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35: Hispanic Catholics and the joy in our faith · Beyond The Beacon

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson in New Jersey.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Brian Hansberger, Infra J.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Agnish.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm here with Bishop Kevin.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: How are you, Bishop?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing good.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: Brian, how are you?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: Doing well, thanks.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: Happy Feast of St.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: Lucy.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And with your spirit, uh, we pray for anyone that's uh dealing with eye issues, right?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: As uh and for the people of uh me too, uh the people of Sicily, certainly, and the diaspora.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh great love, uh, beautiful.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk a little bit about Hispanic ministry today, and we just celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe yesterday, and uh even at Mass today, the the gospel reading, Jesus saying, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, I will refresh you.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you think of the love of the people of God for uh for um our blessed mother and for the saints.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And uh sometimes maybe those of us who grew up in uh the United States in this time in modern times, you know, and education is a great gift, but we maybe don't recognize the the sometimes we can almost look down on it, um, the simple faith of people uh who just have this incredible love, sometimes not much formal education, but they have this deep, deep faith.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I think we see that in uh the Italian immigrant community, the Irish immigrant, oh so many immigrant communities, and certainly um in our uh Hispanic brothers and sisters, and and we see it on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as we'll talk about.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so uh there's a great love for Santa Lucia, I think, if I'm saying that right, and uh in Sicily and Syracuse, she's pilgrim uh patron of uh but not Syracuse, New York.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think Syracuse and not the orange, right?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So uh but uh yeah, um beautiful.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in these Advent days, uh we we are also preparing to get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So amen.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna pray, but we should introduce Maria Moncagliano, my friend and co-worker.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we've been working together for I don't know, five, five, between five and ten years, probably.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, probably.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Probably between five and ten, yes.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Our diocesan director of Hispanic Ministry.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome, Maria.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Brian.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Maria.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Good to see you.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna, even though today's St.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Lucy we're recording, uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about uh the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Hispanic ministry.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna use the prayer uh from Mass for uh the feast of Our Lady Guadalupe.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So let us place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh God, Father of mercies, who placed your people under the singular protection of your son's most holy mother.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Grant that all who invoke the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe may seek with ever more lively faith the progress of peoples in the ways of justice and of peace.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: To our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Saint Juan Diego, pray for us, Saint Lucy, pray for us in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Bishop.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of exciting things going on in Hispanic ministry in the diocese.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: So we just had some big events.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Noche de las Felitas.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Then we had a big Our Lady of Guadalupe diocesan celebration.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: For the first time.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: For the first time.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: We've been celebrating Guadalupe.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Almost 500 years now, starting in Mexico, but we can talk about that.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But uh but yes, uh uh it was wonderful.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we could talk about that and a few other things.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh one very exciting thing I think Maria's gonna talk about today is is the fifth encuentro and our role as a diocese uh in in that national process too.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right, quinto encuento, right?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe uh to say that uh I being here at St.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's, if you notice a different studio, right, here in Madison, I still remember my first trip here to Madison.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: I may have mentioned it before, but uh I it was the probably May of 2020, late April, early May of 2020, after I had gotten the call that I was being named bishop in the middle of the lockdown, and I had been connecting with some of the Darsen leaders, and Father Paul, our vicar for evangelization, uh, had invited me to come out and uh I was uh one wanted to learn some about evangelization and our Hispanic ministry.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I had the opportunity to meet Maria for the first time with Ivania, right?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Ivana Vega, who um were working together at that time in faith formation, right?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so um uh we had a great meeting and as I was learning, and uh after being here for a number of months, uh I thought it would be important that we would have uh an office.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the we've had Hispanic ministry, migrant ministry for a long time in the diocese, and Bishop Saratelli, Bishop Rodano before him, uh certainly uh made that outreach.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when uh sisters and brothers came to us who were Spanish speaking, if uh and in in chance to mention coffee with Kupke, right?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Brian hosts that podcast with Monsignor Kupke, and I'll still remember reading in his book Living Stones, The History of the Diocese, how Hispanic ministry was started here in the diocese by two priests from China, right?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, two priests from China, and I believe the first mass was in Our Lady of Farima in Poseic.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: In Poseic, right.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we it's important that we know our history.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so then um I think the office uh Hispanic ministry was under um the uh multicultural office, right, of the diocese and uh uh under the umbrella of the evangelization.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I thought with the growing number of uh Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters, um, it would be good to have an office in the diocese dedicated to Hispanic ministry.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: After that time, then we also now have a vicar, Father Dubernay Villamizar, who's the vicar for Hispanic Affairs.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so uh it seemed like Maria would be the great person to, and it I've been very grateful uh getting to know her and work with her and and the way that she's kind of stepped that's has stepped up and and taken leadership.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe Maria can share a little bit about um becoming the director of the office, but also maybe some of your own history here in the diocese uh leading up to that.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's start with the history.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: I am been working for the diocese for 10 years, but involved in Hispanic ministry for almost 27 years.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_03: And uh even that I was And originally you're from?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm from Colombia.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when did you come to the country?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: I came to the country in 1986.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: 27 years and been uh serving my my parish, which uh originally was some San Antonio Padua in Pesaic.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: But uh without being part of the staff in the diocese, I have a very good relationship with Ivania.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: And because of my involvement with the community, I was invited to participate in different uh programs for the diocese to teach, to do reflections.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: And my main uh connection with this office was through the Quinto Encuentro.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: That um uh I was inspired by the process and got involved in uh in that specific um project because I think it was something needed by the community and by the church.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's good to take a moment to mention the quinto encuentro for a couple of reasons.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think as we've been in the process of the synod on synodality, uh our Hispanic brothers and sisters kind of had a head start.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: We were ahead of that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's been a very synodal experience.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I forget now the um when the first encuentro was uh encuentro, beautiful Spanish word for encounter, right?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And uh um and and so uh a national meeting, a national encounter.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: The first one was in 1978.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, that's right.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: And that you know, we call it the quinto encuentro because it's the encuentro number five.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: And for many people that don't know what encuentro means, the encuentro is a process.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's a process of consultation and in mission.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: That is um that has a big important element, which is the formation of the people that are engaged in the in the church to go out in mission to reach out to the people that are disconnected from the from the church.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the um the consultation process is not a survey.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: And this is very important that we know because we use the same concept throughout the synodal process.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's not a survey.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's not uh that you tell me your name, your address, and what are you doing, it's just connecting with people, having a real encounter.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: So um it is it's something that uh as a as a as a Christian, we should be doing always.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I think to acknowledge the people, to see they they exist, they they need us, and to tell them, listen, I'm here, you can count on me and be a resource and be a channel of uh showing them the love of Christ.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So much sounds uh so similar uh to what Pope Francis has asked of us in that synodal experience, right?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: To go to peripheries, to listen, especially those whose voices are often not heard.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so um, and it's not a survey, uh, but also I think uh a similar um uh experience was uh I believe with the encuentro, it starts on the local level, right?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the diocese and parishes participating and then leading to the national encounter, which was certainly similar to the uh the synod on synodality.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So um we did that in the hearing diocese.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: The process starts uh in the parishes and keep going up to the diocese, then the region, and then the national, where is the main, main big big enquent, the national encounter.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so when you celebrate an encuentro at the parish level, you um express the need, the pastoral need of your parish, and then the diocese is uh aware what's going on in the parishes, we do a report, and that report goes to the region encuentro, uh, which uh is is is is I think is worth it to mention that the region, Region 13, we belong to Region 13, we have the same issues, the same because we because the the region affects what happened in the pastoral.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's not the same thing, the pastoral here, than in the south or in the western.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: And the and the process leads to identifying pastoral priorities, pastoral priorities, and then we go to the national encuentro to do basically 10 priorities at the national level, which are the same priorities reflected in the new pastoral plan.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: So in the diocese, referring to what you were saying before the creation of the office, we have five priorities at the national at the um diocesan level, and one of the priorities was the people asked for the creation of an office of Hispanic ministry dedicated to Hispanic ministry to be part of the structure.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I will take this opportunity to thank you for um for doing that, and especially for giving us a voice at the table, because I keep saying that to the priests and to everybody that I talk about is is that uh thanks to your vision, you gave us uh a voice at the table.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: We participate in many conversations, we we are part of the decision making, which uh is something that never exists in the past, but um that's what we are very grateful, and this is a great opportunity to say.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh Brian, I think, was taking speaking about uh your involvement in the diocese and working in evangelization, you've seen so how the the Hispanic community has grown and and and uh and developed over these years, right?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: And and Maria's been there for for much of it as well, but it's been very exciting.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I I live in Morristown, and to see even what's been happening in my own town, my own community, it's very exciting.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's very fun.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's the Hispanic community that's growing there, it's like a breath of fresh air.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's fun.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: There's like a new economy, even.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's it's a real pleasure.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And the parish is booming.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh St.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Margaret's, yes, yes.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh uh another community that's growing in the diocese is uh the community in Sussex County, Father Johann Serrano, right?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh uh for a time or uh we had something called migrant ministry.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there was a time when there was uh literally uh migrant workers that would come and and return home, come for a time and work.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I think there's still some of that uh uh kind of uh community on the move in in Sussex.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: In other parts of the diocese, uh it's there's been more stability.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we have some Hispanic parishes, we have some parishes that have mass in Spanish that have uh the a smaller, maybe Hispanic community that's part of the, and the goal is always that we're one parish, right?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're one church.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but um uh Father Johan Serrano, uh now responsible for the um the Spanish-speaking community, uh, and we say a prayer for Father Johan.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: His dad just passed away, and he's just gotten back from being with his family in Colombia and having the funeral of his dad.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Father Ruben Um Dario Castillo, uh, who had been serving in with uh um Father Um Raymundo in two parishes in Patterson, has been helping with the uh mission in Sussex.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I believe they had a mass last night for uh the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Pope John uh High School in Sussex.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh but Father Serrano um alone, Father Duboné Maria, Father Joaneda Garcia, a few others uh said it would be great uh that uh Our Lady of Guadalupe is certainly a feast for the Mexican community, but it's she's also the patroness of the Americas.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so many of our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters have a devotion to our Blessed Mother under many titles, right?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh every country has their own, and some have two or three.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: But uh but our lady of Guadalupe, and I again I think also for the immigrant community, again, uh, you know, St.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Patrick's Day sometimes they say became more of a celebration here in the United States than it was in Ireland because it was an opportunity for the immigrant community.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think of uh um the the uh the feast in New York City, the Italian feast.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what is the uh um there's a big feast.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh San Jero, San Janeiro, of course.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so different uh the beauty of our country with people coming to from they bring us their their and share that those cultural experiences.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: So our Lady of Guadalupe uh is um is such an important feast uh for the Mexican community, yes, for the immigrant community, it's part of our who we are as Catholics.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so um uh, but each parish that has uh a community would have their own celebration, especially on the night of the 11th and into the 12th.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: But uh we wanted to have an opportunity to come together as a diocese.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we did that this past Saturday at um at St.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Peter's, and I think you were both there, right?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh maybe we can talk a little bit about how how that went uh this past Saturday.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think it was the great experience uh for all of us uh that participated, not only in the Latino community, but uh the Anglo community.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: I think they were very excited to see uh the energy like you mentioned before.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if it was uh off record, but uh we were talking about that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh huh.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: And uh and I and I hope that you share that story with us.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was a great experience, but uh, I want to mention something very important, and it's the first diocesan celebration of Alario Guadalupe.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: And and the reason what I want to say that is because we received an invitation from uh Pope Francis uh to celebrate um nine years okay um do something special for the celebration of Lerio Guadalupe in preparation of the 500th anniversary of what we call the Guadalupe event, which is the apparitions of Ladio Guadalupe.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: And every year we should do something special.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't need to be in December because um many things happen in December, but something dedicated to her and for the people in general, the community to know um the story uh and the history behind the apparition.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: That beautiful phrase that I learned.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh no estoy aquí en su madre.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Am I not here who am your mother?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: When Juan Diego, after having met the the Blessed Mother twice and she asked him to go to the bishop and ask that he build a sanctuary and him asking for a sign, and then his uncle gets deathly sick, and the uncle wanted to um get a priest to go to confession to be anointed, and he sent Juan Diego, you know, had to go a distance, and uh he had across the mountain where he had met her.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, many I think know the story, but uh that third time he went, uh he went a different way because he was concerned about and there she was, and she said, Juanito, right?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not even Juan.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: The the that that yes, yes, uh uh uh am I not here or I'm your mother?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Your uncle's gonna be okay.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now go pick some flowers and bring them to the fish, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Sora I think it is important for us, uh uh, you know, as a diosist and community to keep in mind that um that uh you know the celebration of Lady Guadalupe is not only for the Latinos, it's just our mother is uh the start of the new evangelization.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Pope Francis, I think coming from Argentina, knows that experience for the Americas, right?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: For the older Americans.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's um I think it's gonna be we have a few years uh ahead of us to do something important until uh we celebrate the 500th anniversary in the year 2031.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Brian, you had a you brought your family to the Mass on Saturday.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: We were there on Saturday for St.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Peter the Apostle, and uh I brought my three boys and uh they they just found it to be very fun, very exciting.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: So it was a different place, different people, it was bilingual.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: The music was was very fun.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: So my boys, they they just kind of focused on looking at all the different stringed instruments.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think there was a mandolin.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it was.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: There was an electric guitar.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, why is the elect we were there we were there very early.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: They were like, why is the electric guitar on the floor?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody should pick that up and play it.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and they were just mesmerized with the whole thing.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: The the the flags coming in, all the different countries represented.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I was mostly just answering questions for them, but that's the point.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right, right.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it was it was a wonderful experience for us.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So and Father Johan made that effort to uh again, not only the Spanish-speaking community, but but many communities and and and all uh as as Pope Francis would say, told us, told us, told us that everybody was invited to uh be part of the celebration.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had a uh uh a choir from the cathedral at St.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: John's who uh led many of the songs in Spanish, but we also had a Filipino choir, and one of our Filipino priests, right, Father Cirillo, sang with them a uh Marian hymn after after communion.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: I noticed Father Cerillo halfway through the song in the choir.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: How did he get there?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty cool.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so yeah, it's just such a beautiful feast.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I had the chance to be at um Holy Trinity in Passaic, uh, Father Antonio Rodriguez.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they have a custom of a uh a procession and uh crowning of the image uh on the Sunday, I think before.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I was there this Sunday, and uh Father Antonio was announcing the schedule for uh the 11th and the 12th.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think they were starting around six with the rosary, then a mass at eight, I think a mass at midnight, uh a mass at five in the morning, and uh, I think a holy hour at three o'clock.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the parish I have been in Brooklyn and many parishes, they they remain open the whole night of the 11th, right?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: Because yes, because uh there is a custom for the um actually from Mexico that uh we have what is called uh serenata, is to serene.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: You serene uh someone that you love in the middle of the night.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: So there is a tradition in Mexico where uh day 11 uh they serenate our blessed mother and the face famous uh singers go there and mariachis and mariachis and everything.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: So that tradition was uh has been uh you know taken from uh from the from uh the our community and we serenate uh our blessed mother.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_03: Las manitas we call it, and the all the parishes know that they had to book the mariachi now because next year is no mariachis available.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: So in many parishes we have that the cathedral, my parish has the that uh the eleven, and it's it's it's a beautiful uh something that we wait for.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the beauty of our Catholic faith, how it becomes part of a culture and received by a culture and uh given a different flavor, you know, and uh and and it's all out of love for the Blessed Mother and for our Lord, and uh and a response to to her visit, right?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: She I've it was this it struck me, you know, that we could we can say with with Elizabeth, uh, who am I that the mother of my Lord would come to me, right?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she came to us here in the Americas through the Mexican people, but she came to all of the Americas.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and and so we have those customs and they're developed by uh by um uh uh um countries and uh and and passed on in families from one generation to the next story is told.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so Maria, you were mentioning uh in Colombia December 7th, right?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, every December 7th, um in in a few countries in Latin America we celebrate um the Immaculate Conception Fest.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh particularly in Colombia, we call the Noches de Velitas, which is the night of the little candles.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: And um the tradition comes from uh I think year 1850.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember the exact time uh date, a year, I'm sorry, but uh it was uh when Pope um Pius IX, I believe, he proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: So the the eve before December 8th, people in St.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: Peters Square were waiting for the Pope to say it is officially a dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and the people has candles and torches and everything.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that tradition was from Europe was moved to the Americas and Colombia really uh preserved that tradition.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's a beautiful celebration in our country, and we moved that here.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Basically, I will I had to mention that Ivania Vega was the one that started this year, and I remember she always said it's my favorite event of the year, because everybody, you know, uh participated, and you, Brian, has that experience.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: You participated in all Noches de Velitas when we were hosting that year.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, this part uh the past two years we moved to the Holy Face Monastery in Clifton to give the opportunity to the people in the Passake County to, you know, participate because of the distance.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: But uh it's a beautiful experience and uh has a lot of symbolism because uh we we have the candles uh to show that we are our tradition say that we show with that light, which is Christ, we show the way that Saint Joseph and our Blessed Mother when they walk through Bethlehem.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's one reason.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: And the other reason is that we uh light a candle uh for for asking for a grace from our mother, which is peace, health, unity.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what is a tradition where even if you are not a religious person, you take part of that because it's part of our our our need, you know, our spiritual need.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: So not just the velitas is a great event.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: And the moon and hot chocolate too, right?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we have hot chocolate and we have cookies.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's always so cold, and that hot chocolate on your hands.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: And the marshmallows and everything else.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: And I was thinking when in my way here that for the past two years, uh families, you know, families uh got involved in this event, uh uh, you know, uh for many reasons.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: They bring the kids, and so many families ask me, can I pray one uh, you know, can I do a prayer?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: Can I do something?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: And if you know, even uh the people that help to set up the the the place because we place candles, almost 200 candles in the in the ground and all that, and they say I want to be responsible for that.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: This past um event was raining the whole day, and I was amazed to see how the volunteers were uh you know helping and it's it's a beauty, right?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: No, absolutely not.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: And and that and that's the beauty of this.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: That became a uh family event, and I was so pleased to see my grandkids there.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: One of one of the my favorite parts of of uh welcoming Hispanic people to this diocese over the years is the incredible volunteerism.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: So as an evangelization staff, uh Joe knows this.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: We struggle helping Maria sometimes in her job because she always has so much help.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: So there's always this volunteer army helping out, and that's that's part of uh the culture that that's coming here that that must be appreciated.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: We uh in parishes that have Guadalupe, uh there's always that committee that's uh gonna be in the church uh a few days before getting the image ready and the the the flowers and and decorating the church.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, and and uh it's for for so many that's um uh they're not necessarily doing it for you and I, they're doing it for La Vietnam, they're doing it for the Blessed Mother.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: There, they're but they're happy to do what they can do for the church and for their their parish community as well or their diocese.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's it's wonderful to see.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: I I think we're blessed with that uh uh with the volunteers, Brian, and I'm glad you mentioned that because uh, like Abisho says, we take things like uh they belong to us.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: We we love what we do, and the people they want to uh be part of the events.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I keep in my mind, always the idea that we had to plan not for the people, with the people.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think when you are inclusive in that sense, people you empower the people.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: There are so many leaders and volunteers that want to have a role in the evangelization process, and we have to empower them to do that.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And one way, exactly.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And the segue, because uh leadership training and education.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so um volunteer catechists, right?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: But catechists need training.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, Marie, I know you've been involved in catechist training, but also um leadership training and uh the relationship that we've developed with St.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth's University, right?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the certificate program, if you can talk a little bit about that.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and I had to start saying that I am the result of one of those programs because I started at uh the pastoral certificate years ago.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to say the year, but it was many years ago.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: And later on I was inspired to go for my master's in St.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: Elizabeth University also, uh, thanks to the program that we have at the diocese.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: The diocese has uh um resources that is called Prepare the Way, which is for the formation of the uh ladies, right?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I was uh, you know, benefit from that.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: But uh with St.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: Elizabeth University for I will say maybe 15 years, I guess.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we have different certificates.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: But the one that we have right now for the past 10 years is what is called certificate in Catholic evangelization.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: And um we are grateful with the university as well as with the diocese because um I keep promoting this and doing marketing for it.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: Inspire people, please get involved.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, is that uh the university gave us a very, very low fee for semester.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: We have four credits each semester.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: We paid a minimum amount of for that, and you know, because you for you you also manage the the one with Siton Hall.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: And uh the leaders, uh the people benefit from uh a very good, good uh formation for also a minimum amount.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, Parish is supporting with, I believe,$65, and the students pay only$135.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason what I'm mentioning the amount is because it's a way to do marketing.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's easy and is uh something that uh people should take advantage of.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: And the formation is it's an integral formation, it's not only theological, it's just to live the reality of the of the church.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: And the beauty of uh of this program at the last semester is each student has to do a project based on the need of their parishes, which is a project um that is done together with the pastor.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_03: The pastor has to approve because that's the reason why the leader should be, you know, working in the parish.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing worse worse than forming a leader separate from the parish, and then the the leader is telling the pastor what to do.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but you know what?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: We notice that, and we what we do when we do the project is that we prepare like a contract.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: So the student has to present the ideas to the pastor, the pastor signed, and hey, he has to help them to develop the project.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: And it's been very helpful because sometimes the pastors um they are so busy that they don't know, they have no time to dedicate to a specific uh it's a true uh name.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's a setup for co-workmanship.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: So so lay people and priests working together towards a common goal is is a beautiful thing.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the relationships uh within the church and the larger, the local church, the larger church.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh St.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth's and Marie Maria also mentioned uh Seton Hall, both the university and the seminary, uh Immaculate Conception Seminary.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so Brian, your years here at St.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's and even Bishop Saratelli's vision of uh creating St.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's Center for New Evangelization.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm thinking of diaconate, the training of our candidates for the diaconate and um uh marriage encounter and uh and uh the young adult uh uh community that celebrated Christmas uh a little early this past Friday.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: You were with us.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being there.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um but maybe um uh some of the relationships both with uh St.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth's and Seton Hall and how that helps us to do some of the uh educational work and formation work that's done here at St.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think we're spoiled.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: So so I wonder how many dioceses in the United States has uh like this situation where we have relationships with two different universities.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: And uh when we think about what Jesus says, what what uh Jesus defines evangelization in Matthew 28.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: He says go, he says make disciples, uh, he says baptize them, and then he says teach them.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: So like that catechetical component to our faith is key in evangelization.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: So we have the College of St.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: Elizabeth, they can't be more supportive in our Hispanic certificate in Catholic evangelization.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: Dr.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: Gary Crosby, right, is the president now.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: And Dr.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: Santa Maria, I know is all right.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: Santa Maria is is uh we've had him here, he's great.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um so so it's just it's it's wonderful to have that resource right down the street.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: And Seton Hall started there.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's right.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Seton Hall started there.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was uh McQuaid.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: Coffee with Cupkey.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: It was McQuaid uh and and uh uh Bishop Bailey who who started that school, and then eventually they moved it to South Orange.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's how I get involved.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: We have the Macca Consumption Seminary at Semin at Seton Hall, and we have the English speaking certificate program.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: So these are rather small.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you think about it, we have these three-year cohorts, and there's only like 12 people in these cohorts, but we've been doing this.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: This is our fifth cohort.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: So now we have over 100 people in each language who have this certificate, and they're all in the different parishes.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: We have 107 parishes last time I checked, and now it seems like we have an average of like one per parish per language, and that's gonna continue to grow over time.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: And these are very well prepared, equipped lay people prepared to work with pastors to help with the mission of teaching in evangelization.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a it's a blessing, and again, we're grateful to both of the universities uh for their their support, their generosity.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh St.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth's has recently hosted uh our catechetical uh convocation in Spanish and our Audace and Youth Day as well.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, we're very grateful.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and now that uh you mentioned that as a few uh dioceses that has that type of program, now that I have the role at the regional level, I notice that all my colleagues in the Hispanic ministry uh they keep asking me, how do how do how do we get in touch with uh the university?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: What is the curriculum that you use?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_03: How do we provide that type of formation, because the quality of the formation to our leaders?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because uh in many parishes and in many dioceses we have programs, um simple programs.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: And in a way that I say simple is not is is not important, it's just the basic programs.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: But these type of uh formation.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: Well these are these are accredited, accredited, and and uh that's another thing that they receive formation without the benefit of having uh credits, which we told about.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I did the research.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: We spent a lot of time on this.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: There's no one no one else doing it.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: So our diocese is the is the only one.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, thanks be to God.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and again, certainly Bishop Saratelli uh uh had so much to do with that.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Father Manning and and so and it's the team.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh it's so important that we we work together as as you say, Brian.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that those that collaborative effort that uh uh that even in the synod, uh I think our holy father liked in in the Spanish uh part saying co-responsibilidad, right?
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: That um that we walk that journey together.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: And as Maria says, we don't plan for the people, but we plan with the people.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah, right, right, right.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so um we uh are grateful for uh your role, Maria, your leadership and uh on a regional level and I think on the national level also, right?
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and and I'm very happy to share this because this is the first time that our diocese is the voice of the region.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we like I say before, region uh three is Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: And also as a voice of the region, we I personally had the opportunity to work with uh different uh organizations at the national level and to bring the message not only to the region but also to share what we do in the Diocese of Patterson.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_03: They are amazed to see that we have that particular program.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I belong to a group of uh, in one of the organizations, it's the National Catholic Association of Directors of Hispanic Ministry, they have a team which is the called the formation team, and I am part of the team.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: And this idea is being analyzed by the board to see if we can copy exactly what we do in the Diocese of Paris at the national level, along with other universities.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_03: That Notre Dame wants to do the University of Miami.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, they want to be part of you know the formation.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: And this model is probably going to be used in the future for that.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: Even though with the yesterday I have a meeting with uh with the board and the bishops, the USCB as our organization to create a program to plan all the pastoral strategies because what we do here is really uh is it's good, like you say, it's really, really good.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: And we're happy to share, right?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_03: We are happy to share, absolutely.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of uh room for improvement, but we're on a very good track, right?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're very proud of what we're doing.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh may I I hope this isn't a change of subject, but when you were a pastor, you you were a pastor of a parish that was primarily English speaking.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: And and but but well it was once primarily English speaking.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, and and then a Spanish-speaking conglomerate started like coming, right?
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: And and you were dealing with basically at a parish level what's happening in our diocese as a whole right now.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is that true?
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, to a yes, yes.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a few pastors before me had dealt with that even more so.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I see, okay.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh in the neighborhood I was in in Santa Park in Brooklyn, but it was wonderful to see uh there were uh people from Puerto Rico who had been in that parish, you know, maybe 30 years, but they had come and they were the first ones, actually uh auxiliary bishop in uh in Brooklyn, uh once uh bishops Octavios Cisneros.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's retired now, but uh he was that was actually his first assignment, and uh uh he was there when the Spanish mass started, I think in the I want to say in the 80s, and uh then the next group that came to that neighborhood of community was uh from the Dominican Republic.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so uh actually um was wonderful in the parish that uh in um in uh no November we would celebrate Our Lady of Providencia, uh Our Lady of Providence, the patroness of Puerto Rico in December, uh, because after the Dominican community, the largest community then in my time there was the Mexican community.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: So uh there would even and for each of the uh these feasts there would be uh nine days novena of the rosary and other activities in prepare preparing for the big feast day and and big feast day mass.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so uh Our Lady of Providence in November, our Lady of Guadalupe in December, and then Our Lady of Altagracia, uh the patroness of the Dominican Republic.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so it was wonderful.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and and sometimes I think it's been said, but uh, you know, when we think of the Hispanic community, yes, there's a common language, but there's so many different countries and cultures.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're not uh everybody's not the same.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh, but uh it was I was at the cathedral last night uh for the mass, and Monsignor Gino mentioned uh it wasn't only the Mexican community at the community at the Mass for Guadalupe, it was the parish community with people from Peru and Colombia and all in many different countries, Dominican Republic, and uh, but all there celebrating together.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that was my experience as a pastor.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: One of the great blessings was really to see that, and the parish council would, each of those groups would be represented.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and when one group was celebrating, all the groups were there uh in solidarity.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh um, so uh I hope that uh there's the and I believe there is, you're right, Brian, similarity in what's been happening on the national level.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it was for me in as a pastor in Brooklyn and now as a bishop here in the diocese to see um how how that uh we walk that journey together as as um brothers and sisters in the faith, and and uh and we can you know uh speak different languages, but we can find a way to communicate and share what we have and realize that we have a lot to share with one another.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta ask one more question.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_02: I know, sorry.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: So uh where you're you're Irish.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: So how did you get so good at Spanish?
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like was it was it when you were made pastor of that parish you felt the need?
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, it started when I was in the seminary.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh and and really the answer to the question is with God's help, because I I took two Spanish classes in college and didn't do too well.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: I took French in high school.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it's we I always say it's the people of God.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: The uh when I went to the seminary and to a uh pastoral year between my second and third year of theology, that was my first experience.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: Poco a poco, they taught me little by later.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: Later by later, yes.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that was uh 1994, 95, and really it was working at it.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: My first assignment was one mass in Spanish on the weekend and five in English.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: My second parish was eleven mass on the weekend and eight in Spanish, and that was uh a very um uh uh largely Hispanic community.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started as vocation director and used it uh Spanish.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: But um So you weren't just learning Spanish, you were working really hard.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a lot of masses.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there were a few preachers.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it would be uh it's it's it's been a great blessing for me to um and when I one of the times I went to the Dominican Republic to study Spanish, there was wonderful bishop, Bishop Camilo of La Vega.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he introduced me after mass, and I said something, you know, I'm here, I'm just uh I said a few words, I said, I'm here to learn to learn the language.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um I said, I'm here to learn the language, you know, to study the language.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: And after the uh mass and the sacristy, he said, you know, that was great.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: He said, that was really good.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: He said, but when you say you're here to study language, don't say you're here to study language.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: Say you're here to get to know the people and to get to know the culture.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh and learning the language is one thing, knowing uh learning about another culture and people is is another thing.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's um you said you had an experience in Nicaragua with uh Noche de Velitas.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so so in Nicaragua they call it uh the purissima.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: Purissima.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, puris.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ave Maria, ave ave there's a beautiful phrase, Ave Maria Purisima.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Purissima Sin pecado concebida.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um so in in uh the song there that everybody knows is Tu Gloria, to gloria, gozoso este dia, olduce Maria Publica Mivos.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, and uh and they sing that for uh for a whole night, they don't go to sleep, and uh it's it's the end of a novena.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: So they it's a nine-day celebration.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: And the whole country shuts down, the schools are closed, and uh I mean there's a lot of tough things going on in Nicaragua right now.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: But we pray for that.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: It is a very faithful country.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the church is being persecuted right now.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_02: I know, I know.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: The the level of devotion of the people is is hard for an American to understand.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: You just have to be there to understand.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: But the the uh some families host and and strangers just come through the house and and there's music, and you give out treats, and uh and then and then maybe you you'll shut down for an hour and do the same thing, go visit other people's houses.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: So basically, uh everybody from your town is in each other's houses.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's a it's an incredible festival.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_02: Food, lights, music, no one's sleeping, fireworks.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: I know, I know, Ramba.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you ever had the opportunity to uh read a book called The Gaspello Solentinami.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_03: Solentinamis are in small little islands in the Lake of Nicaragua.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: And when the problem started with the persecution of the of the faith in Nicaragua started, many people to preserve the faith, they moved to the little island.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and if you visit, I had the opportunity to visit that.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_03: When you visit the little island, you see the small houses painted uh like they were churches.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: They painted with different colors.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_03: People want to worship there and to protect their faith there.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: It's a beautiful um you should read.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember the author of that uh book, but I'll check it out.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm interested too.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: The Gospel of Salentinami, it's a beautiful, uh it's a beautiful uh testimony of how you preserve the faith.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: And even now, you know, Nicaragua has a lot of problems, uh especially the persecution and all that, but uh it is something is very inspiring.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: And going back to what you say, Bishop, about uh what the bishop in the Dominican Republic told you, um, I think it's important uh that we when we do pastoral ministry for um pastoral for Hispanic ministry, that is not only about the language.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I think you heard me saying that a couple of times is not to know the language.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: You need to know the culture because it's the only way that you can identify with the needs.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I believe you had to, when you do pastoral work, you had to find the people where they are.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and know about their experience.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: They're about their experience and uh and uh honor their tradition.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_03: And this is the way that we enrich ourselves.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, when I came to this country, my parents was San Antonio Padre, I think I mentioned that before.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: And what I got out of that community that has all kinds of cultures was to know about our lady of Providence.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I knew about our lady of Guadalupe, but I never knew you know what everything about it.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: Simbangabi.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: Simbangabi, you know, the Filipino tradition.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Sabulon, right?
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_03: The Sabulon tradition, which is uh Easter or the Easter Sunday, the Our Lady of uh uh you know from um from Argentina, from Colombia.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody mentioned to me today that uh there's apparently a custom in maybe Sicily uh on the Feast of St.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: Lucie to make rice balls.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the rice balls, exactly.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: So and then you learn not only not only about the tradition, but the food.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_03: There we go.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Maria.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we can have a part two.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: We can come back and uh and and and and and continue some of these conversations, but uh I want to be conscious of time and uh thank you, Brian.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: Father Dubernay.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Father Young's on uh uh jury civic duty uh um great.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: May I just uh plug the DMA quickly?
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: So in the Diocese of Patterson, we're conduct conducting the diocesan ministry's appeal, which supports very important things, including Catholic charities, seminary and formation, Catholic urban education, the health care of our senior priests, and many more things.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_02: So please consider supporting that.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_02: And you've been very generous.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, people have been great, and we still, yes, it's not too late exactly.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: So the way to do that would be would be to visit 2023appeal.org.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: And we just want to thank the audience for listening today, spending time with us, join us for the next episode of Beyond the Beacon.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: Please subscribe, give us a positive rating, and consider writing a review.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Email questions and podcast topics to the bishop to beond at patternsondiocese.org.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're on Facebook and Instagram, Beyond the Beacon.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_02: Please uh follow us.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Maria, for being with us.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, Brighton, for sticking in.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh uh Jay, thanks you as well.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so uh we'll uh look forward to having him back.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh but great being here at St.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's and uh thanks for the conversation.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for the opportunity.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: God bless