions in 2021, we decided to uh keep it on the Sunday as opposed to the Thursday, and then we had to make the decision and uh with the bishops here in the state, um, it gives more people chance to celebrate the Lord's ascension.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: You could say, well, they have the chance, yes, to be there on Thursday and go, but we know that a very small percentage, unfortunately, of Catholics were actually going to Mass and so they would miss the ascension.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's it's been done in a lot of the country uh has already been moved.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: There's a few dioceses that still keep it on the Thursday, but we've made the decision here in New Jersey to now celebrate it on um the Sunday.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: So um it'll be uh celebrated on a Sunday, and that's we've made that change permanent here in the state of New Jersey where the ascension will be celebrated.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: I think is it the the sixth Sunday of um of the Easter season?
36:16
SPEAKER_01: But um so uh um so we'll have more information on that in the weeks to come.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh and um again, I I think it's where we have to ask some uh patience and understanding from our people.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: It it it is frustrating for some and and some feel that we're making a mistake uh by moving it to Sunday, uh, but we're we're trying to make the best decisions that we can.
36:40
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
36:40
SPEAKER_03: And so so we'll be moved, and we I think it's gonna be the 21st of May.
36:45
SPEAKER_03: I believe that's correct.
36:46
SPEAKER_03: We'll do Sunday after Mother's Day.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: In the coming weeks, we'll have the uh opportunity to talk a little bit more in detail.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: And before I let you go, Bishop, is there anything else you'd like to mention?
36:56
SPEAKER_03: Anything coming up or anything on your mind?
36:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, we're this I love the season of Easter reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Daily Mass, Sunday Mass.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh this coming Sunday, we're gonna hear the beautiful gospel of the road to Emmaus.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: And then uh a week from Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Easter.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: It goes by so quickly.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: Um but the fourth Sunday of Easter is also Good Shepherd Sunday, where the ratings focused on Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and it's also World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
37:23
SPEAKER_01: So uh we continue to pray for an increase in vocations to priesthood and consecrated religious life, um, also for marriage and family and single life as well.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: But um uh maybe uh in the coming week we'll have an opportunity to talk a little bit about uh upcoming World Day of Prayer for Vocations, not this Sunday, but the following Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter.
37:43
SPEAKER_03: Great.
37:44
SPEAKER_03: Look forward, looking forward to that.
37:46
SPEAKER_03: Um Okay, well, thank you for spending time with us.
37:50
SPEAKER_03: We are Jay Agnish and Bishop Kevin Sweeney with the Diocese of Patterson in northern New Jersey.
37:55
SPEAKER_03: Join us again for our next episode.
37:57
SPEAKER_03: Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening.
38:00
SPEAKER_03: If you're watching this episode on Bishop Kevin Sweeney's YouTube channel, be sure to like the episode, follow the channel, and ring the bell for notifications.
38:09
SPEAKER_03: Email questions and podcast topic ideas for the bishop to beyond at patterstondioces.org.
38:17
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening to Beyond the Beacon.