February 5, 2026 • 49 mins
Biographer Kevin Wells discusses "one of the greatest stories in the Church today," the life and work of "Father Al" and the Sisters of Mary. He shares insights from his book, "Priest and Beggar: The Heroic Life of Venerable Aloysius Schwartz." Hosted by the Diocese of Paterson's Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director Jai Agnish.
Venerable Aloysius Philip Schwartz was a devoted Catholic priest known for his unwavering commitment to serving the poor. He founded the Sisters of Mary congregation and the World Villages for Children, focusing on providing education, shelter, and care for destitute children worldwide. Through his tireless efforts, Father Schwartz transformed countless lives, establishing Boystown and Girlstown programs that have helped over 170,000 children. His selfless work continues to inspire, and he was declared "Venerable" by Pope Francis in 2015.
Wells also details the special pilgrimage to Mexico with Bishop Sweeney in September to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and to spend some time with the Sisters of Mary at Girlstown.
Show Notes:
Email questions and topic ideas to Bishop Kevin at beyond@patersondiocese.org.
Produced by Jai Agnish and Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney for the Diocese of Paterson. Engineered by Cecile Pagliarulo. 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.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (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 could join us.
I'm Jay Agnish.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
Bishop Kevin, what's going on?
How you doing?
I'm doing well, Jay.
How are you?
I'm good.
(00:28):
I uh trying to stay warm outthere.
SPEAKER_02 (00:31):
Wee bit chilly out there.
We were blessed that the Marchfor Life last Thursday getting
to Washington, D.C.
It was like almost 60 degrees.
Um and then the march on Fridaywas beautiful.
Um Saturday um was cold, Ithink, and then Sunday the snow
came and we're in the deepfreeze and um blanketed us up
(00:54):
here in North Jersey.
SPEAKER_01 (00:56):
So you got yourself dug out, we're back to work.
So we're back to the podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
Yes.
And very happy to have a specialguest with us, uh author and
speaker and friend now, KevinWells.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Um uh Yeah, welcome to the show, Kevin.
Thank you, James, for coming upfrom Maryland.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Yes, yes, yes.
I always like coming back toJersey.
I feel I feel home here.
Good folks here.
Sturdy folks.
SPEAKER_02 (01:22):
Nice.
And we're gonna be talking aboutmaybe how Kevin and I got to
know each other and some of hiswork.
And uh Venerable Father AloysiusSchwartz, the founder of the
Sisters of Mary, and uh you'llhear a great story.
Um and uh we're gonna begin withthe prayer, and um we venerable
Alawish Schwartz, who died in1992.
(01:44):
Kevin tell you more from ALS LouGehrig's disease, but born in
1930.
Um, so he was only 62.
Um uh and these causes open forcanonization, venerable, and
we're gonna pray the prayer ofintercession um for Venerable
Alawish Schwartz.
So we'll place ourselves inGod's presence, name of the
Father and the Son, and of theHoly Spirit.
(02:07):
Let us pray.
Almighty, ever-living God, giverof all good gifts, you have
filled Father Al with an ardentlove for you and for souls.
You have inspired him todedicate his life to relieve
suffering of the orphans,abandoned, and sick and the
poor, especially the youth,which he did with all humility
and courage until the end of hislife.
(02:28):
May his holy life of love andservice to the poor be
recognized by the church throughits beatification and
canonization.
For your honor and glory, wepray for the life of Father Al
be an inspiration for us instriving for perfection in the
love of God and service toothers.
I ask you to bestow upon methrough the intercession of
(02:50):
Father Al.
I ask this through our LordJesus Christ, your son, and
maternal aid of Mary, the Virginof the Poor.
Amen.
Name of the Father and the Sonand of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Venerable Aloysha Schwartz, prayfor us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
Um, so let me do the let me do the quick introduction
here for Kevin.
Uh Kevin Wells is a former, he'sa former Major League Baseball
writer for the Tampa Bay Rays,award-winning journalist and
Catholic speaker.
He's the author of Priest andBeggar, The Heroic Life of
Venerable Aloysius Schwartz, thePriest We Need to Save the
Church and Burst.
(03:28):
Uh he's working on some otherprojects, which maybe we'll get
into.
Kevin is an active evangelistand writer who has presented at
conferences and seminaries,seminaries nationally and
internationally.
He lives in Maryland with hiswife and children.
SPEAKER_02 (03:42):
So welcome, Kevin.
Thank you, Bishop.
Good to be here.
I thought I might begin by uhjust sharing a little bit of how
Kevin and I came to meet.
Um so I think it was um do youknow if it was 24 when we went?
Um uh anyway, uh it might Ithink it was fall of October 23,
I want to say.
But I gave a I celebrated Massfor our Catholic school
(04:06):
teachers, and I gave a littlebook about St.
Carlo, now St.
Carlo Acudis, um Five Ways forCarlo to get to heaven.
Uh and I spoke about him, I gaveit to the teachers.
Um, and after the mass, ateacher from Pope John Brian
Corcoran or Carlson, but uh theson-in-law of a mutual friend of
(04:28):
ours, Jim Manhart, um, teacherat Pope John came.
I was talking to him afterwards,and he says, You want a good
book, you should read Priest andBeggar.
Uh the name stuck.
I said it's a great title,Priest and Beggar.
So here's Priest and Beggar.
Uh I get the book, and fourpages in, I read this, as you
(04:48):
will read, hopefully, becauseit's a great book and I highly
recommend it.
Uh The Life of Father AloyshaSchwartz.
Very briefly, Kevin writes Afterordination in 1957, Father Al
raised his hand to be sent tothe saddest place in the world,
South Korea, after the KoreanWar.
On the feast of the ImmaculateConception, he stepped off the
train in Seoul as afresh-phrased priest and found
(05:10):
himself in a dystopian novel.
Squatters with blank stairspicked through the hills of
garbage.
Paper-fleshed orphans lay on thestreets like leftover war
landmines.
The scene haunted him.
So he reached down to lift upone child, then another.
And within a few years he hadchanged the course of Korean
history, and many in theSouthern Peninsula saw him as
(05:32):
Atlas.
Yet he prayed to be unknown.
The reason you don't know yetabout him is that he didn't want
you to know.
Had St.
Teresa of Calcutta come underthe gaze, had not come under the
gaze of biographer MalcolmMugridge, she likely would have
remained in obscurity.
(05:53):
As Schwartz has.
Mother Teresa and Father Alesteemed each other's work from
afar.
And they would meet at onepoint, and Father Al said she
should get, he wanted to get heruh washed clothes, washing
machines.
As I'm reading this book, I haveno idea who the author Kevin
Wells is, but I say, who is thisguy saying that somebody is like
Mother Teresa?
(06:14):
Um I uh well get to know FatherAl and the sisters of Mary.
They may not be as numerous asthe missionaries of charity, but
they do the work of seeing Jesusin the poorest of the poor.
Um and it started with um FatherAl.
So um give us a little bit moreto get us introduced to the
(06:39):
venerable, wonderful, uh,blessed, uh venerable Father
Aloisha Schwartz.
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
Well, thank you, Bishop Sweeney.
That that's a good place to.
SPEAKER_02 (06:46):
Sorry, and then I wrote an article.
Uh the teacher in Pope John sentit to his father-in-law Jim
Manhart.
Jim Manhart said a bishop wrotean article, and uh somehow you
got my number and we connectedon the phone, and then we ended
up going to Mexico together.
SPEAKER_00 (06:59):
But yeah, I heard I heard you were a Yankees fan, so
so I wanted to get to know thedark side.
So so we we uh after going backand forth about my Orioles and
Yankees, we uh we got intoFather Al, Mother Teresa, and
you're right, like so many folksare like you.
They're like, who's thisarrogant Catholic writer Wells
saying that this guy, Father Alis like Mother Teresa?
(07:21):
But but I I do think uh, well,I'll say that many, many folks
have have read this or learnedabout him.
They're like, my goodness, yeah,there's there's a direct linear
symmetry.
And so what is it?
You know, Mother Teresa andFather Al, they they made a
decision to amputate allcomforts, annihilate all
comforts, and do revoltingthings, you know, pull worms out
(07:44):
of cuts, you know, get into thenasty gullies, pick people up
that were putrid and say, no,this is this is the face of
Christ.
And so, yeah, so that's whyFather Al and Mother Teresa,
they were too busy to gettogether too often because they
were in the streets.
But but when they'd get togetherfor some kind of function that
honored them for serving thepoor, they loved each other.
(08:05):
Um, I I I think I I'd like totell your viewer one thing about
who Father Al is, because youdon't know who he is, most of
you folks.
At one of the get-togethers, uhwhere Father Al was with Mother
Teresa, stunningly, Father Al uhwent up to her and said, Mother,
I'm going to buy you washingmachines.
(08:26):
This is back in the early 80s,and mother, you know, all four
foot eight, looks up to FatherAl, and you know, what are you
what are you talking about?
And Mother, everyone alreadyknows that your sisters of or
missionaries of charity arehumble.
They should not be in thestreets washing their sorries.
They should be in the streetsworking, it's wasting their
time.
Who says that to a saint?
(08:47):
I I don't I don't know exceptFather Al.
So Father Al was bold.
And mother got it.
Mother got it.
Uh, because Father Al kind ofblended his boldness with a wink
and a smile.
Mother's like, hmm.
So that's why they were fastfriends.
SPEAKER_02 (09:45):
And uh just give us a little bit of his humble
beginnings.
Uh uh father struggled, wassick, one of many siblings uh
outside the Washington in uhwhere did he grow up?
SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
Yeah, he grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in
the Great Depression inWashington, D.C.
Like politicians don't ventureto the area where Father Al grew
up.
Um could not have grown up at aat a worse time.
Dad had a fifth grade education,so the worry of the Schwartz
family, uh a big Catholicfamily, was we're gonna get
thrown out on the streetsbecause dad is a lousy job.
(10:20):
Um we the it was dark.
There wasn't, you know, theythey struggled like a lot of
poor families in the depression.
SPEAKER_02 (10:27):
And he was uh an aunt who was a religious sister,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
And he went to visit the convent.
That that really set the coursefor Father Al's life.
His aunt, uh sister Malfreda, itwas his dad's sister, saw
something early on, a spark inin Little Al, Little Aloysius.
Um that was uncommon and and andlittle Al loved her.
(10:49):
So she began to gently, littleby little, form him, especially
in those years when his dad wasill for two years and really
bedbound for two years.
And that's kind of where itbegan.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (11:01):
And uh eventually turning down a high school
scholarship and going to MaryKnoll, who were the missionaries
of the time, sending priests tothe most difficult areas of the
world, but him discerning thatthey they still had a bed and
three square meals when theywere serving no matter where.
And they're gonna and um uh whatwas the name of the community
that he ended up studying for inBelgium, right?
(11:21):
Well, because it's a long Frenchname, we'll we'll do the
abbreviation, the Samus.
That's Samus, right, right.
And uh a place that's very umnot the most popular, well-known
Marian apparition, but um uh OurLady of Bano.
Banot, right, and dedicated hislife to the Mary as a
seminarian.
Uh if I can do the maybe longerstory short, almost doesn't get
(11:45):
ordained, has to come back,fight for his vocation, gets
ordained, gets to Korea as wepicked up the story, and um and
because there's so many orphans,he starts these orphanages, uh
Boys' Town, girls town, right?
He used the uh name, and um putsads in the newspaper.
He was a great fundraiser.
That's all in a book about theearly uh mail fundraising,
(12:07):
right?
And putting little things in themail to get a donation back and
some Hollywood people involvedand um a little discrepancy with
his bishop along the way inKorea.
Um, but he starts these boys andgirls towns and schools and
needs teachers and those, and sohe puts ads in the Korean
newspaper uh for young women ashe's interviewing.
(12:27):
He's thinking who would be agood nun, starts the Sisters of
Mary, um moves to uh starts a uha boys and girls town, I think,
in the Philippines.
And eventually, as he's aroundthe time he's diagnosed with
ALS, goes to Mexico to open aplace in Chalco, and that's
where we got to go.
Um and um I think uh tointroduce maybe Chalco where I
(12:51):
was uh the summer before lasttime.
So I think the summer of 24 withKevin and a group, and Kevin has
been many times and can talkabout it.
SPEAKER_00 (12:57):
But maybe you can show us, Jay, right, the little
clip we have of um how manystudents at the at the about
3,000 girls in Chalco and atGuadalajara boys town, there's
about 2,100 boys.
SPEAKER_02 (13:09):
And uh the sisters, there's still a few Korean
sisters who came over withFather Al.
Uh that would have been the uhlate 80s, right?
SPEAKER_00 (13:17):
I guess um he arrived in Mexico in 1990.
1990, and and the first uh girlstown, boys' town in Chalco
started to go up in 92.
SPEAKER_02 (13:29):
So we go, and it's you if you go, as we'll talk
about the opportunity you'regonna have to join us uh on a
pilgrimage there, not onlyseeing the sisters and their
work and the girls and thegirls' town in Chalco, but it's
right next to the Shrine of OurLady of Guadalupe.
Um and so um I had the privilegeof celebrating Mass.
Uh and do we have a clip, Jay,for uh let's go to the uh go to
(13:50):
the clip.
Um I remember Kevin talkingabout being there.
You were there during thepandemic, right?
Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And uh and you talked about amusic rehearsal and them
learning a song and uh wow tosee them all sing it together,
it was just um uh Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:06):
So Jay, before you before you this is great that
you found this.
I I just want to set this upjust very briefly.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
Please, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
So in the teeth of COVID, like right when COVID
started, I got the assignment towrite this biography on Father
Al, who I didn't know really.
I I knew of him, and buteverything shut down.
Libraries, I couldn't, I'm like,I gotta write a book and I gotta
deadline.
So so um everyone at WorldVillages, the board of
directors, the president, theCEO said, no, Wells, you can't
(14:35):
go to Chalco.
And I knew in Chalco there weresisters there that tended to
Father Al as he was dying ofALS.
So a biographer needs first handsources.
As a journalist, I knew I gottaget the Chalco, and this was
this was uh late March 2020.
So they set up a big Zoom and Iand I said I got one minute to
make a pitch to get the Chalco,and I went hard.
(14:57):
And before anyone could speak, aKorean sister that cared for
Father Al as his body wascollapsing in Mexico said, I
want Kevin in Mexico.
And whatever this sister Margiesays goes.
So the next two days later, Ifound myself on a plane, and
there was nobody on planes atthat time.
And got off of Mexico, passedthe COVID test, got into this uh
(15:22):
what I'll call a humble kingdomof resurrection.
So to set up this clip, um, Ididn't know any really anything
about the sisters, the kids,much about Father Al.
I came there to research hislife and interview and et
cetera.
So one day I'm I'm walkingaround and I hear some singing
up coming from one of thebuildings, Bishop, that you
you're familiar with, the fourseven-story high buildings.
(15:45):
And uh I go up and oh, andthey're singing songs in
Spanish, and it's verybeautiful, and and uh I don't
want to disturb them because uhit was a music class.
And so I was going back down thestairs to leave to continue to
walk around, and and this littlegirl like Cindy Lou in the
Grinch grabs me by the sh uh andsays, Come, come, come.
So I went back and look at thegift they gave to this American
(16:09):
out of his element on my secondday in Chiaco.
This is what they gave me righthere.
All right, let's go.
SPEAKER_02 (16:23):
That's Kevin's voice in the background, I think.
Look at the smiles, right?
Look at that.
(16:51):
Country Road.
(17:16):
Fantastic.
SPEAKER_00 (17:18):
Um I I just want to say very quickly, Bishop, so
they sung a song in English, butguess what Father Al's favorite
song was?
Country Roads.
Is that right?
Okay.
This is to memorialize right,yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
Well, we'll try to get the clip um uh to see the
3,000 at Mass.
They have to, yeah.
Um and then with the Sunflowerand their coordinated moves, and
uh uh so I had the I guess wewere there um from Thursday to
Monday, and um and uh but SundayMass was just um so beautiful.
(17:54):
Uh and the um uh they're likelittle families, right?
And broken up um uh and uh andand um uh Father Al um formed
leaders, right?
He wanted to form disciples,right?
So they they're they're theycome, the sisters go into the
toughest areas uh in thesurrounding parts of Mexico,
right?
(18:14):
And uh uh find the families thathave the greatest need and say
that one of the children cancome, and that child will be
raised through late grammarschool, into high school, and be
ready for college.
And but as a person of faith, asan evangelizer, right?
SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
Yeah, that that's it.
I so the sisters, Father Al saidto the sisters before he died,
the way we serve is to wear aconstant crown of thorns.
And we must do things that aredark and difficult.
So I think it's important foryour viewer to know that the
sisters they don't wait for thechildren to come to them.
(18:52):
They go out onto the highwaysand byways of the darkest
places, like in this case,Mexico.
So, like the state of Guerrerois known as the area where human
trafficking is as prevalent asany place in the world.
So, two by two, the sisters willclimb these mountains, uh these
hills, and sort of split theseams of these trees where
(19:15):
there's monsters, like humanmonsters, like traffickers,
MS-13, drug runners, murderers.
But the sisters are like, well,there's we know there's girls up
there, so you can kill us, butwe're in a I think we're in a
state of grace.
So take us out.
Big deal.
Like Father Al told us to go.
So the sisters will get up tothat to that um home, to that
shack or that lean to, and anduh it's almost like the kids,
(19:40):
the sisters will go into alittle room and the the poor
little girl is like in a tomb.
And the sisters will lift thelid and like it's it's it's
time, and and the and the poorgirl will look to mom, and mom
will say, We've been prayingthat the sisters would come up
this hill, and and then thesisters will take the child back
down and take a 12-hour bus rideback to Chalco where the sisters
(20:02):
begin to remove the wounds andthe kid can live again.
SPEAKER_01 (20:05):
And they spend five years, I think you said five
years education.
Under the care of the sisters ofMary.
And what's that, what do theyhow do talk about maybe the
transformation.
SPEAKER_00 (20:15):
It is um so when you when folks go down there, uh
very often tears happen prettyquickly.
And and I've thought over theyears, like I've had priests
tell me that uh Kevin, I can'tstop crying.
Uh it's and I and and peoplesay, well, I keep it's so
emotional, I cry, I don't know.
(20:36):
And I and I've thought about itover the years, and I think it's
the closest that one comes onearth, on this side, to see
actually what resurrectionresembles.
And what what does that mean?
Well, priests, bishops, laitywill go down and they've heard
the stories of unspeakablethings that happen through these
girls and boys.
I mean, it can't be repeat, it'sdiabolic.
(20:58):
So they they go down thinking,I'm gonna see sad girls or or
girls with bald fists and angryor or psychologically wounded.
But what they see is what youjust saw.
They they see they see joy, theythey see this exuberance, this
light.
Right.
And and it's resurrection.
So that it's it's a beauty ofit.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Um Father Al was an athlete, right, a runner
himself.
He was uh uh ran every day, anduh I think sees saw the value in
uh the you know the the wholeperson, right?
The academic, the spiritual, thephysical as well.
So the girls play a lot ofsports there, but also I guess
the value of music, right?
That uh uh the the they have amariachi band, as we saw some of
it there, and uh and uh and andand so the education they
(21:40):
receive um and and and even theexperience of family, right?
Living um in those smallcommunities within the larger um
uh and and uh so much of thatgoes back to Father Al and his
discernment and his um foundingof the dedicating his life to
our blessed mother and foundingSisters of Mary and and it
continues, huh?
SPEAKER_00 (21:59):
Everything the Sisters of Mary do uh returns to
Father Al.
That's the that's the pivotpoint.
And um so Father Al was amarathon or so the kids run.
Father Al was an athlete, so thekids have some of the this is
interesting to say, because thethe sisters know that cell
phones, video, music willdisturb uh the healing that
(22:22):
these kids.
There's none of that.
So so the kids end up havingsome of the greatest sports
teams, high school sports teamsin whatever country they're in,
the Philippines, Mexico.
They win national championships.
Their musical programs winnational uh national whatever.
Because Father Al understoodchildren that have been wounded
(22:44):
cannot have uh whatever acommunity.
SPEAKER_02 (22:47):
And they learn um uh the uh gardening and plant and
planting as well, right?
Uh keep them active, keep themactive, keep them feeling
dignity.
SPEAKER_01 (22:53):
I heard a story.
You were playing basketball withsome of the kids that you're
gonna be.
Yes, uh they gave me a good run.
SPEAKER_00 (22:59):
Yeah, Diocese of Patterson, you have a good
bishop here, because I've takenfour or five bishops down there,
and zero of them were like thisguy.
No, no, no.
He was out there shooting hoopswith the girls and they they
came to the house.
SPEAKER_02 (23:12):
I'll always be happy to, you know, I'm not in the
shape that I used to be in.
But you get it back out there alittle.
Um uh but uh uh so beautiful.
And um uh how many countries andwe the um the World Villages for
Children, right?
That eventually became the nameof the maybe umbrella group that
um uh helps to promote andcoordinate some of the and uh
(23:34):
sponsor really um uh uh so muchof the work.
Um but so the sisters of Maryare in how many countries now?
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
They're in six countries.
There's over 20,000 of thesechildren who the sisters of
Mary.
20,000.
20,000, about 370 sisters ofMary throughout the world.
Um it is their uh the burden oftheir identity, the burden of
their duty to do what FatherAlan Courage, and that is find
the poorest of the poor, themost wounded, get into the
(24:02):
wound, work to scalpel it out,and send them out as Catholic
missionaries, Christianmissionaries into the world.
Matter of fact, Bishop, I'lltell you, I so each year they
graduate, approximately 3,000kids throughout the world.
These kids go out and theyproclaim the Catholic faith, the
mission uh they proclaim JesusChrist in a way that I think
(24:25):
puts them as some of thegreatest Catholic missionaries
in the world because they don'tknow any better than to proclaim
the fullness of the gospel.
Why?
Because they were dead.
Right.
And the sisters raised them backto life, so they went to help.
SPEAKER_02 (24:36):
And the rosary and Eucharistic adoration, and
obviously mass are a big part oftheir daily life.
SPEAKER_00 (24:41):
Um, every every night at 7 o'clock, 20,000 kids
uh pray the rosary in unison.
Uh adorations where uhoftentimes their wounds become
healed.
Uh the mass, it is authenticallyCatholics.
Because that's the way that'sthe same.
SPEAKER_01 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah.
It's powerful.
Like praying the rosary is partof the healing.
Absolutely as well.
Absolutely, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
And really quick, why?
Because Father Al got, as asBishop mentioned earlier, Father
Al dedicated his entirepriesthood to Mary at Our Lady
at Beno.
So he emphasized to the sisters,as as Mary d directed my entire
life, the kids' life will alsobe maternally protected.
So the rosary is incorporatedevery single day of their lives.
SPEAKER_01 (25:24):
How far away is Our Lady of Guadalupe from the
property?
So uh depending on the traffic.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:31):
Bishop's right.
So so if it's a good day andthere's no traffic, you can get
there in about 40 minutes.
Mileage-wise, it's probably nomore than twenty-five miles.
SPEAKER_01 (25:41):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is it a good time to maybe justgive a little overview of the
pilgrimage that's planned for?
SPEAKER_02 (25:47):
We'll make uh some of these available.
Uh but uh you have the datesthere, Jay, right?
SPEAKER_01 (25:52):
Yeah.
So it's uh I do not it'sSeptember.
September 28th to the 21st.
SPEAKER_02 (25:58):
Okay.
So it will be the Feast of theArchangels on the 29th.
Ah.
And the 29th to 28th, too?
SPEAKER_00 (26:05):
No, so it's the it's it's actually September 18th
through the 21st.
Okay, okay.
It's right there.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (26:09):
Gotcha, right.
So yeah, we'll have uh check theshow notes for September 18th to
21st.
Okay.
It's also going to be uhbaseball playoff season.
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
Uh no, the end of September is the end of the
regular season.
The Yankees should be clinchedby then.
So what's so what Jay?
SPEAKER_00 (26:23):
So what Jay is bit So So Jay is saying, Bishop,
that that's the stretch run.
So really quick, my brotherDavid is Father David Wells is
going to to help lead thispilgrimage.
So one thing is gonna happen,one of two things is gonna
happen.
Either we're gonna be tearingyou up because the Yankees will
be sinking.
I don't think that'll be whathappened.
Okay, well we'll we'll we'llwe'll hatch this out, but this
(26:45):
is the perfect time, so we'll behaving a good time, my brother
and I teaming up on you.
But uh yeah, it's uh big Oriolesfans, yeah.
Huge Orioles fan, by the way.
SPEAKER_02 (26:54):
His brother is not the David Wells, who I think
spent a little time withBaltimore, but uh won his
championships and pitched hisperfect game as a as a Yankee,
but that's a lefty, not pitcher,not your brother.
SPEAKER_00 (27:03):
No, it's not it's not that David Wells.
I know that David Wells.
I used to interview him.
Oh, that's right.
Yeah, but but uh no, it's adifferent David Wells.
But this David Wells, who whowill love you and I think you'll
like him too, is uh is is fluentin Spanish.
Uh he cannot wait to go.
He wants to meet you, but uh butthis pilgrimage to Guadalupe and
to um to Chauco.
(27:24):
Um I I've led it a few times.
I've I think I've led, I don'tknow, fifteen or so pilgrimages.
Uh people do not go back homeunchanged.
So it's I would encourage folksto look into real quick.
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
So uh it includes a sacred walk up Tipp Teppiak
Hill.
Tepiac.
Tepiak Hill.
The place where Our Ladyappeared to Juan Diego in 1531.
And Daily Mass celebrate MassDaily with Bishop Kevin Sweeney
and Father David Wells,including Mass at the Shrine of
Our Lady of Guadalupe and theSisters of Mary at Girlstown,
deep spiritual talks.
Bishop Sweeney and the Wellsbrothers will offer pilgrims
(27:58):
several reflections andmeditations on the intimacy of
Our Lady, prayer, sacrifice, andliving the faith.
And come to know come tointimately know a future
American saint, Father Al, learnabout his work and the founding
of the Sisters of Mary.
And Sister You'll see you'llvisit Sisters of Mary in
(28:21):
Girlstown, witness how theSisters of Mary are transforming
the lives of poor childrenthrough education, faith
formation, and vocational skillstraining and sending them out
into the world as Christ-likemissionaries.
And it's three-day.
Three days.
SPEAKER_02 (28:36):
And on earth, Father Al may not have wanted anybody
to know him.
Um but now uh it's up to theHoly Spirit uh and uh um talking
before uh that World Youth Dayis gonna be in Seoul Korea in
2027.
So I think a few young peoplemight get to know uh Father Al
(28:56):
and his work in Korea, where itall began for him uh and for the
sister Mary.
Uh so who knows how that mighthelp his uh uh cause moving
along.
But um but uh if and I inviteviewers, listeners to consider
coming.
Um uh we'll put the uhinformation right for is who
they'll contact uh WorldVillages for the um registration
(29:18):
or more information.
We'll put it on our Daosinwebsite.
SPEAKER_00 (29:21):
Yeah, go to go to worldvillages.org.
That's worldvillages.org to signup for the pilgrimage or to
learn about the work of thesisters and father al.
Anything you need to know,worldvillages.org.
SPEAKER_02 (29:32):
Uh you were able to visit the sisters in Africa?
SPEAKER_00 (29:35):
Yes.
Yeah, so Bishop um I'llreiterate um what Mother Teresa
and Father Al knew.
Um we go to the poorest of thepoor.
And Africa is a different levelpoverty.
But I I do I do feel compelledto to just say a few things
about uh African poverty and andthe boys' towns and girls' towns
(29:56):
there.
It's it's the newest uh thenewest schools that the sisters
have established.
I just just one briefly onestory that I've recently written
about.
There's an island off the coastway uh on the west side of
Africa, and a missionary priestfound out there uh a uh a young
lady had been bitten by um asnake, a poisonous snake, and
(30:20):
she was bedridden.
Um and there's nothing on theisland.
I mean there's there's nothere's no work, sustenance is
is low, there's no medical help.
And but but he he had learnedthat this girl uh wanted
education.
So somehow he contacted theSisters of Mary way out in uh in
the heart of Tanzania, umsaying, uh can you come out?
(30:44):
Well, that's all the sistersneeded to hear.
So the sisters drove drove 12hours in a bus to the coastline
and then they traveled ninehours on two different boats
over the rough waters on thislittle boat so combined 22, 23
hours, something like that, toget to a single girl.
(31:08):
A single girl.
I met this girl a year and ahalf ago.
I saw her before on the islandwhere she looked close to dead,
and then I saw her a coupleyears later where she looked
like um somebody ready to takeon the world.
She wants to be an accountant.
She told the story, but that'swhat the sisters do.
That's what Father Alencouraged.
(31:31):
We take on things that mostfolks simply won't take on
because God commands us to.
We Matthew 25, we we go out inthe highways and byways.
So the sisters go into villagesin Africa where lions are, where
elephants are.
I mean, the sisters, two sisterswere there a few years ago, and
there was food, and elephantscame in the mill violent
(31:52):
elephants came and they ravagedwhere they were staying.
They ate all the food.
But the sisters, so the sistersknow when to travel in Africa
when the lions are sleeping,like they know to get to the
children.
Like it's it's it's almost it'sa movie, except it's not a
movie, it's real life.
SPEAKER_02 (32:10):
Right.
I can't you if you read thisbook, you'll have a better idea
of what Kevin is speaking aboutin terms of how Father Al
founded the sisters and uh howhe formed the sisters and how
they can continue that worktoday in in his spirit.
Um uh really highly, highlyrecommend it.
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
Yeah, great.
So we also want to learn alittle bit more about you,
Kevin.
So can you maybe tell us how youcame to write the book and a
little bit about your backgroundleading up to that, perhaps?
SPEAKER_00 (32:40):
Uh sure.
Thanks, Jay.
Uh you know, it's as far as thewhat led to to Father Al and
Priest and Beggar, I had writtena book in 2019 after the
scandals called The Priests WeNeed to Save the Church.
And and a gentleman and his wifecame up to me and they said, We
know who it is.
His name is Venerable AloyshaSchwartz, and and um we'd like
you to write his biography.
And I had no desire to write itbecause I didn't know who he
(33:02):
was.
And and once I began tounderstand the incomprehensible
amount of work he had done forthe for the poor and what he had
done with these schools, I said,Yeah, I'd like to write the
biography.
So that's what led to Priest andBeggar.
Uh as far as uh as far as me, wedon't want to put your readers
or your viewers to sleep.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
But I think The Hermit is great.
Uh and now I haven't read yet,but uh Coached by the Cure, uh a
book on John Viani.
And um there's another one.
SPEAKER_00 (33:30):
Um we we wrote uh Burst, The Story of God's Grace
Women.
So um yeah, I'm just uh I I'mjust uh a happily married man of
um three three children, um bitfrom a big Catholic family, ten
of us.
Um family of builders?
Family of builders, yeah,masonry contractors.
I I served uh the business for agood 17, 18 years, and uh now
(33:52):
I'm back to writing.
Um but uh yeah, I'm just uh I'mI'm a very fortunate uh man.
I don't know why, but God's beengood to me and He's allowed me
to write these, you know, I II'll say this, Bishop and Jay.
One of the things that I think Ipray about, um, you know, we're
living in times that arefrenzied, let's say, uh put it
(34:13):
kindly.
Uh there's balkanization,there's splitting sides, and and
I'm like, God, what would youhave me do as a writer?
Like, what would you have me do?
And and one of the things I tryand I've been trying to do
through my articles or my booksis I just try and hold up
paragons and titans and holyCatholic witnesses.
And and what I see is even someof these folks who are on the
(34:36):
far right or the far left, orthis is my tribe, you your
tribe's no good, is I've seenwhen you hold up tales of
nobility and true hero, truehero, right?
SPEAKER_02 (34:46):
Right.
People are And there seems to befewer or fewer of them in some
ways, right?
SPEAKER_00 (34:49):
Yeah, and you gotta hold them up.
And people come out of theirtribes, and they're like, you
know what?
I I shouldn't be so tethered tomy ideology because he's
showing, like Father Al, forinstance, he's showing me that
it's unacceptable just to sortof be so so I'm I try and write
about these type of uhwitnesses.
SPEAKER_01 (35:05):
Uh what are some of the other spiritual lessons that
Father Al can offer us?
SPEAKER_00 (35:11):
Here's one that I think plagues the world.
I know it's plagued me, I'mguilty of this.
Is one of the things that Ithink has really hurt humanity
and and the Catholic Church, tobe frank, is comfort.
And Father Al knew when he wentto post-war Korea that if he was
going to be a priest who hepromised, vowed to marry, he
would die to all comforts tolive poor, to save the poor.
(35:35):
When he saw the magnitude of theorphans, the tubercular, uh, the
women living under bridges, um,etc., he said, Well, if I'm
going to begin to do God's work,and again, he was the only
American priest there.
He didn't know the language.
He he had a long way to go.
He said, I will become poor andlive poor.
(35:55):
So he left the rectory and hemade a decision for four and a
half years to live in a shack.
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
This shack was was I still have an image of that
shack uh from the book uh uh atthe bottom of a hill with people
living with tuberculosis.
SPEAKER_00 (36:12):
No, no, no.
He would visit them on themountains.
SPEAKER_02 (36:14):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
But no, the shack he lived by himself, no
electricity, no running water,nothing.
Smelled rats.
Um but he knew that this shackin a certain way would, the
walls would act as a wine press,the court of to crush him into
what the hermits knew, thesaints knew, like all he had was
God.
So he read scripture in there,he read the lives of the saints,
(36:35):
and he also thought, like, God,tell me how to help these poor,
tell me how to help these poor.
And uh and that's what led to,well, I need sisters.
I need sisters.
And that's when he began TheSisters of Mary.
SPEAKER_02 (36:47):
And there's a great story about him taking on a
local uh um gangster, right?
That was uh across the street.
Uh um uh the uh um uh the theproperty and uh um the the
organized crime in Korea at thattime, and uh uh the the
criminals weren't too happy withFather Al.
Father Father Al They didn'tknow who they were up against.
SPEAKER_00 (37:08):
No, Father Al Father Al is a movie.
Father Al is like Maverick fromTop Gun.
It literally, just very briefly,I'll say he knew that under this
kingpin, Big Daddy, who is inthe pockets of politicians, I
mean, people were horrified ofhim.
He was the kingpin.
Father Al understood that ummany uh dozens or hundreds of
(37:31):
people were dying under hiscare.
Because he would take the drugthe prescription pills that he
said would help them and curethem and sell them on the dark
market.
And Father Al knew people weredying there.
So if you if anyone has seenSchindler's list, Father Al said
to Big Daddy, I will I will buyI want to buy your building.
Essentially he was buying souls.
(37:53):
And Big Daddy didn't like the$750,000 that Father Al offered
and said that's cheap.
And then Father Al, that's whenthe fight started, and Big Big
Daddy began to attack him.
His gang, he had a gang oflepers, a s a crime syndicate, a
gang of lepers that would goafter Father Al and his sisters.
But Father Al couldn't be beatenbecause Mary protected him, and
(38:15):
Father Al eventually got himbehind jail, and he got all of
those boys and girls, and thatbishop is how the boys' towns
and girls towns started.
He took them out of this hauntedhouse of death and brought them
into these boys, towns andgirls' towns.
SPEAKER_01 (38:30):
There might not be a movie yet, but there is a comic
book.
That's right.
Ah, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So uh Is it your first comicbook?
First and probably last.
But it was great to do.
There's a new comic album calledFear Nothing by Voyage Comics.
It's superbly done.
Uh not because of me, but theyasked, they invited me in to
sort of uh form the uh story arcand collaborate, and it is just
out.
I would encourage anyone who whohas a Kevin gave me a copy,
(38:57):
we'll we'll get them make themavailable.
SPEAKER_02 (38:59):
Yeah, uh right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:00):
They did a wonderful job and uh the story, the the
story's exceptional because hislife really is sort of a comic
book hero.
He couldn't be taken down, andhe saved hundreds of thousands
of lives.
He really did.
SPEAKER_01 (39:13):
Awesome.
Um so so just getting back toyou, how do you go from a s
being a sports writer to to thelife you have now, Kevin?
Ah.
Seems like a pivot theresomewhere.
SPEAKER_00 (39:24):
A big pivot.
Um well, uh uh Jay, you wentthere, so I'll just say briefly,
I had a I had a near-deathexperience where I had a brain
aneurysm and um in 2009, and umuh I shouldn't have survived.
I had a failed brain surgery andum a uh Yeah, this is quite a
moving story.
SPEAKER_02 (39:44):
Um you had an uncle who was a priest, a wonderful
priest, who was killed in hisrectory, um, and his priest
friend came to pray, and itseems like your uncle came to
say that the Lord had more workfor you to do, right?
SPEAKER_00 (40:01):
Is that Yeah, the for those who don't believe in
miracles, stop it.
Because because yeah, if he ifhe was here right now, Father
Jim Stack and his assistant whowere in the uh the neuro ICU
room and were praying over me,asking for my uncle's
intercession, Monsignor TomWells, and that was the priest's
best friend, Father Jim Stack.
Um that's when the lights beganto pop and the temperature
(40:22):
changed in the room, and thenext day um all the all the
blood and fluids andmalformation they couldn't get
out was all gone.
And and Jay to answer yourquestion, you're you're you're
an idiot if you don't come outof that and say, God, what do
you want?
Yeah.
What do you want?
So that's how I really got intouh more um I mean everything
(40:42):
changed.
Uh not only just Catholic uh youknow, not writing Catholic books
and articles, but you know,Lord, more masses, rosaries,
more measures of love at thehome, more prison ministry,
whatever it all the Catholicheirlooms that a man knows when
he survives death, it's likeGod, I I owe you now.
(41:03):
Like I I you pulled me out of ofthe pit.
So so ever since then, um I'vebeen trying to to evangelize.
Um not not like Father Al.
I'm not uh you know, I'm alittle pittance compared to him,
but I'm just trying to be abetter Christian witness in the
world and and really to beunafraid, because we're not in
(41:24):
the point right now uh inAmerica 2026.
We have to be uh I I thinkcomfortable with being
uncomfortable and proclaimingChrist and natural law and and
so I'm just trying to oblige,you know, Christ pull me out of
that time.
SPEAKER_01 (41:37):
Yeah, we had a fascinating we we went out for
dinner last night.
You were telling me how you takean opportunity.
I was really inspired by uh whenyou you were telling me a story
about when you're on a plane andyou you're talking to someone
and you you somehow you found away to bring to bring up Christ,
I wonder, um and evangelize.
And um can you can you give us alittle insight into that?
(41:58):
Yeah.
Perhaps.
SPEAKER_00 (41:59):
I I made it a point a while ago, because I I travel
a fair amount, that every singletime I'm on a plane is right
away I'll make it a point,whoever's sitting next to me, to
engage in some way.
Um Hello, hey, how you doing?
Well, weather's cold, or right.
So oftentimes you'll you'll endup getting in a conversation
with this person, even when theplane's still on the tarmac.
(42:21):
And and I do it for a singlereason, selfishly.
It's to it's really to try andshare my Catholic faith.
Um, because again, I I I I owe Iowe God here.
So so just the other day, uh hisname was Steve, he was on the
phone and I heard him say, hey,you we're gonna give you a
thousand dollar Christmas, ornot Christmas bonus, a thousand
(42:42):
dollar bonus because the workyou're doing, blah blah you go
on and on.
So he he hung up and I said,Sir, I'm I'm sorry, I don't mean
to intrude, but um I overheard,I eavesdropped, I used to give
out bonuses, it was always myfavorite day of the year as a
contractor.
How how do you so we got intothe whole bonus philosophy, and
then I found out, Bishop, you'llappreciate this.
He used to be a baseball player.
So we were talking baseball for20 minutes, and and here's the
(43:06):
the key point.
So I think we all understand inthe in the course of
conversation with folks, we'renot judging, but we hear maybe
that they throw out a GD ormaybe a bad word or they say
something disparaging.
And we think, well, you know,he's probably it seems like he's
distant from God or distant fromChrist.
So I'd a you know, I'd sort ofsniff this out with Steve, and
(43:29):
good man, but so so then in myown mind, what I what I do over
and over and over again on thesedifferent trips is I'll say,
Holy Spirit, come, Holy Spirit,come, Holy Spirit, come.
And I'm waiting, I'm waiting,I'm waiting for that one word or
thing he'll say that opens me upto say to bring Christ in.
(43:50):
And and he did it.
He said, in this particularinstance, I don't know if we
talked, I don't know if wetalked about this last night,
but he he said, Yeah, I I don'tso much like my daughter's
boyfriend.
Um they're living together inAtlanta or something, and I
said, Well, he doesn't love yourdaughter either, and and he's
like, Well, what do you?
And and I said, Yeah, well,well, my daughter's getting
(44:12):
married in June, and I can neverimagine her living with her
boyfriend prior.
And he's like, Yeah, you know, II really don't appre appreciate
it, you know.
I'm like, Yeah, I I um I'm aCatholic and and I know what
marriage is for.
And and that so there's alwaysthat I call it the dropping a
paralyzer moment.
Okay.
So that was the paralyzermoment.
(44:33):
You say you're Catholic, andthen you say, Hey man, you know,
you're a dad and you're notbeing I'm sorry, I'm just gonna
say it.
I I don't tell Steve this, butsublimally, Steve hears me.
Why haven't you asked yourdaughter to leave your
boyfriend?
Because he's abusing her or he'susing her.
And so then the next hour isspent talking about the faith.
(44:54):
Or and and we know how thisgoes.
Is is Steve Steve, a German, aformer Catholic, he'll say
something like, I remember hesaid, uh, well, Kevin, you know,
I pray every now and then, and Isaw a movie the other day, it's
called If I Can Only Imagine,and it made me cry.
And I'm like, well, Steve,that's great, but but that's
just a movie.
(45:15):
Like, and you praying every nowand then, that's good, but God
wants all of you, like he wantsall of me.
So the point being is this ifwe're gonna waste the
opportunity that we have infront of us, it's never
comfortable, it's alwaysindelicate to a certain degree.
Steve was starving for su itcould have been you, Bishop, you
starving for someone to say, whywould you allow your daughter to
(45:38):
live with a man?
Like, why would you be a poorfather?
What why would you you you so heneeded to hear it.
Um and and if we have somewhatof uh uh social graces, we can
do it in such a way withprudence and charity where Steve
doesn't hate me.
So so I think it worked prettywell.
And last thing I'll say is this,and this is important.
(45:58):
So Steve gets off the plane,maybe I'll never see him again,
but what I do is this.
Hey Steve, here's my cell.
Uh hey Steve, here's some booksI want you to read.
Hey, Steve, hey Steve, uh we'llsee you down the road.
But when I leave and Steve, Igotta pray for Steve.
And maybe I gotta stick Steve ina fast.
So it's not just blah, blah,blah, Steve, come to the faith.
It's it's getting in the trenchfor Steve.
(46:19):
And I think it's incumbent uponCatholics nowadays, Christians,
uh, to go into this world that'sthat's dark.
We have a lot of dark parts, andand going in like Father Al,
Mother Teresa, and saying, damnthe torpedoes if they hate.
You know, it's like the sistersgoing up the hills.
If I die, I die.
SPEAKER_02 (46:35):
Right, right.
Perfect love drives out fear,right?
So uh um uh but even thinking ofuh parents or grandparents out
there who might be listening orwatching and maybe has a son or
daughter in uh or grandchild ina relationship that's not the
best.
Um uh, you know, we we pray forone another and uh and God works
in mysterious ways and speaks inmysterious ways.
(46:57):
So um, you know, uh uh it and asyou say, you start with uh come
the Holy Spirit, right?
So um it's not that we're umrunning the uh the giving others
directions, but we're trying toallow the Lord to speak through
us, to to speak that that truthuh with love, and uh and uh um
(47:18):
it's really uh amazing to seewhat God can do when we say,
okay, Lord, um as you said, uhyou know, what do you have for
me, right?
So um uh and and he says if youask, you receive, if you seek
you'll find.
So he's he's not joking aroundwith that, right?
SPEAKER_00 (47:32):
No, no, we and we we can I can't do anything without
the Holy Spirit.
I mean, I would have beentalking to Steve about baseball
the whole time, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (47:38):
Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (47:40):
All right, well, I think we've uh kind of reached
the end of our journey here.
SPEAKER_02 (47:44):
Um or the beginning, because uh if if you're
watching, you're gonna uh listenand are gonna be able to join
us, uh we're just gettingstarted uh on the on a on a
pilgrimage uh um to um to ourshrine of the beautiful basilica
of our lady of Guadalupe and umto meet the sisters and the
girls in uh girls town in Chalcoand get to know more of priest
(48:06):
and beggar, Father Aloysiusstart.
Swartz, this is a good place tostart right here.
So um please consider andthanks, Kevin, for making the
trip to come up and be with usand uh and for all that you're
doing, you know, for the church.
And um we'll uh we might haveyou back on at some point uh uh
before or after the trip to seehow things are going.
I love that, Bishop Sweeney.
(48:26):
Jay, thank you for having me in.
SPEAKER_01 (48:28):
Thanks for being on.
Okay.
And thank you all for joiningus.
Please subscribe, comment, andleave a positive rating.
Get to know us better byfollowing Bishop Kevin's
Instagram and Beyond the Beaconon social media.
Read the bishop's weekly columnon beaconnj.org and get in touch
if you have a question for thebishop or a podcast topic idea
(48:48):
and discover our other podcasts.
See you next time.
SPEAKER_02 (48:51):
Thanks, everybody.
God bless you.
Take care.
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 could join us.
I'm Jay Agnish.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
Bishop Kevin, what's going on?
How you doing?
I'm doing well, Jay.
How are you?
I'm good.
(00:28):
I uh trying to stay warm outthere.
SPEAKER_02 (00:31):
Wee bit chilly out there.
We were blessed that the Marchfor Life last Thursday getting
to Washington, D.C.
It was like almost 60 degrees.
Um and then the march on Fridaywas beautiful.
Um Saturday um was cold, Ithink, and then Sunday the snow
came and we're in the deepfreeze and um blanketed us up
(00:54):
here in North Jersey.
SPEAKER_01 (00:56):
So you got yourself dug out, we're back to work.
So we're back to the podcast.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
Yes.
And very happy to have a specialguest with us, uh author and
speaker and friend now, KevinWells.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Um uh Yeah, welcome to the show, Kevin.
Thank you, James, for coming upfrom Maryland.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Yes, yes, yes.
I always like coming back toJersey.
I feel I feel home here.
Good folks here.
Sturdy folks.
SPEAKER_02 (01:22):
Nice.
And we're gonna be talking aboutmaybe how Kevin and I got to
know each other and some of hiswork.
And uh Venerable Father AloysiusSchwartz, the founder of the
Sisters of Mary, and uh you'llhear a great story.
Um and uh we're gonna begin withthe prayer, and um we venerable
Alawish Schwartz, who died in1992.
(01:44):
Kevin tell you more from ALS LouGehrig's disease, but born in
1930.
Um, so he was only 62.
Um uh and these causes open forcanonization, venerable, and
we're gonna pray the prayer ofintercession um for Venerable
Alawish Schwartz.
So we'll place ourselves inGod's presence, name of the
Father and the Son, and of theHoly Spirit.
(02:07):
Let us pray.
Almighty, ever-living God, giverof all good gifts, you have
filled Father Al with an ardentlove for you and for souls.
You have inspired him todedicate his life to relieve
suffering of the orphans,abandoned, and sick and the
poor, especially the youth,which he did with all humility
and courage until the end of hislife.
(02:28):
May his holy life of love andservice to the poor be
recognized by the church throughits beatification and
canonization.
For your honor and glory, wepray for the life of Father Al
be an inspiration for us instriving for perfection in the
love of God and service toothers.
I ask you to bestow upon methrough the intercession of
(02:50):
Father Al.
I ask this through our LordJesus Christ, your son, and
maternal aid of Mary, the Virginof the Poor.
Amen.
Name of the Father and the Sonand of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Venerable Aloysha Schwartz, prayfor us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
Um, so let me do the let me do the quick introduction
here for Kevin.
Uh Kevin Wells is a former, he'sa former Major League Baseball
writer for the Tampa Bay Rays,award-winning journalist and
Catholic speaker.
He's the author of Priest andBeggar, The Heroic Life of
Venerable Aloysius Schwartz, thePriest We Need to Save the
Church and Burst.
(03:28):
Uh he's working on some otherprojects, which maybe we'll get
into.
Kevin is an active evangelistand writer who has presented at
conferences and seminaries,seminaries nationally and
internationally.
He lives in Maryland with hiswife and children.
SPEAKER_02 (03:42):
So welcome, Kevin.
Thank you, Bishop.
Good to be here.
I thought I might begin by uhjust sharing a little bit of how
Kevin and I came to meet.
Um so I think it was um do youknow if it was 24 when we went?
Um uh anyway, uh it might Ithink it was fall of October 23,
I want to say.
But I gave a I celebrated Massfor our Catholic school
(04:06):
teachers, and I gave a littlebook about St.
Carlo, now St.
Carlo Acudis, um Five Ways forCarlo to get to heaven.
Uh and I spoke about him, I gaveit to the teachers.
Um, and after the mass, ateacher from Pope John Brian
Corcoran or Carlson, but uh theson-in-law of a mutual friend of
(04:28):
ours, Jim Manhart, um, teacherat Pope John came.
I was talking to him afterwards,and he says, You want a good
book, you should read Priest andBeggar.
Uh the name stuck.
I said it's a great title,Priest and Beggar.
So here's Priest and Beggar.
Uh I get the book, and fourpages in, I read this, as you
(04:48):
will read, hopefully, becauseit's a great book and I highly
recommend it.
Uh The Life of Father AloyshaSchwartz.
Very briefly, Kevin writes Afterordination in 1957, Father Al
raised his hand to be sent tothe saddest place in the world,
South Korea, after the KoreanWar.
On the feast of the ImmaculateConception, he stepped off the
train in Seoul as afresh-phrased priest and found
(05:10):
himself in a dystopian novel.
Squatters with blank stairspicked through the hills of
garbage.
Paper-fleshed orphans lay on thestreets like leftover war
landmines.
The scene haunted him.
So he reached down to lift upone child, then another.
And within a few years he hadchanged the course of Korean
history, and many in theSouthern Peninsula saw him as
(05:32):
Atlas.
Yet he prayed to be unknown.
The reason you don't know yetabout him is that he didn't want
you to know.
Had St.
Teresa of Calcutta come underthe gaze, had not come under the
gaze of biographer MalcolmMugridge, she likely would have
remained in obscurity.
(05:53):
As Schwartz has.
Mother Teresa and Father Alesteemed each other's work from
afar.
And they would meet at onepoint, and Father Al said she
should get, he wanted to get heruh washed clothes, washing
machines.
As I'm reading this book, I haveno idea who the author Kevin
Wells is, but I say, who is thisguy saying that somebody is like
Mother Teresa?
(06:14):
Um I uh well get to know FatherAl and the sisters of Mary.
They may not be as numerous asthe missionaries of charity, but
they do the work of seeing Jesusin the poorest of the poor.
Um and it started with um FatherAl.
So um give us a little bit moreto get us introduced to the
(06:39):
venerable, wonderful, uh,blessed, uh venerable Father
Aloisha Schwartz.
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
Well, thank you, Bishop Sweeney.
That that's a good place to.
SPEAKER_02 (06:46):
Sorry, and then I wrote an article.
Uh the teacher in Pope John sentit to his father-in-law Jim
Manhart.
Jim Manhart said a bishop wrotean article, and uh somehow you
got my number and we connectedon the phone, and then we ended
up going to Mexico together.
SPEAKER_00 (06:59):
But yeah, I heard I heard you were a Yankees fan, so
so I wanted to get to know thedark side.
So so we we uh after going backand forth about my Orioles and
Yankees, we uh we got intoFather Al, Mother Teresa, and
you're right, like so many folksare like you.
They're like, who's thisarrogant Catholic writer Wells
saying that this guy, Father Alis like Mother Teresa?
(07:21):
But but I I do think uh, well,I'll say that many, many folks
have have read this or learnedabout him.
They're like, my goodness, yeah,there's there's a direct linear
symmetry.
And so what is it?
You know, Mother Teresa andFather Al, they they made a
decision to amputate allcomforts, annihilate all
comforts, and do revoltingthings, you know, pull worms out
(07:44):
of cuts, you know, get into thenasty gullies, pick people up
that were putrid and say, no,this is this is the face of
Christ.
And so, yeah, so that's whyFather Al and Mother Teresa,
they were too busy to gettogether too often because they
were in the streets.
But but when they'd get togetherfor some kind of function that
honored them for serving thepoor, they loved each other.
(08:05):
Um, I I I think I I'd like totell your viewer one thing about
who Father Al is, because youdon't know who he is, most of
you folks.
At one of the get-togethers, uhwhere Father Al was with Mother
Teresa, stunningly, Father Al uhwent up to her and said, Mother,
I'm going to buy you washingmachines.
(08:26):
This is back in the early 80s,and mother, you know, all four
foot eight, looks up to FatherAl, and you know, what are you
what are you talking about?
And Mother, everyone alreadyknows that your sisters of or
missionaries of charity arehumble.
They should not be in thestreets washing their sorries.
They should be in the streetsworking, it's wasting their
time.
Who says that to a saint?
(08:47):
I I don't I don't know exceptFather Al.
So Father Al was bold.
And mother got it.
Mother got it.
Uh, because Father Al kind ofblended his boldness with a wink
and a smile.
Mother's like, hmm.
So that's why they were fastfriends.
SPEAKER_02 (09:45):
And uh just give us a little bit of his humble
beginnings.
Uh uh father struggled, wassick, one of many siblings uh
outside the Washington in uhwhere did he grow up?
SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
Yeah, he grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in
the Great Depression inWashington, D.C.
Like politicians don't ventureto the area where Father Al grew
up.
Um could not have grown up at aat a worse time.
Dad had a fifth grade education,so the worry of the Schwartz
family, uh a big Catholicfamily, was we're gonna get
thrown out on the streetsbecause dad is a lousy job.
(10:20):
Um we the it was dark.
There wasn't, you know, theythey struggled like a lot of
poor families in the depression.
SPEAKER_02 (10:27):
And he was uh an aunt who was a religious sister,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
And he went to visit the convent.
That that really set the coursefor Father Al's life.
His aunt, uh sister Malfreda, itwas his dad's sister, saw
something early on, a spark inin Little Al, Little Aloysius.
Um that was uncommon and and andlittle Al loved her.
(10:49):
So she began to gently, littleby little, form him, especially
in those years when his dad wasill for two years and really
bedbound for two years.
And that's kind of where itbegan.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (11:01):
And uh eventually turning down a high school
scholarship and going to MaryKnoll, who were the missionaries
of the time, sending priests tothe most difficult areas of the
world, but him discerning thatthey they still had a bed and
three square meals when theywere serving no matter where.
And they're gonna and um uh whatwas the name of the community
that he ended up studying for inBelgium, right?
(11:21):
Well, because it's a long Frenchname, we'll we'll do the
abbreviation, the Samus.
That's Samus, right, right.
And uh a place that's very umnot the most popular, well-known
Marian apparition, but um uh OurLady of Bano.
Banot, right, and dedicated hislife to the Mary as a
seminarian.
Uh if I can do the maybe longerstory short, almost doesn't get
(11:45):
ordained, has to come back,fight for his vocation, gets
ordained, gets to Korea as wepicked up the story, and um and
because there's so many orphans,he starts these orphanages, uh
Boys' Town, girls town, right?
He used the uh name, and um putsads in the newspaper.
He was a great fundraiser.
That's all in a book about theearly uh mail fundraising,
(12:07):
right?
And putting little things in themail to get a donation back and
some Hollywood people involvedand um a little discrepancy with
his bishop along the way inKorea.
Um, but he starts these boys andgirls towns and schools and
needs teachers and those, and sohe puts ads in the Korean
newspaper uh for young women ashe's interviewing.
(12:27):
He's thinking who would be agood nun, starts the Sisters of
Mary, um moves to uh starts a uha boys and girls town, I think,
in the Philippines.
And eventually, as he's aroundthe time he's diagnosed with
ALS, goes to Mexico to open aplace in Chalco, and that's
where we got to go.
Um and um I think uh tointroduce maybe Chalco where I
(12:51):
was uh the summer before lasttime.
So I think the summer of 24 withKevin and a group, and Kevin has
been many times and can talkabout it.
SPEAKER_00 (12:57):
But maybe you can show us, Jay, right, the little
clip we have of um how manystudents at the at the about
3,000 girls in Chalco and atGuadalajara boys town, there's
about 2,100 boys.
SPEAKER_02 (13:09):
And uh the sisters, there's still a few Korean
sisters who came over withFather Al.
Uh that would have been the uhlate 80s, right?
SPEAKER_00 (13:17):
I guess um he arrived in Mexico in 1990.
1990, and and the first uh girlstown, boys' town in Chalco
started to go up in 92.
SPEAKER_02 (13:29):
So we go, and it's you if you go, as we'll talk
about the opportunity you'regonna have to join us uh on a
pilgrimage there, not onlyseeing the sisters and their
work and the girls and thegirls' town in Chalco, but it's
right next to the Shrine of OurLady of Guadalupe.
Um and so um I had the privilegeof celebrating Mass.
Uh and do we have a clip, Jay,for uh let's go to the uh go to
(13:50):
the clip.
Um I remember Kevin talkingabout being there.
You were there during thepandemic, right?
Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And uh and you talked about amusic rehearsal and them
learning a song and uh wow tosee them all sing it together,
it was just um uh Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:06):
So Jay, before you before you this is great that
you found this.
I I just want to set this upjust very briefly.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
Please, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
So in the teeth of COVID, like right when COVID
started, I got the assignment towrite this biography on Father
Al, who I didn't know really.
I I knew of him, and buteverything shut down.
Libraries, I couldn't, I'm like,I gotta write a book and I gotta
deadline.
So so um everyone at WorldVillages, the board of
directors, the president, theCEO said, no, Wells, you can't
(14:35):
go to Chalco.
And I knew in Chalco there weresisters there that tended to
Father Al as he was dying ofALS.
So a biographer needs first handsources.
As a journalist, I knew I gottaget the Chalco, and this was
this was uh late March 2020.
So they set up a big Zoom and Iand I said I got one minute to
make a pitch to get the Chalco,and I went hard.
(14:57):
And before anyone could speak, aKorean sister that cared for
Father Al as his body wascollapsing in Mexico said, I
want Kevin in Mexico.
And whatever this sister Margiesays goes.
So the next two days later, Ifound myself on a plane, and
there was nobody on planes atthat time.
And got off of Mexico, passedthe COVID test, got into this uh
(15:22):
what I'll call a humble kingdomof resurrection.
So to set up this clip, um, Ididn't know any really anything
about the sisters, the kids,much about Father Al.
I came there to research hislife and interview and et
cetera.
So one day I'm I'm walkingaround and I hear some singing
up coming from one of thebuildings, Bishop, that you
you're familiar with, the fourseven-story high buildings.
(15:45):
And uh I go up and oh, andthey're singing songs in
Spanish, and it's verybeautiful, and and uh I don't
want to disturb them because uhit was a music class.
And so I was going back down thestairs to leave to continue to
walk around, and and this littlegirl like Cindy Lou in the
Grinch grabs me by the sh uh andsays, Come, come, come.
So I went back and look at thegift they gave to this American
(16:09):
out of his element on my secondday in Chiaco.
This is what they gave me righthere.
All right, let's go.
SPEAKER_02 (16:23):
That's Kevin's voice in the background, I think.
Look at the smiles, right?
Look at that.
(16:51):
Country Road.
(17:16):
Fantastic.
SPEAKER_00 (17:18):
Um I I just want to say very quickly, Bishop, so
they sung a song in English, butguess what Father Al's favorite
song was?
Country Roads.
Is that right?
Okay.
This is to memorialize right,yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
Well, we'll try to get the clip um uh to see the
3,000 at Mass.
They have to, yeah.
Um and then with the Sunflowerand their coordinated moves, and
uh uh so I had the I guess wewere there um from Thursday to
Monday, and um and uh but SundayMass was just um so beautiful.
(17:54):
Uh and the um uh they're likelittle families, right?
And broken up um uh and uh andand um uh Father Al um formed
leaders, right?
He wanted to form disciples,right?
So they they're they're theycome, the sisters go into the
toughest areas uh in thesurrounding parts of Mexico,
right?
(18:14):
And uh uh find the families thathave the greatest need and say
that one of the children cancome, and that child will be
raised through late grammarschool, into high school, and be
ready for college.
And but as a person of faith, asan evangelizer, right?
SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
Yeah, that that's it.
I so the sisters, Father Al saidto the sisters before he died,
the way we serve is to wear aconstant crown of thorns.
And we must do things that aredark and difficult.
So I think it's important foryour viewer to know that the
sisters they don't wait for thechildren to come to them.
(18:52):
They go out onto the highwaysand byways of the darkest
places, like in this case,Mexico.
So, like the state of Guerrerois known as the area where human
trafficking is as prevalent asany place in the world.
So, two by two, the sisters willclimb these mountains, uh these
hills, and sort of split theseams of these trees where
(19:15):
there's monsters, like humanmonsters, like traffickers,
MS-13, drug runners, murderers.
But the sisters are like, well,there's we know there's girls up
there, so you can kill us, butwe're in a I think we're in a
state of grace.
So take us out.
Big deal.
Like Father Al told us to go.
So the sisters will get up tothat to that um home, to that
shack or that lean to, and anduh it's almost like the kids,
(19:40):
the sisters will go into alittle room and the the poor
little girl is like in a tomb.
And the sisters will lift thelid and like it's it's it's
time, and and the and the poorgirl will look to mom, and mom
will say, We've been prayingthat the sisters would come up
this hill, and and then thesisters will take the child back
down and take a 12-hour bus rideback to Chalco where the sisters
(20:02):
begin to remove the wounds andthe kid can live again.
SPEAKER_01 (20:05):
And they spend five years, I think you said five
years education.
Under the care of the sisters ofMary.
And what's that, what do theyhow do talk about maybe the
transformation.
SPEAKER_00 (20:15):
It is um so when you when folks go down there, uh
very often tears happen prettyquickly.
And and I've thought over theyears, like I've had priests
tell me that uh Kevin, I can'tstop crying.
Uh it's and I and and peoplesay, well, I keep it's so
emotional, I cry, I don't know.
(20:36):
And I and I've thought about itover the years, and I think it's
the closest that one comes onearth, on this side, to see
actually what resurrectionresembles.
And what what does that mean?
Well, priests, bishops, laitywill go down and they've heard
the stories of unspeakablethings that happen through these
girls and boys.
I mean, it can't be repeat, it'sdiabolic.
(20:58):
So they they go down thinking,I'm gonna see sad girls or or
girls with bald fists and angryor or psychologically wounded.
But what they see is what youjust saw.
They they see they see joy, theythey see this exuberance, this
light.
Right.
And and it's resurrection.
So that it's it's a beauty ofit.
SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Um Father Al was an athlete, right, a runner
himself.
He was uh uh ran every day, anduh I think sees saw the value in
uh the you know the the wholeperson, right?
The academic, the spiritual, thephysical as well.
So the girls play a lot ofsports there, but also I guess
the value of music, right?
That uh uh the the they have amariachi band, as we saw some of
it there, and uh and uh and andand so the education they
(21:40):
receive um and and and even theexperience of family, right?
Living um in those smallcommunities within the larger um
uh and and uh so much of thatgoes back to Father Al and his
discernment and his um foundingof the dedicating his life to
our blessed mother and foundingSisters of Mary and and it
continues, huh?
SPEAKER_00 (21:59):
Everything the Sisters of Mary do uh returns to
Father Al.
That's the that's the pivotpoint.
And um so Father Al was amarathon or so the kids run.
Father Al was an athlete, so thekids have some of the this is
interesting to say, because thethe sisters know that cell
phones, video, music willdisturb uh the healing that
(22:22):
these kids.
There's none of that.
So so the kids end up havingsome of the greatest sports
teams, high school sports teamsin whatever country they're in,
the Philippines, Mexico.
They win national championships.
Their musical programs winnational uh national whatever.
Because Father Al understoodchildren that have been wounded
(22:44):
cannot have uh whatever acommunity.
SPEAKER_02 (22:47):
And they learn um uh the uh gardening and plant and
planting as well, right?
Uh keep them active, keep themactive, keep them feeling
dignity.
SPEAKER_01 (22:53):
I heard a story.
You were playing basketball withsome of the kids that you're
gonna be.
Yes, uh they gave me a good run.
SPEAKER_00 (22:59):
Yeah, Diocese of Patterson, you have a good
bishop here, because I've takenfour or five bishops down there,
and zero of them were like thisguy.
No, no, no.
He was out there shooting hoopswith the girls and they they
came to the house.
SPEAKER_02 (23:12):
I'll always be happy to, you know, I'm not in the
shape that I used to be in.
But you get it back out there alittle.
Um uh but uh uh so beautiful.
And um uh how many countries andwe the um the World Villages for
Children, right?
That eventually became the nameof the maybe umbrella group that
um uh helps to promote andcoordinate some of the and uh
(23:34):
sponsor really um uh uh so muchof the work.
Um but so the sisters of Maryare in how many countries now?
SPEAKER_00 (23:40):
They're in six countries.
There's over 20,000 of thesechildren who the sisters of
Mary.
20,000.
20,000, about 370 sisters ofMary throughout the world.
Um it is their uh the burden oftheir identity, the burden of
their duty to do what FatherAlan Courage, and that is find
the poorest of the poor, themost wounded, get into the
(24:02):
wound, work to scalpel it out,and send them out as Catholic
missionaries, Christianmissionaries into the world.
Matter of fact, Bishop, I'lltell you, I so each year they
graduate, approximately 3,000kids throughout the world.
These kids go out and theyproclaim the Catholic faith, the
mission uh they proclaim JesusChrist in a way that I think
(24:25):
puts them as some of thegreatest Catholic missionaries
in the world because they don'tknow any better than to proclaim
the fullness of the gospel.
Why?
Because they were dead.
Right.
And the sisters raised them backto life, so they went to help.
SPEAKER_02 (24:36):
And the rosary and Eucharistic adoration, and
obviously mass are a big part oftheir daily life.
SPEAKER_00 (24:41):
Um, every every night at 7 o'clock, 20,000 kids
uh pray the rosary in unison.
Uh adorations where uhoftentimes their wounds become
healed.
Uh the mass, it is authenticallyCatholics.
Because that's the way that'sthe same.
SPEAKER_01 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah.
It's powerful.
Like praying the rosary is partof the healing.
Absolutely as well.
Absolutely, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
And really quick, why?
Because Father Al got, as asBishop mentioned earlier, Father
Al dedicated his entirepriesthood to Mary at Our Lady
at Beno.
So he emphasized to the sisters,as as Mary d directed my entire
life, the kids' life will alsobe maternally protected.
So the rosary is incorporatedevery single day of their lives.
SPEAKER_01 (25:24):
How far away is Our Lady of Guadalupe from the
property?
So uh depending on the traffic.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:31):
Bishop's right.
So so if it's a good day andthere's no traffic, you can get
there in about 40 minutes.
Mileage-wise, it's probably nomore than twenty-five miles.
SPEAKER_01 (25:41):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is it a good time to maybe justgive a little overview of the
pilgrimage that's planned for?
SPEAKER_02 (25:47):
We'll make uh some of these available.
Uh but uh you have the datesthere, Jay, right?
SPEAKER_01 (25:52):
Yeah.
So it's uh I do not it'sSeptember.
September 28th to the 21st.
SPEAKER_02 (25:58):
Okay.
So it will be the Feast of theArchangels on the 29th.
Ah.
And the 29th to 28th, too?
SPEAKER_00 (26:05):
No, so it's the it's it's actually September 18th
through the 21st.
Okay, okay.
It's right there.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (26:09):
Gotcha, right.
So yeah, we'll have uh check theshow notes for September 18th to
21st.
Okay.
It's also going to be uhbaseball playoff season.
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
Uh no, the end of September is the end of the
regular season.
The Yankees should be clinchedby then.
So what's so what Jay?
SPEAKER_00 (26:23):
So what Jay is bit So So Jay is saying, Bishop,
that that's the stretch run.
So really quick, my brotherDavid is Father David Wells is
going to to help lead thispilgrimage.
So one thing is gonna happen,one of two things is gonna
happen.
Either we're gonna be tearingyou up because the Yankees will
be sinking.
I don't think that'll be whathappened.
Okay, well we'll we'll we'llwe'll hatch this out, but this
(26:45):
is the perfect time, so we'll behaving a good time, my brother
and I teaming up on you.
But uh yeah, it's uh big Oriolesfans, yeah.
Huge Orioles fan, by the way.
SPEAKER_02 (26:54):
His brother is not the David Wells, who I think
spent a little time withBaltimore, but uh won his
championships and pitched hisperfect game as a as a Yankee,
but that's a lefty, not pitcher,not your brother.
SPEAKER_00 (27:03):
No, it's not it's not that David Wells.
I know that David Wells.
I used to interview him.
Oh, that's right.
Yeah, but but uh no, it's adifferent David Wells.
But this David Wells, who whowill love you and I think you'll
like him too, is uh is is fluentin Spanish.
Uh he cannot wait to go.
He wants to meet you, but uh butthis pilgrimage to Guadalupe and
to um to Chauco.
(27:24):
Um I I've led it a few times.
I've I think I've led, I don'tknow, fifteen or so pilgrimages.
Uh people do not go back homeunchanged.
So it's I would encourage folksto look into real quick.
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
So uh it includes a sacred walk up Tipp Teppiak
Hill.
Tepiac.
Tepiak Hill.
The place where Our Ladyappeared to Juan Diego in 1531.
And Daily Mass celebrate MassDaily with Bishop Kevin Sweeney
and Father David Wells,including Mass at the Shrine of
Our Lady of Guadalupe and theSisters of Mary at Girlstown,
deep spiritual talks.
Bishop Sweeney and the Wellsbrothers will offer pilgrims
(27:58):
several reflections andmeditations on the intimacy of
Our Lady, prayer, sacrifice, andliving the faith.
And come to know come tointimately know a future
American saint, Father Al, learnabout his work and the founding
of the Sisters of Mary.
And Sister You'll see you'llvisit Sisters of Mary in
(28:21):
Girlstown, witness how theSisters of Mary are transforming
the lives of poor childrenthrough education, faith
formation, and vocational skillstraining and sending them out
into the world as Christ-likemissionaries.
And it's three-day.
Three days.
SPEAKER_02 (28:36):
And on earth, Father Al may not have wanted anybody
to know him.
Um but now uh it's up to theHoly Spirit uh and uh um talking
before uh that World Youth Dayis gonna be in Seoul Korea in
2027.
So I think a few young peoplemight get to know uh Father Al
(28:56):
and his work in Korea, where itall began for him uh and for the
sister Mary.
Uh so who knows how that mighthelp his uh uh cause moving
along.
But um but uh if and I inviteviewers, listeners to consider
coming.
Um uh we'll put the uhinformation right for is who
they'll contact uh WorldVillages for the um registration
(29:18):
or more information.
We'll put it on our Daosinwebsite.
SPEAKER_00 (29:21):
Yeah, go to go to worldvillages.org.
That's worldvillages.org to signup for the pilgrimage or to
learn about the work of thesisters and father al.
Anything you need to know,worldvillages.org.
SPEAKER_02 (29:32):
Uh you were able to visit the sisters in Africa?
SPEAKER_00 (29:35):
Yes.
Yeah, so Bishop um I'llreiterate um what Mother Teresa
and Father Al knew.
Um we go to the poorest of thepoor.
And Africa is a different levelpoverty.
But I I do I do feel compelledto to just say a few things
about uh African poverty and andthe boys' towns and girls' towns
(29:56):
there.
It's it's the newest uh thenewest schools that the sisters
have established.
I just just one briefly onestory that I've recently written
about.
There's an island off the coastway uh on the west side of
Africa, and a missionary priestfound out there uh a uh a young
lady had been bitten by um asnake, a poisonous snake, and
(30:20):
she was bedridden.
Um and there's nothing on theisland.
I mean there's there's nothere's no work, sustenance is
is low, there's no medical help.
And but but he he had learnedthat this girl uh wanted
education.
So somehow he contacted theSisters of Mary way out in uh in
the heart of Tanzania, umsaying, uh can you come out?
(30:44):
Well, that's all the sistersneeded to hear.
So the sisters drove drove 12hours in a bus to the coastline
and then they traveled ninehours on two different boats
over the rough waters on thislittle boat so combined 22, 23
hours, something like that, toget to a single girl.
(31:08):
A single girl.
I met this girl a year and ahalf ago.
I saw her before on the islandwhere she looked close to dead,
and then I saw her a coupleyears later where she looked
like um somebody ready to takeon the world.
She wants to be an accountant.
She told the story, but that'swhat the sisters do.
That's what Father Alencouraged.
(31:31):
We take on things that mostfolks simply won't take on
because God commands us to.
We Matthew 25, we we go out inthe highways and byways.
So the sisters go into villagesin Africa where lions are, where
elephants are.
I mean, the sisters, two sisterswere there a few years ago, and
there was food, and elephantscame in the mill violent
(31:52):
elephants came and they ravagedwhere they were staying.
They ate all the food.
But the sisters, so the sistersknow when to travel in Africa
when the lions are sleeping,like they know to get to the
children.
Like it's it's it's almost it'sa movie, except it's not a
movie, it's real life.
SPEAKER_02 (32:10):
Right.
I can't you if you read thisbook, you'll have a better idea
of what Kevin is speaking aboutin terms of how Father Al
founded the sisters and uh howhe formed the sisters and how
they can continue that worktoday in in his spirit.
Um uh really highly, highlyrecommend it.
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
Yeah, great.
So we also want to learn alittle bit more about you,
Kevin.
So can you maybe tell us how youcame to write the book and a
little bit about your backgroundleading up to that, perhaps?
SPEAKER_00 (32:40):
Uh sure.
Thanks, Jay.
Uh you know, it's as far as thewhat led to to Father Al and
Priest and Beggar, I had writtena book in 2019 after the
scandals called The Priests WeNeed to Save the Church.
And and a gentleman and his wifecame up to me and they said, We
know who it is.
His name is Venerable AloyshaSchwartz, and and um we'd like
you to write his biography.
And I had no desire to write itbecause I didn't know who he
(33:02):
was.
And and once I began tounderstand the incomprehensible
amount of work he had done forthe for the poor and what he had
done with these schools, I said,Yeah, I'd like to write the
biography.
So that's what led to Priest andBeggar.
Uh as far as uh as far as me, wedon't want to put your readers
or your viewers to sleep.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
But I think The Hermit is great.
Uh and now I haven't read yet,but uh Coached by the Cure, uh a
book on John Viani.
And um there's another one.
SPEAKER_00 (33:30):
Um we we wrote uh Burst, The Story of God's Grace
Women.
So um yeah, I'm just uh I I'mjust uh a happily married man of
um three three children, um bitfrom a big Catholic family, ten
of us.
Um family of builders?
Family of builders, yeah,masonry contractors.
I I served uh the business for agood 17, 18 years, and uh now
(33:52):
I'm back to writing.
Um but uh yeah, I'm just uh I'mI'm a very fortunate uh man.
I don't know why, but God's beengood to me and He's allowed me
to write these, you know, I II'll say this, Bishop and Jay.
One of the things that I think Ipray about, um, you know, we're
living in times that arefrenzied, let's say, uh put it
(34:13):
kindly.
Uh there's balkanization,there's splitting sides, and and
I'm like, God, what would youhave me do as a writer?
Like, what would you have me do?
And and one of the things I tryand I've been trying to do
through my articles or my booksis I just try and hold up
paragons and titans and holyCatholic witnesses.
And and what I see is even someof these folks who are on the
(34:36):
far right or the far left, orthis is my tribe, you your
tribe's no good, is I've seenwhen you hold up tales of
nobility and true hero, truehero, right?
SPEAKER_02 (34:46):
Right.
People are And there seems to befewer or fewer of them in some
ways, right?
SPEAKER_00 (34:49):
Yeah, and you gotta hold them up.
And people come out of theirtribes, and they're like, you
know what?
I I shouldn't be so tethered tomy ideology because he's
showing, like Father Al, forinstance, he's showing me that
it's unacceptable just to sortof be so so I'm I try and write
about these type of uhwitnesses.
SPEAKER_01 (35:05):
Uh what are some of the other spiritual lessons that
Father Al can offer us?
SPEAKER_00 (35:11):
Here's one that I think plagues the world.
I know it's plagued me, I'mguilty of this.
Is one of the things that Ithink has really hurt humanity
and and the Catholic Church, tobe frank, is comfort.
And Father Al knew when he wentto post-war Korea that if he was
going to be a priest who hepromised, vowed to marry, he
would die to all comforts tolive poor, to save the poor.
(35:35):
When he saw the magnitude of theorphans, the tubercular, uh, the
women living under bridges, um,etc., he said, Well, if I'm
going to begin to do God's work,and again, he was the only
American priest there.
He didn't know the language.
He he had a long way to go.
He said, I will become poor andlive poor.
(35:55):
So he left the rectory and hemade a decision for four and a
half years to live in a shack.
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
This shack was was I still have an image of that
shack uh from the book uh uh atthe bottom of a hill with people
living with tuberculosis.
SPEAKER_00 (36:12):
No, no, no.
He would visit them on themountains.
SPEAKER_02 (36:14):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
But no, the shack he lived by himself, no
electricity, no running water,nothing.
Smelled rats.
Um but he knew that this shackin a certain way would, the
walls would act as a wine press,the court of to crush him into
what the hermits knew, thesaints knew, like all he had was
God.
So he read scripture in there,he read the lives of the saints,
(36:35):
and he also thought, like, God,tell me how to help these poor,
tell me how to help these poor.
And uh and that's what led to,well, I need sisters.
I need sisters.
And that's when he began TheSisters of Mary.
SPEAKER_02 (36:47):
And there's a great story about him taking on a
local uh um gangster, right?
That was uh across the street.
Uh um uh the uh um uh the theproperty and uh um the the
organized crime in Korea at thattime, and uh uh the the
criminals weren't too happy withFather Al.
Father Father Al They didn'tknow who they were up against.
SPEAKER_00 (37:08):
No, Father Al Father Al is a movie.
Father Al is like Maverick fromTop Gun.
It literally, just very briefly,I'll say he knew that under this
kingpin, Big Daddy, who is inthe pockets of politicians, I
mean, people were horrified ofhim.
He was the kingpin.
Father Al understood that ummany uh dozens or hundreds of
(37:31):
people were dying under hiscare.
Because he would take the drugthe prescription pills that he
said would help them and curethem and sell them on the dark
market.
And Father Al knew people weredying there.
So if you if anyone has seenSchindler's list, Father Al said
to Big Daddy, I will I will buyI want to buy your building.
Essentially he was buying souls.
(37:53):
And Big Daddy didn't like the$750,000 that Father Al offered
and said that's cheap.
And then Father Al, that's whenthe fight started, and Big Big
Daddy began to attack him.
His gang, he had a gang oflepers, a s a crime syndicate, a
gang of lepers that would goafter Father Al and his sisters.
But Father Al couldn't be beatenbecause Mary protected him, and
(38:15):
Father Al eventually got himbehind jail, and he got all of
those boys and girls, and thatbishop is how the boys' towns
and girls towns started.
He took them out of this hauntedhouse of death and brought them
into these boys, towns andgirls' towns.
SPEAKER_01 (38:30):
There might not be a movie yet, but there is a comic
book.
That's right.
Ah, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So uh Is it your first comicbook?
First and probably last.
But it was great to do.
There's a new comic album calledFear Nothing by Voyage Comics.
It's superbly done.
Uh not because of me, but theyasked, they invited me in to
sort of uh form the uh story arcand collaborate, and it is just
out.
I would encourage anyone who whohas a Kevin gave me a copy,
(38:57):
we'll we'll get them make themavailable.
SPEAKER_02 (38:59):
Yeah, uh right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:00):
They did a wonderful job and uh the story, the the
story's exceptional because hislife really is sort of a comic
book hero.
He couldn't be taken down, andhe saved hundreds of thousands
of lives.
He really did.
SPEAKER_01 (39:13):
Awesome.
Um so so just getting back toyou, how do you go from a s
being a sports writer to to thelife you have now, Kevin?
Ah.
Seems like a pivot theresomewhere.
SPEAKER_00 (39:24):
A big pivot.
Um well, uh uh Jay, you wentthere, so I'll just say briefly,
I had a I had a near-deathexperience where I had a brain
aneurysm and um in 2009, and umuh I shouldn't have survived.
I had a failed brain surgery andum a uh Yeah, this is quite a
moving story.
SPEAKER_02 (39:44):
Um you had an uncle who was a priest, a wonderful
priest, who was killed in hisrectory, um, and his priest
friend came to pray, and itseems like your uncle came to
say that the Lord had more workfor you to do, right?
SPEAKER_00 (40:01):
Is that Yeah, the for those who don't believe in
miracles, stop it.
Because because yeah, if he ifhe was here right now, Father
Jim Stack and his assistant whowere in the uh the neuro ICU
room and were praying over me,asking for my uncle's
intercession, Monsignor TomWells, and that was the priest's
best friend, Father Jim Stack.
Um that's when the lights beganto pop and the temperature
(40:22):
changed in the room, and thenext day um all the all the
blood and fluids andmalformation they couldn't get
out was all gone.
And and Jay to answer yourquestion, you're you're you're
an idiot if you don't come outof that and say, God, what do
you want?
Yeah.
What do you want?
So that's how I really got intouh more um I mean everything
(40:42):
changed.
Uh not only just Catholic uh youknow, not writing Catholic books
and articles, but you know,Lord, more masses, rosaries,
more measures of love at thehome, more prison ministry,
whatever it all the Catholicheirlooms that a man knows when
he survives death, it's likeGod, I I owe you now.
(41:03):
Like I I you pulled me out of ofthe pit.
So so ever since then, um I'vebeen trying to to evangelize.
Um not not like Father Al.
I'm not uh you know, I'm alittle pittance compared to him,
but I'm just trying to be abetter Christian witness in the
world and and really to beunafraid, because we're not in
(41:24):
the point right now uh inAmerica 2026.
We have to be uh I I thinkcomfortable with being
uncomfortable and proclaimingChrist and natural law and and
so I'm just trying to oblige,you know, Christ pull me out of
that time.
SPEAKER_01 (41:37):
Yeah, we had a fascinating we we went out for
dinner last night.
You were telling me how you takean opportunity.
I was really inspired by uh whenyou you were telling me a story
about when you're on a plane andyou you're talking to someone
and you you somehow you found away to bring to bring up Christ,
I wonder, um and evangelize.
And um can you can you give us alittle insight into that?
(41:58):
Yeah.
Perhaps.
SPEAKER_00 (41:59):
I I made it a point a while ago, because I I travel
a fair amount, that every singletime I'm on a plane is right
away I'll make it a point,whoever's sitting next to me, to
engage in some way.
Um Hello, hey, how you doing?
Well, weather's cold, or right.
So oftentimes you'll you'll endup getting in a conversation
with this person, even when theplane's still on the tarmac.
(42:21):
And and I do it for a singlereason, selfishly.
It's to it's really to try andshare my Catholic faith.
Um, because again, I I I I owe Iowe God here.
So so just the other day, uh hisname was Steve, he was on the
phone and I heard him say, hey,you we're gonna give you a
thousand dollar Christmas, ornot Christmas bonus, a thousand
(42:42):
dollar bonus because the workyou're doing, blah blah you go
on and on.
So he he hung up and I said,Sir, I'm I'm sorry, I don't mean
to intrude, but um I overheard,I eavesdropped, I used to give
out bonuses, it was always myfavorite day of the year as a
contractor.
How how do you so we got intothe whole bonus philosophy, and
then I found out, Bishop, you'llappreciate this.
He used to be a baseball player.
So we were talking baseball for20 minutes, and and here's the
(43:06):
the key point.
So I think we all understand inthe in the course of
conversation with folks, we'renot judging, but we hear maybe
that they throw out a GD ormaybe a bad word or they say
something disparaging.
And we think, well, you know,he's probably it seems like he's
distant from God or distant fromChrist.
So I'd a you know, I'd sort ofsniff this out with Steve, and
(43:29):
good man, but so so then in myown mind, what I what I do over
and over and over again on thesedifferent trips is I'll say,
Holy Spirit, come, Holy Spirit,come, Holy Spirit, come.
And I'm waiting, I'm waiting,I'm waiting for that one word or
thing he'll say that opens me upto say to bring Christ in.
(43:50):
And and he did it.
He said, in this particularinstance, I don't know if we
talked, I don't know if wetalked about this last night,
but he he said, Yeah, I I don'tso much like my daughter's
boyfriend.
Um they're living together inAtlanta or something, and I
said, Well, he doesn't love yourdaughter either, and and he's
like, Well, what do you?
And and I said, Yeah, well,well, my daughter's getting
(44:12):
married in June, and I can neverimagine her living with her
boyfriend prior.
And he's like, Yeah, you know, II really don't appre appreciate
it, you know.
I'm like, Yeah, I I um I'm aCatholic and and I know what
marriage is for.
And and that so there's alwaysthat I call it the dropping a
paralyzer moment.
Okay.
So that was the paralyzermoment.
(44:33):
You say you're Catholic, andthen you say, Hey man, you know,
you're a dad and you're notbeing I'm sorry, I'm just gonna
say it.
I I don't tell Steve this, butsublimally, Steve hears me.
Why haven't you asked yourdaughter to leave your
boyfriend?
Because he's abusing her or he'susing her.
And so then the next hour isspent talking about the faith.
(44:54):
Or and and we know how thisgoes.
Is is Steve Steve, a German, aformer Catholic, he'll say
something like, I remember hesaid, uh, well, Kevin, you know,
I pray every now and then, and Isaw a movie the other day, it's
called If I Can Only Imagine,and it made me cry.
And I'm like, well, Steve,that's great, but but that's
just a movie.
(45:15):
Like, and you praying every nowand then, that's good, but God
wants all of you, like he wantsall of me.
So the point being is this ifwe're gonna waste the
opportunity that we have infront of us, it's never
comfortable, it's alwaysindelicate to a certain degree.
Steve was starving for su itcould have been you, Bishop, you
starving for someone to say, whywould you allow your daughter to
(45:38):
live with a man?
Like, why would you be a poorfather?
What why would you you you so heneeded to hear it.
Um and and if we have somewhatof uh uh social graces, we can
do it in such a way withprudence and charity where Steve
doesn't hate me.
So so I think it worked prettywell.
And last thing I'll say is this,and this is important.
(45:58):
So Steve gets off the plane,maybe I'll never see him again,
but what I do is this.
Hey Steve, here's my cell.
Uh hey Steve, here's some booksI want you to read.
Hey, Steve, hey Steve, uh we'llsee you down the road.
But when I leave and Steve, Igotta pray for Steve.
And maybe I gotta stick Steve ina fast.
So it's not just blah, blah,blah, Steve, come to the faith.
It's it's getting in the trenchfor Steve.
(46:19):
And I think it's incumbent uponCatholics nowadays, Christians,
uh, to go into this world that'sthat's dark.
We have a lot of dark parts, andand going in like Father Al,
Mother Teresa, and saying, damnthe torpedoes if they hate.
You know, it's like the sistersgoing up the hills.
If I die, I die.
SPEAKER_02 (46:35):
Right, right.
Perfect love drives out fear,right?
So uh um uh but even thinking ofuh parents or grandparents out
there who might be listening orwatching and maybe has a son or
daughter in uh or grandchild ina relationship that's not the
best.
Um uh, you know, we we pray forone another and uh and God works
in mysterious ways and speaks inmysterious ways.
(46:57):
So um, you know, uh uh it and asyou say, you start with uh come
the Holy Spirit, right?
So um it's not that we're umrunning the uh the giving others
directions, but we're trying toallow the Lord to speak through
us, to to speak that that truthuh with love, and uh and uh um
(47:18):
it's really uh amazing to seewhat God can do when we say,
okay, Lord, um as you said, uhyou know, what do you have for
me, right?
So um uh and and he says if youask, you receive, if you seek
you'll find.
So he's he's not joking aroundwith that, right?
SPEAKER_00 (47:32):
No, no, we and we we can I can't do anything without
the Holy Spirit.
I mean, I would have beentalking to Steve about baseball
the whole time, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (47:38):
Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (47:40):
All right, well, I think we've uh kind of reached
the end of our journey here.
SPEAKER_02 (47:44):
Um or the beginning, because uh if if you're
watching, you're gonna uh listenand are gonna be able to join
us, uh we're just gettingstarted uh on the on a on a
pilgrimage uh um to um to ourshrine of the beautiful basilica
of our lady of Guadalupe and umto meet the sisters and the
girls in uh girls town in Chalcoand get to know more of priest
(48:06):
and beggar, Father Aloysiusstart.
Swartz, this is a good place tostart right here.
So um please consider andthanks, Kevin, for making the
trip to come up and be with usand uh and for all that you're
doing, you know, for the church.
And um we'll uh we might haveyou back on at some point uh uh
before or after the trip to seehow things are going.
I love that, Bishop Sweeney.
(48:26):
Jay, thank you for having me in.
SPEAKER_01 (48:28):
Thanks for being on.
Okay.
And thank you all for joiningus.
Please subscribe, comment, andleave a positive rating.
Get to know us better byfollowing Bishop Kevin's
Instagram and Beyond the Beaconon social media.
Read the bishop's weekly columnon beaconnj.org and get in touch
if you have a question for thebishop or a podcast topic idea
(48:48):
and discover our other podcasts.
See you next time.
SPEAKER_02 (48:51):
Thanks, everybody.
God bless you.
Take care.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.