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34: Powerhouse fundraiser and Catholic school principal join the bishop · Beyond The Beacon

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jay Agnish, Communications Director for the Diocese and editor of the Beacon newspaper.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: With me is Bishop Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Bishop Kevin, how are you?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: How's good, Jay?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Doing good.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing well, thanks.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Related, happy Thanksgiving.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Same to you.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And how was your your time?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you got some time off.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, and time with family really on both Thursday afternoon and uh and then Saturday some cousins were together.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: So great.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, it was wonderful.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: You were in Queens or Queens on Thursday and then Hoboken, my I have a cousin who grew up in Jersey, but uh she lives in Manhasset.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: She was one of six that grew up.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: My mom's brother raised six kids in New Brunswick, and they tons of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and uh she does a great job of getting everybody together, usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: She often had it at her house, but they picked place in Hoboken uh this uh past Saturday, so it was great.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you were out and about in our in our diocese celebrating Mass.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know you had a Thanksgiving Day Mass, and can you tell us about that?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: St.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Simon in Green Pond, yes, Father Rich Bay uh up in the country as it feels like, but a beautiful, beautiful uh uh church and community, and I've been there the last couple of years now.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Father Bay's made the invitation, and uh the day before um uh or on Tuesday, uh I visited the Father English um uh food pantry and they were giving out meals, and that was uh and then Monsignor Gino and his team were giving out turkeys literally on the sidewalk outside of the cathedral with a tent and uh that's just amazing.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was so great.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right, right.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get too much further, I want to introduce our guests.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So to my left here is Lelia Pappas, who is the principal of the Academy of St.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: James of the Marches in Totawa.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Across the way from me is Prudence Piggott.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's the president of the Tri-County Scholarship Fund.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be talking about the Scholarship Fund and Catholic school education.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but before we get to all that, I'm gonna ask if you can open up in uh prayer, Bishop.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: As uh these last days of um the church year, the calendar year of this upcoming Saturday, we'll start a new season of Advent.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh hard to believe, but uh one day at a time.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And as we'll be talking today about Catholic education and generosity of so many uh who help our families and parents uh send their children to Catholic schools, um, we'll place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and we'll pray for all families, our own families and parents as the first educators, their children, all those who support families and and support and um serve in our Catholic schools, and we'll ask the help and intercession of Mary, our blessed mother, as we pray.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Saint Joseph, pray for us, pray for us, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: All holy men and women, pray for us.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Pray for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, Bishop, I I wonder if you could maybe kick us off.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, not too long ago, right, there was a gala which uh the Tri-County Scholarship Fund put together that you attended, and maybe you can you set the context a little bit.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: The uh second in-person, uh the uh Legacy Castle, right?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh which was uh last year was a uh a move, right?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_04: Because you had to We were so oversubscribed, we had so many guests we had to move to a new location.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: So uh in coming into the diocese and learning many things and meeting many people, uh remember uh my in the summer, my first month or two, uh I remember meeting Prudence and she came in with some of the board members and uh I started to learn about Tri-County, which um Bishop Rodimer a little over 40 years ago, right, with Ed Hennessy and uh a few other people in business founded this wonderful group called Tri-County Scholarship, which I've been wanting to share on here on the podcast uh uh to see how uh Prudence, especially and her leadership and with the help of others, um, supports our Catholic schools, like principals like Ms.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Pappas.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we're so grateful for the work that's done.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so my first two gallers were virtual, and uh you guys did a great job uh switching in those difficult times, and uh were able to still raise the money as prudence would say.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: We still need these scholarships.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So uh uh seeing those and having student speakers and having heard about student speakers and the size of the um gallers that Tri County would have and uh to see uh last year, I think 800 and this year 900 or something or 700 and 800.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and um and uh when this past month when uh being at the gala, I thought and I said to Jay, we have to have uh Prudence and one of our principals uh on the on the podcast to uh to share some of the good news.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Prudence, maybe you can tell us a little bit about Tri County and and your role there.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: Well, thank you.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: And of course, we're grateful to you, Bishop, for joining our board.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to it's a privilege.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_04: That is it's a big help to have you there.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_04: It really is.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_04: So and we always have a great showing from the diocese and principals and leaders.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_04: So many of our partner schools are in this diocese, so that's how it started.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: Bishop Redimer and Ed Hennessy, who was a leading businessman at the time and went on to become CEO of Allied Signal, which became Honeywell, um, they really saw that there were kids that wanted to go to Catholic school in Patterson, which is where this started, but they were just short that little bit of money.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_04: And these were people that were working but had very modest financial resources, and to pay the full tuition was sometimes too much, and they were not given the option then to go to a wonderful Catholic school.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_04: And then there were empty seats in those schools.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_04: So like Ed said, a problem that's solvable with money is a solvable problem.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: So he set his mind to it, and he was a real mover and a shaker and uh.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: I remember hearing stories of Ed and Bishop Rodimer going around to visit different uh businesses.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_04: It's interesting because there are other scholarship granting organizations like ours around the country, and I get to talk with them and meet with them too.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_04: And they're always kind of astonished that we have so many businesses and so many companies, because that's not always easy to pull in.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_04: But Ed started that as kind of the founding idea that companies would want a well-educated population of people that could become employed in the area and be raised properly to be great citizens and want to stay in the area.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_04: So it's in the corporate interest as well.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_04: And we find that now, you know, a term that's bantered around quite a bit.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_04: Companies are evaluated in this thing called ESG, environment, social, and governance.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_04: And the S, the social part of it, is very much consistent with the Tri-County mission.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_04: You want, in this case, for companies to do things that have meaning and significance to help the underserved within your own community.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_04: And so, what better than to help young people and children get a quality education at a safe and nurturing school where they can acquire the values that make them exactly the type of people that you would want to ultimately hire?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that leads to um help for many of our Catholic schools in the diocese, and I know schools in other places as well, and we can talk even a little bit about some of the help for the high school students, but um uh Ms.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Popter's being with us can give testimony to the impact that Tri-County has uh on uh on St.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: James Academy in total.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_05: Well it's we probably in this isn't an understatement, but we probably wouldn't be here without it.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_05: It's quite simple.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_05: Um our tuition is about six thousand dollars, and that's just very out of reach.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_05: And so the individual student support that Tri-County gives to us.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_05: But it's it's a two-way street because the kids love it when you guys come in, you know, the the benefactors come in, they they love that we're they're just in the middle of making Christmas cards.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I know you have a whole thing, but we're we're sending it.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_05: Never turn that ways.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well, and but they love doing that, and I think that there is an understanding, too, of the importance of service, and they need to learn that.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um so it it's really been such a positive, positive force.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_04: I remember one of my first school visits to Academy of St.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_04: James.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: So we have several elementary schools and we have high schools.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: About half our kids are in high school, and this year we have 840.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: As many as half are in high school, about half of them are high school because there's a great demand in high school as the tuition goes up.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: So we try to make sure that we answer that demand.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: It's very much a supply and demand thing.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: But my first visit to Academy of St.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_04: James, and you know, in the back of your mind, you're always thinking, I love these kids.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: How can we help them?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: We don't want to let any of them down.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we just have to keep keep making, getting the word out, getting people to join what we're doing.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_04: And you meet them and you just all you want to do is help them.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_04: And this little boy walked up to me during your assembly.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_04: I remember during your assembly, and they're all kind of with their backpacks and they're kind of getting settled in.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_04: And he comes swaggering up to me, and maybe he was four feet tall, and he said, Mrs.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_04: Piggott, we won't let you down.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_04: And I thought, let you let me down.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: I don't want to let you down.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_04: But that's the spirit that these kids have.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_04: They feel um an attitude of gratitude, but they understand what this education means.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_04: They really do.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's astonishing.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it struck me being at the gala um last month, uh, and it's interesting to see how things have changed coming out of COVID.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh many of the galas and uh will have more video now, right?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because they were done virtually.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: But then again, there's nothing like uh an in-person uh and hearing the speaker, which we did, which I'll ask you to mention.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: But uh the the video of the St.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: James students, uh uh I think I was we were sitting at the same table next to each other.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: I believe we were.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and seeing that come up uh must have felt great for you.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: And just I think anybody in the room seeing those those kids and and hearing about the impact, I'm I'm I'm sure that was wonderful as principal, right?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_05: For you, definitely.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_05: I because it's not an easy job being a principal, and I think all the Catholic school principals would agree with me, but that ability to let your students shine and get that sense of personal self-worth and understand that there are people that truly care about them, that are out there fighting for them, supporting them, it's it's just um it's very moving.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_04: And I think for our donors, and I mentioned about corporate donors, but about half of our donors are individuals as well, and they're so generous.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_04: I think that when you meet a student that needs a little help and you have a chance to visit the school, or you see them on a video or you you know you meet them at one of our events, what really strikes you is how exactly the same they are as your own children or grandchildren, the things they want for their lives, the sweet, adorable things they say, the things they care about, the friends they want to make, the people they want to be.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then to see them mature.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it I remember last year the student speaker, she I think was a student at Mary Help, and uh she very difficult family situation.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: She was the oldest of siblings, and she was now she would be like cooking for her siblings, and she was preparing to go off to college, uh, and but she was getting her younger siblings ready basically to take care of themselves for what she had been doing.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, her mother got very, very sick, she got a brain tumor, and they lived in a third-story walk-up in Patterson.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_04: They actually had been assisted by Oasis for a while, so their situation had been even more desperate for a while.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_04: The mother with the illness couldn't navigate the walk-up anymore.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_04: So the mother was being cared for by another relative across town.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_04: And this high school student was caring for three younger brothers, doing all the meals, getting them ready for school, getting them in their homework.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, going to the parent teacher conference, everything.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_04: And thankfully her mother recovered and her mother came to the dinner and was so proud of her.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_04: She got a full ride, by the way.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_04: She's in Washington, D.C.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_04: at American University.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then this year's speaker, um, young boy uh uh who talked about his dad coming first from Columbia, who had a professional uh doctor or something in uh uh engineer, I forget, but uh and came here and worked many jobs and was able to bring his mom and him, and then uh somehow they got him into St.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Gerard's and the relationship that even uh yourself, prudence and uh Tri-County uh helps between the schools because I remember and and Father Michael uh Tid the uh was honored uh uh head master of Delbarton, and to hear him say, I said to Sister Joanne, the principal at St.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: send me one of your best.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And this boy uh has been commuting from Patterson to uh Delbarton for the last four years and now ready to go to college, right?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: But as he spoke about the help that he had and what it meant to him to get that help from Tri County.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Julian Asorio, he's a very wonderful and extraordinary young man.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_04: Um but yes, he had the privilege of going to St.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: Gerard's with the help of one of our scholarships from kindergarten.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_04: And he is a very smart and resilient and humble.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_04: And oh, I just think the world of him.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_04: And Sister Joanne, who held him in very high regard, it she knew it would take a special kid to get 40 minutes in a car to go to Morristown every day.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: But she felt that he would have the aptitude and interest to do that.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_04: And then he visited and he wanted to, and they all wanted him to come.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: But the money again and so And to hear him speak about the community at Del Barton, the school community, how he was received and never made to feel on outsider, right?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, no, no, that's that's all part of the brotherhood.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_04: And uh I think what our parents, and you know this, Lee, you know, what they're looking for is more than the quality academics.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_04: What they're really looking for is an environment where the values of the students and the teachers are the values they want their children to grow up with.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_04: And that's why our parents will work multiple jobs.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so many of them are single parents.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_04: They could be stocking grocery store shelves at night and you know, doing heavy physical labor during the day.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: Or um, but they will do this in order to pay their portion of the tuition so that their children can have this opportunity.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_04: So it's the values that they're striving for for their kids, and they want their children to internalize those.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_04: So that exists at account of the I know Bart.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_05: I probably really have to reiterate that because I think at the end of the day, it's the education of the whole child and the infusion in just about everything of faith and uh the kindness and things that sometimes we're not seeing in the world as much as we'd like to.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: In your case, uh the involvement of uh the priests in the parish, in the power school, right?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Father Mancini and Father Joey.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_05: Father Burke and Father Joey, yeah.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_05: And Father Joey is now at DePaul, too.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_05: So it's one of our really giving it a dose.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_05: But I uh it's just it's overwhelming to see, like we're gonna have a Christmas concert, and it's gonna be great to see these families come in and be so proud of their kids.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_05: And trust me, I don't know what this thing is gonna look like by the time it's done.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_05: We'll be wonderful.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: Those make the best Christmas concerts again.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean it's no idea what's going on.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_05: It's only 12 days away, and I'm not at all concerned about that.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_05: But i it the smiles on the faces of the parents that they know that they're getting what they really want them to get besides academic.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think you were gonna talk about a family or uh uh that um has been helped by Tri-County, right?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right, we do.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_05: We have a family, and they have it's three boys, and now the last boy is at DePaul.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_05: But their first son was a Tri-County uh scholar, and he he was a presidential one.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, freedom.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_04: And they get a little more money if they get if they maintain a B average uh GPA in high school.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_05: He graduated from DePaul and then he went through Rutgers, and I think he was supported a bit even through Rutgers.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_05: And now he's he's studying, he's gonna be a doctor.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_05: And their second son, it's a very bright, wonderful Jamaican family, but uh they just have really needed the help.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_05: Trying to pay the bills, right?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_05: And now their second son, is it Stevens, I think?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, engineer.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_05: He's and then their last, Ethan, is uh freshman at DePaul.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_05: And so all of them, and he's also a freedom scholar.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: So but um Yeah, the impact of the Tri-County Scholarship Fund runs runs deep as there's a profound impact from what you're what you're saying.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder, like, how um spread out is the giving that comes from Tri-County in our diocese?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Is it with all of our schools, most of our schools?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_04: Or um it's pretty much all the schools.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_04: So this year we have 58 partner schools.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um most of them are diocesan schools, um, but we have some Christian schools as well, and we have a couple of Jewish academies as well.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_04: So basically the idea is of values-based education, right?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_04: And we have um Ukrainian Catholic schools as well, yeah, plus Ukrainian.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_04: They were added yesterday, which was yeah, and that was a big deal that you also endorsed that.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um and those children came with nothing, with their mothers on a backpack.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, right.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: We have a school in Passaic, right?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, right.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_04: They had to leave the fathers behind.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, can you imagine?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, they were really traumatized, you know, they they were going under desks when they heard a loud noise.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_04: And um so we what's so nice about our organization is we get to know the situation of each student.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_04: And we can step outside the lines a little bit.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_04: Our typical scholarship is this year it's gonna go up a little bit.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: For elementary school, 2,250.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_04: Which is about the third of most of our elementary school tuitions.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: And then for high school, it's usually$4,000 with this extra$1,000 freedom scholarship for a high school student who achieves a B or better GPA, which is a huge deal when you also have adult responsibilities in the home and you might have to work and on the weekends.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_04: To get a B GPA is a big deal, and we should recognize that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_04: So we do.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_04: But there are times where some people need a little bit more, in the case of the Ukrainian children, where they arrive with nothing and their mothers didn't even have jobs yet.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_04: So what I love about what we do and our board and our supporters is they want to be responsive to these situations.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_04: We never try to be one size fits all because the individual child is not one size fits all.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_04: What our board wants to do is be there for somebody in need, and there's nothing that separates any of us from being comfortable or being in need.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_04: So they they all know that, and they want to be there for the emergency situations as well.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the generosity is so inspiring for the people on the board and the other donors.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and we get to know some of them, you know, as individuals, and um they have means, but they they just uh are so willing to to share and to help others.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think they see um the way that it's done at Tri-County, uh and and they're even then more responsive, right?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because uh they know that the their their donations are going directly to help these families and kids in tough situations.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_04: They really are.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, we are also some of our supporters are very far away.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_04: We have a a high, what's called a high charity navigator rating, the highest one, which means that we operate efficiently.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_04: And we actually get donate uh donations sometimes from like engineers at Apple and Cupertina.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're just I want to give to education, they're on their computer.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, there's a highly rated cause in New Jersey.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I'm in, you know.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_04: So you do want to uh operate efficiently and to make sure that you know the money goes to the people that you're trying.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's very, very, very important, right?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: People donors want to know that they're not just giving, but giving well.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_04: But the added thing is when you get to meet kids, when you get to go to the schools, when you see them at the events, we had a number of the kids greeting the uh guests coming to the galaxy.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right, right.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_04: After the gala, everybody said that was their favorite part.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm like, well, what about me?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_04: You didn't get that talk about the tents.
• 21:24
  unknown: How would I know that?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I think there's something to be said too that you have a very small crew.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah it's you're not an organization that is 55 layers.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_05: You call and you get you, Mike, maybe Jody.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_05: It it's such a tight-knit, effective group on top of everything else.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_04: And our board members really pull their way too.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, but they do.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_05: But if you have a question, you know you're gonna get an answer.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_05: And it's I'm not calling a building trying to get 15 people to agree.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's not a big bureaucracy.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_04: We also this year we hired Gabby Gomez, who was born in Mexico and speaks Spanish fluently.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_04: And that's been very helpful since just by nature of the demographics of poverty, the center of what we do kind of emanates from the Patterson area, and there's a large Spanish-speaking uh community here.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_04: So that's been very, very helpful uh because Gabby can reach out directly to the parents and um answer their questions and uh help attract them to some of our events where we want children to come and that type of thing.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: So speaking of contacting you, how can people do that?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know I know you have a website obviously at tcsfund.org.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_04: That would be great.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: And uh say you I And the office is a little bit, right?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_04: We're in Mendon.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_04: We actually had the building donated to us by one of our benefactors who gave us the building.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_04: So another nice, wonderful low overhead moment.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_05: It just keeps coming.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's very exciting.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know, but here's the thing.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: We have still have sixteen hundred children on the waiting list.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: So so this year we have 840 young people, kindergarten through twelfth grade that were.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: That was interesting.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: The uh the number of attendees at the don at the at the gala was almost the same number.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I know.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was one student being helped by every step.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_04: I mean I think that's pretty impressive.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_04: That's a big group of people that we're helping.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_04: So I do feel very exhilarated by that.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_04: And I think people feel, I don't know, a sense of fulfillment from that.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_04: But you can't stop when you know there's 1,600 more children, and there are still seats in these schools.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_04: We can still challenges.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_04: We so I, you know, people say there's so many overwhelming problems that our world faces.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_04: But giving kids a quality education and giving them the same opportunity that any of our children would also want, that's something that we can do.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_04: That's not, you know, current cancer, right?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or you know, at the same time, uh somebody's gotta do it and somebody's gonna pick up their phone or you know, uh uh go on the website or and and so many do it and um so many do it as uh part of who they are as a as a person of faith.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: You were saying, Prudence, uh you were not always in this work that you had a business career beforehand and were a mom raising her uh children, right?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what got you how did you end up at uh uh Tri-County?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, I think it start with a gala?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_04: Well, no, it didn't.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I grew up in California and there aren't as many Catholic schools in California.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_04: So I didn't have the opportunity to go to Catholic school, but I got a great education and I ended up back here, and I did, I worked for an ad agency, I worked on Wall Street for a while.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, both of those jobs really what all you do is talk to people.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_04: That's well.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_04: It's the same thing I do now.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's talk to people building relationships, building relationships.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, and but then I had my own children, and they, you know, were I feel uh blessed to get to go to some great Catholic schools around here, including Delbarton, Oak Knoll, and Summit.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I could see the difference for my own children, and um I could see the friendships they forged with the teachers and with the people that will be their friends for life, and the values that that were in common and supported.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't just coming from me, right?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was coming from And then the Lord directed you to attend the Tri-County event.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_04: Then the Lord said, Yes, go to this Tri-County Gala.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_04: Abbott Giles, who was headmaster of Del Barton at the time, uh, was being honored, and I wanted to come out in support of him.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_04: So I think I sat in the way far corner.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't go with anybody, uh sit at anybody's table, but I was very moved.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_04: And I walked up to, I think, Mike Mund after, and I said, I want to get more involved with this.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_04: And they quickly wrote my name together, saying the main point, Mike would be good, he'd be out of his pet.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_04: So then I got involved as a board member, and I did that for about three years.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: And then our director, our president, was moving on to a different position, and we didn't have somebody in his job, and it was coming up on the gala, and so I had running around.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_04: The Lord works in mysterious ways.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_04: I had done fundraising for Delparton and for my kids' schools and things like that.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_04: So I knew how to run events, and so I said, hey, I'll I'll do this, and but then I didn't want to stop doing it.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_04: I really enjoyed it.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the board said, we want you, right?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, right.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_04: So that was about seven years ago.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: And Ms.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Popp is how many years in Catholic education?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I was four at Blessed Sacrament.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_05: I taught at Pope John.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_05: My children all went there.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_05: That was six, and now this is I'm in seven, I think, my seventh year.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_05: So seventeen.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_05: That's great.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_05: I had breaks in between.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean, not.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_05: I went to the Archdiocese to Koyony Academy.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_05: I was there for four years too.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_05: So it's been a long time.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_04: Did we meet?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_04: Did you come into the Tri-County office or did I meet you at your school?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're saying you were when you were at Blessed Sacrament, you were spent the summer getting ready for a Tri-County Gollies.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_05: I I did three dinners.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_05: It was Tim Duffy, me, uh Roped on the committee.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Minnie Simon, and we're we're in their time.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, oh my God, what are these people doing?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_05: I'm just a Catholic school principal.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_05: It was great.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_05: It was great.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_04: Met wonderful people, and from there we just at uh we used to have it a little over.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_04: Over on in Parsippany.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I think you came into the office.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_05: Because I knew Gregory Floyd and I knew Tim and worked with them for a bit.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_05: But your dynamic personality grew to us.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_05: Well I was gonna say you're uh powerhouse, you know, and it's it's really impacted Tri-County.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you you guys have grown significantly, and that's just a wonderful thing.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe say another word, excuse me, about the uh the the school community at at St.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_05: James and Well, I mean, we just have 175 kids, 172, I guess.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_05: It's awesome.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_05: It's small.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_05: And as I said to Bishop Sweeney uh at one point, Catholic education is needed now more than ever.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it the world is very uh challenging to students who uh struggle.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, you know, because of social media, there's so much more aware of it.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_05: Like I grew up very in a very ordinary home, but we didn't have to get on a phone and look and see, oh my God, Barbie.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_05: So the need for these kids to feel supported and loved is just very crucial.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_05: And we can provide that to them, and all Catholic education can.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I just think more than ever we need to be supporting these causes that we believe in that uh helping the future of the Yes, the future of our world.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll tell you the thing that strikes me every time I go into your school and our other schools, but in particular your school, there's so much joy there.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_04: The things on the wall are joyful.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_04: The people the children are laughing and smiling, Lee's laughing and smiling.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's a happy, fun, joyful, upbeat place.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: They need that.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_05: They need that, they're not seeing that anywhere else.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they get to pray in in class and they do.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: We go to church every week.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_05: In fact, this week, believe it or not, we're going twice because it was the feast of St.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_05: James of the Marches.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's right.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_05: So we had a whole little celebration and there'll be a picture in the uh beacon picture.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_05: And uh we always go every Thursday.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_04: So it's when you think of childhood, children start hopeful and innocent and trusting and believing that the world is can be theirs, right?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_04: And if you get to go to a quality school like St.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: James, you keep that attitude.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_04: You keep that attitude, like I can do this.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_04: The world is a hopeful, bright place.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: You reminding me of uh you mentioned Pope John and and what uh what it means to give hope, right?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um uh the family that the the young guy um football player, uh the the the the uh is it Rwanda?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh right?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they all have names that have to do with peace.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes, the young man that we featured, he's a senior this year, and he told the story that we recorded out at our partner school, Pope John.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_04: His mother escaped from the genocide in Rwanda.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: And her older two had already been born.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but he was the first one to be born in this country, and she went on, she's had six children.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_04: It's a single parent household now, and she does this on her own, which is amazing.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_04: But she I I think of her as a beacon in a way because she named her children each a different word for peace.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_04: So here's this young man named Shalom, you know, which is a Jewish word for peace, and he's Catholic and he's at Pope John, and I just love that.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: And he couldn't be there.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: Is that the one that couldn't be there because he was Because he was at a recruitment trip.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: A college visit.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_04: They gave him a airplane flight out.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I think he has a sister named Pucks, and his older uh younger brother is named actually Peacemaker.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_04: She named him Peacemaker.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I just think it's a very few African uh uh language dialects, right?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's right, that's right.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_04: But he's um such an impressive and articulate.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, he'll be he'll have a lot of college offers.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_04: And so this is the thing there's loads of money out there for college.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_04: And that's because the federal government gives money to colleges that have first-generation college students.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_04: So that's not the problem.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_04: The problem is getting them through elementary school and high school.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: In our Catholic schools.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_04: So if people are looking to make an impact, great, give to your college, whatever.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_04: It'll probably go build another yogurt bar or something.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_05: Now prudence.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know, I'd be careful.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_05: I got everything wrong with having a yogurt.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_04: No, it's fine.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_04: But but then think about making a bigger impact.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, definitely.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_04: With children that just a little money will get them into a quality school or let them stay at a quality school.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_04: And then they'll be in high school and their shoulders will be back, and they'll be confident and they'll be smiling, and they'll believe that this is for them too.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_04: This world is for them too.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'll look to give back uh one of the things that you do, which is wonderful.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you bring back some of the alumni, right?
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: That to them they're from in the business or at at college, and they do a little video that's presented at the gala, right?
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: They all are going on to do amazing things.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Lee told me this once.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_04: She said, be careful how you use the word success, right?
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_04: Because one person's success isn't another person's success.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_04: But I'll what I will say is they are all pursuing their dreams and they're all doing way more than they ever would have been able to do if they hadn't gotten the same thing.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: And they've heard the message you can do it, right?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_04: They have a hope in the world around them.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_04: They're not cynical, right?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: They get to keep that earnest quality of confidence and belief that there's a lot of people.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Someone who didn't know them was concerned about them and gave them hope.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Gave them hope.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: That hope is pretty big.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: So 35,000 graduates um in the last 42 years.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: 35,000.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_05: I mean it's really exciting.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_05: It's mind-boggling.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_05: It's mind-boggling.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_05: Because it's changed the world.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_05: There's no way when you've got all those people that it hasn't changed the world.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_05: And we have to believe in that.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_04: Do you have time for one more story?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um Tim Duffy tells the story at one of our gallas, and this might be the best gala story.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_04: The young man was uh who was our student speaker, we always have a student speaker, Matthew Fung.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_04: He got up and he wasn't like a brilliant kid, but wasn't uh that good at public speaking.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_04: And so Tim had really coached him.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_04: And he got up to give his remarks, and he starts out with the most important and best day in my life is when I went out for the uh baseball team.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_04: I think it was Patterson Catholic, and the baseball, I have not coordinated the baseball hit me in the eye.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_04: So the whole room is like, What?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_04: What how could this be good?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_04: Little did I know that a couple hours later I'd be at the hospital and it wasn't just my eye that was the problem.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_04: There was a brain tumor behind my eye.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_04: And that was when he was a freshman or sophomore.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_04: And at that point, while the parents were able to afford him beginning there, they could no longer, there was a series of medical things, and they needed help, and Tri-County stepped in and he got the Tri-County scholarship.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_04: And he was talking about how he was over the cancer, the tumor was behind him, how grateful he was to Tri-County was graduating with great grades, and he wanted to go to Rutgers and he wanted to become a rocket scientist.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we were also honoring that night the athletic director of Rutgers University.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_04: So there were a lot of Rutgers people in the room, and the admissions director was in the back.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_04: And as Matthew Fung finished his remarks, this man stood up in the back and said, Matthew Fung, you are hereby awarded a full ride to Rutgers University.
• 35:03
  unknown: Oh wow.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_04: That actually happened.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_04: The Lord truly does look at the most interesting.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: But it wasn't scripted.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't scripted.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_04: But amazing, great stories like that happened all the time.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, when people become aware of the need and do their bit.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_04: It's really such an opportunity.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: For us, for all of us.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_04: Today is a great opportunity.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's very few.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: So how do we um we kind of started getting into this a little bit?
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: So if I'm a family that needs assistance, if I'm a donor that wants to get involved.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_04: So the families know that we have a scholarship deadline that coincides with enrolling for the schools.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_04: So it comes up pretty quickly because they're all applying to the schools probably in the Trevor Burrus.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have Catholic Schools Week, right?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, inside James.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's around the corner.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_04: And then our application is due February, but we always you can't put uh financial need on a time frame.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_04: So we hold on to money and we look at those applications pretty much throughout the year.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but that is kind of the magic time of the year.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_04: People will be thinking about the next school year in January and February.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_04: For donors, um, you know, a lot of people like to give it year-end.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_04: So I appreciate being on the podcast now.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_04: Because, you know, when they sit down to count their own blessings at Thanksgiving and at Christmas, it's an opportunity for them to think about making a tax-deductible donation.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_04: And we're happy to take stock.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_04: We'll take anything.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: You can do that through the website.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_05: They can come in here.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_05: 973-984-9600.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you, my number.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_05: Or try can't be a good one.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_05: Use the other once or twice, I guess.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_05: Or you can call me 973-956-8824.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_05: We'll get you right there.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yes.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Or TCSfund.org.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_04: And any amount is welcome.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if if sometimes people want to support a child, which is fun, and they can give$2,000 or$20, now it's going to be$2,250.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_04: We gave a little inflation boost this year for elementary school or$4,000 for high school.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_04: That's fun.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_04: People enjoy doing that.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_04: Or people do a lot more than that.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_04: Or they do less than that.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_04: Every amount helps.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_04: And we have a whole bunch of our alums that send in money, which is wonderful to see it come full circle.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, wonderful.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: This has been such an amazing conversation.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you both for being on.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything else you want to add, Bishop, or ask as we kind of come to the near the end of the episode?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thinking of God working in mysterious ways and the way God calls us, uh, I'm just realizing I'm going to be at St.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: James uh on Friday.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: You are for Project Andrew.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Project Andrew.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, young men considering open to the possibility of priesthood.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no commitments, uh just an informal gathering, seminarians and priests, a little bite to eat.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so we have that on this coming Friday, um, the December 1st, article is December 1st.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Tomorrow, actually, uh the the 30th of November is the feast of St.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Andrew.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: We call it Project Andrew because in John's Gospel, um uh John the Baptist looks to Jesus and says, There's the Lamb of God, and two of John's disciples go and follow Jesus, and Jesus turns around and says, What are you looking for?
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, Master, where do you stay?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Come and see.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the two, John tells us is Andrew, who before following Jesus goes, gets his brother, Simon, at that time.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: We found the Lord.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: He brings Simon to Jesus, and Jesus says, You are Peter.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we're asking people to be the Andrew, right?
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: To uh to bring others to closer to the Lord and have them consider the cult to the priesthood.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's this Friday at St.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: James in Tottawa in the evening.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's you can the Diocin website, there's information.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: And Sunday, actually, we're having a double header this weekend.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one in fry on in Tottawa on Friday, and then St.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: Margaret's in uh of Scotland and Morristown on Sunday, Sunday evening.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um pray for those uh gatherings and and for vocations.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh there's still time if you hear it on Thursday or Friday, you can come uh reach out to the other.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_05: I have to end with a quick funny story.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_05: If Father Mark came in, he said, Oh, we're gonna have Project Andrew and the bishop's coming.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_05: Oh God, I'd love to come.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_05: One thing he looks at me and goes, uh, it's to be a prince.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_03: I said, Okay, this is what I can pass.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: You can pray.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: I thought it was Project Andrew, like get food, come on.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm there, I'm there, what is it?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's funny.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um and um yeah, this uh Saturday, um speaking of St.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Margaret's.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh now on the first Saturday I try to go to St.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Margaret's to celebrate a mass and and have a prayerful procession to the Planned Parenthood that's there to pray for for life.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh yeah, um and uh Saturday evening I'll be installing a new pastor who's been there for a while now.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Father Shaw McDonald is the new pastor of Mary Starless Sea and Lake Opatcong.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: So my neck of the woods.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah, yeah, to cover for Chris.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, other Chris, yeah.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_04: So uh you're always covering a lot of things.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_04: We all notice the schools that you have visited all the schools.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_04: Love visiting the schools, I'm looking forward to the maze.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: That makes such a maze.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: It means so much to everybody.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: Happy to do that.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: Happy to do that.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_05: You're a powerful force for sure.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: Teamwork, right?
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're in it together.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_04: We are, yeah, we are taking a lot of energy and we notice.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thank God for help, right?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_04: Amen to that.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, thanks again.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: And uh here in the Diocese of Patterson, we are conducting our diocesan ministries appeal, which supports Catholic charities, seminary and formation, Catholic urban education, the health care of our senior priests, and more.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Please consider helping your brothers and sisters in need by making a gift.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Visit 2023appeal.org today.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can give to the Ministry's Appeal and to uh uh Tricounty South.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever anything else.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: It all helps.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: It all helps.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's both are helping education.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: So both are.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you, Jack.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Catholic schools.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: Very nice, yeah.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and thank you all for spending time with us.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Join us again for the next episode of Beyond the Beacon.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Give us a positive rating, write a review, and if you're watching this episode on Bishop Kevin Sweeney's YouTube channel, be sure to like the episode, follow the channel, and ring the bell for notifications.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Email questions and podcast topic ideas for the bishop to beond at pattersondioces.org.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Beyond the Beacon.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, everybody.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: God bless you.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Ms.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: Papa.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Brutus.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.