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A special live audience interview with Bishop Kevin and Jesuitical · Beyond The Beacon

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Join us for weekly conversations about our Catholic faith and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jay Agnis, Communications Director for the Diocese.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier this month on September 11th, we hosted a unique media event with Bishop Kevin Sweeney at our St.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Inside the Walls Evangelization Center.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: One of our favorite podcasts, Jesuitical, came to the diocese to record an interview with Bishop Kevin in front of a live audience.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: The interview covered a wide array of important topics and drew a ton of laughs.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you to everyone who attended and to all those who helped make this really fun event and come alive.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: The evening also included a QA with Jesuitical hosts Ashley McKinless and Zach Davis, along with producer Sebastian Gomes.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Bishop celebrated a special chapel mass with all of us earlier in the day, in which he reflected on the tragic event of September 11th, 2001.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: The Jesuitical episode with Bishop Kevin's interview first aired on September 20th and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: That interview also follows now.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_04: Alright, my first question is uh I I didn't get a program, so I'm a little jealous here.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um we'll see if we can get you a t-shirt.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_04: So uh as Jay said, my name is Zach.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just gonna say a couple words about uh America Media and the podcast uh before I'll kick it off to or I'll hand it over to Ashley to get us kicked off for the recording.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so if you don't know America magazine, uh it's published by the Society of Jesus.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_04: We're based in New York, but we're uh a national Catholic media organization uh covering uh Vatican News, uh US church news, politics, uh Netflix shows, book reviews, everything in between.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um and Jesuitical is published as part of America Media.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_04: Ashley and I started this in a closet at America Media um back in 2017.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_04: So we've been podcasting for a few years now, back when we were younger, hipper, and we're still lay.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um but the podcast is really we're we try to cover Catholic news.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_04: There's three segments to the show.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_04: First one, we cover Catholic news, talk about it.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_04: Uh second segment, we have an interesting conversation, so it's interview-based.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_04: And then finally, we uh try to talk about what's going on in our own faith lives, so it's our own attempt at faith sharing.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so if you haven't ever listened, uh this is your invitation.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_04: So wherever you get uh beyond the beacon, you can also search for Jesuitical, uh spelled like it sounds.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and without further further ado, I will pass it over to Ashley to get us started.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: And this is being recorded, so laugh loudly.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: I have a lot of bad jokes coming.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: So all right.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to Jesuitical, a podcast from American Media for Saints and Sinners.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: You can join us each week for honest conversations about the Catholic Church and our world today, sometimes over drinks.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Ashley McKinless, and I'm joined by Zach Davis.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: Great to be with you, Ashley.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Great to be here.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And we are here live in Madison, New Jersey, with a very special guest, Bishop Kevin J.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Sweeney.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Bishop Sweeney is the Bishop of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey, and the host of the Beyond the Beacon podcast.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Jesuitical Bishop.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Ashley.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Really excited to be with you and Zach and uh to have you here in our diocese, as I've shared with many.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I've become a big fan of Jesuiticals, so I am grateful for the work that you do and the and the ministry really that you uh offer in communication and building community and sharing the news of the church and helping us to think about it and uh just sharing great stories and and and reasons to be excited about our Catholic faith.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, the feelings mutual.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_04: So thanks for having us.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_04: It's uh, as we all know, uh divisive time in our in our country right now.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_04: So I wanted to start off with a divisive question, which is how does a Brooklyn Queens guy grow up cheering for the New York Yankees?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: People want to know.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: So grew up in Whitestone, Queens, which is right next to Flushing, where um that other team, there's another team in New York that I worked in a place called Shea Stadium for nine years, but before that, when I was seven years old, my favorite player was Lupinella, and the Yankees won back-to-back World Series in 77 and 78, as everyone knows, with Reggie Jackson, Ron Gidgry, Thurman Munson.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: I can go through the whole lineup if you like, but uh uh so been a Yankee fan ever since, so let's go.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yankees are overdue, so this is gotta win it this year.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_04: All right, well we'll see.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_04: My I'm I'm from Ohio, so my Cleveland Guardians are having a play here Tuesday.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll see.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_04: I have a feeling our paths are gonna cross.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's happened before and worked out well for the end.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Except in 98, um, excuse me, 97 when Mariano gave up the home run to Sali at the Santi Alamo Junior.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Encyclopedic.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: This is where I have to jump in and say stop talking about sports.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um so uh Bishop, earlier this evening we had the great honor of celebrating or you celebrating Mass for us.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um and of course, we're recording this on September 11th, a very somber day for the for New York, for New Jersey, and for our entire country.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I was really moved by your homily talking about your experience on that day.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: You were only a priest for four years.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I would I would just hoping you can take us back to that day and how you found out the news and what the how the week unfolded for you.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I thank uh you both and Sebastian in America for the opportunity to.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: I never figured I would be writing an article in America, but I had that opportunity, and uh when Sebastian was in touch about that, um I thought back to my first um few months here in Patterson, and uh we have a Dyson paper.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's a long tradition of the bishops writing a weekly column, and um I was hesitating and gonna do it, and then I we got to the end of August, and I realized um as I was getting to know the diocese and they were getting to know me, I wanted to share a little bit about my experience on September 11, 2001, um, serving in St.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Nicholas of Talentine Parish in Jamaica, Queens.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and hearing that beautiful blue sky today reminded, I think, many of us of that blue sky that Tuesday morning in 2001, and those words when we heard in one way or another, a plane hit the World Trade Center, and then the images and the reality of that uh tragic day.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as I shared at Mass, and as I've shared before, um I was um asked by the pastor to celebrate a mass on September 13th.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So two days, Wednesday there was craziness, Tuesday, Wednesday.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I had some time with our Catholic school principals this morning, and I shared a memory of um with the pastor and principal working together and my trying to help as I could.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: We went to each classroom as before, cell phones and um social media, and the teachers kept teaching.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: There were so many heroes of that day, as I recall, um, and as we all know, and hopefully our young people realize um so many good people that um live in this country and who have been part of the history of this country, and and responded on that day to bring light into the darkness, and um there was a lot of anger, um sadness.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so we organized that there would be a mass on that Thursday evening.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: We knew the church would be full, and the pastor um family responsibilities, uh his his niece was getting married that weekend, and they went ahead with the wedding, and so we had to go for the rehearsal to New Jersey, and um, so he asked if I would say the mass, and I said I would.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um I looked at the readings, which the gospel, if you're at Daily Mass tomorrow, it's Thursday of the 23rd week in ordinary time, from Luke's gospel when Jesus says, Um, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, um, turn the other cheek.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I looked, I said, I I I can't read that gospel on and that Thursday morning opened the Daily News and saw a story um about Timothy and Tara Stagpole.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I had been with them actually the Saturday before at the Great Irish Fair and also with Father Michael Judge because uh Timmy was receiving uh uh the fireman of the year, Irishman of the year, I think, um, and he had was September 10th that Monday was his first day back on the job.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Three years he was recovering from burns that he had been um that he had received received in a responding to a fire in 1998.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um Tara was with her mom and as the story's shared in the Daily News in Rockaway, and she was driving back to Brooklyn when she heard a plane hit the tower.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: She knew Timmy was there, and as she was driving, she saw the tower fall.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: The reporter was with her family and their five children, and as she said, she knew she would never see her husband again.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, if Timmy were alive right now, he'd be calling for forgiveness and for prayer, for peace.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I couldn't believe it.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um when I saw Jesus' words from the gospel in that circumstance, I said, I don't know if I could read those words at this time.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And as I tried to share a mass and I've tried to share with others, um where did that come from?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: From being raised by Catholic parents in a Catholic family in a Catholic parish, um, by falling in love and meeting a husband and raising children and being part of their pre-cana um and and just living the faith that we're called to live, but living it deeply and living it prayerfully and living it reflectively, uh a life of service.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Timmy, she said, always wanted to be a firefighter because uh he was called to serve and and be there for others uh at the most difficult times.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um so remembers towards the end of the article, she said she has no regrets, she has terrible sadness, but no regrets, because they knew what they had when they were together.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think many of her children have gone on to get married and they have grandchildren now, and um, so I I'll never forget their witness.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I think you know, we say those words, we'll never forget, but we have to realize um what those words mean, and that Jesus at each mass tells us, do this in remembrance of me.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Remember love, and and remember those who understand his words.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: There's no greater love than to lay down your life for those who you love.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: And and so um 23 years later it was like it was yesterday, you know.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_04: I uh was in Ohio as a young child at the time, and you know, when I moved to New York ten years ago, uh I didn't realize how raw the the wound still was, but also how many stories of of grace and that uh abound in that in that deep wound.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: I I imagine that the an experience like that, especially so early on in your priesthood, has kind of stuck with you.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm just curious, you know, as you went on in your priestly vocation and now today as a bishop, you know, what are some of those the maybe those core lessons that have stayed with you?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I said to our Catholic school teachers today um to realize that you know they're inspiring heroes um each day by what they do, and um and and parents raising children in the faith and parish communities um uh uh challenging young people and coaches, you know, and uh to um that we can disagree with each other without having to hate each other, that um we have so much in this country that we should be grateful and thankful for.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um yes, we have challenges, we have difficulties, um, but uh there's so many blessings.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um as I tried to share in the in the article that um uh as I in those weeks and months and years since um, you know, something was in those people that the firefighters, especially and rescue workers who were going into the towers when everyone else was coming out, um they were ready for that moment, they had been prepared for that moment uh for their whole life because of so for so many of them the way that they were raised, and for so many of them because they were people of faith and service and generosity and sacrifice, um, when the moment came they were ready.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: So uh that's part of who we are is a people of faith, and uh and and we can get discouraged at times, uh, but if we remember some of those sacrifices and and and all that led up to making those heroes who they are.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think of the people on flight 93, right?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: That um knew that they that that that that plane could have could have gone into a building and killed thousands of people, and they said, we have to do something about it.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: So they they they they they responded and and uh and and we're called to learn those lessons and share those lessons with one another and try to inspire our young people to uh realize the difference between good and um and and and selflessness rather than than selfishness.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, there's a lot of lessons I think we can still learn.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I was I was grew up in Arlington, Virginia, which is of course where the Pentagon is, and I I remember I just started sixth grade and being taken out of class and then being home.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: My parents were still in the city and just watching this on repeat on the television.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it was I consider that my first non-childhood memory, like that was when childhood ended and the world became bigger and much scarier.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I I imagine that's a lot how a lot of people in your parish were were feeling and turning to you with their fear and their anger and their questions uh and their doubts about how God could let this happen.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's a that's a huge pastoral challenge to have as a young priest, and so I'm wondering how how that helped you grow as a priest.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um talk about images.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the I can still see like seven o'clock, seven thirty at that evening, parents who had a walk over a bridge, or many of our parents of our kids worked in in Manhattan, and to get to Jamaica, Queens was a challenge that day.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um teachers stayed and cared for the children, and but the embraces of the parents uh for their children when they got home safe, you know.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we know that sadly so many didn't get home safe that day, but so many did, and in those many might remember in the days or weeks after people were saying, Tell your children you love them, tell your parents you love them, because you know you never know, and um and we should appreciate that gift of each day.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: But in terms of um, I think pastorally, um, as I tried to mention at Mass today, I think something that's underrated in our Catholic faith and Christian faith is the gift of community.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: And the parish I was in, yes, there was sadness, there was loss, there was anger, but there was real community united in prayer.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: People can and and and we had that experience in the city as well.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Just neighbors and people weren't honking their horns, they weren't yelling at each other, they were cheering for firefighters, and um again, it's something we can so easily take for granted, but but community takes work and and and and and being patient with one another takes work, but it it can be done, and uh, and and uh as a part of a community of faith to come together, it's it's living the mystery of the cross.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and uh and from from that suffering and death there came life as well, and hope and and and healing.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um it it was um thank God I was in a community of faith at that time, and I think many others can share that experience.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's interesting you say that because I was gonna ask, I I realized when I was driving over that you became a bishop during another traumatic time for New York, New Jersey, and the entire country, which was the COVID-19 pandemic, and that was a time when you didn't really have community.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: So, what what was that transition like from from being a priest to being a bishop at that difficult time?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um we did have community.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was hard, but um the parish where I've been pastor for 10 years, St.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Michael's in Sunset Park, was hit.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'll never ever want to go through what we went through celebrating virtual masses and a list growing each day of people who were sick and people who had died.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um but we were united in prayer, and that Pentecost, we had our first Zoom pastoral council meeting, and to see the people coming up on the screen, the parish leaders who had been in contact with people in their groups and who had been checking in on people and who are bringing food and who were um so the community um was there, and then um to come here to Patterson in that time, um something similar about the Diocese of Brooklyn, Diocese of Patterson, there are a number of things, but um our Catholic charities and uh our Catholic schools uh wanted as being after, I think by the December of my first six months, uh looking, real realizing that when coming to Patterson during this time, I saw the church at her very best.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: The church here in Patterson is we have this beautiful evangelization center under Bishop Saratelli and Father Manning and the team here.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: They were reaching out virtually.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um the uh um our Catholic charities went from serving 5,000 families a month to 25,000 families a month, and they and they keep that up.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: We have incredibly generous um pastors and parishes and and and parishioners um who um our our Dastan Ministries appeal um is in the fall.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it came in that fall of 2020, and our development director was very concerned and you know what would it be like?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: It would be down so much.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: People were generous.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was even more than um or equal to what had been previously.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um there was an experience of that time.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody didn't get sick and they didn't lose their job, they had incredible gratitude and they wanted to help others who were going through a hard time.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, the church, we make those connections, you know, and and so um I um celebrating confirmations during those first few months with masks and spacing.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I was saying to the kids, you know, there was another time when people needed to be heroes at September 11, 2001.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and now this is a time that we're living through, and we have first responders, doctors, right?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh medical people who were uh uh uh essential workers, right, who were out there on the front lines.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um be inspired by that that that courage, realize the gifts of the Holy Spirit that you receive, you never know when you're gonna need those gifts.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, it was a a challenging time to come, but um the this is a beautiful, strong, vibrant church here in this diocese, and they welcomed me and and we got through it, you know, together.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_04: I am curious what the uh learning curve is like for for becoming a bishop.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_04: Is there is there like a bishop school that they send you to?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's well.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_04: Did we expecting this surprise by uh they say that some bishops when they get the call they're so surprised that they drop their crozier?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if that was the case with you or not.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, no.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was two weeks into the pandemic, March 30th, 2020.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: My phone was on the other side of the room, it buzzed, I didn't recognize the number.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: I let it go, I went back to the phone.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're trying to reach about your cards with the warranty.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um Exactly.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and when I hit the when I saw that there was a voicemail, that's what I was expecting to hear.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I hear this is Archbishop Pierre looking for Father Sweeney.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Can you please call me back?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think subconsciously I was so felt so bad I missed the call that I just hit the number and I didn't even think, why is he calling me?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And he said the holy father Pope Francis named me as the next Bishop of Patterson.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I've heard since that they usually ask, Are you sitting down and are you alone?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't ask either.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: At least that I remember.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I do remember distinctly standing by the side of the couch and sitting on the side of the couch.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: If the couch wasn't there, I think I would have just hit the floor.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um so your life changes like that.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: As soon as you hear those words, yeah.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh I think I didn't say anything because uh the next thing I remember him saying was, Patterson, do you know where that is?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: New Jersey.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm curious, if did you have an idea, you know, like judgments about bishops, like, oh, that's a job I would not like, or that sounds like a cool job, I'd like my own house, or and what what surprised you in those first couple months?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: I really had never thought about it, except when I was vocation director, I lived with Bishop DeMarcio.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think in that time I I've said and I've heard others say it that when you spend time close with a bishop as I did with Bishop DeMarcio, you realize why we mentioned the bishop by name in the in the in the Eucharistic prayer for the uh Holy Father Pope Francis.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: And um so thank you for those prayers, can keep them coming.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because you know, part of um responding to the Lord's call is accepting responsibility.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: We can call that the cross sometimes, um, but then you know, a pastor has great responsibility um for running a parish.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Does anyone have more responsibility than parents raising children?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh each according to our vocation, you know, the Lord has something that he's asking of us.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I think looking back with spiritual direction in the seminary and priest friends and the example of Bishop DiMarzio, Bishop Daly, who ordained me, Bishop Saratelli, who um I remember when I called him the the Holy Father, excuse me, the nuncio said I could call Bishop Di Marzio and Bishop Saratelli, but I couldn't tell anyone else.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I could speak to a spiritual director, he said.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: But um Bishop Bishop Saratelli, a thing I remember him saying, Coraggio, and I said, Thank you.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Then I understood little by little what he meant.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: But uh he's been wonderful.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so um there's something called the baby bishop school or a new bishop's orientation in Rome, which was nice to go to Rome, but we were in uh some university for six days.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um we got this say mess with the Holy Father, which was great, and and and say hello to the Holy Father.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: I think this is like news to a lot of people, yeah.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um and there's some great theory and stuff about the universal church, which is beautiful, but the some of the particulars, it's uh you gotta learn how you gotta learn how to go, right?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Bishop Saritelli, uh Bishop Demarzio, and Cardinal Tobin, our neighbor here in Newark, along with the bishops of New Jersey, um, they've held my hand and uh answered my calls and uh helped.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you also realize um that you know we gotta work together as teams, and we have a great team here in um in Patterson in terms of our vicars and uh Dowson leadership, priests, deacons, lay, religious.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um being a sports fan, I think there's things that we can learn from sports, and one of those things is you gotta rely on your teammates and uh to trust one another to do the job and uh and and and and support one another in in good times and bad.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: So um trying to do it together.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: Helps to have a team for sure.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: We did read that you wanted to be a pro uh baseball player.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Is being bishop a good consolation prize?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: I presume that he would still recognize that.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no, I uh when vocation directors speaking about vocations, I did come to say finally that um if they called and asked me to play for the New York Yankees, I'd say no, I'm too happy being a priest.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: When you start to believe that.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh uh the priesthood's a wonderful gift, and uh that's um I think has to be at the heart of who a bishop is.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um a priest called to uh a particular responsibility, and so um uh I I couldn't be happier.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you mentioned responsibility can sometimes feel like a cross, or that could be another word for it.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: And we're at this time in the life of the Catholic Church through the synodal process, the synod on synodality, which has been going on for the last couple of years and continues this October, one of the main um uh themes is co-responsibility and the role of bishops.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm wondering how you've been thinking about what it would mean to share some of the responsibility or ways that you're already doing that in Patterson.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I love that word, co-responsibility, and it makes me think of my second pastor, Padre Tomas, Monsignor Thomas Healy, whose parents were from Mayo and Galway, both my parents from Mayo, but uh he he was pastor of one of the largest Hispanic parishes in the Brooklyn Diocese in Corona, Queens, our Lady of Soros, nuestra Señora de los Dolores.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um and he loved the word corresponsibilidad, and and it he used it as the word for stewardship in Spanish.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um I Pope Francis obviously loves that word um and and accompaniment.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and so this synodal process has been a blessing for us here in the diocese.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um we've embraced it, and um, and and and yes, there's there's gifts that uh the spirit is calling to be shared.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um thank God for even maybe in a particular way since the Second Vatican Council, the role of women and and women in leadership, and our Holy Father is asking for that.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and that we we we do that together, walking the journey together.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh there's a the in in Spanish um the beautiful hymn, I won't sing it, but uh juntos como hermanos, uh miembros de la iglesia, vamos caminando al encuentro del senhor.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we walk together to encounter the Lord, um, and and we go together, we we have a spirit of uh walking together.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so um I I find and I I think not knowing uh the the little that I know and familiar with of Salam, the the uh uh Conferencia Episcopale Latin America, the Latin American Bishops Conference, the the experience that Pope Francis has come out of in Argentina and in the Latino church, um uh uh I think is very much uh I uh part of uh his um leading us in a in a in a synodal way.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: And um uh I I think it's it's a great blessing.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_04: I think one of the things that's gonna come out of uh this process of synodality is hopefully like a a widened understanding of vocation within the church, right?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_04: I a lot of the documents talk about you know, it's the responsibility of every baptized individual, you know, to be a missionary disciple.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I'm curious, you know, in your time as both a vocations director and now as a bishop, have you seen a change in how we talk about vocations or how what young people are seeking from a vocation?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um I I I think of too often we're kind of laser focused on either trying to just like get people to sign up for seminary or uh denoviciate or something or join religious life.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but of course, you know, there are a lot of different things you can do in the church.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_04: You're you're in the diocese, you're employing a lot of lay vocations, right?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: So how's that changed in your time?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm a big fan of Bishop Robert Barron and uh and uh his word on fire ministry, and um he spoke at the um uh Eucharistic Congress, which was an incredible blessing, uh, and he spoke about the the and and he it's a theme that he's referred to over the years that um the Second Vatican Council calls the laity to bring the gospel into into the public square.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and at the Eucharistic Congress he called on everyone um to live the valve uh the val the the values, uh virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and um I encourage anyone to, I think it's on his uh podcast, his talk at the Eucharistic Congress.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh I think the Eucharistic Congress and and hopefully the Eucharistic revival um is uh a way that we're communicating that everyone is called to share their gifts and uh and and and and to be united by the Eucharist and strengthened by the Eucharist to go out and and bring his love and mercy into the world.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the the four pilgrimages that took place in north, south, east, and west involves so much of the whole church.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think there's I see it here in Patterson, um, the young church, there's there's an optimism there, there's an energy there.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I think there's a sense that um, yes, I'll I'll I'll consider um uh a call to uh priesthood religious life, uh I'll consider marriage, I maybe call to the single life, but we all have um uh a call from baptism that we share, and I think maybe it's taking some time, but I think we're getting there in terms of uh r um emphasizing that beautiful uh call from the Second Vatican Council that um the call to holiness that we all share from baptism, that common vocation.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_04: Ashley, I I I we've talked about this sometimes where uh we feel like we sometimes have stumbled into our vocation and and it almost like you don't really realize it's solidified around you until you're, you know, you've been living it for a while.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you have a moment where that's well, so I think for women, sometimes that word vocation can be a bit of a stumbling block.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like I have a sister who's a Catholic school teacher and a mother, and she would never think of that as her vocation.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: She just never heard that vocal vocabulary growing up.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: It was like pray for vocations that meant pray for young guys to become priests.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: And women don't have that like built-in touch point for for like what a vocation is and what it would mean for them in the church.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I do think that's changing.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I do think we have some work to do, especially since the synod is also trying to, you know, incorporate the voices and leadership of women and and communicating what vocation means to them specifically in in new language, maybe.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um it's it's a challenge, and I appreciate you making a fair point.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: It um uh reminds me of uh some of my time as vocation director.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um we we we wanted to promote all vocations, but as a diocesan priest promoting vocations, there's always gonna be that tendency to say we gotta get guys into the seminary or encourage uh vocations to priesthood.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but I think we need to keep reminding ourselves, and I think that's uh a gift that Pope Francis is giving us.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I and I'll go back to Bishop Barron.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: I um some of his emphasis on on Dorothy Day, on Edith Stein, on Mother Teresa, um, I think with along with St.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Teresa, I think he talks about them as four of the most important figures in the last century um in the life of the church, in uh outside of maybe some of the some of the the the popes.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: But um uh so uh we we need to keep reminding ourselves of that and and and and allowing the spirit to um to uh maybe tell us step aside sometimes and uh and and and and invite that um those leadership, the gifts um um that that that the Lord gives to each one of us.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_04: When I uh spend time, I I study abroad in college in in Rome and I've gotten to go back there in a professional setting, and I will sometimes take people on like my my pilgrimage route within Rome.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um there is uh Abbey Theater Irish Pub is one of the stops.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but so is uh there's a number of churches I love, of course, but I also always take people to the Keats Shelley House, which is just up next to the Spanish steppes, which is where poet John Keats uh died.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_04: He was uh uh sick with tuberculosis that he got from caring for his brother, um, and they thought the weather in Rome would be better for him, and turns out it probably killed him faster.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um but he was deeply in love with uh Fanny Braun, and uh they were they were exchanging these letters, and I had this experience as a as a young man, confused about my vocation and path in life, where I was up there and I was reading their letters, and the intensity of their love that Keats was not really a religious man.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_04: He said that he never understood how people could die for religion, why there would be martyrs until he fell in love.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so he was deeply passionate, but I came away so moved from that spot that I wandered down away from the Spanish steps and into a church, and I said, God, whether you want me to be a married man or a priest or whatever, just like please let me have a love like that.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um and it sat with amazing.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I'm I I just wonder, you know, how do we as a church uh uh invite people to fall in love with whatever their vocation is?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um Leserab.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Take my hand, I'll lead you to salvation.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: Take my love, for love is everlasting.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: And remember the truth that once was spoken.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: To love another person is to see the face of God.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um when I was in college, uh some of the I was in the college seminary attending St.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: John's University, go um Red Storm.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and except when they're playing Seton Hall now because I'm on the board of Seton Hall.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope Seton Hall and St.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: John's both have great, great seasons.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but um uh some seminarians uh would go to see some plays on Broadway.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, growing up in Queens, I didn't go to but so this play Lady Ms.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: Rao, and um to love another person is to see the face of God in my own discernment uh in college and uh marriage, priesthood, um God is love.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's the what we're called to in as as God's children and and created in God's image and likeness.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, yeah, we we have to um and and should uh be able to keep saying that um some experience of of that love at that deepest level is is is is is what God has created us for.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh if we're asking him to show us, um I remember then uh with spiritual direction and prayer saying, okay, Lord, um I would like your will to be this, but show me your will, what your will be done, and uh and and that listening and prayer.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um but but asking God who is love to show us um um the path of love that he has uh in store for us.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned before um some some events from the Eucharistic Congress and the Eucharist revival, and I know from reading some of your columns that you you were deeply moved by your experience um in Indianapolis.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um more moved in Indianapolis than you were in Fatima or Lourdes, in fact.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was moved in those two also, but uh but the it was it was the the beauty of the church um and uh Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, um the talk that she gave, uh again, I encourage people to go back growing up in the Middle East in war-torn, places ripped apart by war, having to bury bodies when she was 11 or 12.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and I don't know, I gotta find out more about her story, how she entered into religious life, how she found a religious community, but the love that she has, the love that she has for those struggling with addiction, those suffering with cancer, little children, and and the way that she fell in love with Jesus in the Eucharist, his real presence, uh, and brought him, uh it brings him as a minister of communion.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so um those testimonies um of that encounter with Jesus, uh I've shared before as a seminarian, uh, working with the missionaries of charity, um, seeing them in the South Bronx, caring for people coming off the street, um, struggling with drug and alcohol abuse and homelessness and all these, but welcoming them um with such incredible love.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then I saw those missionaries of charity and adoration in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm so grateful that um we are entering into this time of revival because uh there's the answer.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's he's there present in the Eucharist, and if we recognize him present in the Eucharist, he challenges us to see him and our sisters and brothers, especially those who are most in need.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: So um and and and just being there with 54,000 people from all over the country, um it was even more powerful, as beautiful and powerful as as Lords and Fatima were.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I brought it up because you you know you're talking about how how do we invite people to fall in love, and and that I feel like that was the goal of of this Congress.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I hate asking you this question, but like, how do we know if it how does it work?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: Did it work?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Did it already work?
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: Does it is it an ongoing process?
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: What does success, quote unquote, look like of the Eucharistic Congress and Eucharistic revival, right?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're Americans, we want results.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say um check in in about uh 31 years because um in 1993, Saint Pope John Paul II, JP2 we called him then, uh, came to World Ute uh in Denver and Colorado.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was there after my first year in the seminary, and seeing the church of in Denver, excuse me, in Indianapolis in 2024, I think a lot of the seeds of faith were planted by John Paul and all that followed in the church here in this country, bishops and and and priests and laypeople and parishes and revivals and and a lot of the things that have been blessings over these last 30 years, I think bore fruit in Indianapolis.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think many young people and others, all those who are in Indianapolis, are gonna be impacted, and it might take some time before we see the fruits.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I I think we saw the fruits of of 1993 in Indianapolis in 2024, so I'm super excited to see what's gonna be happening in 2055.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's good.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll give you a call.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um I want to pivot uh briefly to uh the election.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_04: I I joked earlier about it, but um that is a that's happening, I've been told, uh this year.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and I have a lot of thoughts about it, but I'm curious how your thinking in in your role as a bishop in this diocese.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: Uh how are you accompanying people at a time that can so easily devolve into divisiveness and rancor and uh despair, uh, I think is a word that's often tossed around when people think about the state of things.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: Two things.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um one personally, um in high school, my high school principal was a great pro-life champion and challenged us to see the dignity of life from the moment of conception, and also to actively um witness on behalf of the dignity and value of life from the moment of conception.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: So a part of my formation and discernment um was in the pro-life movement, the annual March for Life in Washington.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're having a March for Life here in New Jersey at the end of this month of September.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so um as a citizen, um, I believe we have that responsibility, and as especially as disciples and Christians and Catholics, to um speak on behalf of life, but not only in the womb, the that mom's life and dad's life and uh those uh who are coming to us from other places and uh Matthew 25, you know, just look it up, and that's that that that's what Jesus asks of us.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: And and that um if we're gonna care for those sisters and brothers who are most in need, our votes make a difference, and our policies and our and who we choose as our leaders make a difference.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing when I think about the election, um I go back to September 11th, and yeah, I was um 31 at the time, but um I was starting to appreciate and from that day on appreciate it even more.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: What my dad realized as an immigrant.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: He loved the country where he was born in Ireland, but he came to love this country of the United States, and he taught us that we were growing up in a wonderful country where it gave so many opportunities.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um I saw that on September 11, 2001, and I I see it today, and the American dream is still being lived in an immigrant country, uh blessed by the presence of our immigrant brothers and sisters and their children.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh so um that now maybe that's the third thing, but we You're entitled.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, you're entitled to a third thing.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_04: Go ahead.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I would say is we gotta stop yelling and screaming.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: And sorry if I'm raising my voice, but um but um but it's really hard right now.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm concerned for our country when I think about the two candidates, the main candidates.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um we pray.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um we have to we should vote.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I'll be, you know, our pastors and parish leaders will be having conversations and hope and and families as hard as it is.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um we should be grateful for our country.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: We have a responsibility to be part, we have the the the privilege of of participating and choosing our leaders.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: We need to do that prayerfully.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um the church offers some help, faithful citizenship.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: New Jersey Catholic Conference has some great resources, the USCCB.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: We'll put some on our website.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: But I am just as as as hard as it is, and maybe even depressing, it's hard to say, though we have better choices for our leaders, um we we need to be part of the conversation.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: And but we can offer something as Christians, as people of faith.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, St.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: Francis's prayer.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how can we bring that into our conversations?
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: And can we model for others that we don't have to hate each other, we don't have to speak uncharitably about one another.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: We um we can respect one another and and and and and do that and and disagree with still having respect for the person.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that's uh a unique opportunity for for the church, because this is gonna sound blunter or harsher than it means to come across, but really I a lot of people don't look to the church to help form their political opinions.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: So they like there I I think they would love it if their local pastor told them like they like their candidate.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um but other than that, people kind of get their sources from or their perspective from from elsewhere.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: And so I think the church is kind of at a challenge position then to try and influence it.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_04: But this idea of you know, we can at least shape how these conversations happen is certainly something we could contribute to what's going on going forward, you know.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_04: They they will know that we're Christians by our love for one another.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_04: That's right, that's right.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_04: Most of the time, people I don't I haven't heard that said about us in a while.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_04: Certainly.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um I think we're pressed for time.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_04: So we do have one final question for you uh before we let you go.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: That is.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: You should know it.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_02: If you could canonize one person, Catholic or not, living or dead, fictional or real, who would it be and why?
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've been waiting for that question.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna cheat and give three, but very quickly.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um my maternal grandparents, Hubert and Winifred Blewitt, raised Does that count for one or two?
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's well, then it'll be four.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I'll do it very quickly.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um the two become one in marriage, right?
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: So um they raised eight children on a farm in Ireland, and um two of them are religious sisters, um, parents.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: My aunt Nora, my confirmation sponsor, living the beautiful vocation of a single life.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they must have been incredible.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: I met them, I met my grandfather once or twice.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I met my grandmother once in Ireland, but they were people of deep faith who taught children to pray and raise them in the faith.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: Second, um, I think my high school principal, Monsignor Philip Riley, this great pro-life champion who founded the group Helpers of God's Precious Infants, he's currently in hospice and I think trying to uh offer up his sufferings um uh on on behalf of life, Monsignor Philip Riley, and last Venerable Aloysius Schwartz, Father Al, priest and beggar.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_01: I shared with you I got to go to Mexico uh to see the sisters that he founded, the Sisters of Mary.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sorry to give that answer to the question.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's okay, but now that you've given four, you have to tell the people what song they sang to you when you went to Mexico.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: I have 3,100 wonderful girls from 12 to 17 singing Country Road, West Virginia, take me home.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_04: He showed us this video, and I'm like trying to like decipher the tune because I'm thinking it's a hymn, and I was like, is that from the gather hymn though?
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, that's John Denver.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um Phenomenal.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_04: Bishop Sweeney, this was a a delight and a treasure.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_04: And we should say to everyone listening uh who's not in the room right now, uh, you've got an article in America Magazine right now that we're gonna link to in our show notes.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_04: And for everyone here, you can just go to America Magazine.org and it's on the homepage right now.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_04: So thanks so much for joining us today.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.