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On the ground, how the synod is breathing new life into the Catholic Church · Beyond The Beacon

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_05: Join us for conversations about our Catholic faith, and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Jay Agnish.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_05: With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_05: Bishop Kevin, how are you today?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_05: I'm good, Jay.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_05: How are you?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_05: Doing I'm doing well.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_05: So Happy birthday.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, thank you.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_05: God bless you.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much, Bishop.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_05: November 6th.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_05: November 6th, we're recording, and of course, this is also the day after.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_05: Pretty important day for our country.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_05: So are you are you the type to stay up late and watch the results roll in?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_05: Bishop.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_05: Election results?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: I watched it for a little while and actually fell asleep.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: So but uh, you know, as we think of the election and moving forward now, um uh I talked to a couple of pastors and over the last few weeks, um, so many of our parishes I think um were praying.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there was some real concern.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: What if the race was so close that it couldn't be called?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um there was concern that if it was a former president he may not that that lost, he may not take that so well.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um so um, you know, I I think uh many people had many concerns about both of the candidates.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um we pray now that um God will God uh newly elected president uh having served in the immigrant community, um I think there's some concerns um there for some of the rhetoric that um now President-elect Trump has um and so hopefully he'll get some good advice in terms of how to um deal with all that he needs to deal with.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um but um but uh we pray for our country, right?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and and so please God um things will be peaceful and please God our country will be prosperous.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we pray for that.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for that word, Bishop.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh why don't why don't we open uh with with prayer and then we'll introduce our guests and our topic for the As we'll be talking with our leaders of the Synod on Synodality here in the diocese about um the uh conclusion of the synod.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I thought it would be good to pray the prayer that was prayed at each session of the synod as it was at each uh session of the um Second Vatican Council, the Ad Sumas prayer.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I have it here on my phone, and uh let us um with Maria and Father Paul, Jay, and all those listening and watching, let us ask the help of the Holy Spirit as we place ourselves in God's presence, name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: We stand before you, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in your name, with you alone to guide us, make yourself at home in our hearts.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: We are weak and sinful.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do not let us promote disorder, do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path, nor partiality influence our actions.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let us find in you our unity, so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: All this we ask of you who are at work in every place and time, in communion of the Father and the Son, God forever and ever.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Our Lady, seed of wisdom, mother of the Church, pray.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Pray for us, all holy men and women, pray.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Pray for us, name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_05: Amen.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_05: Amen.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_05: Amen.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_05: So, Bishop, uh, before we introduce our our guests, um, what comes to mind when you when you think of the the synod?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_05: And obviously, this isn't this recent synod isn't the only synod that's been happened in the history of the but it's the first synod on synodality.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: A meeting about meetings.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh which we understand uh much better.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we might still need to continue in that growth and understanding.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um but uh uh it's an exciting time for the church, it really is.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, the Holy Spirit we believe gives us each of the Holy Fathers um that we've we're blessed to have as um uh someone sent me an article, um Sister Teresa or Chancellor, about uh and I'd heard it referenced, but um um the chair of Peter.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in Rome only a couple of times, but I remember two masses at the altar of the chair, which is kind of behind the the main altar at St.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Peter's, and I I didn't realize that they believe they have a chair that may have been used by St.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Peter.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: And um Pope Francis had that brought out, and the instrument of unity and mercy and love.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um Peter is still with us today in our Holy Father, and Pope Francis comes out of uh an experience of the church in um Argentina and South America and Latin America, which Maria can uh comment on.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and uh um so I think those of us who have some familiarity with that experience of the church are really surprised that he's asked for this synod on synodality and uh and and the importance of it.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um I'm glad that our guests are with us tonight to be.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so we have Father Paul Manning, our vicar for evangelization, and Maria Moncagliano, who is our uh director of our Office of Hispanic Ministry, and they were involved in the early on, right, in the in the synod uh process here in the diocese of of Patterson.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_05: From the very beginning.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_05: When we got the surprise.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I remember the date of um sitting at my computer now a few months as Bishop, December 8th, uh, 2020, when Pope Francis said we're gonna have a year of St.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Joseph starting today.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I said, What do we do?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And please, Bishop, make sure in your diocese you have a year of St.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Joseph.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Father Paul and Father Maria were helpful with that.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it was just a few months after that where the announcement of the Synod on Synodality was made early in 2021, I want to say.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_04: And um Yeah, and then we didn't really receive details about it until I think the summer.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_04: The summer, right, right.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so then we were scrambling because it was beginning shortly.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think it was announced, was it pushback a year or the process, right, to give more time for those um local diocesan, uh national continental.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Continental consultations.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that led um uh and I guess pr from pretty early on it was clear that there was going to be two plenary sessions, right?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Ums in the past have been just one large meeting over the course of a month.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think um the synod on the family, right, had a second um I want to say um I um not.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think the synod on the family might have I think they as they were going through it, I think they decided to come back for they were um Pope Francis know had that concern for um uh those who were um married and divorced and um uh and receiving Holy Communion and Yeah, and I I may be wrong, but I I think there was an extraordinary synod where these issues were raised, and so he made the family the next topic.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_04: Well, that could be right for the ordinary synod coming up.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, there were two.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then the annulment process, um, which I think there was a connection then made to the year of mercy and uh um so um uh it's over ten years now that Pope Francis has been leading us, and uh he uh picked his moment, I guess, to um uh ask us to all to participate in that synod.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I remember at when at the beginning saying, you have a personal invitation now from Pope Francis to be part of this process.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe just take us back a little bit.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um we can do a little brief summary and then we can talk about where we are today.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: But um maybe recollections, Maria and and Father Paul from the beginning and and through the process.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I have to add, Bishop, that um when the invitation came, remembered that the diocese was celebrating the year of the Eucharist.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, yes.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: And that was a playing major role in the involvement of the United States.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: We can walk into them at the same time.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: I remember going to do the refining.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: Because they they they were uh in a position to decide, okay, I want to participate in the year of the Eucharist or the synodality.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we said as Catholics, we're not either or but both and you can make a good point, Maria, too, because um on a larger national level, you know, um our year of the Eucharist led into um the national three-year Eucharistic revival, and some have um said that some bishops maybe focused more on the on the Eucharistic revival and others focused more on the synonym.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: And even even to the to the second uh to the second phase of the Synod, some of the bishops decided to focus on the Eucharistic revival state of the Trevor Burrus.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_04: Some are focusing on the year of prayer for the Jubilee 2025.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_05: So I was pleasantly surprised.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_05: I I was like, hey, what's going on with the UC USCCB?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_05: Are they are they paying attention to the Synod or what?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_05: Because it didn't the knock on the American bishops has been maybe they're not lack of enthusiasm, let's say.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_05: But I was on the website this morning and it was the first thing there.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_05: I was very pleasantly surprised.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_05: But sorry.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe a little Maria uh uh year of the Eucharist and Synod on Synodality and then it was challenging, I would have to say, because we had to uh engage the community.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: And uh but I think in general was um was a good experience for the community.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Even that um sometimes I said uh that you don't measure uh succeeds by numbers because you can have a room filled with 500 people and if no one acts after there is now no effect of the event.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: So but I believe even if the numbers don't work as higher as we expected, uh, which I believe was a great uh participation.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we did have yeah, great.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think the it was uh really um a motivation to the people.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of questions were raised uh around uh, you know, the the process itself.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: As a way of background, Maria, um we we before we started that we were talking a little bit about, and I mentioned it, um the Holy Father as um uh serving in Argentina for all those years in Archbishop of Buenos Aires and part of Salem, the Conference Episcopal of Latin America, the Bishop's Conference of Latin America, uh, and and the Latin American Church here, Hispanic Church here in the United States.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh the synod came just as the Hispanic community was finishing the Quinto Encuentro, right?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: That experience that really the Pope Francis has come out of and the Latin American Church has had of um coming together in really a synodal experience long before the synod on synodality came around, right?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: Is the And the Quinto Encuentro was based on the missionary um um the uh um commitment that we have as a Catholic.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I think the synod has that element in it.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: And even uh for us, and uh we are talking about different things at the same time, but even for us, Bad Paul can confirm that uh we use um the model of the quinto encuentro to do the consultation process.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: Some of the ideas were taken from there because uh it it is uh it was uh a model that works.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, absolutely.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_04: We we scrambled to um come up with a process for consultations.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_04: And um when I look back, um I'm kind of proud of what we were able to do.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_04: We did training with facilitators, and then those facilitators in Spanish and English uh uh trained others and uh um did group consultations and individual consultations.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_04: And the individual consultation model came out of the Quinto.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And as was encouraged um I think in what we received from the Vatican, um well, Vadi Makum, right?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: That was the handbook as to uh that uh we ha we have to realize we live in a digital world and uh and so the opportunity to participate in the Synodon Synodality by uh um online, right?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and we got a good response to that, right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_04: Very, very good response.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: And we we also did um uh a survey with young people.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_04: Actually, uh they responded uh on their phones.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, right, we did about a thousand responses from high school students.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And uh um uh Sister Teresa Lee also had sent me some things to uh prepare for this uh uh conversation, and um one of them was uh there's uh videos um that you on YouTube that uh I guess are produced by the Vatican that kind of summarize each week.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe we can add a link there.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: And because I went to that link, then I saw that Bishop Barron um has a um five-minute video on on his um experience, and uh uh that came to mind because um there was, I think, a difference for the delegates from the first meeting last October to this meeting.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he said uh when they came back for the first time now this past October, he said it was almost like the first day of school because they had spent so much time together that last year and that over that course of the month.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Then they went each on their own ways, and now they came back and and they had become friends and I think built relationships during that first year.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I think I heard from a few that that kind of helped the dynamic this year, and and that they didn't need to get to know each other now that they and and he talked about that.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um he said uh there was an experience last year that it was the synod on everything that the conversation kind of but now that this year, and and part of that was the Holy Father's decision to take some of the so-called hot button issues off the off the table for the 10 study groups that are still going to be working.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but Bishop Barron said there really was uh a focus on what do we mean by synodality, right?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Have you heard some of that?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I'm glad you mentioned this because um when this first began, one of the things that Pope Francis said and that we said in our trainings, was that um we weren't uh uh working toward a product, right?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_04: We weren't we we weren't working toward a a program that we were going to implement.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_04: It was really about the journey.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_04: And my impression after the second session is that uh the synod, with Pope Francis's uh guidance uh is really meant to teach us how to have a conversation.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_04: How to have a conversation.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And how to be a quote unquote synodal church, Cardinal Tobin, from the beginning, and I'm appreciating it more now.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: He he often said uh a synod is a meeting, synodality is a way of being church.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so Pope Francis isn't gonna write an apostolic exhortation in response to the synodal process.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_04: He's he's gonna let affirming this synonym stand on its own.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_04: And and we're not that concerned with the the a product as much as we are with learning from this experience and working it into the way that we be church at every level.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_04: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I think it's gonna live on too in this in the ten study groups.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_05: One of which, right, is a study group that's dedicated to looking at canon law, so that could have some consequential implications for the for the future if any changes are to come about.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_05: I would I would think that's a place where you'd have to begin.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: I want to give a shout out to our friends at uh Jesuitical.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they helped me uh through the synod over this last year and this year, uh uh and and their kind of sister uh show the Inside the Vatican.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um they both had interviews with Cardinal Tobin, which were great, and I would encourage um people to uh to go to him.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um but um uh Jesuitical um um oh the uh and and inside the Vatican covered um there was a moment uh about three weeks in um when they were reporting on the study groups and there was a lot of interest in I think it's study group number five, the role of women in the church and the whole question of um the possible can uh ordination of women as deacons.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, some commissions and studies have said that that subject is closed, that's the discussion, you know, was uh but Pope Francis um in maybe a bit of a change because when he was on uh an interview with um uh American journalist, a woman uh uh he'd said, you know, that that that that discussion.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: But and and Bishop Barron in his comments said, you know, that the table discussions that they really didn't bring in the 10 study groups, but I think that question of women's roles and the possibility of um uh uh women deacons um uh kept coming up.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then when they had this report, um they they had named the members of the commissions of the other study groups, but they hadn't named the the the the members of and uh um Cardinal Fernandez, the Dikastri of um Doctrine of Faith, I believe, uh, sent two delegates to the meeting and said, Um, we're here representing the Dikastri, and here's an email address.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Get in, if you can get in two lines, we'll give you a paper with an email address and you can type your questions.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, No, this is not synonym.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is not and and I think it became a moment where um and and and in his homily and in his remarks, uh Pope Francis said, We're still learning what it is to be.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, even the Holy Father, even the Dicastries.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um Maria, did you hear some of the uh interest or uh Yes I did.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: And uh and basically uh Pope Francis um I mean implied in his comments that we need more time.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_03: And the time uh set up for the synod process in Rome was not enough to for something uh you know uh to find a final answer.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um so I believe in the future that that will be a score.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think um a line in the final document, and we haven't gotten the final document yet in English, the translation is only in Italian.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um eventually uh they said soon, but it's the longest it never takes taken translated to me.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: But there's a line that said there's the nothing should be in the way of women being in leadership roles in the church, something along those lines.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh so um I you know I I I hope that that's gonna be very encouraging um for everyone.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's basically I have the quote here, it said there is no reason uh that should prevent women from carrying on leadership roles in church.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: That comes from the Holy Spirit and cannot be stopped.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: So the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: So that's that's the thing.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where um I guess the the delegates writing the document felt that that needed to be in there.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then again, in the Holy Father saying, I'm not gonna write an apostolic association, I'm gonna just affirm the work um and discernment of the delegates um gives even more authority to We had a a reading this past uh uh weekend where uh uh one of the scribes uh engages uh Jesus in a conversation.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I was it it crystallized the uh the synod for me because uh in Mark's gospel, Jesus has been in these contentious conversations with the Sadducees, the Pharisees, his own disciples.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_04: And then you have this a scribe who engages in a respectful conversation with Jesus and vice versa.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_04: And it struck me he begins with a question, right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_04: And then Jesus says, listen.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, listen and listen with love, uh presuming the good of the other, presuming on behalf of the other.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um So I I felt like Jesus was teaching us how to have a conversation.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I always I I often refer to that uh question of the scribe as if there was a student in class that would say, for the students say to the teacher, oh teacher, good job on that answer.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: You're right, yes, the loving God is the most important commandment.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: But the Jesus' response, you're not far from the kingdom of God.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: They honor one another's insight and understanding.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_04: And listening.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_04: So I I thought that was a beautiful uh uh reading w w uh to reflect on the end of this in it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: And the Sunday before, I've tried to promote it uh um Pope Francis' homily um on the last day of the Synod, the Sunday Mass to finish the last gathering, uh, was Blind Bartimaeus the Sunday before.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and he talked about throwing off the cloak and getting up and uh and and going to Jesus and then following him along the way.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: So if you haven't had a chance to look at that homily, it's uh it's really well done.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can I read something from it?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_05: Sure, please.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_05: So um yeah, it was such a good homily, and you mentioned it in your in your column.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_05: We have a we have a link, it'll be on beaconnj.org.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um so one of the paragraphs here.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_05: Brothers and sisters, not a seated church, but a church on her feet, not a silent church, but a church that embraces the cry of humanity.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_05: Not a blind church, but a church enlightened by Christ that brings the light of the gospel to others.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_05: Not a static church, but a missionary church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I hear that missionary disciple.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh uh given aside here, we had a a youth conference last Sunday, yes, yes.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_04: And the they Guest speaker acted out that parable of uh the man born blind.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_04: Is that right?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_04: She was something.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_04: She was something.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_04: But anyway, she she was saying the same thing to our young people that we need to open our eyes, uh, we need to walk the streets of the world with those who are in need.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_04: Same thing.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_04: Open our hearts.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Three or four hundred young people, huh?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 350, I think about 350.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have to post some of those pictures if they're not up already.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh um, but it was a wonderful day.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yourself, uh John Camarado, our director of youth ministry, um, and um And his wonderful team of volunteers.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the speaker, um I uh Valimar.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Valimar, Valimar.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Johnson.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Johnson, yeah, yeah.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: She was great.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so can I play this the skeptic card?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_05: Um for those who maybe participated in the Synod discussions early on and were excited about the potential for change, whether that's women taking on deacon roles or or whatever it might have been, a more welcoming church are there there's there's no tangible results coming out at this moment.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_05: I know it's you know a a kind of a work in progress perhaps, but w what would you say to someone who is maybe looking for change right away?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_05: Out of the synod process.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_04: We don't have the actual document, but the document we're told speaks about synodality as a way of being church, talks about relationships and communication and making sure that we build those and then um trying to um uh uh discern together without rushing to conclusions.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that you can do that and you need to do that on the local level.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um might be uh not the words that some want to hear, but they talk about um the senators encouraging the church to be less centralized.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I think we have the magisterium, we have the teachings, and and I understand maybe some have concerns.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, is Pope Francis looking to change doctrine or belief?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's that that's not the goal.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I understand that the concern, but uh but one of the things I think, Jay, to your question for those who might say, Oh, well, what's gonna come out of this?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we have to uh now continue to walk this journey together and uh and and and encounter one another and listen to one another and discern.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so if um there's a feeling that uh we're not doing enough or you know where is this going, um raise your voice, you know, bring and and parish pastoral councils, right?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh hopefully uh and we're gonna be encouraging our our pastors, they have a full plate already, but uh but uh what but encourage as as as been happening since Second Vatican Council, but I think also there's a lot, and and maybe it's gonna take a little time to how how this the Synod and Synod Alley is is so much building on what started at at the Second Vatican Council.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um so um uh so And also I I think the document uh uh uh mentioned uh the possibility of suggest the creation of a ministry of listening and accology.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, right, right, right.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a suggestion at the parish level to create that type of ministry.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: So people, I mean, we had to learn from each other.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have to believe that we have the the whole truth, that we what we say is what it is.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: So in listening to others, I think uh we accept the the the contribution to others to our own uh the listening and the what was it called the listening and the spirit, the conversation.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I believe the title of the document, which is um communion, participation and mission, embrace the whole uh process itself.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: What we as an individual, as a Catholic, have to do.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: The document is not a manual, how to live how to be a church.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's is uh is the way that we live the process that really make us change.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think is conversion is the main thing there.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, the last the last section does talk about implementation.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that we need to uh carry on and and new new ways of uh l listening and consulting need to emerge.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_04: But think about in some ways, the Synod on Synodality is the implementation of Vatican II.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's it takes the church thinks in centuries, right?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_04: So it so I I think um the implementation of the Synod on Synodality is still down the road, and um it's gonna be uh a a spiritual evolutionary process, I think, to figure out how to do this.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think maybe a practical example, um again, the the Second Vatican Council was a little before my time, but having heard um and growing up in the church in the late 70s and 80s, um it was a lot of the implementation, the early implementation of the Vatican Council was happening at that time.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I know that um uh you know, lay ministry and the universal call to holiness from baptism that we all share, that you know, was such an and is such an important part of the documents and teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: So calling um all disciples to be to live that missionary discipleship.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and I think for the church, especially here in the United States, at least, and um uh that all of a sudden you had women and men who were reading at mass and and distributing community.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, now we take lectors and and Eucharistic ministers for granted.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: But um but 60 years ago, I think that was a pretty big deal.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh and and one of the things that the document is saying is um whether it be a ministry of listening, ministry of listening or ministers of listening, um, but also explore other ministries that are being called forth uh and that everyone by baptism can uh participate.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the the Holy Father is um uh encouraging us to look at the ministry of catechists, um, or you know, catechists have been around since the the Catholic school teachers and religious ed programs, even you know, 2,000 years.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Those have but but um right now Pope Francis is saying, what does it mean to be um even possibly installed as an official uh catech catechist as a ministry recognized by the church, um which all these ministries require formation?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um acolyte, right?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, right, yeah, exactly, right.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's been um maybe it's been around before COVID, but I think uh um the the minister that uh we used to call them ushers, right?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but now there's been ministry and hospitality, the welcoming church that the Senate is calling us to be.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: We have to look at that, and I think we have been.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's something we're working on already.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um there was another one that came to mind.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, uh I think Ministry of Technology, right?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean live stream ministry, right?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: That was uh that wasn't around much, and and uh so uh looking at the man with the headphones on.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um one of the things that the synod on synodality uh um uncovered for us is the fact that that um this has been going on.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the synodality goes back to the origins of the church, the Acts of the Apostles, and was uh um reinvigorated by Pope Paul VI after Vatican II.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_04: So the synod of bishops has been meeting regularly since uh right after Vatican II, but uh a lot of us didn't pay much attention to it or e ever really know much about it.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_04: So I think Pope Francis has taken this vital practice of the church and made it uh accessible uh to people and made it made it more a part of our our common life together.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um Cardinal Dolan, who was of of the Archbishop of New York, uh was a delegate at the first sec section and was not able to return for the second.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember last year when he was there and and and at after his return, he said, you know, and he had been in a number of synods of bishops over the over the years, um, and he said, you know, we've always had uh laymen and women, uh theologians, religious who were part of um this the sin those mint meetings, um, but but they didn't vote.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it was uh and it's called a synod of bishops, and there's some you know conversation about um uh uh what what we mean when we say a synod of bishops, but uh Pope Francis, I think, after all the 60 years of kind of moving in that direction, said, look, we can have voting members of the synod who are lay people and women and men and religious, uh it doesn't have to only be bishops.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's a synod of bishops, but there can be other parts of the body of Christ represented that are that are participating.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and there are even people from other religious.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, right, right, right, right.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um ecumenism, I think, is uh something also that uh is going to be emphasized.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_04: So in terms of implementation, Jay, um one of the things that Bishop Barron said is that um the American church w has been doing this maybe more than some of the other uh uh uh churches throughout the world.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_04: And so it's not brand new for us, right?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_04: We we have been doing this.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: I do think um I'm predicting that pastoral councils at the parish level will become required by canon law.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_04: I think that's gonna happen.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you're thinking of the parishes in our diocese, there are some that have very active um parish councils, and it's really wonderful to see.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um different reasons they just never got going, or maybe they had one and it uh went out of if they they didn't meet during COVID and it hasn't come back.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna have to be encouraging.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um Maria, and working with our our our Spanish-speaking parishes, um I think for many of them they have uh active parish councils, right?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I think often uh in the the parish I served in Brooklyn, the parish council was the leader.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: We had like 15 different groups, um, and the leaders of each group were the members of the parish council.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's uh the model, I will say, that because um in um in a parish that I mean the parish that is uh Latino and Anglo parish, uh they try to uh bring, you know, representation from uh the different two or three language communities, but one parish.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: The parish the par past parish pastoral council can be the instrument, right, sometimes to build that unity.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: And that is it in a sense that's synodality because everybody listens to to each other, everybody learns from each other, and uh the most important thing I believe in synodality is the contribution that I made uh uh you know to to the other person and the other person give me something that I that I don't have.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's uh correlational uh dynamic.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: So um but it that's the model that I have seen in different uh I don't know exactly enough if in our diocese all the the parishes that has Hispanic ministry has a pastoral console.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_03: But I believe I I believe that's the same.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: The majority they do.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: They do.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_03: And and um and even the the the the comments that I heard about the the document says that the pastoral console should be mandatory in and shouldn't be just that is there and exists.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_03: It has to act.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's the that I will say the the the opportunity for to hear the voices of others.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_04: And bishops and priests have a responsibility to listen.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_04: To listen.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I like that.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_03: I put that in code they have the responsibility.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: No, they say they have the obligation to listen.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, but uh without you know and and if that voice is strong, not only to listen, but then to act, right?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's just with the the purpose of uh see, I mean listen, especially the people that feel like they are they are you know left out that they are their voices in her.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's the reason what it says uh the responsibility to listen.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: Because now you were talking about formation and you were talking, I mean how to implement this.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um I remember saying in during the conference that I was uh in Miami that uh they asked me, what are what what do you think we can do?
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I say, well, one of the main things is besides listening is formation.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: But the formation is not only theological formation, which the majority of the people wants to have Bible studies and this and that.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: And uh the the the the document uh prior to the to this uh to the scenario mentioned that it has to be an integral formation.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: People have to be trained to listen.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: We don't know how to listen.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_03: We like to talk, but we don't we don't know how to listen.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's gotta be training in how to uh in conflict resolution, for example, to come to a common ground, to bring harmony uh among the the community.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: So I think the formation has to have all those aspects.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: Advocacy, for example.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: Advocacy is important because uh the leaders become the voice of the voiceless, and we don't have the tendency to participate in this type of uh uh uh event.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I think the formation uh has to have a lot of elements to be really successful for the implementation of this way to be church.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_04: Synodal formation.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's a formation in a synodal key, the document.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_05: And one of the uh 10 study groups is looking at uh liturgies.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_05: I mean if we're talking about predictions, uh do you any of you anticipate changes to the mass coming about?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_05: Or is that something even on your radar?
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_05: Or does the mass need to change in any way?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: I think there I I think there was um some discussion about um taking the liturgy but enculturating it uh uh uh in the ways that we're able to do more than we do.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_04: So there there are ways that I think a liturgy can reflect the culture of the people more without changing the essentials.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: We just um celebrated All Saints Day, and it was at some point um to think that you the saints that we know, I mean All Saints Day remember is recognizes many saints that only God knows they haven't been officially canonized, they don't have a date on the calendar, but but the lives of the saints I've been promoting, trying to promote the Hallow app and some of the wonderful uh Saints in Seven Days that and the Saints can be such a a blessing for us.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: But when you look at the diversity um of the lives of the saints over to Mother Teresa from Albania, you know, Pope John Paul II growing up in Poland in World War II, Maximilian Colby, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, you know, just uh you can go on and on, Mother Cabrini's feast day is coming up, but just to think that um all those saints participated in the same mass.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: For centuries it was in Latin, and I think the Second Vatican Council we can see the Holy Spirit said, okay, we really should be in the language of the people that they can understand, and we can uh and I think that's a change that happened that we can look and say, wow, thank God.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, there are different debates on um maybe this the the style of the of the liturgy or a higher, uh more reverent or uh uh maybe more engaging.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so some of those things um in terms of how we celebrate it, but um, but yeah, there are things that that that are Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and he gave us his body and blood in the Eucharist.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: So there's gonna be something about the Mass that's not gonna change.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh but and and that can take patience and listening uh uh um uh to to walk that journey.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, I think when if you look at the changes in the liturgy, which are really, really hard from the changes that started in the Second Vatican Council, we're now seeing again some of the fruits of those seeds that were planted that changes that needed to be made.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um but um yeah, I haven't heard a whole lot about the committee on uh uh that's going to be studying the liturgy, but we'll um we'll we'll see.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_04: Stay tuned, I guess, right?
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_04: Can can I just say one more thing?
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_04: We've started to implement synodality uh just because of this process.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_04: So uh we just had a meeting with new pastors and we engaged in that process.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_04: We had a meeting with young people uh last March and we used the the the synodal process.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_04: So it's starting to work its way into the way that we we do the diocese.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_04: The conversations in the spirit process.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think that um there's a quote um uh in in one of the articles in the beacon that I mentioned in my column, um the Pope, when he was talking about uh the the Holy Father himself, the his petri ministry and the dikastries, we're still learning synodality and and what it means to be that synodal church.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he talked about some of the words, uh pauses, silences, and and prayer.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know that um those times of silence in the conversation in the spirit when we don't react right away.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um we after we listen, we take some time and quiet to say, okay, Lord, what did I just hear?
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um so some have mentioned, you know, a lot of times parish meetings or diocent meetings, we say, okay, we'll start with a prayer and we say a quick prayer and then we move on.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: And wait a second, and are we praying in the course of those conversations, whether it's on finances or uh buildings or budget, you know, uh the all the different things, uh ministries and um uh how are we um being synodal in the meetings that we have on a day-to-day basis?
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: And have we fallen into the trap sometimes?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, say a prayer and we'll start it and then we move on and forget to ask the Holy Spirit to help us.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um so we're we're it'll take time.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_05: Well, good.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_05: I think this has been a wonderful conversation.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_05: Um glad we had it.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_05: Uh any anything else for our guests before we let him go?
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh say a prayer for uh the bishops of our country in the coming week.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I um I have to head down a little bit early on the on Friday evening.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I have a committee meeting on Saturday, and then Monday starts the full uh Monday to Thursday is the the all the bishops will be together in Baltimore.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: So plenary.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um please please keep that in your prayers.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_05: And I noticed you were up for uh nomination for a chair uh committee, so we'll keep an eye on on the status of that.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um something else.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um anything you want to reflect on, Bishop, about the conversation we we just had.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: Anything else to add about the synod process or if if you're watching or listening and haven't heard much about the synod, uh again, I think those uh if you watch or listen to podcasts, um some of those edit uh interviews from Jesuitical and inside the Vatican, I think can give you a good um and then um some of the videos that the Vatican has produced, which we can maybe share a little bit.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so uh um but but take the time to um learn about what's been happening over these last couple of years and especially over this past month that's led to this document that we're uh eagerly awaiting the English translation and Spanish translation as well, right?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_03: We're waiting for that.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_05: All right, well thank you both for joining us and I thank you.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_05: I usually do ask you a recommendation, but I think we have a few now, and we'll have those in our show notes.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um good, so we'll we'll leave it there.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Father Paul, and Maria, not only for being here, but for uh leading us through this synodal process.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh as some have said, uh that we're not at the um we're not at the end of the process, but we might be at the end of the beginning.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the beginning, yes.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: So but we have a long way to go, and uh we that's synodal journey, right?
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: We're walking together.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, thank you, Maria and Father Paul, for your leadership and for your dedicated service to our diocese.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: And thanks, Jay.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_05: Of course.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_05: And thank you all for joining us.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_05: Please subscribe, comment, and leave a positive rating.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_05: Get to know us better by following Beyond the Beacon on Facebook or Instagram.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_05: Email questions and podcast topic ideas to beyond at patterson diocese.org.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_05: And specifically about the synod if you have any questions about what we discuss here today, and we'll have a mailbag episode, I think.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you have synod questions, send them in.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: We'll we can plenty of time.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_03: We can find the answer.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_05: And discover our other podcast with uh one of our co-hosts here with Coffee with Kupke and also the Paul Street Journal.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_05: See you next time.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks, everybody.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_05: God bless you.