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Impact of faith on students inspires new school president · Beyond The Beacon

0:07
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: Join us for conversations about our Catholic faith, and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm Jay Agnish, and with me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: Bishop Kevin, how are you?
0:23
SPEAKER_02: I'm good, Jay.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: How are you?
0:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm doing well.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: Been a been a little while since we've met together.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: The last time I was thinking about it, I'm like, oh, the last time we did a podcast, the Knicks were still in the playoffs, the NHL was still going, the Pope had just been elected.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: The Yankees were doing better than they are at the moment.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: The Mets too, from what my brother tells me.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, I've been not following them too well.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: But uh so what what's what's cooking for you?
0:49
SPEAKER_00: What's uh uh I had a nice um change of pace uh um last week um in a nice setting in San Diego um for the um United States USCCB, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: We meet twice a year.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: In November, we meet in Baltimore and uh they used to go all over the country in June, but now I think they there's a rotation of San Diego, Louisville, and Orlando.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Um this is my fourth one in June because 2020 it didn't happen, and 2021 it didn't happen.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh they were virtual in November of 20 and June of 21, but um so it was uh I guess November, excuse me, June of 22 that three years ago we were in San Diego.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: And um then Louisville, Kentucky, now but uh at Louisville, Orlando, now back San Diego, and every third year is um a retreat more than a business meeting.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: So interesting.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: We had a they had a hosted a dinner at the USS Midway, which is uh a museum, the longest serving aircraft carrier from 1947, I think, to or 45 to 92.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Um so that was a treat, yeah.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: And um so um it was uh a little bit of um trying to be Mary instead of Martha.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Um so many things happening in the church and the what do you mean by church?
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh so we we didn't talk business.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Um yet there would be a lot of things that and in the you know the breaks and um the fraternal dialogues, there were some, but um they tried to keep it more spiritual and prayerful.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: There was a a bishop from Canada, um uh Archbishop uh Malloy, I think, um uh who was giving gave a couple of talks each day on he actually reflected on the teachings of um Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict, and Pope Francis about the role of the bishop.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: Um so that was it was great, it was very, very nice.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: I'll be in Canada in July soon.
2:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, great my annual trip to see my brother and his family.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: Um and before I forget, Bishop, you are coming up on a couple don't want to make a big deal about it, but you are coming up on your fifth year as as bishop and also your priest ordination.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: So on behalf of myself and communications and and maybe the diocese of Patterson, wish you uh all the best on your on these upcoming anniversaries.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: So it's nice to have you around.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: My priesthood ordination was on June 28th, so I had the blessing of celebrating my first Mass on the Feast of St.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: Peter and Paul, which um in 1997, I guess 28 years ago, um it was also the 28th was on a Saturday, and the 29th was on a Sunday as it is this year.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: So um I'm looking forward to uh Mass at Assumption in the morning on the feast of um um Saints Peter and Paul.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Actually, Saturday evening I'm gonna be at Sacred Heart Parish in Dover.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: This coming Friday is uh the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and uh And you wrote about it in your column this week.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: And then Sunday uh Mass at Assumption for Peter and Paul and the blessing of a new organ.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: And then a jubilee event, a pilgrimage.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna hopefully the weather won't be as warm as it's been, and uh we'll uh because I think we're gonna have about a 40 or 45 minute walk from in Long Valley to um St.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: Luke's parish um starting at five o'clock and uh and mass at six, so looking forward to that.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, church follow social media and check the show notes for more.
4:21
SPEAKER_02: And uh no stranger to walking and and running is our guest today, Daniel O'Keefe.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh welcome.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Um Pope John uh the Catholic Academy of Sussex County, which includes Pope John High School, um, Reverend Brown Middle School, and um uh uh Reverend Brown Elemorial School, right.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: Elementary school and the middle school and the high school, yeah.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: And it's um so so nice of you to join us, even though you don't start till I guess August 1st.
4:52
SPEAKER_02: August 1st will be my first day.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: Officially, yes.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: I've been kind of started already.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: The ground running, I think.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: Well, good.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna get into a conversation with you shortly, but I think uh why don't we open up and we'll go back to our Jubilee pre-prayers?
5:07
SPEAKER_00: Pilgrims of hope.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: Um getting to the halfway point of the jubilee of the Jubilee year with the end of June, so um, but that means still have half the year to go.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: So um we'll place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: As Pilgrims of Hope, together with the church in this Jubilee year, we pray the Jubilee prayer.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your Son Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your kingdom.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the gospel.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos into pure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: When with the power of evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Pilgrims of hope, yearning for the treasures of heaven.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: To our God eternally be blessed, be glory and praise forever.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: All right.
6:22
SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, Bishop, you uh you gave me a call uh a week or so ago and told me you were excited to maybe have Dan on the episode.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: So why don't you tell me about uh maybe the first time you you spoke or or you met?
6:35
SPEAKER_02: I know you uh uh your cross seemed to have passed in past.
6:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're there you go, both queens gathered.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: Cathedral Prep in Elmhurst, New York.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: Um and so um we'd actually had some contact um uh a few years ago when there was an opening at one of our other high schools, and uh um so um uh but we uh had the search process for the new president of the academy starting, I guess, about January, and uh um we were in contact again and Dan reached out to the committee, and um it was you know we had a lot of wonderful candidates um and a great committee um uh that went through uh extensive process and um uh I was happy when the committee recommended Dan and um happy to um uh uh that he said yes.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're very grateful and we look forward.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: And um maybe um uh you could start Dan by telling us a little bit about um your you've been in education most of your life, huh?
7:40
SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh after graduating college I started teaching at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh from there I went to John S.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Burke Catholic in Goshen, New York.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: And then in 1992, uh I started a cathedral prep uh at the Bishop's Alma mater.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: And I was a cathedral prep for 19 years.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh left there in 2011 when I was vice principal and academic dean, and from there was uh given the position of principal at Cardinal Spellman High School on the Bronx.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: And I've been a Cardinal Spellman for the last 14 years.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: And uh served some time both as principal and president at the same time.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, I was hired as principal, but then uh uh Father Trevor Nichols, my predecessor's president, retired around 2014, and the board appointed me president in 2015, asking me for one year if I would do both the principal's job and the president's job.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: I said no problem.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh seven years later I was still doing both jobs.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh huh.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: And then I was able to appoint a principal and have just been doing the president's job, which, you know, as we're moving into capital campaign doing more fundraising, uh became much more time, uh took much more of my time, so I was able to appoint to principal.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh you felt uh it was a good time when you saw the opening uh for the Catholic Academy that would just lead to a little bit of many other things, blessings I'm sure, but uh um uh one thing will be a shorter commute.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: Well Yes, yeah.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: Living in Sussex County and working in the Bronx had its challenges.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh so it'll be nice to live and work in the same area.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh I think I was more interested in working with the Patterson Diocese than I was necessarily with the the shorter commute.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Um you get used to it after a while, and the Bronx was certainly closer than Queens.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: Um and yes, you've uh and uh you you know Catholic education as uh as an educator, but also as a parent, right?
9:23
SPEAKER_01: Um Yes, yes.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: Um so as an educator, obviously in the classroom and then as an administrator, uh a lot of experience.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: Even as a principal, I was still teaching one period a day.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, but then also all of my daughters uh went to Catholic school also.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh uh some of the schools in in Sussex, right?
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh yes, uh St.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's in Newton.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh and your wife, I believe, is um on our Diocen Pastoral Council, right?
9:47
SPEAKER_00: She is, yes.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: We'll see us on the council, and she also serves on the parish council with me at St.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Thomas the Apostle in Sandiston.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: Um we'll be heading in that direction um to um uh Father Wayne Varga is the pastor of St.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Thomas and Sandiston and um St.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: James uh in Montague, right?
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Which is one of the pilgrimage sites.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: So July 25th, the Feast of St.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: James, the patron saint of pilgrims, uh connected with the Santiago, the Camino in in uh um uh in Spain.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna have our own little Camino in uh uh in on the Feast of St.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: James July 25th.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: So looking forward to that.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: So we might we're gonna be walking probably, not running on the pilgrimage, right?
10:27
SPEAKER_02: Yes, that's uh but but if Dan had his way, I he might he might just blitz through the whole thing.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: I could do both.
10:36
SPEAKER_02: Slight digression, but could you could you tell us about the super marathon running that you do?
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, probably I'd say 15 years ago I realized that I I loved to run.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: So eventually I was running marathons and I realized I wasn't getting any faster and I would really like the challenge of doing something different.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: So I I read an article uh about a young woman in Sussex County who was running a 50-mile run.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: I said I I didn't know there were races longer than a marathon.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of toyed with the idea of maybe I would try that, maybe I would do that.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: And you know, my wife kind of rolled her eyes and the kids thought I was crazy, but uh fast forward a year later, I I did the race and I thought, wow, that was painful.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: But it was also that was in the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: Um it was a beautiful course.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I enjoyed it, and I thought that was the end of, I mean, ultra running was the the term that they use for it, anything longer than a marathon, and I thought, all right, I wasn't thinking much of that.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: And then I don't know, a year later I heard about a hundred-mile race.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, I did fifty, maybe, maybe I could do a hundred.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: And uh I think it was 2010 or so.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: I I had the first hundred-mile run that I'd ever done.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: Um that that one took twenty-three and a half hours, give or take, uh a few minutes is I d you know.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: And then um uh part of being uh president of a Catholic school is uh fundraising, and there's many different ways that that happens.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: And I understand you used that your experience on the track to stay on the track uh for 24 hours, right?
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: At the school, I I got a creative idea for a fundraiser.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh I called it Achieve 100, and the concept I was trying to bring across to the students was I'm gonna run 100 miles on the school track nonstop as a fundraiser for the school.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: I kind of asked the students to do some fundraising for it as well.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: But we we called it Achieve 100 because I said to them, you you want to give 100%.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: You want to aim at 100 in your classroom, you want to give 100% to your faith life, you want to give 100% to your job, whatever it happens to be, always aim for 100.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: So it kind of became a manifestation of that idea of aiming high, going beyond your limits.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: And uh it was tremendous uh success as a fundraiser, but I think more importantly, it was a school community builder.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: In 24 hours, I think maybe I did one or two laps on the track without somebody with me.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: There were there were students, uh that the class I was teaching came out and did a mile with me.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: The gym classes were out there, and then the afternoon kind of a pep rally with the cheerleaders and the sports team.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: So it was an interesting event.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: And then through the night, there were alumni and teacher volunteers who would just pace me.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: Um thank God for good friends, right?
13:06
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Puts a new meaning to uh the journey together, right?
13:11
SPEAKER_00: Um and so um uh achieve 100.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Um uh I believe the academic scores uh went up, have gone up a little bit in Carnel Spellman, right?
13:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, we've been doing very well academically.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh our students are getting into the top colleges and their SAT scores have been steadily increasing.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: So we've been we've been successful.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: I want to hopefully bring that same successful school culture.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Pope John is already in fantastic shape.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: Foundation now, you know.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: But you want to take something great and make it greater.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: Um uh and Monsignor McHugh was more than 50 years uh serving and leading and was a driving force to creating the academy, and uh that'll be a new experience, right?
13:48
SPEAKER_00: You've been in high school now for many years, but now you have uh uh uh an elementary school, a middle school, and uh and a high school.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: I think it'd be a nice uh I wouldn't call it a challenge, but a nice addition to the responsibilities.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I have been on the boards of two of the elementary schools uh in the Brooklyn Diocese, um St.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: Leo's in Corona and Our Lady of Grace and Howard Beach.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: So the experience of the elementary school and understanding how it works, obviously a different culture, but still part of the larger culture of the Catholic Academy.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh, I know Jay has some questions, but uh um when uh I'm sure you've been living in Sussex, you're aware of the Catholic Academy and uh and Pope John and it's um now uh May 1st, right?
14:26
SPEAKER_00: I think we announced that you would you were um the new president uh in these now almost two months.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: Um what have you seen about um uh the Catholic Academy and Pope John that um that encourages you?
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there are parents out there or families that are uh uh considering uh you know sending their students uh uh I I as bishop, I I mean I was there for graduation, I'm there for a mess, uh I try to visit a few times each year, and I'm always encouraged.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Father Richard Carton, the uh pastor of um Our Lady of Lake, where the the school is located, uh speaks about um how inspiring the the students are and and the faculty, maybe some of the things that you've seen that um that um that are uh encouraging about the Academy and Pope John.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: I think the academy's the greatest school in New Jersey.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Um uh all three institutions uh just it's a beautiful opportunity for anyone in the diocese in the area in Sussex County who wants to send their child not just to an excellent academic institution but a place of faith.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Catholic The Catholic schools, the Catholic Academy is the place for them.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: And I've seen nothing but excellence, and I just I'm very honored to have been asked to serve as the leader of that institution.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: And uh three schools, each with their own principal and really accomplished, wonderful leaders as as as the three principals, right?
15:41
SPEAKER_02: Yes, all three schools are fantastic.
15:43
SPEAKER_02: So I kind of like interrupted when you were t telling us a bit about your background.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: I wonder if we could backtrack a little bit and just um, you know, I read your your bio, but if you could just tell us um how how you got into this field, a little bit about yourself and you attended Catholic high school, Catholic schools growing up.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I guess coming out of college, um decided I think I'd give teaching a try.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: Probably just as interested at point as at in coaching.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: Um both would have been exciting for me.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: Coaching.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh at that point, uh track and field and soccer.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: I I think I had the JV Boys soccer team at Cardinal Hayes way back in the 80s.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: And uh continued doing both sports, uh, although I went to the girls' team when I went to John S.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: Burke Catholic and then Cathedral Prep, track and field and cross country, but um also had the opportunity later on to coach soccer at Cathedral Prep.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh but as far as administration goes, I think it started with me organizing.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh Sister Eileen Stevens was the assistant principal, you probably remember her from your time at Cathedral Prep.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but she had asked me to take care of organizing the state textbook orders, and that really was my doorway into administration.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh became state textbook orders, became taking care of attendance, became working with paperwork with the two office secretaries for the state surveys, uh, and eventually uh was asked to take on the role of assistant principal at Cathedral Prep, and that started the administrative career.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: Um and then the opportunity when the opportunity arose at at Cardinal Spellman, again a national search, and uh I was asked to take on that position.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: It was the first principal's role.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: Um uh you've uh collaborated with other um principals and presidents.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Um are you I think you're ahead of one of the uh uh those organizations.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, two of the professional organizations I become very involved with.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh the first was the Catholic Schools Administrators Association of New York State, which is a bit of a mouthful.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: Um but that's a representative body of uh there'd say probably in New York State 350 Catholic schools, and I was elected president of that association two, three years ago.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: Um and then there's the Catholic Presidents High School, Catholic High School Presidents Association, which uh encompasses the metropolitan area.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: It's not as organized as the state leadership, um, but usually a group of fifty or sixty Catholic high school presidents from uh New York, some of New Jersey, but Rockville Center Diocese, Brooklyn Diocese, and Archdiocese, New York.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: Um I was elected president of that group uh probably six or seven years ago.
18:13
SPEAKER_02: Why do you do what you do?
18:16
SPEAKER_01: Um I feel uh that what I do is a vocation, uh so I feel called to serve.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: And uh if I can make that be my life and my job, that's great.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh so the two really come together.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: And uh I think there's been a bit of a faith revival at Cardinal Spellman in recent years, is that right?
18:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we um we've really, really come alive in the spirit.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: I would say in the last four years or so, more than any time in my career, perhaps maybe at Cathedral Prep, there was there was since we had so many vocations coming out of that high school, I would say it was a different type of spiritual awakening.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: But just to give you a practical example, uh we have morning mass at Spelman every day.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: I go to Mass, I sit there.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: Maybe one student every month, maybe a student every two months would actually come in because it starts 45 minutes before the school day starts, a little that much to ask them to come there.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh in the last three years at Spelman, we'd get twenty students a week.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: You know, in one one particular mass we may have an entire team come in or entire club.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: And uh uh uh young people seeking the sacraments who hadn't received communion or confirmation or even maybe some baptisms.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have a sacramental preparation program that for years we would baptize maybe one student near the Easter or right around Easter time, and then first communion and confirmation for maybe eight to ten other students.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: Again, over the last few years we've been baptizing fourteen or fifteen students and then giving the sacraments to another twenty.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: You invited me for Mass, I guess it was uh two years ago, and uh uh it was in the Easter season.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: I think uh students just had just received sacraments and uh Yes, they had just received sacraments the the afternoon before you came to celebrate Mass.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: So we welcomed them to the community when you were there.
19:56
SPEAKER_02: What are you looking forward to in the new position?
19:59
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh from from from athletic events to the spirituality to watching the kids succeed academically.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: Um I'm looking forward to every aspect of it.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: Um and fundraising?
20:11
SPEAKER_00: And fun raising, yes.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Let us not forget.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: Balancing the budget.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: Have you been in Sussex County?
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Lived in Sussex County for for how long?
20:19
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we've lived in Sussex County since 2002.
20:22
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
20:22
SPEAKER_02: And so you have four children.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: Four daughters, yes.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: And they attended uh school.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: St.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: St.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: Joseph's, yes.
20:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
20:30
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
20:30
SPEAKER_02: And uh what else uh what are we missing here?
20:34
SPEAKER_02: What else?
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh and um uh enrollment.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh that'll uh we um I think the school does a lot of outreach.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: I know um the um the Sussex is its own deanery in terms of the parishes.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: And I I think um obviously you're a parishioner at St.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: Thomas, so um uh you'll be you know you can do some advertising uh absolutely yeah I really want to build the relationship.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: But uh you I think you've already reached out to some of the other Father Tim Dowling is the dean uh uh the pastor of uh Good Shepherd, and um and uh Father Rodek is on the board and uh um uh the relationship with the pastors and parishes that's the same.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely key element to it, yes.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: I I I look forward to working, collaborating with the the pastors of the different parishes, the directors of religious education, and oh right, very, very important.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank God for our DREs, yes.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh um uh and um familiar territory, not only in terms of having lived there in Sussex in the county of 2002, but um uh interacting with um pastors and DREs and uh um uh uh parish communities.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh would you do that also, Jordan?
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely, yeah.
21:38
SPEAKER_02: You um just leafing through your uh resume, you there is uh in Catholic virtual.
21:45
SPEAKER_02: Did you write this or were you featured in an A and I wrote the article?
21:49
SPEAKER_02: AI and humanism, keeping the Catholic charism alive in education by embracing AI.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: AI is a big buzzword right now, but it is.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh you're gonna see a lot of teachers doing professional development on AI.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: The kids are using it sometimes to cheat.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we always we always joke about that.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: But really, kind of like the internet, uh, using computers, these are things that broke into education.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Everybody said, Oh, this is the end, we're never gonna be able, the kids are gonna use them and they're gonna manipulate the system so they can get away with stuff.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: No, you just learn how to use the tool.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: So that article kind of addresses let's look at AI as a new tool for the kids and learn how to use that tool with them in the classroom, but also at the same time reflect upon how education has changed, particularly during the humanistic period, and there's a little bit of history in that article also about that.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh Pop Leo's choice of a name, I want to give advertise a little bit our um sister podcast uh um uh the Paul Street Journal, um, Brian Hansberger and uh Freddie um had a um excellent episode on the choice of uh Brian actually uh before that I didn't realize had said we're hoping for names, he had put up a Facebook post and he said, I would love for the new Holy Father.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: I think he may have mentioned like three possible names, but uh um but one of the his choices was Leo the 14th.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: Um uh be and and the Holy Father has talked about the Industrial Revolution uh a hundred plus years ago when Leo the Thirteenth issued Rayum Navarum and and there was was so much change happening.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh he Pope Leo has identified AI as and technology as uh uh a shift really that's that's happening and um similar to what was happening a hundred years ago in the industrial revolution.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: And our teachers need to be uh on top of it, yes, but also immersed in it so they understand how it is used as a tool.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh and yourself, um uh uh it's it it's not new to you, uh you've had I guess in education.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean some of us are hearing the words, and even Bishop Barron was on a recent podcast and he was saying, I don't really know all that much about it, and uh so um and I I think we have to try to overcome maybe some of those fears and say uh okay it's a tool, and uh yeah um but um but uh I guess educators and and someone like yourself, uh it's it's it's been a couple of years that it's oh it's been around for a while, and it depends how it's used.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you've seen AI generated images, and certain images you can kind of tell when it's AI, it just doesn't quite look right.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: People get the same idea when they're reading a student's essay.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: Like, uh, you know, I know how this kid normally writes on pen and paper.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: This is a little different.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: Also, there's certain patterns because all the the AI everybody's talking about is the generative language AI.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: It's just taking facts and putting them into language.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Giving three or four words and asking the Yeah, three or four words, three or four ideas, and you'll you'll expand on it.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: Um the key the key is for an educator to remember this is a tool, and and each each draft that you get can be honed and sharpened and clarified.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: But as long as the student is taking that information and learning from it, not just letting the AI do it.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I joke often, I probably did this on another podcast somewhere.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's gonna get to that point where the kid has the AI write the homework, the teacher has the AI grade the homework, everybody sits back and the computer's doing everything for us.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, you don't want to get to that level of austerity, but you want to make sure that you understand the tool as it's being used.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, how do you teach like traditional research in this day and age?
25:41
SPEAKER_01: Is that still you want to do traditional research because there's still information that you're going to not be able to find on the internet.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean you have to teach a kid that you know library still is a valuable tool.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: Um a lot of the databases at the universities, especially when the school partners with the university and the the high school students have access to that database, that's that's very helpful also.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: But not everything is online.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh something you had mentioned recently that came up in our visit to St.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth's University and in Convent Station, um uh we there's a many different kinds of um uh interscholastic uh competition, right?
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh yes, we know sports, but uh speech and debate.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: But you mentioned uh um uh Esports.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Esports, right.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh remember at St.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth's they had that w next to where we did the podcast, there was that they that those consuls that were uh they had an esport uh um uh uh program.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: And and I'm gonna put uh Mr.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: O'Keefe in touch with uh the uh they've St.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth's has offered if and who knows, maybe there'll be a group from the academy that come down and so yeah.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: Interscholastic competition in esports now is a new thing.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh colleges are actually offering scholarships to students to to be esports competitors.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh just to give you an example, two major universities may play each other in basketball, and during halftime their esports teams may play uh video game of basketball against each other is kind of a filler space, but it becomes a competition between schools.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: So at Spelman, we built an esports uh lab for all intents and purposes where our kids compete.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: Um great.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: Good stuff.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Um uh talk about uh maybe a little bit um how the student um has changed in the last 15 or 20 years.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Um in the Bronx Um serving certainly a diverse community.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Um uh maybe not too many who are economically advantaged, uh, but uh some who have parents would sending their children to a Catholic school.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh here in our diocese we have um uh uh the Tri-County Scholarship uh helps um families uh who might not able be able to afford, well, it be an elementary or high school, uh a scholarship that might give a uh a student and family an opportunity uh for a Catholic education.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Um so yes, there are economic challenges um that students and parents are facing, but maybe also um just the profile of the students um obviously from you know the the live on their screens or their um uh um some some observations maybe about uh the the student and families and uh how things have changed over the last five, ten, fifteen years or at least.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's interesting because five, ten, and fifteen years are significant changes in all of those.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if we just go back five years, you can almost remove AI from the equation uh in terms of student use.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: And what and those who have lived through the pandemic, right?
28:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean that's the.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh we were very blessed uh when the pandemic hit had all of my teachers already Google Classroom certified, so they all knew how to use the Google Classroom.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: We never lost a day of education.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Catholic Academy of Sussex County kept the schools open and those kids were in there every day.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, those were things blessings of the Catholic school system had in place that many of the public school counterparts.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: Schools really shine during the pandemic.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Right.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Um but you're saying um five, ten, fifteen years and some of the what you see in the Oh, even the technology.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: When I started Spellman, you know, students weren't bringing computers to school.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: By five years later, ten years ago, everyone won on one device.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: Everybody had a Chromebook.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, just technology changes, and then five years after that, everybody's uh teaching online with COVID, and five years after that, people are using AI as students and as teachers.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: It was um at a meeting of presidents and principals last summer um uh that um uh the idea of um uh not having the phones in in in in school, um the anxious generation, um a book by I forget the author's name, but uh um uh fascinating.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh there is and I think New York City, the public schools, right, are moving towards In September, yes.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh what's the phrase again for not having those uh no phones in the classroom in the classroom.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: And I guess there's different opinions, right?
29:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh you can again, it's a tool, you can use it or you're not.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean the kid who comes in, obviously they'll say have some place to lock up your phone or they'll get one of those little bags that cuts a radio frequency off, but every kid's got their old phone, they're just I mean they're gonna figure out ways to get around the system.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: Kids are kids are kids.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh but you can use the the phone as a tool.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: There are there are plenty of opportunities.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: There are teachers who are great, take out your phone and use it to do this.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: The problem is, you know, and I saw this during COVID, especially teaching a class online, you know, there's so many devices going at the same time.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: So a kid's in a Google classroom, you know, they're on the screen, you can see them, but they've got their phone to chat with their friends, they've got another computer open where they're looking up the answers, you know, they're watching a movie on Netflix over here, they've got where things going.
30:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, so you take a kid's phone when they come to the class, great, you know, it's fine.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: But if they have another phone, they're gonna have that phone out because they've given the phone in.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: But if you're a great teacher, you take the medium, you take that phone and you use it in the classroom, you know, whatever the lesson plan happens to be used for research, the computer, the Chromebook, um, you know, it the the philosophy goes either way, you know, but it's no different than kids passing notes and doodling in their margins a hundred years ago.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: Um financial aid, um uh is that something that helped students at um at Cardinal Spellman?
31:07
SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh became one of my passions.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh again, not much financial aid was available in 2011, maybe fifty thousand dollars a year for twelve hundred students, which doesn't come out too much.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh in the last two years, we've given out over two million dollars in financial aid a year to our students.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: So uh I have a very, very strong devotion to make sure that families that would not normally be able to afford a Catholic education have the opportunity to do so.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: Now it takes years to get to that point, and I'm hoping that you know I will find that type of generosity from donors in the diocese.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh Pope John and the Catholic Academy, I know there's a lot of donors who have really been uh very, very generous.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh so um um so hopefully they'll continue to do that.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: Um I started to meet a few.
31:48
SPEAKER_02: Right, great people there was one lesson you could instill in the students at your school.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: So open your heart and your mind to God.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: Probably the most important thing.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Just listen, listen to what God is calling you to do and to be.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh and that leads to a Catholic school being a truly Catholic school, right?
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh through um prayer and mass and uh but also I think it's come up um in a Catholic school, hopefully um every teacher sees themselves as a theology teacher, a religion teacher, right?
32:23
SPEAKER_00: Um because hopefully our faith can speak to each subject and in the classroom, outside the classroom, formation, right, of the person.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, that's a great term you're using, uh Bishop, um formation, because Catholic schools are all about formation.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: It's not just education, it's the whole person.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Body, mind, soul.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: Soul.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and particularly the soul.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Right.
32:43
SPEAKER_02: As Mary Bayer likes to say.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: August 1st is gonna be here before you know it.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right, right.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: And uh I will hit the ground running literally and for the time.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: This is a happy time not only for students, but for teachers and administrators.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Although the administrators I think have to be a very good thing.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we work all summer, yeah.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Right, but uh but a little slower pace, hopefully, and everybody gets a chance to do it right now.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Um but uh for teachers and students, it's certainly uh a happy time, right?
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: I um speaking for myself when I was a student, it was a very happy day.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: Um but um but thank you, Dan, for um for coming on and and especially again for your yes, and uh we're very um much looking forward to um uh the wonderful Catholic Academy of Sussex County and Pope John continuing to on the foundation that's been built and uh and to serve really as um uh a tool of evangelization, um an instrument even better of evangelization, uh uh sharing the faith.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: And uh I've often said it's our three we have three diocesan high schools, seven Catholic high schools in the diocese, um, with three that are uh administered by the diocese, um DePaul and Pesaya County, Morris Catholic and Morris County, and um Pope John High School as part of the Catholic Academy in Sussex, and they are blessings uh to our diocese and to our families, and uh and uh it's a lot of hard work, I know, um, but uh and the leadership is so important, and I'm so happy that uh that you've accepted this uh responsibility and leadership position, and you'll be in our prayers and I we pray for you and for everyone, uh parents, administrators, teachers, and students.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh but um a lot of blessings uh in the midst of the the the challenges and the hard work, right?
34:26
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Bishop.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I appreciate that.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: And I look forward to the I look forward to the challenges and I look forward to the successes.
34:32
SPEAKER_02: Great, great.
34:33
SPEAKER_02: Great, and thanks for joining us.
34:34
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Chang.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, Bishop, before we end the episode, what what else is on the show?
34:38
SPEAKER_00: And then we'll put the Catholic Academy website right so.
34:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, please absolutely check out the show notes for for more.
34:45
SPEAKER_02: And uh I wonder if maybe I could put one of your one of your webinars in the show notes.
34:49
SPEAKER_02: Sure, whatever you all right, so yeah, check that out.
34:53
SPEAKER_02: And uh so Bishop, what else is is going on uh for you uh upcoming days or weeks?
34:59
SPEAKER_00: Our country is gonna be 249 years old, right?
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Um on uh in the end of next week.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, so I think uh July 4th.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh the fourth falls on a Friday this year.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: I think gives everyone a nice three-day weekend at least.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: And uh um uh July and August in many ways are my favorite months of the year.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: I love the warm weather.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: The last few days have been a little much, but uh but um uh I'm hoping to get out for a little golf and a little um time off.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: And uh but it's gonna be busy too.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot going on in the summer.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: Um we're continuing with the Jubilee and uh um uh uh parish visits and and other things.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: So um so uh um uh Labor Day will be here before we know it, but we're gonna hope that it doesn't come as too quickly.
35:40
SPEAKER_02: So any uh books you're reading, podcasts you're checking out you can recommend?
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh so um uh what did I listen to recently?
35:49
SPEAKER_00: Um uh again a word on fire is is great uh to go to every week, um uh uh Bishop Darren.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh and what am I reading recently?
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Um I just finished a book on Maximilian Colby, uh St.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: Maximilian Colby.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: Um that was very good.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: And uh um so uh I got a few on the list to get now gonna get some time during the summer.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: So I'll get back to you uh next episode to uh give a few other times.
36:13
SPEAKER_02: Give us your reading list.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, awesome.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: All right.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: Well thanks, Bishop.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Dan.
36:18
SPEAKER_02: And thank you all for joining us.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: Please subscribe, comment, and leave a positive rating.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: Get to know us better by following Beyond the Beacon on Facebook or Instagram.
36:27
SPEAKER_02: Email questions and podcast topic ideas for the bishop to beyond at patterstondioces.org.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: Discover our other podcasts, Coffee with Cupkey and the Paul Street Journal.
36:38
SPEAKER_02: See you next time.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, everybody.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Dan.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.