June 18, 2026 • 37 mins
When the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage (NEP) journeyed through the Diocese of Paterson earlier this week, three of the young pilgrims on the journey – known as “Perpetual Pilgrims” – joined the podcast. Paterson is one of 18 participating dioceses holding special Masses, processions, talks, and more centered around the Eucharist. Zach Dotson, Mary Carmen Zakrajsek, and Raymond Martinez II are guests with Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney. Also joining for a segment is Father Cesar Jaramillo, the local NEP coordinator for the Diocese of Paterson, and Father Casey Cole, O.F.M., a social media influencer who gave a reflection to students earlier in the day. Co-hosting is Communications Director Jai Agnish. The episode was recorded at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany, N.J.
Show Notes:
Bishop Kevin Sweeney's column: "A beautiful Gospel for a beautiful weekend!"
Diocesan stops energize Catholics along National Eucharistic Pilgrimage route
National Eucharistic Pilgrimage website
Email questions and podcast topic ideas to Bishop Kevin at beyond@patersondiocese.org.
Produced by Jai Agnish, Father Cesar Jaramillo, and Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney for the Diocese of Paterson. Engineered by Cecile Pagliarulo and Jai Agnish. Edited and theme song by Jai Agnish. Illustrations by Dennis Dalelio. Special thanks to Father David Pickens of St. Peter the Apostle Church in Parsippany, N.J.
Beyond The Beacon on Instagram and Facebook. Bishop Kevin on Instagram. The Diocese of Paterson on Instagram, Facebook (English) / Facebook (Spanish).
Every three years, each Diocese in the USA has the graced opportunity to make a scheduled pilgrimage as one Diocesan family with their Bishop to the National Shrine in the nation's capital. 2026 is once again "our year!" Please note the two-day and one-day options: Oct. 16, Friday, and Oct. 17, Saturday. Visit the Diocese of Paterson website here to learn more!
On Coffee with Kupke, we have a cup of coffee and sit down with diocesan archivist, Monsignor Raymond Kupke Ph.D., to delve into the history of Catholicism in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. Hosted by Father Paul Manning and Msgr. Kupke. Listen to Coffee with Kupke wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it on the St. Paul Inside the Walls YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@stpaulinsidethewalls.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (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 Agnis, CommunicationsDirector for the Diocese and
editor of the Beacon, our newswebsite.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
Bishop, how are you?
SPEAKER_02 (00:28):
I'm good, Jay.
How are you doing?
Doing good.
We have another new set?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:33):
On the road again.
SPEAKER_02 (00:34):
We thank Father David Pickens, the uh pastor of
St.
Peter the Apostle Church here inPartiphany, where Father Caesar
served right for a time, twoyears.
And uh, but today, as part ofthe our participation, uh
blessed to host and receive uhthe National Eucharistic
Pilgrimage and um wonderfulnight last night in Passaic.
(00:55):
Um Father Casey Cole, who willmeet, uh, spoke to our Catholic
school students this morning andlook forward to procession and
uh gathering tonight in ourcathedral.
But uh Father Caesar's beenworking hard now for a number of
months to bring it all together,but uh but so far so good.
And uh I wrote a little fewwords in the beacon for this
week's column, and at the end ofit I put, you know, wonderful
(01:16):
weekend with many blessings.
Yesterday's gospel, I thought itwas beautiful and appropriate,
and then I put a PS at the end,and that the Knicks won the NBA
championship on Saturday, madeit a good weekend.
SPEAKER_03 (01:27):
Yeah, I think I think everyone in the entire
metropolitan area is fully awarethat and and you being a big
Knicks fan, uh socongratulations to you.
You must be excited and uh let'shope it's not another 53 years.
Yes, that's right.
SPEAKER_02 (01:40):
Right, right, right.
So um maybe we'll begin withprayer.
Name of the Father and of theSon and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.
Remembering that Jesus has toldus wherever two or three are
gathered together in his name,he's there in the midst of them.
We thank in a special way today,God, for the gift of our faith,
hope, and love, and especiallythe gift of Jesus, truly present
(02:04):
body, blood, soul, and divinity,and the gift of the Eucharist.
And we join together with ourpilgrims and the whole nation as
we look forward to our twentyhundred and fiftieth anniversary
as a nation.
And we pray that thisEucharistic pilgrimage will be a
blessing for our land, for ourpeople, for the church and our
(02:25):
country.
And we continue to pray forpeace.
We ask the help and intercessionof Mary, our blessed mother, as
we pray.
Hail Mary, full of grace, theLord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray.
(02:46):
Pray for us sinners, now and atthe hour of our death.
Amen.
Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, Motherof the Church, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saint James, the patron ofpilgrims, pray for us.
All holy men and women, pray forus.
Name of the Father, and the Son,and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
SPEAKER_03 (03:02):
All right, so what uh how are things going to be
going?
It's uh it's been exciting,crazy, busy, national
Eucharistic pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (03:11):
The Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, um the
consecration of the country thatuh I was blessed to be part of
on Thursday evening in Orlandowith the bishops, and then uh we
ordained two new priests on umon Saturday morning.
So it's been a full weekend, anduh I guess it was November when
I reached out to Father Caesarabout the uh Eucharistic
(03:32):
pilgrimage coming through.
Um maybe uh just share a littleof your experience from there
until now.
You don't have to go into allthe details, but it led to a
beautiful night last night inPassaic, uh wonderful morning
this morning, and lookingforward to this evening.
SPEAKER_00 (03:46):
Yeah, I mean I was uh to be honest, I did not fully
realize what we were gettingourselves into, right?
Welcome to Ministry Land.
Exactly, exactly.
Um, but uh I was happy to tokind of embark on this journey.
Um what we've been able to do uhis not only historical in the
life of our diocese, right?
(04:06):
Um, but I think it all blends inperfectly into the whole
Eucharistic revival that isgoing on nationwide.
And uh the beautiful massyesterday at Bovarini Stadium,
the great attendance, uh theparticipation of all our
ecclesial movements, um thatstuff doesn't happen.
Um there was a committee thatwas formed.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
Uh everyone pastors in Passaic were wonderful,
right?
Right.
The mayor of Passaic, Mayor Law.
Yeah, our shout out to the cityof Passaic and the police
officers, everyone there.
SPEAKER_00 (04:35):
Uh they really they they've been a pleasure to work
with.
Um and so just to see theculmination of that work
throughout these past few monthsand um the great response we've
received from everyone that wekind of reached out to and and
invited uh has been extremelyrewarding.
And uh thankful to to BishopSweeney for his vote of
(04:56):
confidence.
Um and you know, now we hope toreap the fruits of Jesus coming
through our diocese anddeepening of our faith and our
love of him.
Um I think uh you know the theseed has been planted and God
will students.
SPEAKER_02 (05:13):
That's a very uh opportunity to participate this
morning here at St.
Peter's.
And uh uh in your planning, um Ithink you heard about a priest
who was well known on socialmedia, right?
Is it Father Casey Cole, is thatit?
Uh maybe just tell us a littlebit about the decision to invite
Father Casey to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:29):
So um I follow Father Casey.
Uh I've kind of seen the amazingwork he's done uh with young
people in particular.
Uh just the his style, the wayhe presents the good news.
Um I thought it was kind of theperfect person to have speak to
our Catholic school students.
Um he's young, he's vibrant,he's very dynamic, and so I
(05:51):
think these are all things thatwhen channeled in the right way,
they can make the gospel messagemore attractive and more
relatable for our youngstudents.
And so I reached out to him andhe graciously accepted uh
despite his very busy schedule,and we're just very glad that
he's with us.
And we learned this morning withthe young people that he loves
tacos.
SPEAKER_02 (06:08):
Yes, tacos are great.
So, Father Casey, thanks again.
Uh maybe just two things tostart.
Uh, maybe just tell us a littlebit about yourself, your
vocation story, uh, maybe whatattracted you to some of the
ministry that you do in terms ofuh social media, uh, and then
after that, maybe just tell us alittle bit about what you shared
with our our students uh uh thismorning in terms of uh uh
(06:31):
getting to know Jesus in theEucharist.
SPEAKER_06 (06:33):
Sure.
Uh well I'm a Franciscan friar,as you can see from my habit,
and so someone inspired by St.
Francis of Assisi, who went outand cared for the poor and
announced the kingdom.
And I met friars when I was incollege who just lived with joy.
They lived with humility, theylived with compassion for all
people.
And something about that reallyshook my world because I had
thought about being a marriedman, having kids, and I thought
that was a great, wonderfulvocation, and and it is, but I
(06:56):
started to realize that maybethere were other things for me,
and maybe I wasn't a guy calledto make to love one person or a
small number of people, buteveryone in a different way.
And so I found myself reallyfinding Jesus in the poor and
the broken and those who arelost, and so this idea of going
out into the world has alwaysbeen so important for me.
I'm a person that, whether it'sa recipe or a television show,
(07:17):
if I get excited aboutsomething, I have to share it
with everyone.
Oh.
And so this has led me to myvocation as an evangelist, but
also uh online in social media.
So many people around the worldare not coming to church.
And so where are they?
They're on their phones.
So that's maybe where we go tomeet them.
Which has led us to the ministrythat we do in Charlotte.
We go out to the city streetsand we evangelize people who go
(07:40):
to work, people who go on thestreets.
Search, so that's the name ofit.
Seek, encounter, accompany,renew, convert, and heal.
Wow.
Evangelization is not an event,it's a process.
And what Pope Francis remindedus so often is that
accompaniment is so important,that patience to walk with
people.
SPEAKER_02 (07:56):
Walking the journey together as our pilgrims are
doing from Florida through NewJersey up to Boston and then
eventually down to Philadelphia,right?
SPEAKER_06 (08:02):
Yeah, and recognizing that people have
found a bit of the truth.
They found some goodness, somebeauty.
They may not call it God, theymay not know its source, but I
do think they know Godimplicitly.
And so our goal is to help themlet that flourish, to find the
good and say, yes, let me buildupon that.
SPEAKER_02 (08:18):
And um the pilgrimage gives us some
opportunities to come togetherin prayer uh in the presence of
our Lord.
We had a beautiful mass lastnight.
We'll have a mass this eveningin the cathedral.
Uh, and you shared uh a messageum with our Catholic school
students and their teachers anduh leaders, school leaders and
priests, uh pastors uh uh thismorning here at St.
(08:39):
Peter's.
Maybe you want to what it whatdid you try to say to our young
people about the Eucharist?
SPEAKER_06 (08:44):
Yeah, so much of the last couple years has been
focused on what the Eucharistis, emphasizing the true
presence of Christ, that He istruly there, body, blood, soul,
and divinity, and I thinkrightly so.
This is something that we foundin our country that a lot of
Catholics didn't understand ordidn't fully live out.
And so a lot of emphasis onthat, but I've been fascinated
over the last couple years andfelt a need to emphasize, so
(09:06):
what?
So what if Jesus is up there?
Does that have any effect on mylife?
And so what I talked about todayis how the reception of the
Eucharist transforms us andsends us out.
That if we are to receive Jesus,we are to become the body of
Christ, which means if he is auh a body of holiness, the
Eucharist makes us holy.
And if he is a sacrifice for us,we are to sacrifice ourselves
(09:28):
for others.
And if we are to be sent out tobring reconciliation and
communion, that is exactly whathe did and commands us to do.
SPEAKER_02 (09:36):
Holiness, sacrificial love, and communion,
right?
Beautiful.
SPEAKER_03 (09:41):
Well, great.
Yes.
So um tell us like how how's itbeen going with social media?
Are i are you seeing an impact?
Like, are you see the seedsbeing sown or what?
SPEAKER_06 (09:50):
Social media is a wild place.
It is a place with a lot offruit, but as we see with Pope
Leo talking about AI, some ofthese things don't have the
right governors on them.
They don't have the rightregulations, the right limits,
and we don't necessarily alwaysknow how to use them.
And so what we find is that somepeople are just of ill will, and
so they're there to be mean.
Other times there are people whoare really well-intentioned, but
(10:12):
maybe don't have the skills, andso we might spread
misinformation or maybe a badimpression of the church.
And then there are some who aredoing incredible work, and I
think all three of us probably,or all three of those things
describe all of us at sometimes, at our best and at our
worst.
And so knowing how to get theright fruit from it.
Is it just the numbers?
Is it the number of likes,subscribers?
(10:33):
Usually not.
I find the best fruit is whenpeople come and say, I was at a
tough time in my life, and thatgave me direction.
And so I always try to focus onthose qualitative things.
How many people are entering thechurch, how many people are
growing deeper in their love forChrist?
And that's hard to measure.
And so sometimes it is offeringup to God to say, I have done
what is mine to do.
Lord, do with it what you like.
SPEAKER_03 (10:54):
Okay, yeah.
And Father Caesar, you're noslouch when it comes to social
media.
SPEAKER_00 (10:58):
I try, uh trying to learn from the best, given our
presenter today and the twopriests that spoke yesterday,
Father Raphael Capot and FatherHeriberto Garcia.
Um, but I agree wholeheartedlywith what Father Casey uh
mentioned.
Um it is a digital continent,and so the church has to meet
people where they are.
(11:19):
Um if people are on theirphones, well then as they're you
know scrolling, there should besomething of the gospel message
that jumps out.
And to go back to the thetranscendentals uh Father Casey
mentioned, we see good truth andbeauty all around us, right?
And it's just I think a matterof readjusting our lens, our
(11:40):
focus, and to make sure thatthose things that are good,
right, because God created themgood, point us back to him, um,
and then uh elicit a response onour part.
Well, how can we thencommunicate that to the world?
SPEAKER_02 (11:56):
Maybe it's a phrase we don't hear as often as we
used to, but uh, you know, apicture's worth a thousand
words, right?
And uh, as you talk aboutgoodness and beauty and even
truth, um, I think of some ofthe images um from yesterday,
right?
From that procession, and thebeautiful evening and the
stadium and filled with uh thefaithful celebrating mass,
united around the Eucharist andthe altar.
(12:16):
And and that's gonna go out,right?
I mean, that that'll be um uhour our our Hispanic Charismatic
group group I know is veryactive on social media, and I'm
sure they'll have a lot of thoseimages out there.
Um, Father Casey, was itsomething that uh you you grew
up with?
Um was the interest always therein terms of social media and
then uh as you using it forministry, or was it something
that you uh maybe realized couldbe um used at maybe a later
(12:41):
date?
SPEAKER_06 (12:41):
Yeah, I I know I look young, but uh social media
didn't exist when I was younger.
And so there there is a wholenew world that we're all trying
to figure out now.
I will say that I uh have alwayswanted to share my faith, and
I've always wanted to makepeople feel welcome and get
excited about things I'm excitedabout.
And so as these new technologieshave come out, I will admit I've
been reticent.
(13:02):
Uh I I was late to get onto ablog and late to get on YouTube
and late to get on some of theseother things, but then
recognizing maybe this is mycross to bear sometimes.
I I don't always love to do it,but I do think it is a necessary
opportunity to meet people.
SPEAKER_03 (13:17):
Okay, yeah, beautiful.
Beautifully said.
Um should we leave it there anduh invite our other guests?
SPEAKER_02 (13:23):
Yeah, we're gonna have uh some of the pilgrims.
Uh uh, had you I guess you'vebeen following the pilgrimage or
been aware of it, or did youknow about the Eucharistic
Congress and and the uh thepilgrimages that started, I
guess, a couple of years ago.
SPEAKER_06 (13:36):
Yeah, I met some of the pilgrims in in Charlotte
actually.
SPEAKER_02 (13:38):
Okay, great, great, great.
Um God bless them.
Uh the ones that are theperpetual pilgrims, as they say.
So yeah, we're looking, and uhFather Caesar, again, thanks uh
for all that you've been doing.
And uh we um we again thankFather Pickens for uh uh hosting
us today and uh looking forwardto this evening.
So thanks again, Father Caesar,and thanks Father Casey.
Thank you so much helloeverybody, we're back.
(14:08):
Thanks for being with us here atBeyond the Beacon.
And uh, as we just spoke withFather Caesar and Father Casey
Cole, we are now happy to meetand get to know a little bit uh
some of our pet perpetualpilgrims, three of the nine,
right, that started in St.
Augustine, Florida on Pentecost.
Yes.
Uh and have been working yourway up through the original 13
colonies, right?
(14:29):
Uh Georgia, South Carolina,North Carolina, Virginia.
You got we were in the Capitol,right?
Washington, D.C.
And then um, I know you wentthrough Delaware where Bishop
Koenig is, and you crossed theDelaware like uh President
Washington, right?
General Washington, and uh uhwere received by Bishop Williams
in Camden a couple days ago anduh arrived here um in our
(14:51):
diocese uh last night where wehad a beautiful procession
through the streets of Passaicand a mess at the football
stadium.
Uh so maybe you could just uhjust introduce yourselves, where
you're from, uh how you ended upbecoming a perpetual pil
pilgrim, and maybe how how it'sbeen going so far.
Is it Mary Carmen?
SPEAKER_01 (15:09):
Sure.
So I am from Carmel, Indiana,and uh currently I live in South
Bend.
My name is Mary Carmen.
I'm 26 years old.
SPEAKER_02 (15:17):
School there, right?
Uh Notre Dame.
No Irish, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
God's country.
Um yeah, and I heard about theopportunity to apply um online
and also just through um afriend.
And by the time I learned thatyou could apply last year, the
application deadline had alreadypassed.
And so this year I was sure toapply, and was really grateful
(15:42):
for um the opportunity.
It's been an incredibleblessing.
I am learning about myself.
Um, I'm learning about theLord's love for me in a new,
deeper way.
And I've just been very inspiredto see people come together on
this pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (16:01):
And uh you're each wearing your very nice national
Eucharistic pilgrimage uhshirts.
Uh I remember when Bishop Barronfirst talked about um the Pew
study and not so many Americanor Catholics here that didn't
really appreciate what webelieve about the real presence
of Jesus in the Eucharist, andthat led to a three-year
(16:22):
Eucharistic revival, and it ledus all to, or many of us, to
Indianapolis, right, for the uhEucharistic Congress in the
summer of 2024.
And maybe something that not asmany were aware of um at that
time was the four pilgrimagesfrom northern Minnesota with the
Canadian border, from thesouthern border in Texas with
Mexico, from I think uh theGolden Gate Bridge or uh the
(16:45):
Western California.
Uh and then uh somewhere in Ithink uh in in New York, right?
Maybe even Ellis Island, Iforget where, but it started.
And so uh east-west, north-southall came to pilgrims walking.
Uh and I remember being therethat night and seeing the four
groups come in, and there wasgreat coverage uh leading up to
(17:06):
Eucharistic Congress, and thenuh as you said, I think there
was a pilgrimage last year, andnow for the 250th anniversary.
Um maybe Mary Carmen, before wemove on to uh uh Raymond and
Zach, right.
Uh what was the process or timebetween filling out the
application and hearing you'regonna be one of the pilgrims?
(17:28):
Uh what was that like?
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
Sure.
So I filled out the applicationin October the night it was due,
11.57 p.m.
And um we had a couple rounds ofinterviews, so then I I received
a call um I think maybe about aweek later, and I had an
interview and then waited forsome time and then um had
(17:49):
another interview in Novemberand then uh didn't hear back for
a while and thought, well, maybeI didn't get it, um, which is
okay.
And then I found out aboutmid-December that I had been
chosen, and so that wasexciting.
I was just immediately floodedwith joy um reading the the
(18:11):
letter of acceptance and um wasreally, really excited that this
would be a reality.
SPEAKER_02 (18:18):
Bishop Andrew Cousins at Crooks, Crookstown, I
think, Minnesota Minnesota kindof took the baton from Bishop
Barron and really did such atremendous job with his team
leading to the EucharisticCongress, but also forming, I
guess, uh the corporation,right, or 501c3 of the National
Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and tosee what's uh the the way that
(18:39):
the revival continues and uh uhand and the blessing of the
pilgrimage.
And uh I know there's a largegroup that helps to organize uh
and uh and because of that wehave uh you here with us today
in the pilgrimage happening.
Um Raymond, right?
Uh what um maybe a little bitwhere you're from and how you
ended up as a pilgrim and howit's been going so far.
SPEAKER_05 (19:00):
Yes.
Uh my name is Raymond MartinezII.
I'm a seminarian for the Dioceseof San Angelo, Texas.
Um and yeah, me and my bishopand my vocation director were
we're looking around at somesummer assignments, um, and this
opportunity just kind of fellinto our laps.
Um and so um throughoutthroughout my time applying, I
(19:21):
had other summer assignmentsthat I was kind of praying with
and um filling out applicationsfor, but um each of those fell
through.
Um and uh and I I I could reallytell that this is what the Lord
wanted me to do this summer.
Um because yeah, um I got I gotaccepted and um yeah this was
the only summer assignment thatactually actually worked out.
(19:43):
How long uh have you been in aseminary?
I've been a seminarian for alittle over three years.
Uh are you in theology now?
I'm I'm in college seminary.
I'm going into my last year ofcollege seminary.
What um uh where do you attendschool?
I attend school at ConceptionSeminary College in northwest
Missouri.
SPEAKER_02 (20:00):
Okay.
Um and so um uh with your bishopyou said can I apply for the uh
uh and when did uh what was itlike between applying and
hearing that you were gonna beuh Yeah, uh very similar to Mary
Carmen.
SPEAKER_05 (20:16):
Um we applied I applied in October, I think I
was a couple days before the duedate.
Um then I did an interview uh inOctober and then another one in
November and found out in inmid-December that I was I was
accepted.
Um and so that was that was sucha great joy um to to get to um
be a national euch pilgrim.
(20:36):
Um I've attended both uh I'veattended both pilgrimages um in
prior.
Uh I attended the one in 2024 inRefugio, Texas.
Oh wow.
Um and then I also attended theone in that passed through my
diocese in San Angelo, Texas,um, in 2025, um, as well as
attend the National EuchanticCongress.
And so um getting to be aperpetual pilgrim kind of um
(20:58):
I've I've been praying andhoping that I I get this
opportunity and um yeah, givethe Lord a lot and he gives you
even more back.
SPEAKER_02 (21:06):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And uh so you all met, I guess,eventually in St.
Augustine, Florida, right?
Um we actually had a retreat inJanuary.
SPEAKER_05 (21:15):
Okay, beautiful um that we got to meet each other.
Um and yeah, we had a we had ashort little retreat.
We actually got snowed in, whichwas kind of a wonderful
opportunity.
SPEAKER_02 (21:23):
Where was the retreat in January?
SPEAKER_05 (21:25):
It was in Tipton, Indiana.
And so that was that was reallywonderful getting to getting to
meet the teammates and get toknow each other a little bit
before pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (21:32):
And then uh the um it began in St.
Augustine because that was uhwhere the first mass was
celebrated, I believe, in thecontinental United States,
right?
Long before the country wasfounded.
Uh and um so um uh maybe a fewwords about uh from there till
now, what's the experience beenlike?
SPEAKER_05 (21:49):
Yeah.
It's been it's been such a gift.
Um getting to see people's faithand their yeah, their their
faith of just being able to fallon their knees before our Lord
and and worship him, adore him.
Um and their faith to drive orfly hours upon hours upon hours
to attend events um and theirdesire to be as close to them as
(22:10):
possible.
Um yeah, I just remember um onmultiple occasions in in
processions through nursinghomes or um through through poor
streets being able to um to talkabout our Lord with with these
individuals and their just theirdesire to to follow him in
whatever way they possiblycould.
SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
Uh you're meeting people on the way as well,
right?
Yes, yeah.
Um Zach, right?
Yes, that's me.
Tell us a little where you'refrom and uh and how you ended up
as a pilgrim and how it's beengoing so far.
SPEAKER_04 (22:42):
Yeah, I'd love to.
Uh Zach Dotson is the name.
I'm 25 years old.
I'm also from Indiana, like MaryCarmen, but I'm from the great
city of Hammond, Indiana, juston the south side of Chicago.
Um and I grew up.
What diocese is that?
It's Gary Diocese.
Uh Bishop McClurry.
Yes.
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (22:59):
He's looking forward to getting the bears.
He is.
SPEAKER_04 (23:03):
Probably gonna be only about like an eight-minute
drive from my home parish.
So um, yeah, and I I grew upCatholic, but my father passed
away when I was 11, and um,which is so confused and and and
angry.
I I fell away from the churchfor over a decade.
It was 23 when I came back, andum during my my first mass in
over 10 years, it was CorpusChristi.
(23:23):
He picked a good day for me tocome back.
And uh did you just decide to goback after all those years?
I had been like wrestling.
I think I kind of begrudginglycame to the fact there was a
God.
I did some research and it ledme back home to the Catholic
Church.
And you know, the mass started,and I was kind of nervous at
first because the liturgy of theword was it felt just very
familiar, right?
You know when to stand, you knowthe readings.
Then the liturgy of theEucharist starts, and I'm just
(23:45):
I'm struck speechless.
I can't believe what I'mwitnessing.
I get to be party to.
And we get to a part of theMass, of course, where um Father
Ted is holding our Lord, and hesays, Behold the Lamb of God,
behold he who takes away thesins of the world.
And I start to weep because Ithink for the first time in my
life I truly did behold him, andI recognized, you know, who and
what the Eucharist is.
(24:06):
This is the King of Kings, ourLord and our Savior.
I just knew right then and thereI wanted to serve him in any
capacity he called me to.
I would tell him, just point andI'll run full steam ofhead.
That's where I want to be.
So um, a fellow parishioner ofmine uh who's I have a great
respect for his faith, he sentme the application for last
year's pilgrimage, and I didn'teven open it.
I was like, this is pointless,they don't want me.
(24:27):
Um I'll just you know spend thisyear in prison.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Had you been aware of the Eucharistic Congress?
I was, yeah, being an Indian.
SPEAKER_04 (24:32):
I wasn't able to get down to it, but yeah, so I was
like, they don't want Catholicslike me.
So when he sent it this year, umit was different though.
I felt this intrinsic call tofill it out, and it was actually
at our parish's pet blessing.
I ran out to the car real quickand you know filled out the
application.
You should have told FatherCasey that yeah, it's a very
similar interview process.
(24:53):
My first interview is a littlebit different.
We were supposed to go through,I think, 10 questions.
I like to talk a lot.
We only got through threequestions, and I was like, well,
there it goes.
You know, shut that book, we'redone with that, but uh move
forward with the secondinterview and then being invited
to um come down to Tipton forthe retreat, and then was
offered to be the assistant teamlead for this year's pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (25:14):
That's great.
So um I would say guess thateach of you um you know had some
idea of you know what to expect,and uh um uh I'm sure some of
that's uh been accurate and asexpected.
Uh what's been the biggestsurprise or something that you
didn't expect to see orexperience or uh uh since
(25:36):
Pentecost on your journey hereto Patterson and uh St.
Peter's Paris Church here in uhParsippany?
What's been the biggestsurprise, sir?
SPEAKER_04 (25:45):
I think one surprise for me, a beautiful surprise, is
the willingness of people tostop their lives, stop what
they're doing during aprocession and follow with us.
Yesterday this man goes, What doI do with my car if I want to
join?
And we said park it.
And he he ran back, he parkedhis car, and he was at mass with
us at the stadium.
(26:05):
And um, just in the just theopenness of so many people's
hearts.
You know, it reminds me, youknow, if tonight you hear his
voice, harden not your hearts,and so many people are following
that.
And so many people are alsomoved to take this flame, right,
this fire, and then carry itback wherever it is they're
going, back to their home, backto their parish, back to other
parts of the diocese.
(26:25):
They're so moved to get into thecommunity, to continue to serve
our Lord, to truly become amonstrance themselves.
SPEAKER_02 (27:13):
Uh Mother Olga, I never heard of Mother Olga
before the uh EucharisticCongress, and uh I go back to
it.
She started her talk with uh uhLord prepare me to be a
sanctuary, uh uh pure and holy,tried and true.
Uh with Thanksgiving, I'll be aliving sanctuary.
Anyway, I'm a big fan of MotherOlga, but uh it's a beautiful
hymn, but uh, but yeah, that wecan be a sanctuary, right?
Where we believe, we say it alot, the body's a temple of the
(27:35):
Holy Spirit, but um how often dowe think, you know, that we're
called to really be have theLord uh in our home?
I'm not worthy you should enterunder my roof, right?
Um and uh and he does uh in HolyCommunion.
So uh the uh you know so much inour faith we can take for
granted, right?
Growing up Catholic, or um, butthese moments help to uh our
focus.
Um uh Mary Carmen and uhRaymond.
(27:59):
Uh Raymond?
Yes.
Uh uh a surprise or somethingyou didn't expect?
SPEAKER_01 (28:05):
I truthfully wasn't sure how many people would be
attending these events.
Um I have really been blownaway.
I think I shared at lunch thatwhen we went to Washington,
D.C., uh we had like over 2,200people there with us.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
Um outdoor mass was it?
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Outdoor mass and then procession.
And um yeah, I've just beenblown away by the numbers.
Yesterday's procession here umwas phenomenal just seeing the
people come out in crowds um hasjust reinvigorated my own faith.
And yeah, it's been it's beenexciting to see the amount of
(28:45):
people that have joined us thusfar and we'll continue.
I I can't wait for forPhiladelphia.
I think it's gonna be crazy.
SPEAKER_05 (28:55):
Yeah, very very similar for me.
I I think um seeing seeing somany people and then seeing the
depth of so many people's faith.
Um because yeah, I yesterday forme um just seeing the joy of the
procession was wasreinvigorating for me, and then
seeing um throughout throughoutthe pilgrimage, just seeing so
many people come out um for ourLord, um and whether that means
(29:19):
they have to drive many hours toget there or fly or whatever
inconvenience they have toovercome to be present.
Um I've seen throughout thepilgrimage, I've seen so many
walkers and strollers and um andwheelchairs and canes, and it's
wonderful that they are doingthis for our Lord.
They're showing that they arewilling and desired to show up
(29:41):
for our Lord who has shown upfor them, who has who's given
them so much.
Um and so it's so wonderful tosee um the desire the to for
everybody to come out and um andfollow our Lord no matter what
they have to overcome to tofollow our Lord, um, which is
really inspiring me.
Um, because yeah, I mean, justhow much how much are you how
(30:02):
far are you willing to go tofollow our Lord?
Um, well you guys are willing togo a long way.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (30:06):
Thank you for that.
Uh and it hasn't all been onland, right?
Uh uh across the Delaware?
Uh I heard you got a little wet.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (30:16):
Really put the gospels into view living in the.
Yeah, across when we crossed theChesapeake Bay, um I was laying
on the boat and I opened up toMatthew chapter 14 and was just
reading the account of Christwalking on water, and I'm
looking at at the water andthinking, what was Peter
(30:38):
thinking?
Like what must that what mustthat have been like to step out
and walk on the water?
And it's just a really tangibleexperience to to go across water
with the Blessed Sacrament.
SPEAKER_05 (30:49):
Yes, for me this is what this was the first
opportunity I've ever been on aboat before.
Really?
So um crossing from FloridaBeach, Florida to uh to St.
Mary's, Georgia was uh orFerdinando Beach, Florida to uh
St.
Mary's Georgia was just reallyincredible.
I I was really able to reflecton on Matthew 14 in that in that
in a very real way because itwas my first time ever being on
(31:11):
a boat and um yeah, I was I wasa little nervous, but um I
really was able to to put myselfinto the gospel message and um
yeah, that's shown that's shownme a lot.
SPEAKER_02 (31:23):
Maybe we can conclude by just uh if our
listeners or viewers um maybejust a few words about what
you've learned about um the giftof the Eucharist, uh the real
presence um uh that you wouldshare and from the your own
faith perspective and uh and andwhat it means that Jesus gave us
(31:46):
this gift of his body, blood,soul, and divinity.
SPEAKER_04 (31:50):
Yeah, I think I would say that when we refer to
the Eucharist as the source andsummit of our faith, it's not an
empty platitude, right?
That's a radical statement, it'sa radical thing to believe and
to constantly affirm thatbelief, right?
This is our Lord and Savior.
He takes on this great humilityto be here with us, he's not
left us orphaned.
I would say there's nothing thatChrist wants more than for you
(32:13):
to experience Him and HisEucharistic heart.
He's waiting for you.
The same Jesus that we've beentraveling with on this beautiful
procession is already in thetabernacle of your home parish,
and he wants you to be there.
He wants you to be properlydisposed to receive him.
SPEAKER_02 (32:26):
And uh you also have a four-wheel tabernacle, right?
In the van you have the uh thatyou're traveling in.
SPEAKER_04 (32:33):
Yeah, there's this place for the uh there is, and
there's also an apparatus on topthat secures the monstrance so
we can have exposition whilewe're driving down the
expressway or pulling up intothe parish.
SPEAKER_02 (32:43):
Beautiful, beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Um something about the Eucharist that you would
share in terms of your faith andI think I have been called to
reflect upon how we are toimitate the Eucharist, and the
Eucharist um it's a sacrifice,it's Christ's sacrifice
represented on the cross, and umwe are meant to also be broken
(33:07):
and blessed and given for thelife of the world.
Um we're meant to unite oursacrifices to him, with him, and
uh that's something that youknow in any pilgrimage there are
going to be small moments ofsacrifice or suffering or
inconvenience, um whether it'syou know lack of sleep or um I
(33:30):
think I've been gaining weightbecause we've had so much great
hospitality of the diocese.
Um but I mean any inconvenience,whatever it may be, like it
really they really are momentsof opportunity to unite
ourselves to Jesus and tocontinually offer ourselves for
the people that we encounter.
SPEAKER_02 (33:48):
So Father Casey did a great job this morning, didn't
he, with the young people in uhholiness, sacrifice and
communion.
Uh and um back to Mother Olga.
She spoke about uh knowing Jesusin the knowing the broken Jesus,
broken in the Eucharist, but shewe experience brokenness in our
lives, all of us.
And and in some who are the mostbroken, um it's an opportunity
(34:13):
um uh to experience the healingpower of of his presence and his
love um uh in the Eucharist.
And um uh did you say to imitatethe Eucharist, right?
Yeah, yeah, beautiful.
Um Raymond.
SPEAKER_05 (34:27):
Yeah, I think for me, um it's just being it's
again going towards the point ofseeing people's desire to show
up for our Lord.
Like um one of my teammates oncesaid, like, we don't kneel on
hot asphalt for for just asymbol, right?
Uh we don't we don't processthrough the streets of of a
really humid and hot town forjust a symbol, right?
(34:48):
Like we are we are going throughthis, we are showing up for our
Lord, showing our love for him,and recognizing that he is truly
present in the Eucharist.
And we want all people to beable to see that and to want our
joy, to want our faith.
Um and so yeah, I think that'sbeen that's been really
inspiring and reinvigorating formy own my own faith is that
(35:10):
like, yeah, seeing people'sdesire and their understanding
of Jesus truly in the Eucharist,um, and yeah, it's it's
recognizing that he is not justa symbol.
Like we wouldn't just be doingthis if he was if it was just a
symbol.
SPEAKER_02 (35:24):
I uh I can still see Jonathan Roomy at the Eucharist
in Congress with the FlanneryO'Connor line on his t-shirt.
If it's just a symbol to hellwith it, right?
Yes, yes.
Uh yes, right.
Uh it's not just a symbol,right?
It's uh it's the real presence.
And uh well, thank you so much,you know, for taking this time
and uh but especially for youryes to the Lord and uh uh
(35:45):
inviting, we're a pilgrimpeople, right?
You know you have a newappreciation and over the next
uh you got about uh three moreweeks to go, I guess, right?
Yeah, so uh uh thank you for umfor all that you're doing and uh
and wonderful to have you hereand thanks for spending some
time with us.
So um we'll uh Jay usually takesus out, but uh I'll say uh thank
(36:06):
you to all of our listeners andum and viewers, and uh please
keep the pilgrims in yourprayers, especially between now
and July 4th.
We'll be following you, uhsocial media and otherwise, and
uh praying for you certainly.
And please keep us in your inyour in in please keep us here
in Patterson in your prayers.
And um to our uh viewers andlisteners, uh thanks again for
tuning in to Be on the Beacon.
(36:27):
Follow us on social media andonline and the website, and uh
look to see you again.
Um thanks very much and Godbless you.
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 Agnis, CommunicationsDirector for the Diocese and
editor of the Beacon, our newswebsite.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
Bishop, how are you?
SPEAKER_02 (00:28):
I'm good, Jay.
How are you doing?
Doing good.
We have another new set?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (00:33):
On the road again.
SPEAKER_02 (00:34):
We thank Father David Pickens, the uh pastor of
St.
Peter the Apostle Church here inPartiphany, where Father Caesar
served right for a time, twoyears.
And uh, but today, as part ofthe our participation, uh
blessed to host and receive uhthe National Eucharistic
Pilgrimage and um wonderfulnight last night in Passaic.
(00:55):
Um Father Casey Cole, who willmeet, uh, spoke to our Catholic
school students this morning andlook forward to procession and
uh gathering tonight in ourcathedral.
But uh Father Caesar's beenworking hard now for a number of
months to bring it all together,but uh but so far so good.
And uh I wrote a little fewwords in the beacon for this
week's column, and at the end ofit I put, you know, wonderful
(01:16):
weekend with many blessings.
Yesterday's gospel, I thought itwas beautiful and appropriate,
and then I put a PS at the end,and that the Knicks won the NBA
championship on Saturday, madeit a good weekend.
SPEAKER_03 (01:27):
Yeah, I think I think everyone in the entire
metropolitan area is fully awarethat and and you being a big
Knicks fan, uh socongratulations to you.
You must be excited and uh let'shope it's not another 53 years.
Yes, that's right.
SPEAKER_02 (01:40):
Right, right, right.
So um maybe we'll begin withprayer.
Name of the Father and of theSon and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.
Remembering that Jesus has toldus wherever two or three are
gathered together in his name,he's there in the midst of them.
We thank in a special way today,God, for the gift of our faith,
hope, and love, and especiallythe gift of Jesus, truly present
(02:04):
body, blood, soul, and divinity,and the gift of the Eucharist.
And we join together with ourpilgrims and the whole nation as
we look forward to our twentyhundred and fiftieth anniversary
as a nation.
And we pray that thisEucharistic pilgrimage will be a
blessing for our land, for ourpeople, for the church and our
(02:25):
country.
And we continue to pray forpeace.
We ask the help and intercessionof Mary, our blessed mother, as
we pray.
Hail Mary, full of grace, theLord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray.
(02:46):
Pray for us sinners, now and atthe hour of our death.
Amen.
Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, Motherof the Church, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saint James, the patron ofpilgrims, pray for us.
All holy men and women, pray forus.
Name of the Father, and the Son,and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
SPEAKER_03 (03:02):
All right, so what uh how are things going to be
going?
It's uh it's been exciting,crazy, busy, national
Eucharistic pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (03:11):
The Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, um the
consecration of the country thatuh I was blessed to be part of
on Thursday evening in Orlandowith the bishops, and then uh we
ordained two new priests on umon Saturday morning.
So it's been a full weekend, anduh I guess it was November when
I reached out to Father Caesarabout the uh Eucharistic
(03:32):
pilgrimage coming through.
Um maybe uh just share a littleof your experience from there
until now.
You don't have to go into allthe details, but it led to a
beautiful night last night inPassaic, uh wonderful morning
this morning, and lookingforward to this evening.
SPEAKER_00 (03:46):
Yeah, I mean I was uh to be honest, I did not fully
realize what we were gettingourselves into, right?
Welcome to Ministry Land.
Exactly, exactly.
Um, but uh I was happy to tokind of embark on this journey.
Um what we've been able to do uhis not only historical in the
life of our diocese, right?
(04:06):
Um, but I think it all blends inperfectly into the whole
Eucharistic revival that isgoing on nationwide.
And uh the beautiful massyesterday at Bovarini Stadium,
the great attendance, uh theparticipation of all our
ecclesial movements, um thatstuff doesn't happen.
Um there was a committee thatwas formed.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
Uh everyone pastors in Passaic were wonderful,
right?
Right.
The mayor of Passaic, Mayor Law.
Yeah, our shout out to the cityof Passaic and the police
officers, everyone there.
SPEAKER_00 (04:35):
Uh they really they they've been a pleasure to work
with.
Um and so just to see theculmination of that work
throughout these past few monthsand um the great response we've
received from everyone that wekind of reached out to and and
invited uh has been extremelyrewarding.
And uh thankful to to BishopSweeney for his vote of
(04:56):
confidence.
Um and you know, now we hope toreap the fruits of Jesus coming
through our diocese anddeepening of our faith and our
love of him.
Um I think uh you know the theseed has been planted and God
will students.
SPEAKER_02 (05:13):
That's a very uh opportunity to participate this
morning here at St.
Peter's.
And uh uh in your planning, um Ithink you heard about a priest
who was well known on socialmedia, right?
Is it Father Casey Cole, is thatit?
Uh maybe just tell us a littlebit about the decision to invite
Father Casey to do it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:29):
So um I follow Father Casey.
Uh I've kind of seen the amazingwork he's done uh with young
people in particular.
Uh just the his style, the wayhe presents the good news.
Um I thought it was kind of theperfect person to have speak to
our Catholic school students.
Um he's young, he's vibrant,he's very dynamic, and so I
(05:51):
think these are all things thatwhen channeled in the right way,
they can make the gospel messagemore attractive and more
relatable for our youngstudents.
And so I reached out to him andhe graciously accepted uh
despite his very busy schedule,and we're just very glad that
he's with us.
And we learned this morning withthe young people that he loves
tacos.
SPEAKER_02 (06:08):
Yes, tacos are great.
So, Father Casey, thanks again.
Uh maybe just two things tostart.
Uh, maybe just tell us a littlebit about yourself, your
vocation story, uh, maybe whatattracted you to some of the
ministry that you do in terms ofuh social media, uh, and then
after that, maybe just tell us alittle bit about what you shared
with our our students uh uh thismorning in terms of uh uh
(06:31):
getting to know Jesus in theEucharist.
SPEAKER_06 (06:33):
Sure.
Uh well I'm a Franciscan friar,as you can see from my habit,
and so someone inspired by St.
Francis of Assisi, who went outand cared for the poor and
announced the kingdom.
And I met friars when I was incollege who just lived with joy.
They lived with humility, theylived with compassion for all
people.
And something about that reallyshook my world because I had
thought about being a marriedman, having kids, and I thought
that was a great, wonderfulvocation, and and it is, but I
(06:56):
started to realize that maybethere were other things for me,
and maybe I wasn't a guy calledto make to love one person or a
small number of people, buteveryone in a different way.
And so I found myself reallyfinding Jesus in the poor and
the broken and those who arelost, and so this idea of going
out into the world has alwaysbeen so important for me.
I'm a person that, whether it'sa recipe or a television show,
(07:17):
if I get excited aboutsomething, I have to share it
with everyone.
Oh.
And so this has led me to myvocation as an evangelist, but
also uh online in social media.
So many people around the worldare not coming to church.
And so where are they?
They're on their phones.
So that's maybe where we go tomeet them.
Which has led us to the ministrythat we do in Charlotte.
We go out to the city streetsand we evangelize people who go
(07:40):
to work, people who go on thestreets.
Search, so that's the name ofit.
Seek, encounter, accompany,renew, convert, and heal.
Wow.
Evangelization is not an event,it's a process.
And what Pope Francis remindedus so often is that
accompaniment is so important,that patience to walk with
people.
SPEAKER_02 (07:56):
Walking the journey together as our pilgrims are
doing from Florida through NewJersey up to Boston and then
eventually down to Philadelphia,right?
SPEAKER_06 (08:02):
Yeah, and recognizing that people have
found a bit of the truth.
They found some goodness, somebeauty.
They may not call it God, theymay not know its source, but I
do think they know Godimplicitly.
And so our goal is to help themlet that flourish, to find the
good and say, yes, let me buildupon that.
SPEAKER_02 (08:18):
And um the pilgrimage gives us some
opportunities to come togetherin prayer uh in the presence of
our Lord.
We had a beautiful mass lastnight.
We'll have a mass this eveningin the cathedral.
Uh, and you shared uh a messageum with our Catholic school
students and their teachers anduh leaders, school leaders and
priests, uh pastors uh uh thismorning here at St.
(08:39):
Peter's.
Maybe you want to what it whatdid you try to say to our young
people about the Eucharist?
SPEAKER_06 (08:44):
Yeah, so much of the last couple years has been
focused on what the Eucharistis, emphasizing the true
presence of Christ, that He istruly there, body, blood, soul,
and divinity, and I thinkrightly so.
This is something that we foundin our country that a lot of
Catholics didn't understand ordidn't fully live out.
And so a lot of emphasis onthat, but I've been fascinated
over the last couple years andfelt a need to emphasize, so
(09:06):
what?
So what if Jesus is up there?
Does that have any effect on mylife?
And so what I talked about todayis how the reception of the
Eucharist transforms us andsends us out.
That if we are to receive Jesus,we are to become the body of
Christ, which means if he is auh a body of holiness, the
Eucharist makes us holy.
And if he is a sacrifice for us,we are to sacrifice ourselves
(09:28):
for others.
And if we are to be sent out tobring reconciliation and
communion, that is exactly whathe did and commands us to do.
SPEAKER_02 (09:36):
Holiness, sacrificial love, and communion,
right?
Beautiful.
SPEAKER_03 (09:41):
Well, great.
Yes.
So um tell us like how how's itbeen going with social media?
Are i are you seeing an impact?
Like, are you see the seedsbeing sown or what?
SPEAKER_06 (09:50):
Social media is a wild place.
It is a place with a lot offruit, but as we see with Pope
Leo talking about AI, some ofthese things don't have the
right governors on them.
They don't have the rightregulations, the right limits,
and we don't necessarily alwaysknow how to use them.
And so what we find is that somepeople are just of ill will, and
so they're there to be mean.
Other times there are people whoare really well-intentioned, but
(10:12):
maybe don't have the skills, andso we might spread
misinformation or maybe a badimpression of the church.
And then there are some who aredoing incredible work, and I
think all three of us probably,or all three of those things
describe all of us at sometimes, at our best and at our
worst.
And so knowing how to get theright fruit from it.
Is it just the numbers?
Is it the number of likes,subscribers?
(10:33):
Usually not.
I find the best fruit is whenpeople come and say, I was at a
tough time in my life, and thatgave me direction.
And so I always try to focus onthose qualitative things.
How many people are entering thechurch, how many people are
growing deeper in their love forChrist?
And that's hard to measure.
And so sometimes it is offeringup to God to say, I have done
what is mine to do.
Lord, do with it what you like.
SPEAKER_03 (10:54):
Okay, yeah.
And Father Caesar, you're noslouch when it comes to social
media.
SPEAKER_00 (10:58):
I try, uh trying to learn from the best, given our
presenter today and the twopriests that spoke yesterday,
Father Raphael Capot and FatherHeriberto Garcia.
Um, but I agree wholeheartedlywith what Father Casey uh
mentioned.
Um it is a digital continent,and so the church has to meet
people where they are.
(11:19):
Um if people are on theirphones, well then as they're you
know scrolling, there should besomething of the gospel message
that jumps out.
And to go back to the thetranscendentals uh Father Casey
mentioned, we see good truth andbeauty all around us, right?
And it's just I think a matterof readjusting our lens, our
(11:40):
focus, and to make sure thatthose things that are good,
right, because God created themgood, point us back to him, um,
and then uh elicit a response onour part.
Well, how can we thencommunicate that to the world?
SPEAKER_02 (11:56):
Maybe it's a phrase we don't hear as often as we
used to, but uh, you know, apicture's worth a thousand
words, right?
And uh, as you talk aboutgoodness and beauty and even
truth, um, I think of some ofthe images um from yesterday,
right?
From that procession, and thebeautiful evening and the
stadium and filled with uh thefaithful celebrating mass,
united around the Eucharist andthe altar.
(12:16):
And and that's gonna go out,right?
I mean, that that'll be um uhour our our Hispanic Charismatic
group group I know is veryactive on social media, and I'm
sure they'll have a lot of thoseimages out there.
Um, Father Casey, was itsomething that uh you you grew
up with?
Um was the interest always therein terms of social media and
then uh as you using it forministry, or was it something
that you uh maybe realized couldbe um used at maybe a later
(12:41):
date?
SPEAKER_06 (12:41):
Yeah, I I know I look young, but uh social media
didn't exist when I was younger.
And so there there is a wholenew world that we're all trying
to figure out now.
I will say that I uh have alwayswanted to share my faith, and
I've always wanted to makepeople feel welcome and get
excited about things I'm excitedabout.
And so as these new technologieshave come out, I will admit I've
been reticent.
(13:02):
Uh I I was late to get onto ablog and late to get on YouTube
and late to get on some of theseother things, but then
recognizing maybe this is mycross to bear sometimes.
I I don't always love to do it,but I do think it is a necessary
opportunity to meet people.
SPEAKER_03 (13:17):
Okay, yeah, beautiful.
Beautifully said.
Um should we leave it there anduh invite our other guests?
SPEAKER_02 (13:23):
Yeah, we're gonna have uh some of the pilgrims.
Uh uh, had you I guess you'vebeen following the pilgrimage or
been aware of it, or did youknow about the Eucharistic
Congress and and the uh thepilgrimages that started, I
guess, a couple of years ago.
SPEAKER_06 (13:36):
Yeah, I met some of the pilgrims in in Charlotte
actually.
SPEAKER_02 (13:38):
Okay, great, great, great.
Um God bless them.
Uh the ones that are theperpetual pilgrims, as they say.
So yeah, we're looking, and uhFather Caesar, again, thanks uh
for all that you've been doing.
And uh we um we again thankFather Pickens for uh uh hosting
us today and uh looking forwardto this evening.
So thanks again, Father Caesar,and thanks Father Casey.
Thank you so much helloeverybody, we're back.
(14:08):
Thanks for being with us here atBeyond the Beacon.
And uh, as we just spoke withFather Caesar and Father Casey
Cole, we are now happy to meetand get to know a little bit uh
some of our pet perpetualpilgrims, three of the nine,
right, that started in St.
Augustine, Florida on Pentecost.
Yes.
Uh and have been working yourway up through the original 13
colonies, right?
(14:29):
Uh Georgia, South Carolina,North Carolina, Virginia.
You got we were in the Capitol,right?
Washington, D.C.
And then um, I know you wentthrough Delaware where Bishop
Koenig is, and you crossed theDelaware like uh President
Washington, right?
General Washington, and uh uhwere received by Bishop Williams
in Camden a couple days ago anduh arrived here um in our
(14:51):
diocese uh last night where wehad a beautiful procession
through the streets of Passaicand a mess at the football
stadium.
Uh so maybe you could just uhjust introduce yourselves, where
you're from, uh how you ended upbecoming a perpetual pil
pilgrim, and maybe how how it'sbeen going so far.
Is it Mary Carmen?
SPEAKER_01 (15:09):
Sure.
So I am from Carmel, Indiana,and uh currently I live in South
Bend.
My name is Mary Carmen.
I'm 26 years old.
SPEAKER_02 (15:17):
School there, right?
Uh Notre Dame.
No Irish, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:20):
God's country.
Um yeah, and I heard about theopportunity to apply um online
and also just through um afriend.
And by the time I learned thatyou could apply last year, the
application deadline had alreadypassed.
And so this year I was sure toapply, and was really grateful
(15:42):
for um the opportunity.
It's been an incredibleblessing.
I am learning about myself.
Um, I'm learning about theLord's love for me in a new,
deeper way.
And I've just been very inspiredto see people come together on
this pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (16:01):
And uh you're each wearing your very nice national
Eucharistic pilgrimage uhshirts.
Uh I remember when Bishop Barronfirst talked about um the Pew
study and not so many Americanor Catholics here that didn't
really appreciate what webelieve about the real presence
of Jesus in the Eucharist, andthat led to a three-year
(16:22):
Eucharistic revival, and it ledus all to, or many of us, to
Indianapolis, right, for the uhEucharistic Congress in the
summer of 2024.
And maybe something that not asmany were aware of um at that
time was the four pilgrimagesfrom northern Minnesota with the
Canadian border, from thesouthern border in Texas with
Mexico, from I think uh theGolden Gate Bridge or uh the
(16:45):
Western California.
Uh and then uh somewhere in Ithink uh in in New York, right?
Maybe even Ellis Island, Iforget where, but it started.
And so uh east-west, north-southall came to pilgrims walking.
Uh and I remember being therethat night and seeing the four
groups come in, and there wasgreat coverage uh leading up to
(17:06):
Eucharistic Congress, and thenuh as you said, I think there
was a pilgrimage last year, andnow for the 250th anniversary.
Um maybe Mary Carmen, before wemove on to uh uh Raymond and
Zach, right.
Uh what was the process or timebetween filling out the
application and hearing you'regonna be one of the pilgrims?
(17:28):
Uh what was that like?
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
Sure.
So I filled out the applicationin October the night it was due,
11.57 p.m.
And um we had a couple rounds ofinterviews, so then I I received
a call um I think maybe about aweek later, and I had an
interview and then waited forsome time and then um had
(17:49):
another interview in Novemberand then uh didn't hear back for
a while and thought, well, maybeI didn't get it, um, which is
okay.
And then I found out aboutmid-December that I had been
chosen, and so that wasexciting.
I was just immediately floodedwith joy um reading the the
(18:11):
letter of acceptance and um wasreally, really excited that this
would be a reality.
SPEAKER_02 (18:18):
Bishop Andrew Cousins at Crooks, Crookstown, I
think, Minnesota Minnesota kindof took the baton from Bishop
Barron and really did such atremendous job with his team
leading to the EucharisticCongress, but also forming, I
guess, uh the corporation,right, or 501c3 of the National
Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and tosee what's uh the the way that
(18:39):
the revival continues and uh uhand and the blessing of the
pilgrimage.
And uh I know there's a largegroup that helps to organize uh
and uh and because of that wehave uh you here with us today
in the pilgrimage happening.
Um Raymond, right?
Uh what um maybe a little bitwhere you're from and how you
ended up as a pilgrim and howit's been going so far.
SPEAKER_05 (19:00):
Yes.
Uh my name is Raymond MartinezII.
I'm a seminarian for the Dioceseof San Angelo, Texas.
Um and yeah, me and my bishopand my vocation director were
we're looking around at somesummer assignments, um, and this
opportunity just kind of fellinto our laps.
Um and so um throughoutthroughout my time applying, I
(19:21):
had other summer assignmentsthat I was kind of praying with
and um filling out applicationsfor, but um each of those fell
through.
Um and uh and I I I could reallytell that this is what the Lord
wanted me to do this summer.
Um because yeah, um I got I gotaccepted and um yeah this was
the only summer assignment thatactually actually worked out.
(19:43):
How long uh have you been in aseminary?
I've been a seminarian for alittle over three years.
Uh are you in theology now?
I'm I'm in college seminary.
I'm going into my last year ofcollege seminary.
What um uh where do you attendschool?
I attend school at ConceptionSeminary College in northwest
Missouri.
SPEAKER_02 (20:00):
Okay.
Um and so um uh with your bishopyou said can I apply for the uh
uh and when did uh what was itlike between applying and
hearing that you were gonna beuh Yeah, uh very similar to Mary
Carmen.
SPEAKER_05 (20:16):
Um we applied I applied in October, I think I
was a couple days before the duedate.
Um then I did an interview uh inOctober and then another one in
November and found out in inmid-December that I was I was
accepted.
Um and so that was that was sucha great joy um to to get to um
be a national euch pilgrim.
(20:36):
Um I've attended both uh I'veattended both pilgrimages um in
prior.
Uh I attended the one in 2024 inRefugio, Texas.
Oh wow.
Um and then I also attended theone in that passed through my
diocese in San Angelo, Texas,um, in 2025, um, as well as
attend the National EuchanticCongress.
And so um getting to be aperpetual pilgrim kind of um
(20:58):
I've I've been praying andhoping that I I get this
opportunity and um yeah, givethe Lord a lot and he gives you
even more back.
SPEAKER_02 (21:06):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And uh so you all met, I guess,eventually in St.
Augustine, Florida, right?
Um we actually had a retreat inJanuary.
SPEAKER_05 (21:15):
Okay, beautiful um that we got to meet each other.
Um and yeah, we had a we had ashort little retreat.
We actually got snowed in, whichwas kind of a wonderful
opportunity.
SPEAKER_02 (21:23):
Where was the retreat in January?
SPEAKER_05 (21:25):
It was in Tipton, Indiana.
And so that was that was reallywonderful getting to getting to
meet the teammates and get toknow each other a little bit
before pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (21:32):
And then uh the um it began in St.
Augustine because that was uhwhere the first mass was
celebrated, I believe, in thecontinental United States,
right?
Long before the country wasfounded.
Uh and um so um uh maybe a fewwords about uh from there till
now, what's the experience beenlike?
SPEAKER_05 (21:49):
Yeah.
It's been it's been such a gift.
Um getting to see people's faithand their yeah, their their
faith of just being able to fallon their knees before our Lord
and and worship him, adore him.
Um and their faith to drive orfly hours upon hours upon hours
to attend events um and theirdesire to be as close to them as
(22:10):
possible.
Um yeah, I just remember um onmultiple occasions in in
processions through nursinghomes or um through through poor
streets being able to um to talkabout our Lord with with these
individuals and their just theirdesire to to follow him in
whatever way they possiblycould.
SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
Uh you're meeting people on the way as well,
right?
Yes, yeah.
Um Zach, right?
Yes, that's me.
Tell us a little where you'refrom and uh and how you ended up
as a pilgrim and how it's beengoing so far.
SPEAKER_04 (22:42):
Yeah, I'd love to.
Uh Zach Dotson is the name.
I'm 25 years old.
I'm also from Indiana, like MaryCarmen, but I'm from the great
city of Hammond, Indiana, juston the south side of Chicago.
Um and I grew up.
What diocese is that?
It's Gary Diocese.
Uh Bishop McClurry.
Yes.
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (22:59):
He's looking forward to getting the bears.
He is.
SPEAKER_04 (23:03):
Probably gonna be only about like an eight-minute
drive from my home parish.
So um, yeah, and I I grew upCatholic, but my father passed
away when I was 11, and um,which is so confused and and and
angry.
I I fell away from the churchfor over a decade.
It was 23 when I came back, andum during my my first mass in
over 10 years, it was CorpusChristi.
(23:23):
He picked a good day for me tocome back.
And uh did you just decide to goback after all those years?
I had been like wrestling.
I think I kind of begrudginglycame to the fact there was a
God.
I did some research and it ledme back home to the Catholic
Church.
And you know, the mass started,and I was kind of nervous at
first because the liturgy of theword was it felt just very
familiar, right?
You know when to stand, you knowthe readings.
Then the liturgy of theEucharist starts, and I'm just
(23:45):
I'm struck speechless.
I can't believe what I'mwitnessing.
I get to be party to.
And we get to a part of theMass, of course, where um Father
Ted is holding our Lord, and hesays, Behold the Lamb of God,
behold he who takes away thesins of the world.
And I start to weep because Ithink for the first time in my
life I truly did behold him, andI recognized, you know, who and
what the Eucharist is.
(24:06):
This is the King of Kings, ourLord and our Savior.
I just knew right then and thereI wanted to serve him in any
capacity he called me to.
I would tell him, just point andI'll run full steam ofhead.
That's where I want to be.
So um, a fellow parishioner ofmine uh who's I have a great
respect for his faith, he sentme the application for last
year's pilgrimage, and I didn'teven open it.
I was like, this is pointless,they don't want me.
(24:27):
Um I'll just you know spend thisyear in prison.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Had you been aware of the Eucharistic Congress?
I was, yeah, being an Indian.
SPEAKER_04 (24:32):
I wasn't able to get down to it, but yeah, so I was
like, they don't want Catholicslike me.
So when he sent it this year, umit was different though.
I felt this intrinsic call tofill it out, and it was actually
at our parish's pet blessing.
I ran out to the car real quickand you know filled out the
application.
You should have told FatherCasey that yeah, it's a very
similar interview process.
(24:53):
My first interview is a littlebit different.
We were supposed to go through,I think, 10 questions.
I like to talk a lot.
We only got through threequestions, and I was like, well,
there it goes.
You know, shut that book, we'redone with that, but uh move
forward with the secondinterview and then being invited
to um come down to Tipton forthe retreat, and then was
offered to be the assistant teamlead for this year's pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_02 (25:14):
That's great.
So um I would say guess thateach of you um you know had some
idea of you know what to expect,and uh um uh I'm sure some of
that's uh been accurate and asexpected.
Uh what's been the biggestsurprise or something that you
didn't expect to see orexperience or uh uh since
(25:36):
Pentecost on your journey hereto Patterson and uh St.
Peter's Paris Church here in uhParsippany?
What's been the biggestsurprise, sir?
SPEAKER_04 (25:45):
I think one surprise for me, a beautiful surprise, is
the willingness of people tostop their lives, stop what
they're doing during aprocession and follow with us.
Yesterday this man goes, What doI do with my car if I want to
join?
And we said park it.
And he he ran back, he parkedhis car, and he was at mass with
us at the stadium.
(26:05):
And um, just in the just theopenness of so many people's
hearts.
You know, it reminds me, youknow, if tonight you hear his
voice, harden not your hearts,and so many people are following
that.
And so many people are alsomoved to take this flame, right,
this fire, and then carry itback wherever it is they're
going, back to their home, backto their parish, back to other
parts of the diocese.
(26:25):
They're so moved to get into thecommunity, to continue to serve
our Lord, to truly become amonstrance themselves.
SPEAKER_02 (27:13):
Uh Mother Olga, I never heard of Mother Olga
before the uh EucharisticCongress, and uh I go back to
it.
She started her talk with uh uhLord prepare me to be a
sanctuary, uh uh pure and holy,tried and true.
Uh with Thanksgiving, I'll be aliving sanctuary.
Anyway, I'm a big fan of MotherOlga, but uh it's a beautiful
hymn, but uh, but yeah, that wecan be a sanctuary, right?
Where we believe, we say it alot, the body's a temple of the
(27:35):
Holy Spirit, but um how often dowe think, you know, that we're
called to really be have theLord uh in our home?
I'm not worthy you should enterunder my roof, right?
Um and uh and he does uh in HolyCommunion.
So uh the uh you know so much inour faith we can take for
granted, right?
Growing up Catholic, or um, butthese moments help to uh our
focus.
Um uh Mary Carmen and uhRaymond.
(27:59):
Uh Raymond?
Yes.
Uh uh a surprise or somethingyou didn't expect?
SPEAKER_01 (28:05):
I truthfully wasn't sure how many people would be
attending these events.
Um I have really been blownaway.
I think I shared at lunch thatwhen we went to Washington,
D.C., uh we had like over 2,200people there with us.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
Um outdoor mass was it?
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Outdoor mass and then procession.
And um yeah, I've just beenblown away by the numbers.
Yesterday's procession here umwas phenomenal just seeing the
people come out in crowds um hasjust reinvigorated my own faith.
And yeah, it's been it's beenexciting to see the amount of
(28:45):
people that have joined us thusfar and we'll continue.
I I can't wait for forPhiladelphia.
I think it's gonna be crazy.
SPEAKER_05 (28:55):
Yeah, very very similar for me.
I I think um seeing seeing somany people and then seeing the
depth of so many people's faith.
Um because yeah, I yesterday forme um just seeing the joy of the
procession was wasreinvigorating for me, and then
seeing um throughout throughoutthe pilgrimage, just seeing so
many people come out um for ourLord, um and whether that means
(29:19):
they have to drive many hours toget there or fly or whatever
inconvenience they have toovercome to be present.
Um I've seen throughout thepilgrimage, I've seen so many
walkers and strollers and um andwheelchairs and canes, and it's
wonderful that they are doingthis for our Lord.
They're showing that they arewilling and desired to show up
(29:41):
for our Lord who has shown upfor them, who has who's given
them so much.
Um and so it's so wonderful tosee um the desire the to for
everybody to come out and um andfollow our Lord no matter what
they have to overcome to tofollow our Lord, um, which is
really inspiring me.
Um, because yeah, I mean, justhow much how much are you how
(30:02):
far are you willing to go tofollow our Lord?
Um, well you guys are willing togo a long way.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (30:06):
Thank you for that.
Uh and it hasn't all been onland, right?
Uh uh across the Delaware?
Uh I heard you got a little wet.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (30:16):
Really put the gospels into view living in the.
Yeah, across when we crossed theChesapeake Bay, um I was laying
on the boat and I opened up toMatthew chapter 14 and was just
reading the account of Christwalking on water, and I'm
looking at at the water andthinking, what was Peter
(30:38):
thinking?
Like what must that what mustthat have been like to step out
and walk on the water?
And it's just a really tangibleexperience to to go across water
with the Blessed Sacrament.
SPEAKER_05 (30:49):
Yes, for me this is what this was the first
opportunity I've ever been on aboat before.
Really?
So um crossing from FloridaBeach, Florida to uh to St.
Mary's, Georgia was uh orFerdinando Beach, Florida to uh
St.
Mary's Georgia was just reallyincredible.
I I was really able to reflecton on Matthew 14 in that in that
in a very real way because itwas my first time ever being on
(31:11):
a boat and um yeah, I was I wasa little nervous, but um I
really was able to to put myselfinto the gospel message and um
yeah, that's shown that's shownme a lot.
SPEAKER_02 (31:23):
Maybe we can conclude by just uh if our
listeners or viewers um maybejust a few words about what
you've learned about um the giftof the Eucharist, uh the real
presence um uh that you wouldshare and from the your own
faith perspective and uh and andwhat it means that Jesus gave us
(31:46):
this gift of his body, blood,soul, and divinity.
SPEAKER_04 (31:50):
Yeah, I think I would say that when we refer to
the Eucharist as the source andsummit of our faith, it's not an
empty platitude, right?
That's a radical statement, it'sa radical thing to believe and
to constantly affirm thatbelief, right?
This is our Lord and Savior.
He takes on this great humilityto be here with us, he's not
left us orphaned.
I would say there's nothing thatChrist wants more than for you
(32:13):
to experience Him and HisEucharistic heart.
He's waiting for you.
The same Jesus that we've beentraveling with on this beautiful
procession is already in thetabernacle of your home parish,
and he wants you to be there.
He wants you to be properlydisposed to receive him.
SPEAKER_02 (32:26):
And uh you also have a four-wheel tabernacle, right?
In the van you have the uh thatyou're traveling in.
SPEAKER_04 (32:33):
Yeah, there's this place for the uh there is, and
there's also an apparatus on topthat secures the monstrance so
we can have exposition whilewe're driving down the
expressway or pulling up intothe parish.
SPEAKER_02 (32:43):
Beautiful, beautiful.
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Um something about the Eucharist that you would
share in terms of your faith andI think I have been called to
reflect upon how we are toimitate the Eucharist, and the
Eucharist um it's a sacrifice,it's Christ's sacrifice
represented on the cross, and umwe are meant to also be broken
(33:07):
and blessed and given for thelife of the world.
Um we're meant to unite oursacrifices to him, with him, and
uh that's something that youknow in any pilgrimage there are
going to be small moments ofsacrifice or suffering or
inconvenience, um whether it'syou know lack of sleep or um I
(33:30):
think I've been gaining weightbecause we've had so much great
hospitality of the diocese.
Um but I mean any inconvenience,whatever it may be, like it
really they really are momentsof opportunity to unite
ourselves to Jesus and tocontinually offer ourselves for
the people that we encounter.
SPEAKER_02 (33:48):
So Father Casey did a great job this morning, didn't
he, with the young people in uhholiness, sacrifice and
communion.
Uh and um back to Mother Olga.
She spoke about uh knowing Jesusin the knowing the broken Jesus,
broken in the Eucharist, but shewe experience brokenness in our
lives, all of us.
And and in some who are the mostbroken, um it's an opportunity
(34:13):
um uh to experience the healingpower of of his presence and his
love um uh in the Eucharist.
And um uh did you say to imitatethe Eucharist, right?
Yeah, yeah, beautiful.
Um Raymond.
SPEAKER_05 (34:27):
Yeah, I think for me, um it's just being it's
again going towards the point ofseeing people's desire to show
up for our Lord.
Like um one of my teammates oncesaid, like, we don't kneel on
hot asphalt for for just asymbol, right?
Uh we don't we don't processthrough the streets of of a
really humid and hot town forjust a symbol, right?
(34:48):
Like we are we are going throughthis, we are showing up for our
Lord, showing our love for him,and recognizing that he is truly
present in the Eucharist.
And we want all people to beable to see that and to want our
joy, to want our faith.
Um and so yeah, I think that'sbeen that's been really
inspiring and reinvigorating formy own my own faith is that
(35:10):
like, yeah, seeing people'sdesire and their understanding
of Jesus truly in the Eucharist,um, and yeah, it's it's
recognizing that he is not justa symbol.
Like we wouldn't just be doingthis if he was if it was just a
symbol.
SPEAKER_02 (35:24):
I uh I can still see Jonathan Roomy at the Eucharist
in Congress with the FlanneryO'Connor line on his t-shirt.
If it's just a symbol to hellwith it, right?
Yes, yes.
Uh yes, right.
Uh it's not just a symbol,right?
It's uh it's the real presence.
And uh well, thank you so much,you know, for taking this time
and uh but especially for youryes to the Lord and uh uh
(35:45):
inviting, we're a pilgrimpeople, right?
You know you have a newappreciation and over the next
uh you got about uh three moreweeks to go, I guess, right?
Yeah, so uh uh thank you for umfor all that you're doing and uh
and wonderful to have you hereand thanks for spending some
time with us.
So um we'll uh Jay usually takesus out, but uh I'll say uh thank
(36:06):
you to all of our listeners andum and viewers, and uh please
keep the pilgrims in yourprayers, especially between now
and July 4th.
We'll be following you, uhsocial media and otherwise, and
uh praying for you certainly.
And please keep us in your inyour in in please keep us here
in Patterson in your prayers.
And um to our uh viewers andlisteners, uh thanks again for
tuning in to Be on the Beacon.
(36:27):
Follow us on social media andonline and the website, and uh
look to see you again.
Um thanks very much and Godbless you.
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