Latest / Beyond The Beacon / More than a melody: The unstoppable spirit of Tony Melendez

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More than a melody: The unstoppable spirit of Tony Melendez · Beyond The Beacon

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: 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_01: I'm Jay Agnish.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Bishop Kevin, how are you?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh good, Jay.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yourself?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Doing well.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the world-famous Tony Melendez.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for being with us.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to our new set here in the rectory of Sacred Heart Parish in Dover, where Tony will be performing tonight, right?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, tonight.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: With 400 people I hear.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's beautiful.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: 450, I'm here.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Father Leonardo Lopez, along with Father Edgar and Father Cerillo, the vicars here.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_04: Just got on.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, come into the area last night and this morning.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: You'll see we're here to set up.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: A beautiful community.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: I've been able to celebrate Mass here many times.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: And like all of the powers of our diocese, uh connected with a smaller church, Holy Rosary.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: So but uh I'm sorry I won't be able to be here for the concert, but uh uh really grateful that you're taking this time to uh like I said, I feel honored to be part of this.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, thanks, thanks.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Jay was so good in uh uh you heard about it maybe uh yeah my wife and I were actually at church here.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: We came, we decided to come out and do some thrift store shopping in the area, and the priest at the end of the mass said, Hey, Tony Melendez, who had this moment with Pope John Paul II, that's coming to give a performance, and it just got my you know my gears going and reached out to you and Father Edgar, and and uh it worked out.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you to them and to yourself and your brother for making it all happen.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, and your brother works with you, is that right?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: He yeah, he's in the room right now setting up for the evening for tonight's evening concert.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: So we're looking forward to hearing a little bit about your story and um uh over these 40 years since uh uh that moment with uh Saint Pope John Paul II, but maybe we'll begin with a prayer.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Great.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: So place ourselves in God's presence, name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: In these beautiful Easter days, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, looking forward to Pentecost and the feasts of Corpus Christi and the sacred heart of Jesus.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: We ask the help of the Holy Spirit as we pray.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love, send forth your spirit, and we shall be recreated, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: O God, who is taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: Grant us in that same spirit to be truly wise and always rejoice in your consolation through Christ our Lord.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, Mother of the Church.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Pray for us, pray for us, Saint Joseph, pray for us, pray for us, Saint Cecilia, pray for us for us.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: All holy men and women, pray for us, name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um thank you, Tony.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh um Joe, did you want to do a little introduction?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just uh, you know, Tony Melendez is like you said, he's a w uh world-renowned musician who really came into the forefront with that in that that time when you had that exchange with Saint Pope Paul John II uh back in 87, and uh hopefully you can tell us a little bit more about that.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so you identify as a musician.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: I asked you earlier if you if you call are you a Catholic musician?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, I'm a musician and I'm Catholic, so I guess so.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: So so there there you have it, kind of the short introduction.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: But why don't you tell us what what you've been up to lately?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: You told me you ever since that moment in 1987, you've been playing like 15 to 20 performances a month?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_04: A month.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_04: Uh COVID kind of just took a little bit of wind out of my travels.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but as soon as that was opened up again, I'm back up 15 to 17 days a month.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um before that I was probably 20 days a month.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and I really thought, you know, after I sang for Pope John Paul II, um, you know, a couple days later, it would just go away.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: You know, 39 years later.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_04: I really thought it was fizzle away.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: But that moment was such a special moment where I'm a gift given from the youth of Los Angeles.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh beautiful introduction by the young man I just was watching on the video, and we'll put a link to the video, right?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_04: So um and it was new technology where you could you know hook up with uh four different states.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: Oh and it was a youth gathering called Spacebridge with John Paul II at the time.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_04: You know, still not a saint, he was just known as John Paul II.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_04: JP2, we love you.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm sitting there, uh I I'm introduced, I start playing, uh, the song finishes.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um next thing I know, uh the the young people stood in standing ovation.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_04: I see the Pope on his feet too.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I didn't hear it that day, and if you got to really listen closely, he literally says, I have to kiss him.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, wow.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_04: So at that moment he jumps off the stage.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_04: That was great.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_04: I just it's yeah, and goes into the audience because I'm up on a platform within the audience facing him, um, and he gets to me, and I'm on a platform that's maybe about four feet and a half up in the air.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: He was in great shape then.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: He was still in his athletic form at that time, right?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it was pretty amazing.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: He comes up to me and we share a kiss on each other's right cheeks.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, then he turns around, starts getting back up on the big stage.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_04: So I figured, well, it's over, thank God.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I was already nervous and excited and honored, and and next thing I hear my name, and he's repeating, Tony, don't me, you know, with that Polish accent.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, he's talking to me.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_04: And again, I felt honored that he even remembered my name.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: And he said, My wish for you is that you continue giving hope to others and that I was courageous.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_04: Courageous, courageous.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_04: You're courageous, young man.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: So it was a big honor.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that moment really opened the doors for a lot of things.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: And um, God works in mysterious ways, right?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh and uh we'll talk a little bit about that, but maybe um uh just take us back a little bit to um first uh introduction to music.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: I think you started at a young age, and and maybe a little bit of what led you up to being get getting ending up there.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um I was a normal kid, mom and dad, you know, uh two uh a brother, one brother and two sisters.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: And dad was a guitar player, mom was the singer.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_04: So there was a guitar in the house.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_04: Seven years old, I tried to mess around on the guitar, but it didn't become music at all.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um I sang, you know, in church choirs, but at the age of 16 um the music flourished on the guitar.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um my dad had the guitar there at the house, and my feet got to touch it, and I tuned it to an open tuning, and it opened the doors to music.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: And that's kind of how the guitar playing kind of came from.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_04: My dad just had it there and I'm just messing around with it.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_04: God blessed me with the gift, and I've kept playing ever since that time.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: And it really opened doors.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, that moment where the Pope kissed me, sent me to 46 countries, um, every state in the United States.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_04: So the music has taken me a long way.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: And have you written songs and music as well?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_04: I write songs and I sing, you know, From La Bamba to the Lord's.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: I love La Bamba, I love La Bamba.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: Tears in Heaven and Eric Clampus.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, love that one, yes.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think yes, yes.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_04: I sing a mixture of songs, but I do write my own, yes.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you have a few releases that are available on platforms like Spotify.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was listening in my car on the way here.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Very awesome music.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: And um great voice.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_04: English and Spanish?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, I could do bilingual concerts now of the songs that I've written.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: That'll be, I think tonight, yeah, it would be a bilingual evening.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um I recently um uh getting to know the Hispanic-Latino community, um, uh it's just such a different experience of church.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and and and some of the music.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: I've always been a fan, Pescalo de Hombre and Juntos Comermanos.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um I recently, um, the new Archbishop of New York, um, Bishop Ronald Hicks from Chicago, um, he began his homily at his installation mass with the words of a song, and he mentioned the song.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: I said, Oh, I don't think I know that one.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: Alma Misionera.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh it's such a beautiful message.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: And um simplemente por no saber de ti.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's a song that I had heard over the years, but I'd never uh uh known the the the words of the or the or the message and um um uh faith uh expressed in in in music.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um how has that been uh is it a prayerful experience for you?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm uh I get I sure get the impression that that it is.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh maybe say a word about it has been.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_04: You know, when I first started playing, I would lock myself in the my bedroom and I would just pray and sing together.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_04: So it wasn't really a song, it was a musical prayer that just kind of flourished from the moment.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_04: And um I didn't record anything or anything, I was just praying from my heart to God, just with playing chords and making whatever came out out of my heart in a form of music and prayer.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: So um I do I love the music about stories, I love uh you know the liturgy too.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_04: So there's different forms of being able to write.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if you're a Catholic singer and you're writing for liturgy, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um I would say that's never been my forte.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_04: I should have made it more of a my forte because I love the liturgy so much.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_04: And you want to be able to help it.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but my prayers with my are my music been more stories and songs and situations, which doesn't always fit so much in the liturgical setting.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um and yet it does um connect with people and people of faith, and um and your friend, uh the great Saint Pope John Paul II, uh, started World Youth Day.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's been part of your experience as well, right?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: We just found out we were together in Denver in 1993.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um how's that been for you, the experience of uh sharing the music uh with young people at uh something like World Youth Day?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's it's been very exciting, you know, because they have a lot of energy.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they have a lot of things that uh they're non-stop, they're go, go, go, go, go.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_04: And um, I love how they could just pray on their knees on the dirt and all night vigil, and then then the next day they're pilgrimaging back to their hotels and going on and spreading that word, right?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_04: Which is very beautiful.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: But the music helps helps to pray as well, right?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: As we said.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there's one song that I uh I had written.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um Poland called me to write a song, you know.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_04: I became Pope's best friend all of a sudden, and they asked me to write a song on Honor Your Father and Mother.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm singing this song, Honor Your Father and Mother, which is one of the Ten Commandments, um, to uh World Youth Day, the kids.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, I'm figuring, well, this is a slow song, they're not gonna enjoy it.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's you know, talking about honor your father and mother.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes it's like, oh no, honor your mother and father.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_04: They don't even want to be with their parents sometimes.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_04: And here I am singing that song to them, and they listened, they heard, and uh some even came up to me and said, you know, I love my mom, I love my dad.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, some come came up and said, you know, I don't always get along with them, but I love them.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_04: So it was just neat, neat to hear kind of kind of some of the feedback uh that I when I sang for that that day there at Worldview Tate.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: And you said um you were also recently in uh uh in Indianapolis for uh um the Eucharistic Congress uh and uh and your experience of the us being united by the Eucharist, right?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that that was a beautiful event.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um I I I love how we all came um because of the Eucharist, really.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_04: How we all came together for that.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_04: I actually wrote another song there.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_04: What I took was little bits and pieces of prayers, and I put it all into a song.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_04: And uh the the final title of this song is uh Sweet Anointing.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_04: Sweet Anointing.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_04: Oh Sweet Anointing is what I titled this beautiful prayer.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_04: And like I said, it's it's a song of of prayers, little little phrases uh of prayers that I've kind of kept through the years.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we your um a lot of the you could hear it in your lyrics, a lot of the language um that you use is very it's very Catholic-centric.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um you sing about sacraments, and you you tell if you you know, and even some of the I think cover songs are some classic Catholic hymns.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And but yet you've also um been, you know, through your travels you've been kind of in the mainstream Christian contemporary scene.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: And um you've can you talk about um and and you also were telling me how you've performed at different sorts of religious events, right?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_04: So a Jewish gathering and yeah, maybe if either one of those areas you want to maybe probably been to about different uh about 10 to 12 different religions, you know, that weren't Catholics.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um at first, you know, after I sang for Pope John Paul II, um, you know, of course, Mass was an Oktoberfest was probably the two moments where musically a musician could kind of play.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_04: So there wasn't a lot of opportunity in other areas as concerts.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so shortly after I sang for the Pope, I was going a lot to Protestant churches because you know they had the concerts in the microphones.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right, right, right.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, they were ahead of us.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Some of that, yes, yes, yes.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then it's turned into uh I would say I do 80% of uh what my travels and singing are in some kind of Catholic setting.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um but it's crossed into into even the secular world uh where you know I've I've done you know more like a conference for corporate so and you know the the the whole meaning and thrust of Tony Melendez is hope.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, even the Pope said my wish for you is that you continue giving hope to others.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_04: So if I can't go in with the Jesus message, I'll come in with the hope message.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_04: So that's kind of what I do.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: As you mentioned, um uh um a song can be storytelling as well, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you're telling your story along the way as you go as uh as well, I can see.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there's a song called Bed by the Window that's on one of my albums.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_04: It's a story about two old guys in a basically like a nursing home.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_04: One guy's looking out the window and telling a story of all these beautiful things that he's singing.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_04: And the the end of the story is that there's never all that stuff.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's a brick wall.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right, right.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: And uh power of imagination and sharing a story, yeah.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_04: So it's a beautiful song of a story, and people say, Well, that's lying.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_04: And it's no, he's kind of spilling his heart out.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's engaging one's heart, yeah, that's right, and lifting one's mind.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: And um God gave us that gift of our imagination, right?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and you know, this other poor other guy can't move too well, neither one of them.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, the story of being able to see lovers in the park, ducks in the lake, you know, that kind of thing, uh, is a beautiful thing.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: And the blessing of for both the storyteller and the one hearing the story, right?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh just to have a little hope, a little sunshine.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh any country that sticks out that was uh uh memorable or uh uh 46 countries.
• 16:59
  unknown: Yeah.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, wow.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_04: That's where I've sang at.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: I've been to a few more, but I haven't sang it.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um any performance or place that uh stays in your mind is you know, they all have very beautiful memories.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um uh what I'd love to say, I'd love saying that I'd love wherever there's water, if there's an ocean or a lake or something like that.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: Have you been to Ireland?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_04: I have not.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta get to Ireland because it's surrounded by what by water and it rains all the time.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: So it'd be like water.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: Ireland's just I need to go.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: I have not been.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, uh uh again, the um the human experience created in God's image and likeness and body, mind, heart, and soul, and uh what music can do um uh for uh for uh I'm thinking the growing up listening to my father listening to Irish music and not having any interest in say we used to call it diddly music or something like that.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: That uh but then I started to learn some of the history and started to appreciate the beauty of the Irish people um and then getting to know the Hispanic Latino uh community, um, even to think of the different countries uh uh and songs and titles of our Blessed Mother, right?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: How they express express their love so often in song.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh how about um musical influences as we I'm remembering now, uh I I'm not as much a music fan as I as I was.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: I was uh uh rock and roll and different things for um a long time, but uh my first two albums that I listened to on a Sony Walkman when I was taking the subway from Queens into Manhattan, my first job after high school, um I had Billy Joel's greatest hits, and I had U2's um uh Joshua Tree, one of their any um when you were growing up, any uh particular uh group or musician or music that um I was really a big fan of like Don uh Dan Fogelberg, kind of uh just thought I'd love the way he put words together.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he did the leader of the band.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah, right.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_04: Right all enzymes, you know.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right, yeah.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_04: Leader of the band is right, right.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_04: Beautiful songs.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and James Taylor, you know, the acoustic thing.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_04: I just sing a songwriter, sing a songwriter.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Carol King, right, was uh um great um, yeah, they did some songwriting together.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um but you know, I really I really like this music overall.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, with the the music, you know, that's kind of just helped me to pray, it's kind of helped me dance.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_04: Um music can be romantic, it can be a little crazy.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, so just through the years it's been kind of a a neat vessel to be able to kind of bring cheer you up or bring you to prayer.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um and has been impacted for good, I'm not sure um uh completely, but uh technology, right?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: I mean we have music on our phones now and it's uh so accessible.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh has has that impacted your your career over the years in terms of some of how music is shared through technology?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean it's just I think it's so accessible now.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_04: You don't have to walk into the record store, right, right, come out with the vinyl, you know, which you know is just heavy and not heavy, but just bigger, and you gotta have that place for it and the and the right player.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_04: Now you just have it on your phone or your device or computer.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but you know, I I I see how it's kind of helped uh just but by being able to kind of send it to a friend a little quicker.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right, right.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, if you want to give it away or you don't buy it, you could do both.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: So tell us about your performance, maybe what how how long do you perform for it?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's bilingual, and do you have a band or you gonna are you gonna be solo tonight?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, this time it's just me, just me by myself, just me and the guitar.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and we'll do 45 minutes to 50 minutes in a concert, and then we'll lead straight into adoration and end with adoration.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_04: Beautiful.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_04: And and more churches have been asking for that more and more.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so it's it's beautiful.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: So it's concert and you know, ending with adoration.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_04: And uh just by myself, like I said, no, I don't have the band with me right now.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: After COVID, it just got so hard to be able to get the band back.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: But there was a time where you were with the band, yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we traveled for many years with the band, and it it's you know, it's a lot of energy.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_04: Uh people like it, but at the same time, you know, there was another guitar player.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_04: Who's playing?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_04: You know, is that really you, Tony Melendez?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_04: Are you really playing the guitar?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: So they almost didn't believe that I was playing.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: So now this way, with just me, you're getting Tony Melendez 100%.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: No doubt.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: The um I was reading your bio and it mentioned so you were grew up Catholic, and it sounds like you left the faith, and then at some point in high school you you kind of came back, and you even were for a time there considering the the priesthood.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I didn't totally leave it.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_04: I think I just didn't pay attention.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um I would still go to Mass every weekend.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um but you know, I wasn't engaged, I wasn't involved.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um but you know, the that Catholic side of Tony Melendez, um I wanted more life.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_04: Uh you know, even with the music, if it wasn't music that was for Christ, that's the main kind of like the meat of the song, Jesus, our Lord, um, which is so beautiful that if I was just doing kind of just songs that I could play in a bar, uh that's fun too, but at the same time, it's I I want a little bit more for my music and and to be in a better place um and to be a little more holy where you're doing.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_04: He wants, not what you want.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, music is very selfish and very wordy, uh, in the sense of offensive, even.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_04: So, in some cases on the secular side, I don't want that.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: And um I you gotta love what you're doing to spend as much time on the road as you do, but really you're you're sharing the good news of the gospel, right?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, from little kids to old folks, um, schools, conferences, uh, you know, we talk world youth days.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_04: I was uh I don't know if you were there, uh this was several years ago in Florida, they had a convocation that the bishops put on, and I was invited to be part of that.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, which uh the bishop brought 12 delegates and it was just neat to and the bishops ran everything, it was great, and it was it hadn't happened, I think, in like 150 years or something like that.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: So it was beautiful to see that.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um and you know, things uh you know, I didn't even know, you know, I wasn't paying attention when I was younger, uh, you know, in catechism.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't even know what the word Catholic meant until I was in my 40s.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_04: And it means universal for those that don't know.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right, right.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_04: It means universal.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_04: But when you see the church, like at the world youth, and you see all these cultures, you know, you got maybe uh Hispanics on one side and this other culture from another side and right behind another culture.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: Not to mention languages.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you're just seeing it.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_04: All this, you know, right in your area uh where you're sitting, it's very powerful to see the universal church come together.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: And the Eucharist as the unify, as the uh source of our unity, right?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh everyone's familiar with the Mass.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh different language, different music, um, but same Eucharist, right?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_04: And you know what's beautiful is uh they don't come by the hundreds, they don't come by the thousands, they come by the millions at this world youth day.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the last one in uh Portugal?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I was there, yeah.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: Three million-ish.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um Pope Francis uh todos, tolos, tolos.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone should be welcome.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_04: So it's beautiful to see how many come.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_04: It's very powerful.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh we mentioned the Eucharistic Congress, and uh you're seeing more and more invitations in churches to uh conclude with adoration, and um uh the Eucharistic revival continues.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we mentioned, and uh I think this is gonna come out towards the end of May, and um Pentecost leads us to um um to Holy Trinity and um and the Feast of the Sacred Heart and the Fe Feast of Corpus Christi.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh um this year um uh uh there'll be a Eucharistic procession from St.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: Augustine, Florida, where the first Mass was celebrated in the United States through the 13 colonies, original 13 colonies coming through our diocese.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh uh it's gonna be a wonderful week.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: June 11th, the bishops are gonna be in Orlando and consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: Friday, June 12th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart here in Sacred Heart Parish.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and we have three Sacred Heart Parishes in the diocese.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then here in the diocese we have um uh two priests being ordained, God willing, two men are being ordained to the priesthood on uh Saturday, June 13th.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: And then the National Eucharistic procession is coming through um uh June 14th and 15th.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um maybe uh if there's some who might not fully appreciate what a gathering like that uh you've already said um uh uh given some witness to what it can be like when the church comes together, right?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh it's it can be a beautiful experience of prayer and and faith when we come together in adoration, right?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: And in procession um uh with our with the Lord in the Eucharist.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_04: And that's a long ways.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: That's a long ways as it travels.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_04: I was there uh when we were there at the Indianapolis uh for the convo uh for the Eucharistic Congress, 60,000 people process outside.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_04: That's right, yes, yes.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like a parade.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_04: People are coming out of the stores.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_04: What's going on here?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right, right.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_04: And they see the blessed sacrament going.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: That centered, I think it was a war memorial where it was way up uh where the outer uh where the Benediction was.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: And uh um and um the first night um those processions came from the north, south, east, and west, right?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: All come come.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_04: It was neat to see that because the people are coming out.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_04: What's going on?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_04: What's going on?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_04: And uh that's it.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, yeah, that's the Lord.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_04: Jesus is pacified.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_04: That's the Lord.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um powerful.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, before before he let you go.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um any any advice or um words uh for an aspiring musician or or someone who's looking to maybe perform at a chur at church function or or secular function anywhere or or aspiring to be a professional musician.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_04: I really believe if God gives you a talent, He will use you.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm a guy with no arms that plays the guitar with his feet.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, and I was the same for Pope John Paul II and travel so much and uh be here with you, Bishop Kevin uh and and Jake was it?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, thank you.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um I never uh imagined I would be doing moments like this.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're true to heart, um let God use you and take you to places and you just be that instrument and let him play you.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_04: That's kind of the best way to uh I'm not doing anything, I feel he's doing it all.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: Mother Teresa's image was be the pencil in God's hand, right?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, allow allow him to um he guides the way and uh and your heart hopefully will be drawn to his call.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I'm I presume you've had uh a lot of contact with youth, right, over the years.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: And uh thank God for our youth ministers, right, that bring our young people to church and um and and introduce them to the Lord and allow them to have that encounter with him at a young age that can hopefully um uh strengthen them, give them courage as uh Pope John Paul encouraged and and not to be downcast or uh to be filled with hope as as as we share the message, right?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, I love the youth, they really have kind of put me where I am today.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um you know, just because they keep calling.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_04: You know, the youth leaders keep calling and I keep going and talking with them.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: Uh just kind of a moment that's tender to my heart.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh lost my son, 24 years old.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and you have a daughter.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_04: And a daughter, and we just celebrated his fourth year of being gone to being in heaven.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_04: He was young.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and I just want the best for the young people.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, don't give up on Christ.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_04: He just loves us, loves you so much.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and just know uh us as parents, as the bishops, as uh friends, uh, we love you.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so if you're kind of wallowing in depression or hurt or by yourself, please, please just let us know.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: You're not alone, you're not alone.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: That way we can help you.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right, right, right.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: We're here and uh yeah, we want to we've received it from others, right?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And from the Lord, and we want to share that faith, hope, and love.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh especially with our young people.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we love them, and it it you know, you want to instill Christ in them.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, sometimes you as a parent, mom, or dad, it's not an easy task, or even a bishop.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_04: Uh there's a lot of people that say no or don't care, don't want it.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but you know, the Lord could really change our lives in a great way.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_04: So that's where I'm hoping that one day we could, you know, place that little seed of Christ in each person's hearts.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm sure you'll um do that tonight here at at Sacred Heart, and so grateful again for your coming to the diocese and for taking this time as well.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and uh you'll certainly be in my prayers and in our prayers, and uh um hopefully we'll connect again as we continue along along the journey.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for this gift.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Tony, and thank you for your beautiful music.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um before we wind up, Bishop, is anything you'd like to share with us?
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's happening with you?
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: What's been going on?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, uh uh confirmation season.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_03: I get to spend a lot of quality time with the Holy Spirit uh in in this time of year.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: So uh help us carry that on Hallelujah.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's right, that's right, that's right.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so uh yeah, as we we're filming on um today, St.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_03: Joseph the Worker, May 1st, right?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so um uh May is always a wonderful month uh in parishes, certainly for first holy communions, and um uh and Mother's Day will be coming up, it'll be after uh this will come out after that.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: But uh um so uh uh a lot of things happening uh during the month of May will lead to uh high school graduations and our other school graduations.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_03: But um to keep in mind those um those blessed days we're gonna have um here in the diocese um uh Friday the 12th, the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna invite our parishes to encourage um our parishioners uh after the bishops on Thursday evening, um, the consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um we're gonna consecrate the country and we're gonna invite each person, each home, each family, uh, each parish to make that consecration on Friday, June 12th.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: Pray for um our two deacons, uh Deacon Lucas Folan and Deacon Gender Medina, who God willing will be ordained priests on the uh feast of St.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: Anthony um uh June 13th.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: And then Sunday evening the 14th and Monday evening the 15th, uh we'll have the Eucharist coming through um as part of the national uh Eucharistic pilgrimage.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_03: So um uh you're welcome to come back if you're if you find yourself in this part of the country at that time.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh happy to have you.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: So check the show notes for more information about what the bishop mentioned and also for some uh links to some of Tony Melendez's work.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh thank you again, Tony.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and I guess if there are other parishes that are looking to plant something, uh we could uh share the contact information, right?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you could find me at Tony Melendez.com, just on the internet there.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: TonyMelendez.com.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: And he's also on Instagram and Facebook.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you again, Tony.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you all for joining us.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Please subscribe, comment, and leave a positive rating.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Get to know us better by following Bishop Kevin's Instagram or Beyond the Beacon on social media.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Read the bishop's weekly column on beaconnj.org and get in touch if you have a question for the bishop or a podcast topic idea and discover our other podcasts.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: See you next time.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks everybody.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: God bless you.