January 8, 2026 • 43 mins
For this special episode, Bishop Kevin Sweeney looks back on the year and offers his perspective on the Universal and local Catholic Church for 2026. Joining him are Communications Director Jai Agnish and Digital Media Specialist Cecile Pagliarulo. We reflect on some of the biggest stories, social media posts, Beacon articles, and podcast episodes that resonated with our audience. Bishop Sweeney takes a few questions and discusses some of the noteworthy happenings planned for 2026.
Show Notes:
- Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe with Bishop Kevin Sweeney
- National March for Life 2026
- Diocesan Marian Pilgrimage
- New Jersey Catholic Mental Health Conference
- "What to Do" Beacon events calendar
Email questions and topic ideas to Bishop Kevin at beyond@patersondiocese.org.
Produced by Jai Agnish, Cecile Pagliarulo, and Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney for the Diocese of Paterson. Engineered, edited, and theme song by Jai Agnish. Illustrations by Dennis Dalelio.
Beyond The Beacon on Instagram and Facebook. Bishop Kevin on Instagram. The Diocese of Paterson on Instagram, Facebook (English) / Facebook (Spanish).
Every three years, each Diocese in the USA has the graced opportunity to make a scheduled pilgrimage as one Diocesan family with their Bishop to the National Shrine in the nation's capital. 2026 is once again "our year!" Please note the two-day and one-day options: Oct. 16, Friday, and Oct. 17, Saturday. Visit the Diocese of Paterson website here to learn more!
On Coffee with Kupke, we have a cup of coffee and sit down with diocesan archivist, Monsignor Raymond Kupke Ph.D., to delve into the history of Catholicism in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. Hosted by Father Paul Manning and Msgr. Kupke. Listen to Coffee with Kupke wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it on the St. Paul Inside the Walls YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@stpaulinsidethewalls.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:07):
Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin
Sweeney, a podcast of theDiocese of Patterson, New
Jersey.
Join us for conversations aboutour Catholic faith, and together
let's strive to live a life offaith, hope, and love.
We're so glad you can join us.
I'm Jay Agnis.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney,and joining us as well is Cecile
Pagliarullo today.
So hello, welcome.
(00:29):
How are you guys doing?
SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
Happy New Year, Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas.
Seven days in already.
We made it.
Yes, and concluded the Jubilee.
And uh maybe the timing is good.
Yesterday, Pope Leo closed thelast Jubilee door, right?
(00:52):
So uh deadly.
Um so uh some say now hispontificate will really begin,
and uh we'll see what he has instore for us.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
All right, yeah, so today we're going to spend some
time looking back, lookingforward.
Cecile and I dug through theanalytics for our social media
accounts and the Beacon website.
We identified some social mediaposts and articles and podcast
episodes that resonated with ouraudience.
We also have a few questions foryou, Bishop, and want to hear
your perspective on theUniversal Catholic Church for
(01:22):
2026 and some of the localevents happening here in the
Diocese of Patterson.
So do you want to open up withprayer?
SPEAKER_03 (01:31):
Sure.
Um as we begin this new year andum pray for peace as we always
do.
Um we pray for our country, ourpresident, for all world
leaders.
Uh we just had the um extractionof the president of Venezuela.
Um so um uh we continue to prayfor peace.
(01:53):
So I thought maybe uh as ourfirst uh as we move on from
we're still pilgrims of hope andpraying uh that we can uh
continue as pilgrims of hope.
But now that the Jubilee yearhas uh come to an end and we'll
begin a new year, uh let's uhmaybe pray the prayer of St.
Francis as as we pray for peace.
So we'll place ourselves inGod's presence in the name of
(02:14):
the Father and of the Son and ofthe Holy Spirit.
Amen.
We're gonna pray this prayer,um, the prayer of St.
Francis on the feast of St.
Raymond of Penafort, a Spanishpriest who was a nobleman who I
think lived from 1175 to 1275,100 years of life, uh, the
second uh leader of theDominican Order um after St.
(02:35):
Dominic.
And so as we pray, we'll alsopray for Father Ed Davy, a
priest of our diocese who turned100 last October 4th on the
Feast of St.
Francis.
And um his funeral will betomorrow at um at Our Lady of
the Mountain in Long Valley.
So we pray for the repos of thesoul of Father Davy, and um we
pray for our diocese, ourfamilies, for vocations.
(02:58):
Um, and this coming Sunday welook forward to the celebration
of the baptism of the Lord sothat we can all be faithful to
the call we received at baptism,the call to holiness, and that
we might be instruments ofpeace.
Let us pray together.
Lord, make me an instrument ofyour peace.
Where there is hatred, let meknow.
Where there is injury, pardon,where there is doubt, faith,
(03:21):
where there is despair, hope,where there is darkness, light,
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine master, grant that Imay not so much seek to be
consoled as to console, to beunderstood as to understand, to
be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that wereceive, it is in pardoning that
we are pardoned, and it is indying that we are born to
(03:43):
eternal life.
Our Lady's seed of wisdom,Mother of the Church, pray for
us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us, SaintJohn the Baptist, pray for us,
Saint Raymond of Penafort, prayfor us, all holy men and women,
pray for us.
Pray for us.
In the name of the Father, andof the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
Amen.
And we wish to all the Sistersof Charity a happy feast of St.
(04:03):
Elizabeth Ann Seton.
She got a little bumped thisyear because her feast day fell
on a Sunday, yeah.
So it was the epiphanyliturgically, uh, the Sunday,
the second Sunday afterChristmas.
Um, but happy feast of St.
Elizabeth Ann Seton to all ofour sisters of charity and um
Catholic school teachers too, aswell.
Um so um, and everybody's backto school then.
(04:26):
Catholic school week is rightaround the school.
SPEAKER_00 (04:30):
Uh so where where to begin, Bishop?
What is what is most pressing onyour mind?
What what have you been thinkingabout lately?
SPEAKER_03 (04:36):
Uh reflecting on the uh hopefully everyone got a l
chance to slow down.
I think um it's great whenChristmas falls on a Wednesday
or Thursday or even Tuesday, uh,and you kind of get 10 days um
of at least a little slowertime.
Uh so I was able to enjoy that.
Hope others were, and um timefor prayer and reflection as
(04:58):
well as we now are back insomewhat regular schedule and uh
school and work and um uh a newyear.
Um but also gratitude, you know,uh gratitude is so important,
and uh the end of one year andthe beginning of another is a
chance to look back and givethanks for the blessings
received.
I um uh the parish next door towhere my house is, uh St.
(05:22):
Teresa and Patterson, theiryouth group apparently has been
invited me on Instagram.
Uh so I was there actually forMass on Christmas morning, but
also they have a custom whichwas in my second parish in
Corona and where I was pastor umto on New Year's Eve uh instead
of a party maybe to have um massin a holy hour starting around
(05:43):
10 o'clock and bringing us intothe New Year.
So uh the last few years I've umhad the opportunity to do that
at um St.
Teresa Parish in um in Pattersonand uh with Father Yasid and uh
so um So you're there atmidnight?
Oh well when the ball drops.
I uh was glad that the Mass nowis at 10 o'clock and then after
(06:07):
Mass they have exposition in theHoly Hour.
Uh so the Mass ended aroundeleven fifteen.
I stayed for the beginning ofthe Holy Hour and uh was home to
watch the ball drop from uh uhuh Times Square.
But um uh uh it was a great wayto end one year and begin
another one.
SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
So uh did you when you were in New York, did you
ever get to the Times Square?
SPEAKER_03 (06:28):
No, no, no.
Um I uh probably from probablyfrom 2000 um my first Paris, we
used to have a New Year's Eveparty.
Okay.
Um as a kid, it was college uhseminary, I'm not sure what what
I did, but uh uh um but I don'tthink I ever got to I don't want
to stand there for all that.
SPEAKER_02 (06:48):
I mean 2011 and 2012 and it's interesting.
There aren't many locals, it'sactually really historically I
did it because a group of newkids on the block was
performing.
SPEAKER_03 (07:01):
They're still around.
Did they did they do somethingthis I was it?
I think they have listened tothem in some listen to their
music still.
SPEAKER_02 (07:10):
Um I did it once and those experiences one and done
though for me for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (07:14):
That was what year 1112?
SPEAKER_02 (07:16):
I think 2011 or 2012.
SPEAKER_03 (07:18):
I think it was 98 or 99 or 2000 when I was in my
first parish.
Um and in sync had a song calledGod Must Have Spent a Little
More Time on You.
I used to love that.
Well, I used to use it on atree.
It's a beautiful message.
Um so um so we didn't think we'dbe talking about music, but uh
nothing wrong with that.
Uh and uh yeah, so I think since2003 when I w or four when I
(07:44):
went to my 2003 that four, thatthat New Year's probably almost
every year since, either at OurLady of Sorrows and Corona, St.
Michael's, or St.
Teresa, I've uh done Mass inHoly Honors.
So yeah, yeah.
And this year, sorry, on NewYear's Day, um I remembered a
memory from my second parish umwhere there was a large
(08:04):
Ecuadorian community, and theEcuadorian community celebrates
Nuestra de las Nubes, Our Ladyof the Clouds.
Um just posted those photos.
Yeah, yeah.
Um Sogas is a place in inEcuador where there's this
devotion to uh Our Lady of theNubes, the clouds.
Um but they had a procession inCorona uh at 6 a.m.
(08:25):
on New Year's Day.
Wow.
I remember the pastor saying,you know, tomorrow morning, got
a procession with uh I said,okay.
Um and then I remember umhearing the procession outside
my window as uh as as I waswaking up sometimes.
Whoops.
Um but fortunately our lady ofum uh St.
Margaret's in um of Scotland inMorristown.
(08:48):
They had Mass at 1215 on NewYear's Day, but also celebrating
our Lady of Newbury's with alarge beautiful, beautiful,
great devotion to Church wastrue.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
Joe Geeley won he won first.
That's right.
Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:00):
The light that gleams from their stained glass
windows in St.
Margaret's.
SPEAKER_03 (09:04):
So So, yes, um the beauty of our faith.
Uh um I mentioned um I hadmasked for the Carmelite Sisters
um the day after Christmas, St.
Stephen's Day, at the and uh Iwas with my Aunt Nora, and uh
she was a little under theweather Christmas Day because
she said she was up on a ladderand she wrenched her back.
She's 95.
(09:25):
Uh so she didn't come outChristmas Eve, but she was
fine-informed.
Christmas Day, we went to myfamily on Long Island and on the
car ride out.
She was so happy she saw themasks from the um uh shrine in
the Macleth Conception inWashington, D.C.
I think it started at 11o'clock.
She said she turned on TV, andthe papal nuncio, Cardinal
Pierre, was the celebrant, and Ithink she feels like she knows
(09:47):
him because she was at theordination installation.
And uh she was just saying um uhreflecting kind of on the
Christmas season and thedecoration and advent, and she
says, you know, the CatholicChurch really does it right.
The Catholic Church really doesit.
And you know, uh you look at thenativity scenes and just the
beauty of this season, um, weshouldn't take it for granted,
(10:08):
right?
Um the um the Catholic Churchhas a lot of beauty that can
invite us to prayer andreflection.
SPEAKER_00 (10:16):
A lot of mystery and yeah, a lot of okay, so um where
to begin.
So um in looking back at 2025,Cecile, what what did you find
were some of the were you wantto start with events?
SPEAKER_02 (10:30):
Sure, so it's uh very relevant to the one
question we got from aseminarian, Brian Riley.
He had asked, I guess what aresome highlights of the Jubilee
year for you?
SPEAKER_03 (11:21):
Highlights of the Jubilee year, yeah.
Um certainly being able to go toRome was wonderful.
Um, and through the holy doors,we had a great group in the uh
30 or so that were part of the,and we saw um one of our
seminarians, now deacon LucasFoland be ordained a deacon at
St.
Peter's, um, just wonderful.
Um, and also um the opening massand closing mass, uh, the Sunday
(11:44):
between Christmas and NewYear's, such a difficult day for
pastors.
When the day weekend, everyonewants to just say uh have some
quiet time, and yet parishionerscame and priests and pastors,
and uh uh the 24 opening, we hada 60-degree day for a procession
outside.
Uh the weather wasn't as good,but the attendance I might have
(12:07):
been better.
SPEAKER_02 (12:07):
Um you think so?
SPEAKER_03 (12:09):
I uh I if Cathedral was full, um there may have
been, I think I want to saythere was 30 or 40 parishes that
had banners in the procession.
Maybe in the opening, theremight have been 60 or so.
So there might have been a fewmore parishes represented at the
opening, but um those were twohighlights.
The local pilgrimages, too, Ithink um uh uh there's a there's
(12:31):
a uniqueness to each one, uh,but it was a blessing for me to
be able um so the first onewould have been really to
opening at the cathedral, andthen um St.
James in Montague up in thenorthwest corner.
Um uh the first uh our um feastof the visitation, May 31st, the
Jubilee of Families at um Shrineof St.
(12:52):
Joseph in Sterling, and we had apilgrimage from St.
Vincent de Paul Parish to theshrine, which was uh a nice
walk.
And uh then uh St.
Luke's in Long Valley.
Uh that was probably the longestwalk.
SPEAKER_02 (13:04):
Um and uh there was some uh we have drone footage of
it, and it looked like a bit ofa hike.
SPEAKER_03 (13:10):
Sister Teresa and one of our seminarians, Eric,
were doing some of the trafficuh control on that one.
So um and then uh St.
Bernard's in Mount Hope, umgreat climbing Mount Hope on the
for the Jubilee of Hope.
Did I get them all?
St.
James, St.
Joseph, St.
Luke's, Mount Bernard and theCathedral.
Yep, five, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (13:28):
I guess Sterling.
Do we mention that?
Sterling, yeah, yeah.
That was um The family dynasty.
SPEAKER_03 (13:31):
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (13:33):
So, yeah, one of the podcasts that performed the best
for us last year, the audioversion was that was the one on
the Jubilee, how to get involvedin the Jubilee for 2025.
So we did good there.
And another another podcastepisode that did well was how
this close-knit Catholic schoolcommunity thrives now.
(13:53):
And that was a remote episodewhen we went to All Saints
Academy.
Oh, yes, right, right.
In uh Parsippony.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_03 (13:59):
Um They're doing well, God bless them.
But um, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:03):
But uh but in general, the we're grateful to
the to our audience audience forlistening or watching.
Um it's been an it was anenjoyable year working with you
guys on the on the podcast.
What um now, so Jubilee, thedoor is open, the door is
closed.
Big question, what's Pope Leogot in store for us for the 2026
(14:27):
and beyond?
And I know you commented on thata little bit in your column,
which was entitled Pope Leo theFourteenth's Christmas Address
to the Roman Curia, Mission andCommunion.
SPEAKER_03 (14:35):
Do you want to touch on that a little bit?
Uh his the way he recalls PopeFrancis, and I think we'll see
now Pope Leo um in his own wayuh continue the, as he's talked
about, the work of the CynodalChurch with the mercy of God at
the center, um uh uh reremembering that we're called to
be a missionary church,evangelization, uh, and that
(14:56):
we're a welcoming church, ajoyful church uh that welcomes
all.
Um he said it so beautifully,and uh and he um uh emphasized
those two points, um umcommunion and mission.
Communion and mission.
And actually, the theme of thesynod was communion,
participation, and mission, andthe folk our friends on uh uh
(15:16):
inside the Vatican.
Inside the Vatican, um, uhsister of Jesuitical, but uh um
they said, well, it was theVatican officials, so they were
already kind of participating.
So he wanted to make sure thatthey were uh remembering the
importance of communion, thatunity, togetherness, um, and and
mission, that we have to beoutward looking, um out to the
(15:36):
peripheries, as Pope Franciswould say.
So um, yeah, I mean, you know,when you look back at the
Jubilee, I think w when in termsof images, um uh the Pope
Francis waving goodbye um onEaster Sunday, um, and then the
next morning the news that hehis earthly pilgrimage had come
to an end, um, and then um thewhole experience of the conclave
(16:00):
and Pope Leo's first words, umpeace be with you, and uh the
realization an American Pope whowas predicted.
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
Well, I'm senior cookie, that was one of our most
viewed reels.
And uh I think for the church,you could even see in our
analytics that you could see aspike during that time when Pope
Francis passed and Pope Leo'selection.
You could really see an interestlocally here.
SPEAKER_03 (16:28):
Yeah, even um when Pope Francis was sick, I mean,
um the attention of the world,it it was really something um to
see.
Um and uh and um uh I've sharedbefore, I think we might grow in
our appreciation that um now twoconsecutive holy fathers come to
us from the experience of theLatin American Church um and uh
(16:51):
Salem, the Conferencia Episcopalde Latin America, the Latin
American Bishops Conference.
Um uh I recently reconnectedwith someone I known from
Brooklyn campus ministry in highschool.
She and her family are servingin El Salvador.
Um and you think back to theBishops Conference, and since
the Vatican Council and LatinAmerica, um Archbishop Romero,
(17:15):
um uh uh the the Church of thePoor, uh the preferential option
for the poor, um really you cansee where synodality came out of
that experience, and then PopeFrancis kind of gave it to the
whole church to uh reflect on.
So um and and that they wentback to Latin America.
Uh yes, born and raised inChicago and graduated of
(17:37):
Villanova, um wonderful uhAugustinian, um, but um spent a
lot of time in Peru and in LatinAmerica, um, and so Pope Leo was
very familiar with thatexperience of the church, and I
think that experience is gonnabe continued to be shared with
the whole church.
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
And immigration, obviously, uh top in line for
the the church and and also theUSCCB.
And one of your um columns thatdid really well in 2025 was All
or Nothing, The Life and Witnessof Sister Claire Crossing.
SPEAKER_03 (18:09):
I was gonna write, I I first watched the video of
Sister Claire either on NewYear's Eve or New Year's Day of
um 24 into 25.
I was gonna say, write a columnand say, I first met Sister
Claire.
Um so if you haven't seen it,all or nothing, put it up.
Um uh uh I didn't know that thatwas one of the more popular
ones.
SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
And and also the the one that you wrote, your
personal experience aboutimmigration, the perspective of
your parents, that one didreally well.
People read a lot of people readthat one.
The immigrant experience, apersonal reflection.
And then also um we can't notlook at 2025 and remember the
(18:51):
dear uh priest of ours whopassed away suddenly, Father
Raphael Ciro, you wrote abouthim as well in one of your
columns.
SPEAKER_03 (18:59):
And yeah, um I had the opportunity to be there um
uh with the people of um St.
Stephen's, yeah.
Um uh Father Diego Monsalve nowis the administrator and doing a
great job, and uh it's such abeautiful community of faith.
And um Father Raphael Ciro, youcan see how he uh planted seeds
(19:19):
and um uh served so beautifullyas a pastor and that mystery of
um mental health challenges andum illness, and uh we would
never want to go through thatagain.
And um we pray continue to prayfor his mom.
I try to reach out to her when Ican, and uh some of our priests
are in contact with FatherRaphael's family, and uh so um
(19:41):
very, very sad.
Um but um in the Paschal mysterythat we uh celebrated every
Mass, we're confident in God'smercy and the promise of
everlasting life in heaven.
So and certainly um had thatexperience of the church both
within the diocese and even Iguess um online, the the support
that came in for me and for theparish and and and for our
(20:03):
diocese um was um was um atremendous experience of the
power in prayer and the comfortthat we try to offer to one
another in our in our saddestmoments.
SPEAKER_00 (20:15):
And and and um mental health is is really kind
of moved to the forefront, Ithink, of the conversation in in
the Catholic Church to somedegree.
And I wanted to mention we partof what we wanted to discuss was
events that we're lookingforward to in 2026 and wanted to
mention, and there is going tobe a very important event
(20:35):
entitled From Isolation toBelonging, Mental Health and the
Catholic Church, which is um theNew Jersey Catholic Conference
put together in partnership withNew Jersey Catholic Diocese and
also Catholic Charities andCatholic Health Care Partnership
of New Jersey.
Um this is a one-day mentalhealth conference aimed to
increase awareness andunderstanding of the escalating
crisis in mental health illnessaffecting increasing numbers in
(20:59):
the US and across the the world.
That's on May 2nd.
And then we're also gonna havesomething local that you want to
talk about here.
SPEAKER_03 (21:09):
Uh we um soon after Father Raphael's passing at a
meeting, a parishioner from oneof our parishes um who was part
of um uh I believe it's the NewJersey Mental Health
Association.
We can get the uh the link onthe notes, but uh they reached
out to us and uh so we're gonnaum have something um for uh
(21:33):
parish leaders and others uh onum just some general
introduction to mental healthchallenges and resources that
are available.
That'll be Thursday um March5th, uh uh at St.
Mary's in Ponton Lakes, wherewe've also shared and we can
share more information, but umsome um uh parishioners have
(21:56):
come to us and uh startedsomething called the Saint
Difna, our Lady of Hope, ourLady of Hope St.
Difna Society.
Um uh we can get you moreinformation.
SPEAKER_00 (22:04):
Which you wrote about in one of your columns not
too long ago.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (22:07):
Um so um uh just again an opportunity for um
solidarity and collaboration anduh education, um that we could
be there for one another and forthose who may be struggling to
be able to offer resources uh soum we can get more information
about that.
But uh Thursday, May March 5th,um here locally in the diocese,
and then uh I think it'sSaturday, May 2nd, um uh the
(22:31):
statewide conference uh inMatutchin, is that what you
said?
SPEAKER_00 (22:34):
Uh in Piscataway.
SPEAKER_03 (22:36):
So um uh yes, we um we We'll get more information
then.
That really comes out of uhBishop Barron uh and the USCB.
Uh it came up, I want to say twoyears ago.
Um what was gonna be a 15-minutepresentation turned into uh
hour-long discussion back andforth with the bishop sharing
(22:56):
experiences and uh uh anyencouragement from the national
conference to uh reach out on alocal level to mental health
professionals and uh see how wecould collaborate.
So uh Jim King, who's the uhhead of the New Jersey Catholic
Conference, has been workingwith Cardinal Tobin and the
bishops of the state to puttogether this conference.
So um we'll look forward toinviting um parishioners and
(23:18):
leaders and ministers to to beable to attend.
SPEAKER_00 (23:21):
Yeah, so we have that on the event section of
beaconnj.org.
And uh I'll put that in thenotes for this episode.
Um All right, back back to you,Cecile.
What uh next for us?
SPEAKER_02 (23:33):
Uh we are now almost up to 12,000 followers on
Facebook, and um some of thereels that have done really well
on Instagram is uh theCathedral's Via Crucis, that
always seems to resonate verywell.
Like this is two years in a rowalready.
And uh the priesthood ordinationwith the two new priests, Father
(23:53):
Brendan and Brendan and FatherJoe.
Yep.
So that was very popular, andthen we mentioned Monsignor
Kupke's prediction of aCardinal.
Yes, yeah, your reaction wasvery interesting.
And then boom, he's Pope.
So uh now a post that caught meby surprise is uh the sisters
(24:16):
now serving at our cathedral,the Sisters of Mercy of Alma,
Michigan.
SPEAKER_03 (24:20):
Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (24:22):
And uh I mean I I guess you celebrated Mass with
them recently, and that's thepost that just got a lot of
lace.
And I have a feeling they have arelative that reposted us.
So uh is there anything youcould say about this order?
SPEAKER_03 (24:35):
They've been with us, I guess, since the summer
now.
Um uh, you know, we have acharter school um uh uh at our
cathedral, um uh Patterson Prep,and uh there's a five-day after
school catechetical program, andum the sisters um are now um
working with that catecheticalprogram and uh not only with the
(24:56):
children but with their parents,and then they're living at um
the convent of what was St.
Michael's Parish, um, which isnow uh working together with the
cathedral community, and uh umthey've been doing outreach to
to moms in the neighborhood anduh uh just been doing uh great
work and it's been great.
We'll um talking before we'regonna try to get them on a
podcast to hear a little bitmore about their ministry.
(25:18):
Uh and uh Monsignor Gino, FatherStarley, the whole staff um at
the cathedral that where greatthings have been happening now,
you know, for many years.
But uh we've been going back toFather Mark Giordani, Monsignor
Mark Giordani, and uh um butunder Monsignor Silva and uh
since especially the charterschool with the catechetical
program has opened, um we'vejust seen a lot of blessings.
(25:39):
You know, they have theirChristmas in Patterson as well,
at Bethlehem and Patterson.
Uh um thousands, uh hundreds, ifnot thousands, of children
receive uh toys and and coatsright before Christmas.
So um, so yes, and the sistersare a great part now of that of
that effort.
SPEAKER_02 (25:55):
I know uh growing up in Passake, when we would have
nuns talk to our youth group,this is our their first
experience, some of the teamsthat they never met a nun in
person, they never saw one.
So I'm guessing that's the sameexperience for the young people
in Patterson.
SPEAKER_03 (26:11):
That's true, that's right, yeah, right, right,
right, right.
And the religious system mercyof Alma, Michigan is one of the
um communities that is gettinguh vocations and and is growing
rather than um some of the othercommunities, you know, it's part
of the our history as a churchand as the church in the United
States.
Um, you know, we had um,especially in the northeast,
(26:31):
some communities that of womenreligious that um, you know,
huge and massive in numbers andand and they're not you know
what they were before, but umeach has their own.
We had the sisters on uh uhabout immigration, right?
Um the sister of Christiancharity and the um uh missionary
of the Immaculate Conception.
Um uh it was great having thosesisters and uh we see you know
(26:54):
uh the harvest is rich and thelaborers are few.
There's plenty of work to do inthe Lord's Vineyard, and uh
we're happy to have ministers,women and men um who are uh and
that's a little plug for thebaptism of the Lord this coming
Sunday.
Uh we go back to ordinary timeafter the Christmas season, and
we start with that remembrancethat not only was Jesus baptized
himself, but um he gives us umbaptism to um not only be
(27:19):
forgiven for original sin and uhbecome a member of the church,
the body of Christ, but uh alsoreceive that call to be his
disciple and um that vocationthat we all share from baptism,
the call to holiness.
Um uh whether it be in as aconsecrated religious woman or
man in religious life or priestor um uh married life or single
life, um God has a plan for allof us.
And uh it's great, as you say,Cecile, when we can give our
(27:42):
young people an opportunity tosee all the different uh
vocations that are out therethat um they could consider how
how and where God might becalling them.
So um yeah, we have to do thatum uh as often as we can.
SPEAKER_02 (27:55):
I noticed you went to Sikh last year, right?
SPEAKER_03 (27:58):
Yes.
And I know this week, I didn'tmake it this this year, yeah, um
into Columbus.
But uh I heard they had morenumbers than uh than ever,
right?
And uh that's a place where youcertainly see a lot of uh
especially younger religious,you know, that um uh so uh Well
the Salesians always make aappearance there.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_02 (28:15):
There's something that trended is uh there's a
speed dating event.
SPEAKER_03 (28:19):
I saw that I I saw a highlight.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
I didn't see the um Yeah, it's like the biggest
group of Catholics at a speeddating event.
SPEAKER_03 (28:28):
There you go.
Um uh Seek um is the conferenceuh sponsored by Focus, the
fellowship of campus uh collegeof Catholic University, uh
campus ministers that they'vebeen under the leadership of
Curtis Martin, who's now juststepped aside.
But um Focus is doing uh greatthings um on our campus, and now
they're uh apparently doing moreministry in parishes as well.
(28:51):
So good thing to do.
SIK would be more to the collegeage.
I was able to be at uh NCYCNational Catholic Youth
Conference, uh which would bemore the high school age.
Um and um and in a few weekswe'll see the young church
marching on behalf of life inWashington, D.C.
(29:12):
Uh there's still room on our busfor those uh our buses that uh
the w information on thewebsite, the March for Life um
Friday, January 23rd.
Um so um if you haven't signedup, please consider.
And uh if you want to see theYoung Young Church out in uh in
uh enthusiastic, uh joyfulfaith, uh the March for Life is
(29:33):
a great place to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (29:35):
A couple other big events happening for us in 2026.
Um just to select a few, Iguess, would be our What is it
every three years we do thediocesan pilgrimage to
Washington, D.C.
Yes, yes.
That's gonna be October 16,17th.
SPEAKER_03 (29:54):
Um be getting information out about that.
We want to um encourageattendance, yep.
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
And then we have New Jersey Catholic Youth
Conference, May 17th.
SPEAKER_03 (30:04):
Great adventure, six flags, right?
I believe.
SPEAKER_02 (30:06):
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
A few other like very key masses that happen
annually.
So Oh Welcome Home for Healingis a rather quarter.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Yes, that's right, that's right.
Yes, yes, we'll be um we'll begetting uh information out on
that.
But uh the Mondays of Lent, umthe opportunity for the
Sacrament of Reconciliation,yes, so we'll be getting that
started again.
And um uh last few years I'vehad a day where we bring
representatives, we have sevenCatholic high schools in the
diocese, um three sponsored bythe diocese and three and four
(30:38):
sponsored by religiouscommunities, and uh so we get
about eight or ten students fromeach high school and they come
together.
So is that happening?
Yeah, yeah, we're um it's on onits way.
Um I think in February or MarchI it's on my calendar.
SPEAKER_00 (30:55):
All right.
So uh what you know we had ahundred thousand active users
visit beaconnj.org in twentytwenty five.
So that website's been growing.
Thank you for everyone who'svisiting the website,
subscribing to the newsletter,visiting and interacting with
our social media accounts andlistening to the podcast.
Is there um I know you're alwayslistening to podcast episodes
(31:16):
and and watching uh big intodifferent Catholic shows and
what uh what are some of yourfavorite favorites from 2025?
SPEAKER_03 (31:23):
Uh The Chosen.
Um I uh saw the first twoepisodes of season five um in
Lent.
Um they were out in thetheaters, it's a streaming
series.
Uh uh the first four seasonswere phenomenal.
Um so beautiful.
It's really Ignatian prayer ofreflection on the scriptures and
(31:47):
wh where the disciples came fromand um just wonderful.
Um and uh in my mind I'd said,oh, you know what, I don't know
if I'm gonna it there were Ithink um seven or eight episodes
in uh season five, the mostrecent season, I had seen the
first two when I said um so Ihad a little time between
Christmas and New Year.
(32:07):
I went on my iPad and I put inthe chosen.
Um I'm not big on streamingstuff.
Uh so but um I had the app forthe um chosen.
I I just about.
I think over three days Iwatched um six episodes.
Okay.
Uh and it's uh holy week.
It's uh from it goes from the uhentrance into Jerusalem, Palm
(32:28):
Sunday, to the Garden ofGethsemane.
Um it's so beautifully done.
And uh and then um I hear andsee that um uh Father Mike
Schmitz did an interview withJonathan Roomy, which I wrote
about this week.
And uh if you have a chance,watch the interview, even if
you're not a fan of the chosen.
Um and now the occasion of theinterview was um they finished
(32:50):
the six season, which is um GoodFriday and the crucifixion.
Um and uh if you're a fan of thechosen, you know Jonathan Roomy
who plays the plays Jesus in itum to hear this interview.
And uh I mean you can even seeit he's it's gonna be ten years,
he says, as an actor.
He's given ten years of hislife.
There's gonna be seven seasonsaltogether, I guess, uh as in in
(33:13):
the course of the talking aboutthe crucifixion and how heavy it
was and um um intense.
Um at one point he said, well,at least we have the
resurrection coming up.
So uh the seventh season isgonna be the resurrection and
following, I think even maybePentecost.
SPEAKER_00 (33:29):
Um so there is a great quote, I think it was in
your column where he says, I'mgonna be grappling with this for
the rest of my life if I'm gonnabe able to do that.
SPEAKER_03 (33:36):
Right, right, right, right.
Um but you can see as a personof faith how he has matured,
yeah.
Um and uh, you know, now he's aspeaker.
Uh he spoke at the EucharisticCongress.
Um, but you know, he's I thinkat Mass almost every day, uh he
talked about receiving communionin this interview.
SPEAKER_00 (33:55):
And um So he he converted somewhere along with
the other.
No, the water.
SPEAKER_03 (33:58):
Um I think he was he has an Irish mother.
I learned that.
I didn't realize that.
His mother is Irish, and hisfather, I want to say, is
Armenian or um maybe EasternRight Catholic.
He talks about being bullied andI think of being of mixed race.
I think he grew up on LongIsland.
Um they Father Mike asked himabout something early in his
(34:19):
life that might have pointed himtowards this uh uh Jesus of
Nazareth by Franco Zefferelli,uh six-hour miniseries um from
the 70s, which is beautiful.
Uh he watched that as a12-year-old kid, uh.
He's Jonathan Rooney, and hesaid he went out in his backyard
and put two planks together anduh uh and got something for a
crown of thorns, and all byhimself, he he reenacted the
(34:42):
crucifixion.
He said he got a cinder blockand put the cross in it and put
himself up on the um, yeah,yeah, it's um it's a great
interview.
So I wrote about that, and bychance um I also saw that Bishop
Barron um interviewed uh JusticeAmy Coney Barrett, um Supreme
Court Justice.
And again, I highly recommend umshe's um she's a mom of seven,
(35:05):
uh husb wife and and and mother,two children adopted from Haiti,
um, and uh uh one child withDown syndrome, um, but a woman
of faith, and um uh uh so it wasuh and um I also had a I did
some work during Christmas, itsounds like I was much to watch
(35:26):
in terms of football.
Uh so uh and the Knicks weredoing great until they're not
anymore.
But uh uh so um and St.
John's basketball is not doingit.
Uh well uh I heard that to theother.
Well they lost eight nothing.
Nine nothing, I think.
Oh, is it nine nothing?
Yeah, I gave up at the U.S.
uh so um are the Olympics comingup?
SPEAKER_00 (35:45):
Yes, Olympics.
Oh, yeah.
Ice hockey, nets hockey.
SPEAKER_03 (35:49):
Um Are you Olympics fan?
SPEAKER_02 (35:50):
I I j I prefer Summer Olympics, but uh yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:53):
Um those two interviews and um an audio book
I listened to um uh DavidMcCullough, a great history
author, and uh his daughter andcollaborator wrote a book after
his passing about some of hisspeeches and essays um Why
History Matters.
(36:14):
Excellent, excellent.
Uh and they gave his favoritesome of his favorite books.
He wrote his own list of hisfavorite books that impacted
him.
There's a guy, Bruce Catton, Ithink, C-A-T-T-O-N, he must have
written a dozen books on the wcivil war.
And one that McCullough likedwas called Um Stillness at
Appomattox, about what the year,so the year that basically led
(36:38):
to the end of the Civil War.
But that was uh uh so uh uh afew things that we hit you with
a couple questions?
SPEAKER_00 (36:49):
Sure, please, yeah.
I um so when you when you lookto a new year as a bishop, as a
leader of uh our diocese here inin Patterson, uh how do you what
do you what do you think aboutwhat do you how do you uh do you
you say, hey, I have some goalsfor this upcoming year or some
things that I just sent a letterto our priests um this morning
(37:10):
actually, um and uh from ourconvocation last fall and a
survey we did with our priestsover the last really year and a
half.
SPEAKER_03 (37:19):
Um there's an in an interest in some of our we have
two main groups.
Uh Bishop Barron did a uh uh oneof his podcasts on the life of a
bishop.
That was pretty interesting.
Uh but he talked aboutconsultative bodies in the
diocese, the presbyteral counciland the deans.
Um so um uh I rely on them tohelp set some of the direction
(37:40):
and vision and priorities.
And um so um we're gonna have acouple of opportunities for our
priests and others.
We're gonna sinnerly we'reworking on encouraging uh parish
councils to um be active in eachparish.
And uh um so um we're gonna havesome gatherings uh for pastoral
planning um um on the diocesanlevel in in the in the coming
(38:02):
weeks.
So that's something that we'relooking at um this this this as
we begin this this new year.
SPEAKER_00 (38:08):
Okay.
So Seul, any questions for thebishop?
SPEAKER_02 (38:11):
Uh I guess one thing 2027 looking really forward is
World Youth Day and the 90thanniversary of the diocese.
SPEAKER_03 (38:19):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, so uh so we'll be makingsome plans this year, I hope,
for the 90th anniversary.
Um but world youth day, yes, inSeoul.
And we got to get started onthat right away because
fundraising it's um but um isthat on your radar?
SPEAKER_02 (38:32):
Do you have intentions to go to the Please
God?
SPEAKER_03 (38:34):
Oh yes, yes, yes.
Um and um uh John Camarata um wworked for a long time at St.
Peter's Parish, St.
Peter the Apostle in Parsippone,and he's been the last few years
our Dawson director.
Right.
Um he's now gonna be workingfull-time at our evangelization
center in St.
Paul's Inside the Walls ofMadison, and he and Sister
(38:55):
Teresa Lee um are starting to uhcoordinate our efforts for um uh
World Youth Day, and um SisterTeresa is a little in because uh
her parents are from Korea, andso she'll be our interpreter, I
think.
SPEAKER_02 (39:11):
Does she speak Korean?
SPEAKER_03 (39:12):
I think she does, yeah.
I believe she does, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (39:14):
It's funny because a big movie that trended in 2025
is K-pop Demon Hunters.
So it's a big on Netflix, anduh, if you have a child of a
certain age group, they probablyall want to go to Korea now.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (39:28):
Um K-pop Demon Hunters.
Um that was 20 Oh, that was2025, yeah.
Yes, 2025.
Wow, wow, wow.
Um uh I have to find the I Ihear all this stuff about
stranger things.
Uh that's oh yes.
SPEAKER_02 (39:41):
I mean you grew up in the 80s, so you might be
interested in it.
SPEAKER_03 (39:46):
I I uh my n some of my nephews and nieces and family
mentioned it in passing, but I Iforgot to ask um whether I
should try to watch it.
SPEAKER_00 (39:54):
Um my sister and I went and saw the the play the
prequel to the Who's okay?
SPEAKER_02 (40:01):
Yeah.
I I like the 80s references.
Hugely popular.
SPEAKER_03 (40:06):
So um are there cartoon characters in it?
SPEAKER_02 (40:10):
Th I think they're having a cartoon being made of
like it's called Stranger Things1988, but it it's a it's a live
action.
SPEAKER_03 (40:19):
I didn't even realize it was the 80s now that
I'm a little more interested init.
SPEAKER_02 (40:22):
Oh yeah, that's and you hear a lot of throwbacks in
the right.
SPEAKER_03 (40:24):
So Walkman and the other thing.
SPEAKER_02 (40:26):
Yeah, like Kate Bush is the big song there.
SPEAKER_03 (40:28):
And uh Kate Bush?
SPEAKER_02 (40:30):
Yeah, some 80s music.
Well, you know Prince.
SPEAKER_03 (40:37):
Prince, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh Raspberry Beret.
SPEAKER_02 (40:40):
Yeah.
And uh A Never Ending Story.
Do you remember?
SPEAKER_03 (40:45):
Uh the I've heard of it.
I don't think I saw it yet.
SPEAKER_02 (40:48):
But there's a lot of like deep 80s references.
Well, Dungeons and Dragons.
Okay, yeah.
I don't know if you were intothe Dragon.
No, I was not.
SPEAKER_03 (40:55):
I know somewhere.
Um I like watching um uh uhwhat's the TV show uh uh Big
Bang Theory and Shelby.
unknown (41:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (41:07):
So I played a bit in my childhood, my brother more
so.
SPEAKER_03 (41:11):
Um so but um uh in terms of the diocese, uh I think
we're got a lot of excitingthings that will be coming up
this year and leading into the90th anniversary.
Um uh again, the pilgrimage toWashington and more immediately
um the March for Life inWashington and uh in and and so
(41:32):
um um we had some guests linedup for upcoming episodes.
So I'm looking forward to that.
Um God willing, I'll be making apilgrimage to Mexico um uh in
September back to um the sametrip, yeah.
Basically, yes uh the thesisters of Mary who run this
orphanage in uh um outside ofMexico City.
(41:53):
Uh so stay tuned for details onthat one.
SPEAKER_00 (41:56):
Yeah, we have that up on the is it that's open to
people.
SPEAKER_03 (41:59):
Yeah, yeah, and it's brief.
It's um like Friday to Monday.
Um so um, but well well worthit.
SPEAKER_00 (42:06):
Um check out beacon uh beaconnj.org events and check
out our show notes for more.
So all right, well I think we'regonna leave it there then.
All right.
Well, thank you for joining us.
Please subscribe, comment, andleave a positive rating.
Get to know us better byfollowing Bishop Kevin's
Instagram and beyond the beaconon social media.
(42:27):
Read the bishop's week weeklycolumn on beaconnj.org.
Get in touch if you have aquestion for the bishop or a
podcast topic idea, and discoverour other podcasts.
See you next time.
SPEAKER_03 (42:37):
And say a prayer before you go for the bishops of
New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
We'll be on retreat the week ofJanuary 12th to the uh 16th, I
think, Monday to um Monday toFriday.
So uh I'm looking forward tothat.
Uh and uh please keep us in yourprayers and I'll be praying for
you, and we'll be praying foryou as we'll be on retreat.
SPEAKER_02 (42:59):
Oh my gosh, you have a birthday coming up, don't you?
SPEAKER_03 (43:03):
Thanks everybody.
See you soon.
Happy New Year.
God bless.
Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin
Sweeney, a podcast of theDiocese of Patterson, New
Jersey.
Join us for conversations aboutour Catholic faith, and together
let's strive to live a life offaith, hope, and love.
We're so glad you can join us.
I'm Jay Agnis.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney,and joining us as well is Cecile
Pagliarullo today.
So hello, welcome.
(00:29):
How are you guys doing?
SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
Happy New Year, Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas.
Seven days in already.
We made it.
Yes, and concluded the Jubilee.
And uh maybe the timing is good.
Yesterday, Pope Leo closed thelast Jubilee door, right?
(00:52):
So uh deadly.
Um so uh some say now hispontificate will really begin,
and uh we'll see what he has instore for us.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
All right, yeah, so today we're going to spend some
time looking back, lookingforward.
Cecile and I dug through theanalytics for our social media
accounts and the Beacon website.
We identified some social mediaposts and articles and podcast
episodes that resonated with ouraudience.
We also have a few questions foryou, Bishop, and want to hear
your perspective on theUniversal Catholic Church for
(01:22):
2026 and some of the localevents happening here in the
Diocese of Patterson.
So do you want to open up withprayer?
SPEAKER_03 (01:31):
Sure.
Um as we begin this new year andum pray for peace as we always
do.
Um we pray for our country, ourpresident, for all world
leaders.
Uh we just had the um extractionof the president of Venezuela.
Um so um uh we continue to prayfor peace.
(01:53):
So I thought maybe uh as ourfirst uh as we move on from
we're still pilgrims of hope andpraying uh that we can uh
continue as pilgrims of hope.
But now that the Jubilee yearhas uh come to an end and we'll
begin a new year, uh let's uhmaybe pray the prayer of St.
Francis as as we pray for peace.
So we'll place ourselves inGod's presence in the name of
(02:14):
the Father and of the Son and ofthe Holy Spirit.
Amen.
We're gonna pray this prayer,um, the prayer of St.
Francis on the feast of St.
Raymond of Penafort, a Spanishpriest who was a nobleman who I
think lived from 1175 to 1275,100 years of life, uh, the
second uh leader of theDominican Order um after St.
(02:35):
Dominic.
And so as we pray, we'll alsopray for Father Ed Davy, a
priest of our diocese who turned100 last October 4th on the
Feast of St.
Francis.
And um his funeral will betomorrow at um at Our Lady of
the Mountain in Long Valley.
So we pray for the repos of thesoul of Father Davy, and um we
pray for our diocese, ourfamilies, for vocations.
(02:58):
Um, and this coming Sunday welook forward to the celebration
of the baptism of the Lord sothat we can all be faithful to
the call we received at baptism,the call to holiness, and that
we might be instruments ofpeace.
Let us pray together.
Lord, make me an instrument ofyour peace.
Where there is hatred, let meknow.
Where there is injury, pardon,where there is doubt, faith,
(03:21):
where there is despair, hope,where there is darkness, light,
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine master, grant that Imay not so much seek to be
consoled as to console, to beunderstood as to understand, to
be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that wereceive, it is in pardoning that
we are pardoned, and it is indying that we are born to
(03:43):
eternal life.
Our Lady's seed of wisdom,Mother of the Church, pray for
us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us, SaintJohn the Baptist, pray for us,
Saint Raymond of Penafort, prayfor us, all holy men and women,
pray for us.
Pray for us.
In the name of the Father, andof the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
Amen.
And we wish to all the Sistersof Charity a happy feast of St.
(04:03):
Elizabeth Ann Seton.
She got a little bumped thisyear because her feast day fell
on a Sunday, yeah.
So it was the epiphanyliturgically, uh, the Sunday,
the second Sunday afterChristmas.
Um, but happy feast of St.
Elizabeth Ann Seton to all ofour sisters of charity and um
Catholic school teachers too, aswell.
Um so um, and everybody's backto school then.
(04:26):
Catholic school week is rightaround the school.
SPEAKER_00 (04:30):
Uh so where where to begin, Bishop?
What is what is most pressing onyour mind?
What what have you been thinkingabout lately?
SPEAKER_03 (04:36):
Uh reflecting on the uh hopefully everyone got a l
chance to slow down.
I think um it's great whenChristmas falls on a Wednesday
or Thursday or even Tuesday, uh,and you kind of get 10 days um
of at least a little slowertime.
Uh so I was able to enjoy that.
Hope others were, and um timefor prayer and reflection as
(04:58):
well as we now are back insomewhat regular schedule and uh
school and work and um uh a newyear.
Um but also gratitude, you know,uh gratitude is so important,
and uh the end of one year andthe beginning of another is a
chance to look back and givethanks for the blessings
received.
I um uh the parish next door towhere my house is, uh St.
(05:22):
Teresa and Patterson, theiryouth group apparently has been
invited me on Instagram.
Uh so I was there actually forMass on Christmas morning, but
also they have a custom whichwas in my second parish in
Corona and where I was pastor umto on New Year's Eve uh instead
of a party maybe to have um massin a holy hour starting around
(05:43):
10 o'clock and bringing us intothe New Year.
So uh the last few years I've umhad the opportunity to do that
at um St.
Teresa Parish in um in Pattersonand uh with Father Yasid and uh
so um So you're there atmidnight?
Oh well when the ball drops.
I uh was glad that the Mass nowis at 10 o'clock and then after
(06:07):
Mass they have exposition in theHoly Hour.
Uh so the Mass ended aroundeleven fifteen.
I stayed for the beginning ofthe Holy Hour and uh was home to
watch the ball drop from uh uhuh Times Square.
But um uh uh it was a great wayto end one year and begin
another one.
SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
So uh did you when you were in New York, did you
ever get to the Times Square?
SPEAKER_03 (06:28):
No, no, no.
Um I uh probably from probablyfrom 2000 um my first Paris, we
used to have a New Year's Eveparty.
Okay.
Um as a kid, it was college uhseminary, I'm not sure what what
I did, but uh uh um but I don'tthink I ever got to I don't want
to stand there for all that.
SPEAKER_02 (06:48):
I mean 2011 and 2012 and it's interesting.
There aren't many locals, it'sactually really historically I
did it because a group of newkids on the block was
performing.
SPEAKER_03 (07:01):
They're still around.
Did they did they do somethingthis I was it?
I think they have listened tothem in some listen to their
music still.
SPEAKER_02 (07:10):
Um I did it once and those experiences one and done
though for me for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (07:14):
That was what year 1112?
SPEAKER_02 (07:16):
I think 2011 or 2012.
SPEAKER_03 (07:18):
I think it was 98 or 99 or 2000 when I was in my
first parish.
Um and in sync had a song calledGod Must Have Spent a Little
More Time on You.
I used to love that.
Well, I used to use it on atree.
It's a beautiful message.
Um so um so we didn't think we'dbe talking about music, but uh
nothing wrong with that.
Uh and uh yeah, so I think since2003 when I w or four when I
(07:44):
went to my 2003 that four, thatthat New Year's probably almost
every year since, either at OurLady of Sorrows and Corona, St.
Michael's, or St.
Teresa, I've uh done Mass inHoly Honors.
So yeah, yeah.
And this year, sorry, on NewYear's Day, um I remembered a
memory from my second parish umwhere there was a large
(08:04):
Ecuadorian community, and theEcuadorian community celebrates
Nuestra de las Nubes, Our Ladyof the Clouds.
Um just posted those photos.
Yeah, yeah.
Um Sogas is a place in inEcuador where there's this
devotion to uh Our Lady of theNubes, the clouds.
Um but they had a procession inCorona uh at 6 a.m.
(08:25):
on New Year's Day.
Wow.
I remember the pastor saying,you know, tomorrow morning, got
a procession with uh I said,okay.
Um and then I remember umhearing the procession outside
my window as uh as as I waswaking up sometimes.
Whoops.
Um but fortunately our lady ofum uh St.
Margaret's in um of Scotland inMorristown.
(08:48):
They had Mass at 1215 on NewYear's Day, but also celebrating
our Lady of Newbury's with alarge beautiful, beautiful,
great devotion to Church wastrue.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
Joe Geeley won he won first.
That's right.
Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:00):
The light that gleams from their stained glass
windows in St.
Margaret's.
SPEAKER_03 (09:04):
So So, yes, um the beauty of our faith.
Uh um I mentioned um I hadmasked for the Carmelite Sisters
um the day after Christmas, St.
Stephen's Day, at the and uh Iwas with my Aunt Nora, and uh
she was a little under theweather Christmas Day because
she said she was up on a ladderand she wrenched her back.
She's 95.
(09:25):
Uh so she didn't come outChristmas Eve, but she was
fine-informed.
Christmas Day, we went to myfamily on Long Island and on the
car ride out.
She was so happy she saw themasks from the um uh shrine in
the Macleth Conception inWashington, D.C.
I think it started at 11o'clock.
She said she turned on TV, andthe papal nuncio, Cardinal
Pierre, was the celebrant, and Ithink she feels like she knows
(09:47):
him because she was at theordination installation.
And uh she was just saying um uhreflecting kind of on the
Christmas season and thedecoration and advent, and she
says, you know, the CatholicChurch really does it right.
The Catholic Church really doesit.
And you know, uh you look at thenativity scenes and just the
beauty of this season, um, weshouldn't take it for granted,
(10:08):
right?
Um the um the Catholic Churchhas a lot of beauty that can
invite us to prayer andreflection.
SPEAKER_00 (10:16):
A lot of mystery and yeah, a lot of okay, so um where
to begin.
So um in looking back at 2025,Cecile, what what did you find
were some of the were you wantto start with events?
SPEAKER_02 (10:30):
Sure, so it's uh very relevant to the one
question we got from aseminarian, Brian Riley.
He had asked, I guess what aresome highlights of the Jubilee
year for you?
SPEAKER_03 (11:21):
Highlights of the Jubilee year, yeah.
Um certainly being able to go toRome was wonderful.
Um, and through the holy doors,we had a great group in the uh
30 or so that were part of the,and we saw um one of our
seminarians, now deacon LucasFoland be ordained a deacon at
St.
Peter's, um, just wonderful.
Um, and also um the opening massand closing mass, uh, the Sunday
(11:44):
between Christmas and NewYear's, such a difficult day for
pastors.
When the day weekend, everyonewants to just say uh have some
quiet time, and yet parishionerscame and priests and pastors,
and uh uh the 24 opening, we hada 60-degree day for a procession
outside.
Uh the weather wasn't as good,but the attendance I might have
(12:07):
been better.
SPEAKER_02 (12:07):
Um you think so?
SPEAKER_03 (12:09):
I uh I if Cathedral was full, um there may have
been, I think I want to saythere was 30 or 40 parishes that
had banners in the procession.
Maybe in the opening, theremight have been 60 or so.
So there might have been a fewmore parishes represented at the
opening, but um those were twohighlights.
The local pilgrimages, too, Ithink um uh uh there's a there's
(12:31):
a uniqueness to each one, uh,but it was a blessing for me to
be able um so the first onewould have been really to
opening at the cathedral, andthen um St.
James in Montague up in thenorthwest corner.
Um uh the first uh our um feastof the visitation, May 31st, the
Jubilee of Families at um Shrineof St.
(12:52):
Joseph in Sterling, and we had apilgrimage from St.
Vincent de Paul Parish to theshrine, which was uh a nice
walk.
And uh then uh St.
Luke's in Long Valley.
Uh that was probably the longestwalk.
SPEAKER_02 (13:04):
Um and uh there was some uh we have drone footage of
it, and it looked like a bit ofa hike.
SPEAKER_03 (13:10):
Sister Teresa and one of our seminarians, Eric,
were doing some of the trafficuh control on that one.
So um and then uh St.
Bernard's in Mount Hope, umgreat climbing Mount Hope on the
for the Jubilee of Hope.
Did I get them all?
St.
James, St.
Joseph, St.
Luke's, Mount Bernard and theCathedral.
Yep, five, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (13:28):
I guess Sterling.
Do we mention that?
Sterling, yeah, yeah.
That was um The family dynasty.
SPEAKER_03 (13:31):
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (13:33):
So, yeah, one of the podcasts that performed the best
for us last year, the audioversion was that was the one on
the Jubilee, how to get involvedin the Jubilee for 2025.
So we did good there.
And another another podcastepisode that did well was how
this close-knit Catholic schoolcommunity thrives now.
(13:53):
And that was a remote episodewhen we went to All Saints
Academy.
Oh, yes, right, right.
In uh Parsippony.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_03 (13:59):
Um They're doing well, God bless them.
But um, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:03):
But uh but in general, the we're grateful to
the to our audience audience forlistening or watching.
Um it's been an it was anenjoyable year working with you
guys on the on the podcast.
What um now, so Jubilee, thedoor is open, the door is
closed.
Big question, what's Pope Leogot in store for us for the 2026
(14:27):
and beyond?
And I know you commented on thata little bit in your column,
which was entitled Pope Leo theFourteenth's Christmas Address
to the Roman Curia, Mission andCommunion.
SPEAKER_03 (14:35):
Do you want to touch on that a little bit?
Uh his the way he recalls PopeFrancis, and I think we'll see
now Pope Leo um in his own wayuh continue the, as he's talked
about, the work of the CynodalChurch with the mercy of God at
the center, um uh uh reremembering that we're called to
be a missionary church,evangelization, uh, and that
(14:56):
we're a welcoming church, ajoyful church uh that welcomes
all.
Um he said it so beautifully,and uh and he um uh emphasized
those two points, um umcommunion and mission.
Communion and mission.
And actually, the theme of thesynod was communion,
participation, and mission, andthe folk our friends on uh uh
(15:16):
inside the Vatican.
Inside the Vatican, um, uhsister of Jesuitical, but uh um
they said, well, it was theVatican officials, so they were
already kind of participating.
So he wanted to make sure thatthey were uh remembering the
importance of communion, thatunity, togetherness, um, and and
mission, that we have to beoutward looking, um out to the
(15:36):
peripheries, as Pope Franciswould say.
So um, yeah, I mean, you know,when you look back at the
Jubilee, I think w when in termsof images, um uh the Pope
Francis waving goodbye um onEaster Sunday, um, and then the
next morning the news that hehis earthly pilgrimage had come
to an end, um, and then um thewhole experience of the conclave
(16:00):
and Pope Leo's first words, umpeace be with you, and uh the
realization an American Pope whowas predicted.
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
Well, I'm senior cookie, that was one of our most
viewed reels.
And uh I think for the church,you could even see in our
analytics that you could see aspike during that time when Pope
Francis passed and Pope Leo'selection.
You could really see an interestlocally here.
SPEAKER_03 (16:28):
Yeah, even um when Pope Francis was sick, I mean,
um the attention of the world,it it was really something um to
see.
Um and uh and um uh I've sharedbefore, I think we might grow in
our appreciation that um now twoconsecutive holy fathers come to
us from the experience of theLatin American Church um and uh
(16:51):
Salem, the Conferencia Episcopalde Latin America, the Latin
American Bishops Conference.
Um uh I recently reconnectedwith someone I known from
Brooklyn campus ministry in highschool.
She and her family are servingin El Salvador.
Um and you think back to theBishops Conference, and since
the Vatican Council and LatinAmerica, um Archbishop Romero,
(17:15):
um uh uh the the Church of thePoor, uh the preferential option
for the poor, um really you cansee where synodality came out of
that experience, and then PopeFrancis kind of gave it to the
whole church to uh reflect on.
So um and and that they wentback to Latin America.
Uh yes, born and raised inChicago and graduated of
(17:37):
Villanova, um wonderful uhAugustinian, um, but um spent a
lot of time in Peru and in LatinAmerica, um, and so Pope Leo was
very familiar with thatexperience of the church, and I
think that experience is gonnabe continued to be shared with
the whole church.
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
And immigration, obviously, uh top in line for
the the church and and also theUSCCB.
And one of your um columns thatdid really well in 2025 was All
or Nothing, The Life and Witnessof Sister Claire Crossing.
SPEAKER_03 (18:09):
I was gonna write, I I first watched the video of
Sister Claire either on NewYear's Eve or New Year's Day of
um 24 into 25.
I was gonna say, write a columnand say, I first met Sister
Claire.
Um so if you haven't seen it,all or nothing, put it up.
Um uh uh I didn't know that thatwas one of the more popular
ones.
SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
And and also the the one that you wrote, your
personal experience aboutimmigration, the perspective of
your parents, that one didreally well.
People read a lot of people readthat one.
The immigrant experience, apersonal reflection.
And then also um we can't notlook at 2025 and remember the
(18:51):
dear uh priest of ours whopassed away suddenly, Father
Raphael Ciro, you wrote abouthim as well in one of your
columns.
SPEAKER_03 (18:59):
And yeah, um I had the opportunity to be there um
uh with the people of um St.
Stephen's, yeah.
Um uh Father Diego Monsalve nowis the administrator and doing a
great job, and uh it's such abeautiful community of faith.
And um Father Raphael Ciro, youcan see how he uh planted seeds
(19:19):
and um uh served so beautifullyas a pastor and that mystery of
um mental health challenges andum illness, and uh we would
never want to go through thatagain.
And um we pray continue to prayfor his mom.
I try to reach out to her when Ican, and uh some of our priests
are in contact with FatherRaphael's family, and uh so um
(19:41):
very, very sad.
Um but um in the Paschal mysterythat we uh celebrated every
Mass, we're confident in God'smercy and the promise of
everlasting life in heaven.
So and certainly um had thatexperience of the church both
within the diocese and even Iguess um online, the the support
that came in for me and for theparish and and and for our
(20:03):
diocese um was um was um atremendous experience of the
power in prayer and the comfortthat we try to offer to one
another in our in our saddestmoments.
SPEAKER_00 (20:15):
And and and um mental health is is really kind
of moved to the forefront, Ithink, of the conversation in in
the Catholic Church to somedegree.
And I wanted to mention we partof what we wanted to discuss was
events that we're lookingforward to in 2026 and wanted to
mention, and there is going tobe a very important event
(20:35):
entitled From Isolation toBelonging, Mental Health and the
Catholic Church, which is um theNew Jersey Catholic Conference
put together in partnership withNew Jersey Catholic Diocese and
also Catholic Charities andCatholic Health Care Partnership
of New Jersey.
Um this is a one-day mentalhealth conference aimed to
increase awareness andunderstanding of the escalating
crisis in mental health illnessaffecting increasing numbers in
(20:59):
the US and across the the world.
That's on May 2nd.
And then we're also gonna havesomething local that you want to
talk about here.
SPEAKER_03 (21:09):
Uh we um soon after Father Raphael's passing at a
meeting, a parishioner from oneof our parishes um who was part
of um uh I believe it's the NewJersey Mental Health
Association.
We can get the uh the link onthe notes, but uh they reached
out to us and uh so we're gonnaum have something um for uh
(21:33):
parish leaders and others uh onum just some general
introduction to mental healthchallenges and resources that
are available.
That'll be Thursday um March5th, uh uh at St.
Mary's in Ponton Lakes, wherewe've also shared and we can
share more information, but umsome um uh parishioners have
(21:56):
come to us and uh startedsomething called the Saint
Difna, our Lady of Hope, ourLady of Hope St.
Difna Society.
Um uh we can get you moreinformation.
SPEAKER_00 (22:04):
Which you wrote about in one of your columns not
too long ago.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (22:07):
Um so um uh just again an opportunity for um
solidarity and collaboration anduh education, um that we could
be there for one another and forthose who may be struggling to
be able to offer resources uh soum we can get more information
about that.
But uh Thursday, May March 5th,um here locally in the diocese,
and then uh I think it'sSaturday, May 2nd, um uh the
(22:31):
statewide conference uh inMatutchin, is that what you
said?
SPEAKER_00 (22:34):
Uh in Piscataway.
SPEAKER_03 (22:36):
So um uh yes, we um we We'll get more information
then.
That really comes out of uhBishop Barron uh and the USCB.
Uh it came up, I want to say twoyears ago.
Um what was gonna be a 15-minutepresentation turned into uh
hour-long discussion back andforth with the bishop sharing
(22:56):
experiences and uh uh anyencouragement from the national
conference to uh reach out on alocal level to mental health
professionals and uh see how wecould collaborate.
So uh Jim King, who's the uhhead of the New Jersey Catholic
Conference, has been workingwith Cardinal Tobin and the
bishops of the state to puttogether this conference.
So um we'll look forward toinviting um parishioners and
(23:18):
leaders and ministers to to beable to attend.
SPEAKER_00 (23:21):
Yeah, so we have that on the event section of
beaconnj.org.
And uh I'll put that in thenotes for this episode.
Um All right, back back to you,Cecile.
What uh next for us?
SPEAKER_02 (23:33):
Uh we are now almost up to 12,000 followers on
Facebook, and um some of thereels that have done really well
on Instagram is uh theCathedral's Via Crucis, that
always seems to resonate verywell.
Like this is two years in a rowalready.
And uh the priesthood ordinationwith the two new priests, Father
(23:53):
Brendan and Brendan and FatherJoe.
Yep.
So that was very popular, andthen we mentioned Monsignor
Kupke's prediction of aCardinal.
Yes, yeah, your reaction wasvery interesting.
And then boom, he's Pope.
So uh now a post that caught meby surprise is uh the sisters
(24:16):
now serving at our cathedral,the Sisters of Mercy of Alma,
Michigan.
SPEAKER_03 (24:20):
Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (24:22):
And uh I mean I I guess you celebrated Mass with
them recently, and that's thepost that just got a lot of
lace.
And I have a feeling they have arelative that reposted us.
So uh is there anything youcould say about this order?
SPEAKER_03 (24:35):
They've been with us, I guess, since the summer
now.
Um uh, you know, we have acharter school um uh uh at our
cathedral, um uh Patterson Prep,and uh there's a five-day after
school catechetical program, andum the sisters um are now um
working with that catecheticalprogram and uh not only with the
(24:56):
children but with their parents,and then they're living at um
the convent of what was St.
Michael's Parish, um, which isnow uh working together with the
cathedral community, and uh umthey've been doing outreach to
to moms in the neighborhood anduh uh just been doing uh great
work and it's been great.
We'll um talking before we'regonna try to get them on a
podcast to hear a little bitmore about their ministry.
(25:18):
Uh and uh Monsignor Gino, FatherStarley, the whole staff um at
the cathedral that where greatthings have been happening now,
you know, for many years.
But uh we've been going back toFather Mark Giordani, Monsignor
Mark Giordani, and uh um butunder Monsignor Silva and uh
since especially the charterschool with the catechetical
program has opened, um we'vejust seen a lot of blessings.
(25:39):
You know, they have theirChristmas in Patterson as well,
at Bethlehem and Patterson.
Uh um thousands, uh hundreds, ifnot thousands, of children
receive uh toys and and coatsright before Christmas.
So um, so yes, and the sistersare a great part now of that of
that effort.
SPEAKER_02 (25:55):
I know uh growing up in Passake, when we would have
nuns talk to our youth group,this is our their first
experience, some of the teamsthat they never met a nun in
person, they never saw one.
So I'm guessing that's the sameexperience for the young people
in Patterson.
SPEAKER_03 (26:11):
That's true, that's right, yeah, right, right,
right, right.
And the religious system mercyof Alma, Michigan is one of the
um communities that is gettinguh vocations and and is growing
rather than um some of the othercommunities, you know, it's part
of the our history as a churchand as the church in the United
States.
Um, you know, we had um,especially in the northeast,
(26:31):
some communities that of womenreligious that um, you know,
huge and massive in numbers andand and they're not you know
what they were before, but umeach has their own.
We had the sisters on uh uhabout immigration, right?
Um the sister of Christiancharity and the um uh missionary
of the Immaculate Conception.
Um uh it was great having thosesisters and uh we see you know
(26:54):
uh the harvest is rich and thelaborers are few.
There's plenty of work to do inthe Lord's Vineyard, and uh
we're happy to have ministers,women and men um who are uh and
that's a little plug for thebaptism of the Lord this coming
Sunday.
Uh we go back to ordinary timeafter the Christmas season, and
we start with that remembrancethat not only was Jesus baptized
himself, but um he gives us umbaptism to um not only be
(27:19):
forgiven for original sin and uhbecome a member of the church,
the body of Christ, but uh alsoreceive that call to be his
disciple and um that vocationthat we all share from baptism,
the call to holiness.
Um uh whether it be in as aconsecrated religious woman or
man in religious life or priestor um uh married life or single
life, um God has a plan for allof us.
And uh it's great, as you say,Cecile, when we can give our
(27:42):
young people an opportunity tosee all the different uh
vocations that are out therethat um they could consider how
how and where God might becalling them.
So um yeah, we have to do thatum uh as often as we can.
SPEAKER_02 (27:55):
I noticed you went to Sikh last year, right?
SPEAKER_03 (27:58):
Yes.
And I know this week, I didn'tmake it this this year, yeah, um
into Columbus.
But uh I heard they had morenumbers than uh than ever,
right?
And uh that's a place where youcertainly see a lot of uh
especially younger religious,you know, that um uh so uh Well
the Salesians always make aappearance there.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_02 (28:15):
There's something that trended is uh there's a
speed dating event.
SPEAKER_03 (28:19):
I saw that I I saw a highlight.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
I didn't see the um Yeah, it's like the biggest
group of Catholics at a speeddating event.
SPEAKER_03 (28:28):
There you go.
Um uh Seek um is the conferenceuh sponsored by Focus, the
fellowship of campus uh collegeof Catholic University, uh
campus ministers that they'vebeen under the leadership of
Curtis Martin, who's now juststepped aside.
But um Focus is doing uh greatthings um on our campus, and now
they're uh apparently doing moreministry in parishes as well.
(28:51):
So good thing to do.
SIK would be more to the collegeage.
I was able to be at uh NCYCNational Catholic Youth
Conference, uh which would bemore the high school age.
Um and um and in a few weekswe'll see the young church
marching on behalf of life inWashington, D.C.
(29:12):
Uh there's still room on our busfor those uh our buses that uh
the w information on thewebsite, the March for Life um
Friday, January 23rd.
Um so um if you haven't signedup, please consider.
And uh if you want to see theYoung Young Church out in uh in
uh enthusiastic, uh joyfulfaith, uh the March for Life is
(29:33):
a great place to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (29:35):
A couple other big events happening for us in 2026.
Um just to select a few, Iguess, would be our What is it
every three years we do thediocesan pilgrimage to
Washington, D.C.
Yes, yes.
That's gonna be October 16,17th.
SPEAKER_03 (29:54):
Um be getting information out about that.
We want to um encourageattendance, yep.
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
And then we have New Jersey Catholic Youth
Conference, May 17th.
SPEAKER_03 (30:04):
Great adventure, six flags, right?
I believe.
SPEAKER_02 (30:06):
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
A few other like very key masses that happen
annually.
So Oh Welcome Home for Healingis a rather quarter.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Yes, that's right, that's right.
Yes, yes, we'll be um we'll begetting uh information out on
that.
But uh the Mondays of Lent, umthe opportunity for the
Sacrament of Reconciliation,yes, so we'll be getting that
started again.
And um uh last few years I'vehad a day where we bring
representatives, we have sevenCatholic high schools in the
diocese, um three sponsored bythe diocese and three and four
(30:38):
sponsored by religiouscommunities, and uh so we get
about eight or ten students fromeach high school and they come
together.
So is that happening?
Yeah, yeah, we're um it's on onits way.
Um I think in February or MarchI it's on my calendar.
SPEAKER_00 (30:55):
All right.
So uh what you know we had ahundred thousand active users
visit beaconnj.org in twentytwenty five.
So that website's been growing.
Thank you for everyone who'svisiting the website,
subscribing to the newsletter,visiting and interacting with
our social media accounts andlistening to the podcast.
Is there um I know you're alwayslistening to podcast episodes
(31:16):
and and watching uh big intodifferent Catholic shows and
what uh what are some of yourfavorite favorites from 2025?
SPEAKER_03 (31:23):
Uh The Chosen.
Um I uh saw the first twoepisodes of season five um in
Lent.
Um they were out in thetheaters, it's a streaming
series.
Uh uh the first four seasonswere phenomenal.
Um so beautiful.
It's really Ignatian prayer ofreflection on the scriptures and
(31:47):
wh where the disciples came fromand um just wonderful.
Um and uh in my mind I'd said,oh, you know what, I don't know
if I'm gonna it there were Ithink um seven or eight episodes
in uh season five, the mostrecent season, I had seen the
first two when I said um so Ihad a little time between
Christmas and New Year.
(32:07):
I went on my iPad and I put inthe chosen.
Um I'm not big on streamingstuff.
Uh so but um I had the app forthe um chosen.
I I just about.
I think over three days Iwatched um six episodes.
Okay.
Uh and it's uh holy week.
It's uh from it goes from the uhentrance into Jerusalem, Palm
(32:28):
Sunday, to the Garden ofGethsemane.
Um it's so beautifully done.
And uh and then um I hear andsee that um uh Father Mike
Schmitz did an interview withJonathan Roomy, which I wrote
about this week.
And uh if you have a chance,watch the interview, even if
you're not a fan of the chosen.
Um and now the occasion of theinterview was um they finished
(32:50):
the six season, which is um GoodFriday and the crucifixion.
Um and uh if you're a fan of thechosen, you know Jonathan Roomy
who plays the plays Jesus in itum to hear this interview.
And uh I mean you can even seeit he's it's gonna be ten years,
he says, as an actor.
He's given ten years of hislife.
There's gonna be seven seasonsaltogether, I guess, uh as in in
(33:13):
the course of the talking aboutthe crucifixion and how heavy it
was and um um intense.
Um at one point he said, well,at least we have the
resurrection coming up.
So uh the seventh season isgonna be the resurrection and
following, I think even maybePentecost.
SPEAKER_00 (33:29):
Um so there is a great quote, I think it was in
your column where he says, I'mgonna be grappling with this for
the rest of my life if I'm gonnabe able to do that.
SPEAKER_03 (33:36):
Right, right, right, right.
Um but you can see as a personof faith how he has matured,
yeah.
Um and uh, you know, now he's aspeaker.
Uh he spoke at the EucharisticCongress.
Um, but you know, he's I thinkat Mass almost every day, uh he
talked about receiving communionin this interview.
SPEAKER_00 (33:55):
And um So he he converted somewhere along with
the other.
No, the water.
SPEAKER_03 (33:58):
Um I think he was he has an Irish mother.
I learned that.
I didn't realize that.
His mother is Irish, and hisfather, I want to say, is
Armenian or um maybe EasternRight Catholic.
He talks about being bullied andI think of being of mixed race.
I think he grew up on LongIsland.
Um they Father Mike asked himabout something early in his
(34:19):
life that might have pointed himtowards this uh uh Jesus of
Nazareth by Franco Zefferelli,uh six-hour miniseries um from
the 70s, which is beautiful.
Uh he watched that as a12-year-old kid, uh.
He's Jonathan Rooney, and hesaid he went out in his backyard
and put two planks together anduh uh and got something for a
crown of thorns, and all byhimself, he he reenacted the
(34:42):
crucifixion.
He said he got a cinder blockand put the cross in it and put
himself up on the um, yeah,yeah, it's um it's a great
interview.
So I wrote about that, and bychance um I also saw that Bishop
Barron um interviewed uh JusticeAmy Coney Barrett, um Supreme
Court Justice.
And again, I highly recommend umshe's um she's a mom of seven,
(35:05):
uh husb wife and and and mother,two children adopted from Haiti,
um, and uh uh one child withDown syndrome, um, but a woman
of faith, and um uh uh so it wasuh and um I also had a I did
some work during Christmas, itsounds like I was much to watch
(35:26):
in terms of football.
Uh so uh and the Knicks weredoing great until they're not
anymore.
But uh uh so um and St.
John's basketball is not doingit.
Uh well uh I heard that to theother.
Well they lost eight nothing.
Nine nothing, I think.
Oh, is it nine nothing?
Yeah, I gave up at the U.S.
uh so um are the Olympics comingup?
SPEAKER_00 (35:45):
Yes, Olympics.
Oh, yeah.
Ice hockey, nets hockey.
SPEAKER_03 (35:49):
Um Are you Olympics fan?
SPEAKER_02 (35:50):
I I j I prefer Summer Olympics, but uh yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (35:53):
Um those two interviews and um an audio book
I listened to um uh DavidMcCullough, a great history
author, and uh his daughter andcollaborator wrote a book after
his passing about some of hisspeeches and essays um Why
History Matters.
(36:14):
Excellent, excellent.
Uh and they gave his favoritesome of his favorite books.
He wrote his own list of hisfavorite books that impacted
him.
There's a guy, Bruce Catton, Ithink, C-A-T-T-O-N, he must have
written a dozen books on the wcivil war.
And one that McCullough likedwas called Um Stillness at
Appomattox, about what the year,so the year that basically led
(36:38):
to the end of the Civil War.
But that was uh uh so uh uh afew things that we hit you with
a couple questions?
SPEAKER_00 (36:49):
Sure, please, yeah.
I um so when you when you lookto a new year as a bishop, as a
leader of uh our diocese here inin Patterson, uh how do you what
do you what do you think aboutwhat do you how do you uh do you
you say, hey, I have some goalsfor this upcoming year or some
things that I just sent a letterto our priests um this morning
(37:10):
actually, um and uh from ourconvocation last fall and a
survey we did with our priestsover the last really year and a
half.
SPEAKER_03 (37:19):
Um there's an in an interest in some of our we have
two main groups.
Uh Bishop Barron did a uh uh oneof his podcasts on the life of a
bishop.
That was pretty interesting.
Uh but he talked aboutconsultative bodies in the
diocese, the presbyteral counciland the deans.
Um so um uh I rely on them tohelp set some of the direction
(37:40):
and vision and priorities.
And um so um we're gonna have acouple of opportunities for our
priests and others.
We're gonna sinnerly we'reworking on encouraging uh parish
councils to um be active in eachparish.
And uh um so um we're gonna havesome gatherings uh for pastoral
planning um um on the diocesanlevel in in the in the coming
(38:02):
weeks.
So that's something that we'relooking at um this this this as
we begin this this new year.
SPEAKER_00 (38:08):
Okay.
So Seul, any questions for thebishop?
SPEAKER_02 (38:11):
Uh I guess one thing 2027 looking really forward is
World Youth Day and the 90thanniversary of the diocese.
SPEAKER_03 (38:19):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, so uh so we'll be makingsome plans this year, I hope,
for the 90th anniversary.
Um but world youth day, yes, inSeoul.
And we got to get started onthat right away because
fundraising it's um but um isthat on your radar?
SPEAKER_02 (38:32):
Do you have intentions to go to the Please
God?
SPEAKER_03 (38:34):
Oh yes, yes, yes.
Um and um uh John Camarata um wworked for a long time at St.
Peter's Parish, St.
Peter the Apostle in Parsippone,and he's been the last few years
our Dawson director.
Right.
Um he's now gonna be workingfull-time at our evangelization
center in St.
Paul's Inside the Walls ofMadison, and he and Sister
(38:55):
Teresa Lee um are starting to uhcoordinate our efforts for um uh
World Youth Day, and um SisterTeresa is a little in because uh
her parents are from Korea, andso she'll be our interpreter, I
think.
SPEAKER_02 (39:11):
Does she speak Korean?
SPEAKER_03 (39:12):
I think she does, yeah.
I believe she does, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (39:14):
It's funny because a big movie that trended in 2025
is K-pop Demon Hunters.
So it's a big on Netflix, anduh, if you have a child of a
certain age group, they probablyall want to go to Korea now.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (39:28):
Um K-pop Demon Hunters.
Um that was 20 Oh, that was2025, yeah.
Yes, 2025.
Wow, wow, wow.
Um uh I have to find the I Ihear all this stuff about
stranger things.
Uh that's oh yes.
SPEAKER_02 (39:41):
I mean you grew up in the 80s, so you might be
interested in it.
SPEAKER_03 (39:46):
I I uh my n some of my nephews and nieces and family
mentioned it in passing, but I Iforgot to ask um whether I
should try to watch it.
SPEAKER_00 (39:54):
Um my sister and I went and saw the the play the
prequel to the Who's okay?
SPEAKER_02 (40:01):
Yeah.
I I like the 80s references.
Hugely popular.
SPEAKER_03 (40:06):
So um are there cartoon characters in it?
SPEAKER_02 (40:10):
Th I think they're having a cartoon being made of
like it's called Stranger Things1988, but it it's a it's a live
action.
SPEAKER_03 (40:19):
I didn't even realize it was the 80s now that
I'm a little more interested init.
SPEAKER_02 (40:22):
Oh yeah, that's and you hear a lot of throwbacks in
the right.
SPEAKER_03 (40:24):
So Walkman and the other thing.
SPEAKER_02 (40:26):
Yeah, like Kate Bush is the big song there.
SPEAKER_03 (40:28):
And uh Kate Bush?
SPEAKER_02 (40:30):
Yeah, some 80s music.
Well, you know Prince.
SPEAKER_03 (40:37):
Prince, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh Raspberry Beret.
SPEAKER_02 (40:40):
Yeah.
And uh A Never Ending Story.
Do you remember?
SPEAKER_03 (40:45):
Uh the I've heard of it.
I don't think I saw it yet.
SPEAKER_02 (40:48):
But there's a lot of like deep 80s references.
Well, Dungeons and Dragons.
Okay, yeah.
I don't know if you were intothe Dragon.
No, I was not.
SPEAKER_03 (40:55):
I know somewhere.
Um I like watching um uh uhwhat's the TV show uh uh Big
Bang Theory and Shelby.
unknown (41:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (41:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (41:07):
So I played a bit in my childhood, my brother more
so.
SPEAKER_03 (41:11):
Um so but um uh in terms of the diocese, uh I think
we're got a lot of excitingthings that will be coming up
this year and leading into the90th anniversary.
Um uh again, the pilgrimage toWashington and more immediately
um the March for Life inWashington and uh in and and so
(41:32):
um um we had some guests linedup for upcoming episodes.
So I'm looking forward to that.
Um God willing, I'll be making apilgrimage to Mexico um uh in
September back to um the sametrip, yeah.
Basically, yes uh the thesisters of Mary who run this
orphanage in uh um outside ofMexico City.
(41:53):
Uh so stay tuned for details onthat one.
SPEAKER_00 (41:56):
Yeah, we have that up on the is it that's open to
people.
SPEAKER_03 (41:59):
Yeah, yeah, and it's brief.
It's um like Friday to Monday.
Um so um, but well well worthit.
SPEAKER_00 (42:06):
Um check out beacon uh beaconnj.org events and check
out our show notes for more.
So all right, well I think we'regonna leave it there then.
All right.
Well, thank you for joining us.
Please subscribe, comment, andleave a positive rating.
Get to know us better byfollowing Bishop Kevin's
Instagram and beyond the beaconon social media.
(42:27):
Read the bishop's week weeklycolumn on beaconnj.org.
Get in touch if you have aquestion for the bishop or a
podcast topic idea, and discoverour other podcasts.
See you next time.
SPEAKER_03 (42:37):
And say a prayer before you go for the bishops of
New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
We'll be on retreat the week ofJanuary 12th to the uh 16th, I
think, Monday to um Monday toFriday.
So uh I'm looking forward tothat.
Uh and uh please keep us in yourprayers and I'll be praying for
you, and we'll be praying foryou as we'll be on retreat.
SPEAKER_02 (42:59):
Oh my gosh, you have a birthday coming up, don't you?
SPEAKER_03 (43:03):
Thanks everybody.
See you soon.
Happy New Year.
God bless.
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