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45: New synod listening sessions welcome everyone to the conversation! · Beyond The Beacon

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney of Podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: Join us for weekly conversations about our Catholic faith and submit questions for the Bishop today.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Jay Agnish, and with me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Bishop Kevin, how are you this morning?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm good, Jay.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: How are you doing?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Doing well, thanks.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: What's like we were just together?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: I was just gonna say, I feel like we were we were just here uh recording, and uh it's good to be back.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um weather's warming up a little bit, and and I I feel like there's some some baseball stuff going on.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Spring training as we go.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Spring training, yeah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: The games have begun, yes.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: How are the Yankees looking this year?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Are they gonna great as usual?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: You're a confident Yankees fan.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: Overdue like this.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: 2009 has been too long since so uh they'd be great if they get one more pitcher, but Okay.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is their year.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be their year again?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: St.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: John's had a big win on Sunday, which was I might it might be too little too late, but Okay.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh when does March Madness begin in the in the There's two more weeks or less now.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think two weeks from yesterday is the last day of the regular season.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then the biggest tournament, and then hopefully St.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: John's.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: But St.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Seton Hall will certainly be there and certainly rooting for Seton Hall too.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: Will you do your and your traditional picks this year?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um well great.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I want to just quickly uh bring our bring our guests in.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um so Father Father Paul Manning is our vicar for evangelization here in the Diocese of Patterson.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: You may remember him on episode 16 uh with uh Monsignor Ray Kupke.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: He's the co-host of the Coffee with Kupke podcast, and he was also on episode 28 uh when we spoke about the Synod on Synodality, which will be our main topic today.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: And Maria Moncagliano is our director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry, and you may remember her from episode 35 of Beyond the Beacon when we featured our Hispanic ministry and had a uh engaging conversation about what you do and and how we're building video resumes.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right around Guadalupe, I think that was, right?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and also Guadalupe also.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: We talk about the celebration for Guadalupe.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was that was great.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: And uh together they chair the diocesan synod committee.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that's what we're talking about today, the synod.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: So um should we open up with prayer?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: I brought back the missile for uh one of the some of the beautiful prayers that the church gives us for Lent, and it struck me this morning at Mass.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're recording early this week on Monday because Father Paul and I will be at a conference at the end of the week uh in Arlington, Virginia, the Catholic Leadership Roundtable, right?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, summit.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_05: They call it the Catholic Partnership Summit.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: And Maria's will be on the road as well to uh conferences also.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, well, this is uh going to be for the orientation for the new directors of Hispanic Ministry nationally.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: So great.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, on this uh Monday of the second week of Lent, uh the church gives us a beautiful prayer for Mars, so we'll use that prayer to open our time together today.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: We'll place ourselves in God's presence, name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: On this Lenten journey together with the whole church and praying in a special way for our elect and candidates who will be preparing to receive the gift of baptism and full initiation of the church through the Easter sacraments of baptism, communion, and confirmation.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we pray for peace in our world, and especially that through our prayer and repentance and almsgiving during this Lenten season, we'll draw closer to our Lord Jesus and to one another, and so we pray, O God, who have taught us to chasten our bodies for the healing of our souls, enable us, we pray, to abstain from all sins and strengthen our hearts to carry out your loving commands through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: So, Bishop, tell us tell us what's what's cooking here.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: What what are we what are Father Paul and Maria doing here?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: What are we going to be talking about?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we'd like to know.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: The upcoming listening sessions, but just maybe to go back to last episode and uh sneak preview to this week's beacon.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think on the front page will be an article by Bishop Saratelli, right?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh about the new movie coming out on Mother Cabrini, the Life of Mother Cabrini.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: That is uh I I had a chance to see, and it's beautiful, and hopefully many will see it.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I wrote in my own column this week that because Bishop Saratelli, I was hoping I was thinking of writing about the movie, encouraging people to go see it, and then I thought, well, we have a real Mother Cabrini expert in our diocese.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so I reached out to Bishop Saratelli, and he was kind enough to write a beautiful article.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I said I thought for a moment, oh, I can take the week off and not write a column.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then I thought, well, uh our vocation uh discernment retreat is coming up this coming weekend, so I'm asking for prayers for the I think we have 20 men who have signed up uh to become on the on the vocation retreat.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: So asked for prayers for that.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And also I mentioned uh the invitation to three listening sessions that we're gonna have.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be giving more information.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: I might write more in the coming week about those listening sessions, but uh we um with Father Paul and Maria and some of our other leaders, uh in the middle of January, at the beginning of January, uh Bishop Daniel Flores, who's the Bishop of Brownsville in Texas and head of a committee for the USCCB that's overseeing our participation in the Synodon Synodality.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh in I guess it was November uh when the first assembly that happened with that with 350 or 365, I'm not sure, somewhere around there, delegates that met for four or five weeks in in October as after that long preparation that in which we participated in Maria and Father Paul can share a little bit of what that experience was like for our diocese.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so they they met for a month, they discussed about many issues, prayed, asking the help of the Holy Spirit, that listening sense that the Holy Father is inviting us to something uh somewhat unique.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the amount of voting members who were not only bishops uh in in this um synod on synodality.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Some are still, I think, struggling with the name Synod on Synodality, but hopefully little by little we'll uh realize that it's uh Pope Francis in inviting us to reflect on who we are as church and who the Holy Spirit is calling us to be and how we go about being church and encountering one another on the journey and listening to one another.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: So uh the after those that month of of meetings and prayer and listening, the delegates issued a what they called a synthesis report, twenty or so different topics, uh observations, uh uh uh like suggestions, and then uh ways that we can now on the local level do our own listening to what they shared and think about how we can and pray about how we can implement uh that synodality on the local level.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and they're calling this the interim stage because uh in this coming October they'll have the second plenary set session where and so we've been asked, Bishop Flores sent a letter to all the bishops and dioceses that we would have uh can discern about how we're trying to live synodality, implement what was discussed on the local level, but also to um host listening sessions, to invite the faithful again to come together and hear what their impressions are of the synod so far and maybe something that was missed or uh other contributions, suggestions.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh with Father Paul and Maria uh we got together a group of our leaders and um decided to host uh a listening session in each of the three counties.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: We'll give the uh specifics, but March 13th Wednesday.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's at um uh Reverend Brown School in Sparta.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: In Sparta.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Monday the 18th, Monday the 18th.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's the March 18th is a very important day in the calendar of the church because it's the day after the Great Feast of St.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Patrick and the day before the great feast of St.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Joseph.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that's listening.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's the three feast, right?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so that will be in Clifton uh at R2.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: The Austin Center in Clifton, and then on a Saturday, the March 23rd, right?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Correct uh at uh our evangelization center in Madison and Morris County.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: So again, we'll give you those details, but one of the things I mentioned in my column this week in the beacon is it's an invitation to come and participate, and also maybe invite someone, as Pope Francis says from the periphery, someone that may not be connected to the church, or maybe on the margins that, oh, why don't you come along?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: The church would like to know what you think.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_05: Or uh so um on the registration page, we actually uh have a uh question there that says, I would be willing to invite someone who was not involved in the process the first time.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's awesome.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe if uh you can correct if I missed something there or add to it, but uh maybe to share a little bit uh both Maria and Father Paul in your own experience, uh you know, a little summary from when we first started this process uh to where we are now and and where we're looking to go with the listening sessions.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: You want to go first, Father?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um I wanted to point out that uh in the past, uh the Synod of Bishops uh, which it has been meeting since Vatican II ended, uh normally they would meet once.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: So uh Pope Francis has kind of added uh uh a new dimension to this in that the 16th ordinary synod of bishops, the synod on synodality, had a first assembly in October 2023 and will have a second assembly of the same synod uh in October of 2023.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: That happened with the Synod on the Family, right?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Which um uh Amoris Letizia, right?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because uh during the year of mercy and they were looking at the annulment process, and I think they decided that they couldn't get it all done in the first meeting and they came back the next year after.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_05: Is that right?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_05: I think what happened was one was uh an ordinary meeting and one was a special assembly.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think they called everybody.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_05: They discerned the topic in the one and made it the topic for the next one.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think that's how it worked.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm sorry, so this but this one what from the beginning was hey, gonna be two sessions.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: This is the plan, I think, all along.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: Two sessions.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_05: Summary, did you want to talk about the first phase, the diocesan phase?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well the diocesan phase was um I have to say very uh new for us.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh a lot of instructions and material to be explored.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um in the process, uh we prepare the material to be presented to to the people.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I just uh would like to start um saying that uh there was an invitation by you to the whole diocese to participate in the process and you as the parishes to send delegates to um represent each parish in the first phase of the process.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: And um I think that the people were connected immediately and at the same time some were like uh I don't believe in this, this is not gonna happen.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but at the end, it was a great experience for us.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about the the Latino community that like you say, talking about the language, the new language that we have to start using, they didn't know what a synodal was, that what synodality means.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um I will say Fadipol did a good job putting together the concepts and the ideas to to share that.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the Latino community here in the United States has been acting in a synodal way uh for a number of decades now, right?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: The dynamic of the synodal process wasn't new for us because we are the Latino community is being using that dynamic through the encuentros.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: Encuentro meaning encounter, right?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Encountered all the process is the same because the encounter the encuentro process is just listening, reaching out to people, acknowledging people, being present for them.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: So for us the dynamic was also discerning priorities, right?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: For ministry.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean the results of each encounter um is just prior pastoral priorities, how the church has to be able to um serve the community after the the people of God speak out.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I think for us the dynamic wasn't new, but I think the first one was what in the 70s, was it?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: The first and first 1975.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: You were you were a little girl.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was yeah, 1975.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: And the last one was basically every 10 years or so, right?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not yes, the the last well depends because in in the year 2000 we have the what is called um encuentro for the whole church of the United States, where the Bishop of the United States considered necessary for the rest of the uh community to know the dynamic of the encuentro.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: So we invite all all the the not only Latinos, and then we have encuentro for for for the youth.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: And the the longest process was the the fifth encuentro, which was a process of four years.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe I wonder if Father Paul, if you can kind of just for people who may not know, briefly explain kind of so from the listening sessions that we have in our various uh locations throughout our diocese, where does that go?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: What's that process uh up how it winds up up to Rome?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so uh in the first round, uh uh we had um group sessions, individual consultations, the delegates uh consulted with people individually, and then we had online input.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_05: All of that was uh compiled in a diocesan synthesis that went to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: And we're talking about 10,000 right participants.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: In our diocese, it was in the thousands, yeah, thousands.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_05: I wonder maybe six between six and eight.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_05: Six and eight.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I would say, yeah.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_05: And um then it went to the region, the region synthesized the material, the regional synthesis went to the USCCB, the national level.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_05: That went into a continental phase, another synthesis, and and the the continental syntheses were sent to the Vatican, and they became the the material for the working document for the first assembly.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_05: In this interim phase, it's very abbreviated, we don't have a whole lot of time, but a similar process will be followed in that our diocesan report will go to the USCCB.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_05: They're gonna skip the the regional, and then the the national conferences will send their syntheses directly to uh the Vatican.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: And when Bishop Flores sent the letter, he specifically said, Can you host the um listening sessions during Lent?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're asking that we're gonna send back, I think, a three to five page document after those listening sessions and other things that we'll be doing on the um on the local level.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um we'll put that in a document and and send it back.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: But uh again, it the real importance of uh hopefully uh great participation in these upcoming uh listening sessions.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh um so we encourage our listeners and viewers to uh sign up.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_05: I think there'll be information in the beacon this week.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we have a front page article that will uh include some of the reasoning behind it and and all uh it'll share the dates again and we'll have it in our in the notes for this podcast as well.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: But why why now with the interim session?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: So are there specific topics we're gonna be looking at?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: So the the synthesis report that had those 20 topics, again, you can find it online.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I about 40 pages, but it's and it might be slow reading, it's not always the most, but if you give it some time and bring it to prayer, I think you really hear the church speaking to all her members.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so this is what we talked about, you know, uh formation for priesthood for the diaconate, the role of women in the church, um young people, right, uh structures, uh that uh I think emphasis of Pope Francis to um uh invite uh all those not only uh uh those ordained, but uh though all the baptized and and those in ministry, uh religious uh um different aspects, uh members of the church to be involved in in uh the decision-making processes.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I know there's some that might be concerned about well, they're gonna change church teaching or this issue or that issue.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's not the goal.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: The uh the the goal is just to to bring disciples together uh in prayer and in conversation to ask ourselves is you know, is there something we're missing?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Is there something we could do better?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh how can we share the good news of the gospel?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh would you say that's that's been what what Yeah, I believe the beauty of this uh synode is that uh all of us, the baptized, participate, regardless if you, you know, in the past only bishops and the the the clergy to ordain to participate in this process.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: For us is is I I keep telling people we are making history because we are we are being part of something that never happened in the church.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: That our boys will be here.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that should be uh enough inspiration for people to participate because this is the first time that this is happening in the church.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_05: I think um this is more like uh an a development, an evolution of the way the church has uh operated, but but now I think we're we're giving it uh structure and priority.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_05: I think um all good bishops have listened to their people.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I I think all good parish priests try to listen to their people and factor that in.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_05: Now I think we've kind of formalized that process.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_03: And it's also an extension, uh it's it goes back to Vatican II, right?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's right.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: So um Cardinal Dolan, I mentioned a fan of his podcast, and he was one of the delegates, and he on his conversations with Cardinal Dolan, he would and he's I think honest that he's not great about sitting at meetings, and so I think he found it a little challenging at times.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh he made the point through the process that many were saying this is something completely new, completely new.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: This we never had anything, and and he had participated in a number of synods, and while it, yes, this is uh a uniqueness that the amount of delegates who are not ordained, uh who are not bishops who are participating in the decision making, who are voting members, that's somewhat new.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: But Cardinal Dolan was making the point, you know, uh, okay, the it's been the bishops coming together, but there were people attending the synod who very much were part of those conversations.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And as Father Paul just said, you know, those bishops have been listening to people in their diocese and and and um educators and academics and theologians, and so uh that that, but yes, I the point of going back to the Second Vatican Council is very important, and and that emphasis in the Second Vatican Council of the universal call to holiness, right?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: That all the baptized are are called to live uh as disciples, priest, prophet, and king, and and so um according to their vocation, um participate in the life of the church and in the evangelization, sharing the good news of the gospel.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh we've been doing that in different ways over these, you know, even thinking back to uh lectors and Eucharistic ministers, parish pastoral councils, that involvement of the laity and other members of the church uh in in collaboration with uh those who have that, you know, responsibility.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: The bishop does have that responsibility for um that administrative role or, you know, that pastoral role in and and so the teaching role that the bishops have.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's that's part of what we believe is is the structure of the church that Jesus gave us and is guided by the Holy Spirit.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: But as the bishops uh and and the whole church listen to the Holy Spirit and to one another, uh there are times when we the Holy Spirit might call us to look at things in a different perspective, and and Pope Francis certainly I think is is calling us to to have that openness at least to the Spirit and to one another.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um in the world of evangelization, we're starting to talk about the universal call to mission as well as the universal call to holiness.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_05: And so, you know, Vatican II called for the active participation of the laity, exercising their baptismal responsibility for the church.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_05: So this is an evolution of that.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_05: I think people can get disturbed uh uh about the synod on the one hand by the folks who who perceive it as a threat to Orthodox church teaching, and on the other hand, people who think this is gonna be the way to completely change the church.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_05: And in fact, that's that's not the point of either.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: Neither is the point.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, since you mentioned that, I I want to just bring up so on on Saturday, I had the the uh great privilege of attending a uh a uh speaking engagement with Sister Natalia uh Beckhart, who's one of the who was actually the first woman to get a vote at the Senate of Bishops, and she was she's out, she's doing some uh stops in in America, and um Sister Donna Siangio, who's the um who's our the chancellor over in Newark, invited her to speak in Newark.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: So um our own sister Teresa Lee, our chancellor, was there, I was there as well.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I got a little, it was fun because I got a little taste of what it's like maybe sitting in Rome at those round tables participating in the synod process.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: So as part of uh Sister Natalia's presentation, she asked, she asked us to be silent for a minute and a half and to contemplate three different questions.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: And so after we did that, she said, okay, now get together with the person who's sitting next to you and share with them what you what came to your mind.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: And and it was just a wonderful experience.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: And then so after me and the, you know, after everyone shared, she said, okay, give me one takeaway or one one or two words about, and it it was so neat and um meaningful for me to participate synodally with uh someone who I I just met, you know, for the first time, uh, who's very, you know, a faithful member of our of our Catholic Church, uh, as I you know strive to be and and to hear where they were coming from, and for him to hear where I was coming from.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: It was a it was a great uh experience.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I did, you had mentioned the diversity.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: One of the things that Sister Natalia had spoken about is is really this is an opportunity for us to kind of manage the tensions and embrace the the diversity as a path forward for unity.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: I thought that was a beautiful way to put it.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: And she also said this isn't a revolution, like you kind of hinted at.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's it's small steps and patience toward wherever the Holy Spirit may may take us.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you, Jay, for that.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm glad that the timing was good.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: And your description of having a feeling or a sense of what it was like to participate as a cynic delegate, I think those attending the listening sessions are gonna have a similar experience, right?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Correct, correct.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_05: And the the first time we did the spiritual conversation, the method is called the spiritual conversation.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_05: I I think it's really hard for Americans, especially because we want to discuss, we want to go into discussion groups.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_05: Solve the problem.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but we don't really want to listen.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_05: Be quiet and then listen without thinking about how we're gonna respond, right?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_05: And the and uh taking plenty of time to do that.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_05: So it's it's challenging, especially if you haven't done it before.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for us as the Latino community is is harder, I believe.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Because we like to, you know, talk over the colour.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: Cross talk, they call it, yeah.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Cross-talking.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this the the dynamic is that that you are uh um able to listen to the other person, give time, and at the same time you acknowledge the person that you have in front of you.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because we live in a in a world where everybody is in a rush, nobody you just pass by, you don't recognize uh the presence of the individual.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this is very this is what we need these days, to be able to recognize the presence of the people.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: And when you were talking about diversity, I I was listening last night, uh Sister Natalie, and she mentioned something about diversity, and she said many cultures see diversity as an obstacle.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_05: And and and it causes polarization.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly, and exactly they say, but the diversity is exactly the best expression of unity and the universal church.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's I that staying in my mind because uh, you know, we live in a society when uh you are really um uh you don't feel you you feel like the other people is uh in invading your space, but at the same time you don't recognize that that person has something to contribute to you.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I mentioned before when we were talking that fa uh Pope Francis called the Synod of Church is a listening church and a learning church, because we learn from each other.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: If you don't have an encounter like you did with the person next to you Saturday, you won't experience that joy.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: And this is what this the the the sessions, the listening session will give to people after they experience it.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I'm inviting everybody to participate in.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_05: The two goals of the interim phase uh are to deepen the the consultation, to deepen the experience of synodality uh uh uh uh coming out of October 2023, and to broaden the exercise of synodality at the local level.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_05: So the listening sessions are the way that we deepen the consultation, and then the diocese is invited to um to pick two or three of the 20 priorities and start to think about how we can practically implement them in the way that we do local church.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_05: Are you looking forward to the sessions?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean we're scrambling a little bit.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_05: We're scrambling, but uh and bishop, maybe you want to mention the the listening session with our priests.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right, uh tomorrow, right?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: So uh at a presbyteral council meeting, which is um a group of priests that advise the bishop and represent the whole presbyterate, uh mentioning them, I think, of uh our Diocean Pastoral Council, uh, which uh again Sister Teresa is our chancellor helps to organize.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um they and they uh are a representative body of um the the the church of the diocese uh that um um so members from different parishes throughout the diocese?
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think we have actually two representatives from each deanery.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh they've been part of the synodal process as well, and that's something that synodal that uh the has been around again since the Second Vatican Council kind of uh revived uh some of those councils in consultation.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: The parish pastoral council is another example.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um at a presbyteral council meeting, one of the priests and talking about what's being asked of us in terms of having listening sessions asked if there would be a listening session for priests.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I was a little I brought it to prayer because uh you you know when we look at the synodal experience of the synod on synodality and the delegates that are gathering in Rome, it's it's not just bishops or just priests or clergy, uh, it's it's the whole church.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yet um in reflecting on the experience, some have said that one of the underrepresented groups in the 360 or so delegates uh were parish priests, pastors of parishes.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there were a few, but not many.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh I thought it would be a good opportunity.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we need to come together as priests.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have days of prayer and Lent and Advent and other times, but uh I thought to um uh have our priests come together, uh, especially in looking forward to the three uh sessions where we're gonna invite everyone uh to uh that they could have a chance to listen to one another and I I could have a chance to listen to them.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: So uh keep that in your prayers um uh and we look forward to it uh and we'll let you know how it goes.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so we're we're at over 50 participating tomorrow, yeah, which is very good.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_05: Right, yeah.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_05: And after uh Bishop Sweeney decided to meet with priests, then it was announced that Pope Francis is gonna do something similar with priests from all over the world.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Head of the curve here, I like this.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_05: And uh um uh Bishop Kevin also invited uh he's met with our high school uh um campus ministries.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_05: And last November, uh out of the meeting last November, Bishop Kevin decided to invite young people from each of our high schools to come together for uh an encounter.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_05: And so it it turns out that we're gonna uh use the spiritual conversation as the as the model for the encounter with our young people.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_03: Oh awesome.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it's it's working, it's it's uh it's coming, it's coming back uh this process of of living uh in synodality and community.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I guess Yeah, the word me the word means uh away together.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_05: So it's kind of a technical fancy word for the way that we try to be church.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right, and walk the journey together, yeah, listening to one another and respecting one another and helping one another as we can.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah, it's it's it's exciting.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_03: So and and people often say, oh, you know, they look to the outcome, or you know, are oh are are women gonna become deacons as a result of what of these of these uh you know meetings in Rome or priests or you know, there's all these different topics and stuff.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but it's it's um I think we need to remember that it's it's a process of of you know coexisting and and maybe not reaching any answers like we, you know, we want we want the answers, we want the end result, but it's it's very much about the process, right?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think it's I think it's um it's not looking in in some ways I don't think it it's looking for results, it's looking for working uh this way, uh this process into the life of the church.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I got to see the next three episodes of the chosen, uh, which again I think is just uh really a beautiful uh really scriptural meditation.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh might be different opinions, but uh in seeing Jesus as is presented in a chosen with this group of twelve that he chose with Mary Magdalene and another woman, the uh uh um from Africa, I think tomorrow, maybe from Ethiopia, uh, and Maria's point about uh the diversity uh being really a gift and uh who we are as as the Catholic, meaning universal church, and how the Lord calls us together in our different backgrounds, languages, opinions, personalities, and and invites us to uh be community, be family of faith.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as we look forward to Holy Week, uh there's that section of John's gospel in the Last Supper, I think it's 15 to 17 or so of the chapters, but there's that one small line that Jesus says as he's praying, uh, when he says um he's praying for the 12, and he says, not only for them, but anyone who believe in them because of your word, as he says to his father, he says, uh, what's his prayer for us for all Christians?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: He was praying at that time.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: He said that they all may be one.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I've shared at times, I think you could say, um, we've spent 2,000 years kind of not getting that right yet.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we still work out.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: All Christians are not one when we think of all the different Christian churches, but and even within our Catholic family, uh there's there are and in families are going to be different opinions.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's okay.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and but that we can not see the diversity as a cause of division, but as an opportunity to to be united, uh, is so important.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: And there's different ways to learn that.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: But um, hopefully these these sessions will be will be one of the ways that we can kind of keep working at that.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: So sign up for a session by uh visiting our website and you'll see the Synodon Synodality uh Square if you scroll down a little bit and you could click on that.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_05: How else can people so I want to point out that there'll be uh opportunities to participate in English and Spanish at each session?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_05: Oh okay, great.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_05: And the registration form is in English and Spanish.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I was I was gonna ask you, Father, uh, did you post the the summary that you made about the the Oh the synthesis document, a good point.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: That maybe that could be Did you post that one?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_05: I Well the the folks who register get an automatic email with a link to the synthesis.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_05: The synthesis, okay.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: Because um I I mentioned to you that I was going to translate it into Spanish so people can have the same information available.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: The report is um uh very available in in Spanish.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, it is.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if anybody is looking to or might struggle with reading the full 40 pages, the even just the review of the 20 uh topics identified, right?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_05: So there's three sections for each of the priorities.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's called convergences.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_05: I forget the second category.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_05: Considerations maybe.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um then the last category is proposals.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_05: And the proposals are the concrete possibilities for exercising that priority at the diocesan level.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: So any predictions on where this goes for us in the diocese, Bishop, or is it just is it too early for that?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I don't mean to put you on the spot.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, that's okay.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's an opportunity to to come together in conversation and prayer, which I think is going to lead us hopefully um uh closer to one another and maybe um uh more focused on uh that intentionality of of living as missionary disciples, living that call to holiness that each of us has from baptism.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful that we're doing it during the season of Lent.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: If uh if meetings or these types of conversations might be challenging for some, you can maybe do it as Lent and Penance if it's uh but uh yeah, the um uh again uh working towards that unity that that Jesus calls to.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the other thing I thought was um earlier in the conversation, uh you know our Lord and St.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: Pope John Paul II, uh one of their phrases, favorite phrases of both is be not afraid, don't be afraid.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so if there's some hesitancy about what is the church doing with this process, or I don't know about going to don't be afraid, uh trust and uh and you know consider responding to this invitation and and joining us, and we can learn from one another.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, well, why don't we leave the conversation there on the synod and thank you both for joining us again on the podcast and Bishop as we wind down the episode, is there anything you're looking forward to that you want to share with our audience?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're looking forward to being heading to Arlington uh well tomorrow, our listening session with priests.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very much looking forward to that, and then heading to Arlington for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then um Friday evening begins this uh vocation discernment retreat.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: So um if people are hearing this on Friday or even Saturday, just offer please a special prayer for the young men who will be attending the retreat.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: Father Rama, our vocation director, Father Charlilana, our associate vocation director, some of our other priests and seminarians will be helping on the retreat.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um, please, God, it'll be uh uh a blessing for those who attend and for the diocese and hopefully leading to uh an increase of young men considering the Lord's call to priesthood.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: So please keep that in your prayers.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I should mention I when I was in Newark on Saturday, I bumped into your uh, I guess you're some of your classmates from the Bishop's class from the class of 2020.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, uh Bishop Greg Studeris had uh he had some very nice words to say.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_03: Apparently you gave a homily last week when you were in Arlington, and he said it was in San Antonio uh in last week together.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh uh the three good guys, Bishop Studeris, Bishop Elias Lorenzo from Brooklyn originally, and uh Bishop Michael Saporito.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: They the three they were ordained auxiliary bishops for Newark on the night before I was ordained, or the day before I was ordained here in Patterson.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: They were June 30th, I was July 1st of 2020.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you for spending time with us.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_03: Get to know us a little better by following Beyond the Beacon on Facebook or Instagram.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_03: I hope you'll join us for the next episode.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: Don't forget to subscribe, comment, and leave us a positive rating.
• 40:20
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• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: Email questions and podcast topic ideas for the bishop to beyond at pattersondioces.org.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for joining us.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks very much.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Maria.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Father Paul.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: God bless you.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hope to see you at a listening session.