May 27, 2025 • 27 mins
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Could Orthodox and Catholic Christians finally reunite after centuries of separation? As both traditions celebrated Easter on the same day this year, we explore the fascinating possibility of reconciliation between these ancient branches of Christianity.
The calendrical quirk that aligned Orthodox and Catholic Easter dates this year isn't just a mathematical curiosity – it's a powerful symbol of potential unity. While Orthodox Christians typically use the Julian calendar (placing their Easter about 13 days different from the Gregorian calendar used by Catholics), this year's synchronization recalls the shared foundation established at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. More on this at this link.
Pope Leo, whose papal crest bears the motto "In Christ we become one," is continuing dialogue started by Pope Francis regarding a permanent alignment of Easter celebrations. With the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea approaching and Pope Leo planning his first papal trip to Turkey for the commemoration, the momentum for meaningful unity seems stronger than ever. This historic moment coincides with what we're calling a "springtime in Christianity" – a period of renewal marked by increasing interest in faith traditions among younger generations seeking meaning beyond what secular culture offers.
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Theology of the Body CLE
St. John Cantius Parish
The moving story of the Four Chaplains – Catholic, Jewish, Reformed, and Methodist ministers who gave away their life jackets and died together praying for others as their ship sank during WWII – provides a powerful model for interfaith cooperation. Their example reminds us that unity doesn't require uniformity, but rather mutual respect and shared purpose.
Whether through local ecumenical efforts like joint Good Friday services or international dialogues between church leaders, these steps toward reunification represent healing for one of Christianity's most significant historical divisions. Could this be the moment when the Orthodox and Catholic traditions finally find their way back to communion? Join us as we explore this question and its profound implications for the future of faith.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's Question of Faith.
Are the Orthodox and RomanCatholics going to unite?
Hey everybody, this is Questionof Faith.
I'm Deacon Mike Hayes.
I'm the Director of Young AdultMinistry here in the Diocese of
.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Cleveland, and I'm Father Damian Ferencz, the Vicar
for Evangelization.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Also the Director of Ecumenical and Interfaith
Relations.
Here I am in the Diocese, so itsort of brings us to our
question today.
Yeah, it's a good one too, andsomeone wrote in just about the
differences between the Orthodoxand the Roman Catholics
celebrating Easter.
Okay, that's an easy question.
We can knock that out right now.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And did that happen this year.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
This year it was on the same day.
It was okay, yeah.
And it often wasn't, becauseusually the Orthodox were a week
later or a couple weeks lateror something.
Yeah, it's about 13 days in thedifference between the Julian
calendar and the Gregoriancalendar.
So when?
So 325 Nicaea, we agreed thatEaster would fall after the I
(01:00):
never remember exactly thisthing here, so I'm just going to
look it up in my note here.
Following the first full moonafter the vernal equinox.
So that's when we take—thedifference is that we use two
different calendars, so theirvernal equinox is different from
our vernal equinox.
Oh, okay, so the Julian calendaris about 13 days in difference,
(01:22):
so the Orthodox will celebrateit 13 days away all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
But this year it was different.
Was that because Pope Francismade a change or what happened?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
No, it's just a coincidence this year that the
days match up because theequinox falls on different times
.
When Easter is really late,it's because the equinox is
really late, and so then it justkind of moves on down the road.
So we'll put a link to thearticle here that explains all
of this.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So is it in the works ?
Yeah, that's the question.
So, pope.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Francis met with the patriarch years ago and said hey
, why are we doing this?
Why are we still following twodifferent calendars?
You know, easter can be asource of unity for us.
And so they started to talkabout well, yeah, maybe we
should celebrate Easter on thesame time as a show of our unity
as Christians.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And so now.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Pope Leo is kind of picking that up and you know he
just met this week with variousreligions and the Orthodox being
one of them, and that wasbrought up, you know as well.
Maybe we should still talkabout this.
Can we unite around thesecommon, this common data for
Easter?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, it certainly seems and we've talked about
this on our last few shows thatPope Leo is a unifier.
I mean, it's even written inhis crest, and it's in Christ
that we become one.
Written in his crest and it'sin Christ that we become one.
So perhaps now is the time tomake the move, and how wonderful
that would be.
I mean, it really does feellike a springtime in
Christianity right now.
I was on retreat last week atthe TOR Sisters in Toronto, ohio
(03:03):
.
They rent out hermitages, andso I rented one out it looked
like a big shed yeah you put apicture of it somewhere On Insta
.
Yeah, and the Amish built thesethings, and so it just stayed in
one of these sheds for it's nota shed, it's a hermitage for
five days, turned off the phone.
It was glorious.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I have this picture of you like Oscar the.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Grouch coming up.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Oh no, it's actually a really nice prayer space
because you had a bed.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It did look lovely, you're right, a full bath, yeah
Well, a shower, everything youneed, dusk and all that.
But I had mass with the sistersa few times and one of the
times I was able to preach aboutthe springtime that's happening
in the church right now becauseof the new pope in our diocese,
the eight new priests, that GenZ is now returning to the
(03:52):
church, even though the womenaren't coming as quickly as we'd
like.
We've talked about that on theshow too, but the
meaninglessness that the worldoffers is making the church so
much more attractive.
The world offers is making thechurch so much more attractive,
and perhaps this time of renewaland springtime in the church,
it's that the time is right forthe Orthodox and the Catholics
(04:15):
to somehow come together too.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
It's the 1700th anniversary of the Council of
Nicaea, correct, so that will besomething to see, and that
should be Pope Leo's first papaltrip to Turkey.
That's at least on the—it's inthe books right now.
So, he's definitely going tothat.
Whether he goes somewherebefore then would be the
question.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I've always wanted to go to Turkey.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
To Istanbul, constantinople, to see Hagia
Sophia.
That would be great yeah thatwould be fun But— to see Hagia.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Sophia, that would be great.
Yeah, that would be fun.
But yeah, so I had a couplemeetings this week actually with
a couple of folks just talkingabout, like, well, what work in
this area are you doing already?
You know that I could helppromote as the ecumenical
director.
And they said well, you know,we try to unite around some
common holidays if we can.
So we try to do somethingaround Thanksgiving every year.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
That's a good common holiday.
We all kind of celebratesecular in many ways right.
Is this with all differentreligions, or is this just with
orthodox or uh no?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
this was.
This was with catholics so what?
What are you doing with otherfaiths?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
oh, I see, and then?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I see you know, and then we go around now.
Now we do have a, a council ofreligions, if you would, that
meets.
And they do have a Council ofReligions, if you would, that
meets.
And they do a little symposiaevery year a couple times a year
.
Smaller groups, so that'scoming up on June 1st actually
at 3 o'clock out at 2.30, Ishould say at.
John Carroll University thisyear.
So that's open to the public,so feel free to come on.
(05:40):
We're talking about thedifference between spirituality
and religion as a topic, sothat'll be fun and we've talked
about that too.
We've talked about what areways that we can kind of get
together and all kind of.
Now that's religion, so that'sa little more interfaith than
ecumenism.
The meetings I've had this weekwere really more about
(06:01):
ecumenism.
So I met with Father Lucas outof Jesu this week, who's a great
guy.
He's with them Sunday night.
One of the things that he saidwas that they gather the
Christian communities out there,all gather on Good Friday, oh
yeah, and they celebrate acommon Good Friday service each
year.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
They do that at your home parish too, in Rocky River,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I think COVID ended it.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
They haven't done it, oh really.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, but I'm going to try to bring it back this
coming year.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Because I was an intern there and I remember that
they did that there was theStations of the Cross, like at
noon, and then we would have ourliturgy at 3 in Rocky River.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, yeah, this year we did like a walking Stations
and one of the Stations we didstop at is in front of, I think,
the Methodist church, and sothat's sort of a shining unity
for us.
Yeah, but he said that they doa common Good Friday service on
the seven last words and we justlet people you know seven
(06:54):
different denominations allspeak, others preside, other
folks will preside as well, soit's a nice show of unity.
So he said he gets to preach atthat every year.
So that's one way to do this.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Well, I know in our diocese, particularly because we
are in northeast Ohio, meetingwith different Catholic rites is
very common.
So with the Ruthenian Catholics, ukrainian Catholics, as I
mentioned, on Good Friday orHoly Thursday night, holy Night
Hike, there were 21, 22 MaroniteCatholics that came with us.
(07:26):
you know from the mostlyLebanese.
Some were born in Lebanon, somewere born here, but I
absolutely love that and I knowthe Holy Father met with bishops
from the Eastern Rite bishopsmaybe in his first few days of
being Pope and now that he's,you know, pursuing days of being
(07:48):
.
Pope, and now that he's, youknow, pursuing, and it's not
like he's the first to do it.
Obviously, Pope Francis did it,and Benedict and John Paul too.
But you know, big ships turnslowly, as they say.
So we'll see what happens, butmaybe now the time is right.
That's why, going back to thespringtime, it just seems like
things are really starting toclick right now that we've been
hoping for for a long time.
So it's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I would expect something big to be announced at
this anniversary of Nicaea.
I think that that would be agood time to do something like
this.
Do you know what date that isexactly?
I know it's the.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
It's the.
What did you say?
1700 years?
Yeah, I don't know the date.
Yeah, look it up while we talkhere.
But I know that Dr Andy Starinover at the seminary had asked
if we could do something tocelebrate this date the charge
(08:42):
of the third year of Eucharisticrevival, the bishop's new
pastoral letter and, being inthe Jubilee Year of Hope.
We probably would have donesomething formally, but maybe
out of your office you can dosomething, maybe I don't know
how big is the Orthodoxcommunity here in Cleveland
(09:03):
Maybe something could be done.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
May 20th is the actualcommemoration.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So it was already okay.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
But you know, they talked about celebrating
something this summer, maybearound Pentecost, was one idea.
I know Dr Starin was talkingabout that with me.
He said you know, we shouldprobably do something around
Pentecost.
That would be a good idea.
So we've been talking butnothing's come of it just as of
yet.
But if it does, we'll let youknow.
Yeah, it'd be cool, yeah, itwould be fun to do that, I think
(09:35):
, and we should do more of thosekinds of things.
You know, I know we have anEastern Churches Dialogue as
well that's out of John Carroll,and we've talked about maybe
doing like a little tour of allthe of all the Eastern churches
in Parma and just, you know,have everybody, have their place
open, like sort of like alittle open house, and maybe
have some food and maybe, youknow, make it into like a little
(09:55):
festival of faith kind of thing.
So that's, that's probably inthe works longterm.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, on state road there there is the Ukrainian
Cathedral for the Eparchy ofParma Ukrainian church.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I was just there yesterday.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, we used to get parochy there when we were kids
and then if you go south ofthere, there is an Orthodox
church on the east side of StateRoad Right, and a few of my
friends had parties back intheir party center back there.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh okay, yeah, that's across the street from the Jess
the Jesuit retreat center,right, no, south, oh south.
I got it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
There's a.
I know what you mean now, yes,yeah, there's a huge, beautiful
mosaic on the front.
I remember as a kid likelooking at that and asking my
parents like, can we go tochurch there?
They're like, well, no, butthey're with us and they're
trying to explain to me in myyoung age how that all worked
out.
You know different rights andfor the, for the orthodox, we
(10:54):
allow them to take oursacraments and there's we
consider valid, but we don'ttake them because we're not in
communion.
You know so, but it would becertainly nice to have communion
once again with our Orthodoxbrothers and sisters, and that's
bigger fish to fry than I'mable to do, but I can certainly
pray for it.
Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
This week was Memorial Day.
It was on Monday and so Ipreached at Mass.
At the 9 o'clock Mass that wehave for Memorial Day in our
parish, one of the things that Italked about were chaplains you
know combat chaplains Greatmovie, by the way, that Paul's
Productions just put out,fighting Spirit.
It's only about 73 minutes longbut it talks about combat
(11:36):
chaplains and how they've had toserve the needs of everybody.
They don't just serve their owndenomination, they make sure
that their own denomination hasservices and that people have
access to those services.
But they end up and certainlyin a combat place right and they
end up serving the needs ofeverybody, pulling all kinds of
people off the line into safety,and they go out there without
(11:56):
weapons.
It was just a great movie.
If you get a chance, reallylook at it.
But one of the stories in thereactually I have a family
relation with my wife's family.
Look at it.
But one of the stories in thereactually I have a family
relation with my wife's family.
Her uncle, mike, her great uncle, was in World War II and so
there were these four chaplainson the Dorchester, which was
sort of like a transport shipthat the war administration put
(12:18):
together, and they were headingout into the North Atlantic to
go to Greenland and then, offthe coast of Newfoundland, a
German torpedo hit them and theDorchester starts to sink and
the four chaplains organized thedisembarkment of people onto
the lifeboats, and so they madeit very orderly and they kept
(12:39):
everything calm and they startedbringing them all onto the
lifeboats.
Well, eventually they run out ofspace in the lifeboats.
They just start handing peoplelife jackets and have to get
into the water and most of thosepeople froze to death, honestly
.
But they started handing outall the life jackets and then
they run out of life jackets andthe four guys took their four
life jackets off and gave themto somebody else and they linked
(13:02):
arms, they said prayers, theysang hymns and they sank into
the water and died.
So four guys Catholic, a Jew, aReformed minister and a
Methodist minister Talk aboutthe gift of self.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
But talk about also.
You know that they could have,could have been in a place where
, well, my religion is betterthan yours, and they didn't.
They united amongst everybody inthat boat and saved the lives
of many, many people that wouldnot have made it if it weren't
for them.
That's cool, certainly the fourwho they gave their life
jackets to in particular.
But they said the last wordsthat were heard.
(13:44):
They said they heard prayers inLatin, prayers in Hebrew, and
then the two guys who werespeaking in English they said
the last thing that they heardwas the guy said please, lord,
we pray today for the people whoare on those lifeboats that
they will be brought to safety.
So they don't even think abouttheir own self at that point.
They just are still focused onthe people that they served as
(14:05):
chaplains.
So they're kind of a nice modelfor ecumenical and interfaith
relations, certainly, but alsojust a nice model of heroism
that we could lean into onMemorial Day in particular.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
What was that film that was out a few years ago
where Teresa Palmer was a reallypretty nurse in there and there
was a chaplain who nevercarried any weapons but he
rescued all these guys off thefield and brought them down?
Was it Hacksaw Ridge orsomething Might?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
have been.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I love that film.
It was a great, great filmabout another chaplain just
self-sacrificing Is that FatherKapoor?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Is that who you're using?
He was in Korea.
I don't know who this guy was.
Yeah, he's the other one that alot of people—the other
military chaplain that Catholicspoint to.
They found him because he wascaptured by the Koreans and by
the—I shouldn't say that he wascaptured by the Chinese during
the Korean War and he broughtsuch hope to the prisoners that
(15:02):
they eventually said We've gotto kill this guy because he's
giving hope to the prisonersthat they eventually said we've
got to kill this guy becausehe's giving hope to the
prisoners.
And so they killed him and theyhid his body for years and they
finally recovered it and theybrought it back and there was
this big, huge funeral for himin the Diocese of Wichita.
I guess he was from Kansas andhe's on his way to sainthood.
I think he's venerable already.
(15:24):
I think I have a pair of socksthat have his face on it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
From Socks, religious , okay.
Teresa Palmer starred in thewar movie Hacksaw Ridge 2016,
which is a biographical dramabased on the true story of
Desmond Doss, a World War IImedic who refused to carry a
weapon.
So he wasn't a chaplain.
But he wouldn't carry a weaponbecause he didn't believe in
violence.
So he, but he stillConscientious objector kind of
(15:49):
person.
Yeah, but he didn't fight, buthe was in war and but rescuing
people is cool, you should seeit.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
If you haven't seen it, I will take a look at that.
I have not seen that movie yet.
Yeah, always good Okay.
Do you eat a hot dog onMemorial Day?
You always encourage me to eata hot dog on Memorial Day.
No.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
What did I have yesterday?
I went over to Father MarkRiley's place, we brought out
the grill.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It had propane in it, which a People bring out the
grill for the first time.
They forget to replace the pokeprint, so we grilled some
salmon and some kielbasa, ohvery nice.
Yesterday was the 26th.
It was the ninth anniversary ofmy dad's death, so I went to
the cemetery for a little bit.
I cleaned off his grave withscissors, but there was a guy
(16:33):
behind me I was so envious hebrought his weed whacker to the
cemetery.
I'm like good for you, I justdon't like my car smelling like
two-cycle gas, anyway.
And then I went to visit apriest friend, and then I went
to Riley's place and we grilledout, but no, no hot dogs for me.
I think I recently watched avideo on Instagram and reminded
(16:54):
myself of what hot dogs are madeof.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh yeah, so I'm just avoiding them Two things you
don't want to see made laws, andsausages.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
There you go, but I'll eat brats oh okay, well,
there you go I mean kielbasa iskind of like a hot dog, but not
really, because the hot dog'sjust scraps of everything else.
That doesn't Usually.
Yeah, yeah, exactly, but unlessthey're all beef.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, I did have an all-beef hot dog.
Well then you shouldn't feeltoo bad At Bearden's in Rocky
River.
Have you been there?
You would like this place.
I think it looks like an old50s kind of diner place and they
have good burgers, goodmilkshakes, good hot dogs.
So Mary and I went therebecause I wanted a hot dog for
Memorial.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Day I've seen the healthier option of hot dogs are
the carrots.
You take a carrot and then youmake it in the shape of a hot
dog and then you cook it.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I saw it on Instagram you know, carrot should not be
hot dogs, nor cake, in myopinion.
I like carrot cake.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Do you like carrot cake?
My wife likes carrot cake.
I don't eat a lot of cake, butI like carrot cake.
I don't eat a lot of cakeeither.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I think I like the frosting, but I like carrot cake
.
I don't eat a lot of carrotcake either.
I think I like the frosting.
Yeah, yeah, that might be rightCream cheese frosting.
Oh, speaking of, sweets.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
The deliveries were made to all the Jubilee parishes
and shrines.
So it's up to those parishesand shrines as to when they will
distribute or have acelebration where this ice cream
will be served.
But look for it, there'll beJubilee indulgencegence and
Pilgrim Tracks.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Very nice, yeah, we'll be out in Parma in July.
For what?
For?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
the Pilgrims.
Oh, it's July 19th.
July 19th, it's not Parma, it'sParma Heights, parma Heights,
yeah, yeah.
So 4 pm Mass, st John Bosco,and then process down.
Pray in the rosary to IncarnateWord.
There'll be live music there.
I got the Tom Evan Chuck Trioto play.
I met with the nuns last weekand I think the Knights of
Columbus from St Peter theApostle will be providing food,
(18:49):
so it should be pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
That'll be fun.
Speaking of fun and speaking ofSt John, bosco and Parma
softball starts this week.
Wonderful Bosco and Parmasoftball starts this week.
So, uh, wonderful, yeah.
So this Sunday we'll be outthere, starting around noon, and
feel free to come on out and uhand watch.
We got a.
We got an extra team this year,so that's good.
So more people 171.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
How many?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
teams playing softball.
Uh, nine, nine, yes, correct,cool.
So yeah, it'll be fun.
I had to go and try to start toget an umpire shape this week.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
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Speaker 1 (20:48):
Ha ha.
I was out at the Jesuit RetreatCenter this weekend directing
three people on retreat, whichwas fun.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, was it a formal retreat.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It was a three-day.
They had some folks there thatwere on a five-day, I think some
folks there were finishing up aseven-day.
So it's sort of that season forthem where they have people
coming in for various lengths oftime, I see.
But this was a three-dayretreat and so yeah, so I
directed three people.
It was fun.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
They just meet once a day with you.
Is that it Correct?
Do scripture passages Correct?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
assign them, or does somebody assign them and then
they just come in and chat withyou or what it depends on the
person.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Okay, sometimes I give them stuff to read,
sometimes they come with stuffthemselves and they want to
concentrate on that andsometimes come with particular
needs, particular things.
So you don't mess with thecreature, as God would tell us
right.
So we accept them where theyare, but then we give them some
direction along the way as well.
So usually I start everybodyout with Psalm 139.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, that's pretty typical for.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Ignatian retreats yeah, and then take it from
there.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I had one of the sisters one of the TOR sisters
who's a trained spiritualdirector.
I met with her a couple timesduring my retreat.
It was very helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Very good so.
I mean there's all sorts ofdifferent retreats you can do.
You can do just silence.
You can do a directed retreat.
You could do aconference-centered retreat.
There's all sorts of things.
I think the most importantthing to do on retreat is to
turn off your phone completelyfor the whole time you're there.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Every single one of my directives said that this
week.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Because you're free of all sorts of distractions.
There's no work, there's noemail.
I left the number of theretreat house, the hospitality
coordinator, with the guysacross the street like Bishop
and Father Don and Father Joe.
I said, if you need me in caseof an emergency, call this,
otherwise my phone's off.
That frees you up to be at theLord's beck and call because he
(22:52):
wants to enter in and he canonly enter in when there's
silence and that's where hespeaks.
So turn off your phone.
Go on a retreat.
Turn off your phone.
Go on a retreat, turn off yourphone.
Um, it's, and it's really easyto make every excuse of why you
need to leave your phone on.
But if you could, you could,you could risk it to turn it off
.
Whoo, great things happen.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Indeed, yeah, I know, even this weekend, while I was
directing people, I turned myphone off and I went for a nice
walk out in the grounds there,which were great, and I came
back in, I just took some timeand really just relaxed, which I
haven't been able to do for awhile.
It's liberating.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, it was really liberating it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
God did speak to me in many ways, so it was fun.
That's good.
And then so, by the way, wecould use this as our church
search the chapel they haveupstairs at the Jesuit retreat.
That's really lovely.
Oh, yeah, so it's, you know,with glass looking out onto the.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Stone walls with candles on the side.
Correct, yeah.
Glass looking out to nature?
Yep, francine uses that.
Does it have a name?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
It was dedicated to Father Howard Gray, who was
director of mission atGeorgetown for a number of years
and at John Carroll.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, I remember him.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
That was how I got to know him.
Just a great guy.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
But it doesn't have like a saint name or anything.
I don't know, not yet.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Okay, they're in the process now of both chapels.
I think they're looking fordonors to kind of rehab both of
the chapels a little bit.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Well then, there's that third chapel, that little,
and I didn't know it was aEucharistic chapel until I
noticed, oh, there is a votivelight there, but the tabernacle
is kind of hidden into the wall.
I like hearing confessions inthere when I'm on retreat, yeah
it's great, it's a lovely place.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So the Jesuit Retreat Center in Parma check it out.
It just kind of pops up in themiddle of State Road there,
which is kind of amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, and the property goes deep.
Yes, and there's a cemetery forJesuits on the back end of the
property.
Stations of the Cross Deer willcome up and eat out of your
hand, although I don't know ifthat's a good idea.
Yeah, it's a nice little oasis.
The apartment.
It's been there forever.
It used to be what theNovitiate House.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Correct.
It was the Jesuit Novitiate,pedro, maybe what the novitiate
house, or the correct, it wasthe jesuit novitiate.
Uh, pedro rupe actually didstudy there for a very brief
time, and so they kind of holdthat up as that.
Uh, that he was on the propertythere as well, um, but yeah, so
, um, yeah, the jesuit retreatcenter is just great.
Our buddy bill hobbs out there,runs a good show, so I go there
often, often.
(25:16):
That's cool, all right.
So we're Ascension of the LordOof, all ready.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, some dioceses still have it on Thursday
because that's 40 days out, butmost dioceses in the United
States still celebrate it onSunday, so that everybody can
celebrate it, correct?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
And so the first reading is for the start of the
Acts of the Apostles, which isalways great.
We hear a little bit about theascension there.
We hear a little bit more aboutit in the Gospel as well.
I have been asked—it's the 10thanniversary of Laudato Si' this
week also, and so our Care forthe Common Earth has asked me.
(25:56):
The committee at St Chris hasasked me to preach on that this
weekend.
So Jesus ascended to heaven,but he left us here on earth, so
our job is to care for theearth will be sort of the theme
that I'm going to be working on.
I haven't written it.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
yet I have mass.
I have a 5 pm somewhere andthen 8 pm, I think, at Holy
Rosary on Sunday.
So it's weird not to have avigil for morning masses.
So I have not started my homilyprep yet.
What I do know about theAscension is that in order for
every human to have access toJesus, he needs to ascend to the
(26:35):
Father so that he's not limitedby time and space.
Right got it, and that's apretty important feature of our
resurrected Lord is that he hasto complete the journey to the
Father so that we can follow himup there and his humanity now,
(26:55):
for the first time, enters intoheaven so that we can all follow
him there.
I think the preface sayssomething like that.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yeah, I think that's right.
Yeah, so that'd be cool.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Awesome Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord this
weekend at your local parish,all right, Well, we got a
surprise for you next week and arecurring guest, but a little
surprise, so something to lookforward to, yeah, something to
look forward to, yeah, and oneof our favorite guests will be
on his way back here.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
True, we just gave away that it's a man, not a
woman.
That's what we do.
We give away things LittleEaster eggs, right, I suppose?
All right, so check out theAscension of the Lord this week
at your local parish.
We'll have this and a lot morenext time you're on Question of
(27:48):
Faith.
On today's Question of Faith.
Are the Orthodox and RomanCatholics going to unite?
Hey everybody, this is Questionof Faith.
I'm Deacon Mike Hayes.
I'm the Director of Young AdultMinistry here in the Diocese of
.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Cleveland, and I'm Father Damian Ferencz, the Vicar
for Evangelization.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Also the Director of Ecumenical and Interfaith
Relations.
Here I am in the Diocese, so itsort of brings us to our
question today.
Yeah, it's a good one too, andsomeone wrote in just about the
differences between the Orthodoxand the Roman Catholics
celebrating Easter.
Okay, that's an easy question.
We can knock that out right now.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And did that happen this year.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
This year it was on the same day.
It was okay, yeah.
And it often wasn't, becauseusually the Orthodox were a week
later or a couple weeks lateror something.
Yeah, it's about 13 days in thedifference between the Julian
calendar and the Gregoriancalendar.
So when?
So 325 Nicaea, we agreed thatEaster would fall after the I
(01:00):
never remember exactly thisthing here, so I'm just going to
look it up in my note here.
Following the first full moonafter the vernal equinox.
So that's when we take—thedifference is that we use two
different calendars, so theirvernal equinox is different from
our vernal equinox.
Oh, okay, so the Julian calendaris about 13 days in difference,
(01:22):
so the Orthodox will celebrateit 13 days away all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
But this year it was different.
Was that because Pope Francismade a change or what happened?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
No, it's just a coincidence this year that the
days match up because theequinox falls on different times
.
When Easter is really late,it's because the equinox is
really late, and so then it justkind of moves on down the road.
So we'll put a link to thearticle here that explains all
of this.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So is it in the works ?
Yeah, that's the question.
So, pope.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Francis met with the patriarch years ago and said hey
, why are we doing this?
Why are we still following twodifferent calendars?
You know, easter can be asource of unity for us.
And so they started to talkabout well, yeah, maybe we
should celebrate Easter on thesame time as a show of our unity
as Christians.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And so now.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Pope Leo is kind of picking that up and you know he
just met this week with variousreligions and the Orthodox being
one of them, and that wasbrought up, you know as well.
Maybe we should still talkabout this.
Can we unite around thesecommon, this common data for
Easter?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, it certainly seems and we've talked about
this on our last few shows thatPope Leo is a unifier.
I mean, it's even written inhis crest, and it's in Christ
that we become one.
Written in his crest and it'sin Christ that we become one.
So perhaps now is the time tomake the move, and how wonderful
that would be.
I mean, it really does feellike a springtime in
Christianity right now.
I was on retreat last week atthe TOR Sisters in Toronto, ohio
(03:03):
.
They rent out hermitages, andso I rented one out it looked
like a big shed yeah you put apicture of it somewhere On Insta
.
Yeah, and the Amish built thesethings, and so it just stayed in
one of these sheds for it's nota shed, it's a hermitage for
five days, turned off the phone.
It was glorious.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I have this picture of you like Oscar the.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Grouch coming up.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Oh no, it's actually a really nice prayer space
because you had a bed.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It did look lovely, you're right, a full bath, yeah
Well, a shower, everything youneed, dusk and all that.
But I had mass with the sistersa few times and one of the
times I was able to preach aboutthe springtime that's happening
in the church right now becauseof the new pope in our diocese,
the eight new priests, that GenZ is now returning to the
(03:52):
church, even though the womenaren't coming as quickly as we'd
like.
We've talked about that on theshow too, but the
meaninglessness that the worldoffers is making the church so
much more attractive.
The world offers is making thechurch so much more attractive,
and perhaps this time of renewaland springtime in the church,
it's that the time is right forthe Orthodox and the Catholics
(04:15):
to somehow come together too.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
It's the 1700th anniversary of the Council of
Nicaea, correct, so that will besomething to see, and that
should be Pope Leo's first papaltrip to Turkey.
That's at least on the—it's inthe books right now.
So, he's definitely going tothat.
Whether he goes somewherebefore then would be the
question.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I've always wanted to go to Turkey.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
To Istanbul, constantinople, to see Hagia
Sophia.
That would be great yeah thatwould be fun But— to see Hagia.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Sophia, that would be great.
Yeah, that would be fun.
But yeah, so I had a couplemeetings this week actually with
a couple of folks just talkingabout, like, well, what work in
this area are you doing already?
You know that I could helppromote as the ecumenical
director.
And they said well, you know,we try to unite around some
common holidays if we can.
So we try to do somethingaround Thanksgiving every year.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
That's a good common holiday.
We all kind of celebratesecular in many ways right.
Is this with all differentreligions, or is this just with
orthodox or uh no?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
this was.
This was with catholics so what?
What are you doing with otherfaiths?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
oh, I see, and then?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I see you know, and then we go around now.
Now we do have a, a council ofreligions, if you would, that
meets.
And they do have a Council ofReligions, if you would, that
meets.
And they do a little symposiaevery year a couple times a year
.
Smaller groups, so that'scoming up on June 1st actually
at 3 o'clock out at 2.30, Ishould say at.
John Carroll University thisyear.
So that's open to the public,so feel free to come on.
(05:40):
We're talking about thedifference between spirituality
and religion as a topic, sothat'll be fun and we've talked
about that too.
We've talked about what areways that we can kind of get
together and all kind of.
Now that's religion, so that'sa little more interfaith than
ecumenism.
The meetings I've had this weekwere really more about
(06:01):
ecumenism.
So I met with Father Lucas outof Jesu this week, who's a great
guy.
He's with them Sunday night.
One of the things that he saidwas that they gather the
Christian communities out there,all gather on Good Friday, oh
yeah, and they celebrate acommon Good Friday service each
year.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
They do that at your home parish too, in Rocky River,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I think COVID ended it.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
They haven't done it, oh really.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, but I'm going to try to bring it back this
coming year.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Because I was an intern there and I remember that
they did that there was theStations of the Cross, like at
noon, and then we would have ourliturgy at 3 in Rocky River.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, yeah, this year we did like a walking Stations
and one of the Stations we didstop at is in front of, I think,
the Methodist church, and sothat's sort of a shining unity
for us.
Yeah, but he said that they doa common Good Friday service on
the seven last words and we justlet people you know seven
(06:54):
different denominations allspeak, others preside, other
folks will preside as well, soit's a nice show of unity.
So he said he gets to preach atthat every year.
So that's one way to do this.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Well, I know in our diocese, particularly because we
are in northeast Ohio, meetingwith different Catholic rites is
very common.
So with the Ruthenian Catholics, ukrainian Catholics, as I
mentioned, on Good Friday orHoly Thursday night, holy Night
Hike, there were 21, 22 MaroniteCatholics that came with us.
(07:26):
you know from the mostlyLebanese.
Some were born in Lebanon, somewere born here, but I
absolutely love that and I knowthe Holy Father met with bishops
from the Eastern Rite bishopsmaybe in his first few days of
being Pope and now that he's,you know, pursuing days of being
(07:48):
.
Pope, and now that he's, youknow, pursuing, and it's not
like he's the first to do it.
Obviously, Pope Francis did it,and Benedict and John Paul too.
But you know, big ships turnslowly, as they say.
So we'll see what happens, butmaybe now the time is right.
That's why, going back to thespringtime, it just seems like
things are really starting toclick right now that we've been
hoping for for a long time.
So it's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I would expect something big to be announced at
this anniversary of Nicaea.
I think that that would be agood time to do something like
this.
Do you know what date that isexactly?
I know it's the.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
It's the.
What did you say?
1700 years?
Yeah, I don't know the date.
Yeah, look it up while we talkhere.
But I know that Dr Andy Starinover at the seminary had asked
if we could do something tocelebrate this date the charge
(08:42):
of the third year of Eucharisticrevival, the bishop's new
pastoral letter and, being inthe Jubilee Year of Hope.
We probably would have donesomething formally, but maybe
out of your office you can dosomething, maybe I don't know
how big is the Orthodoxcommunity here in Cleveland
(09:03):
Maybe something could be done.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
May 20th is the actualcommemoration.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So it was already okay.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
But you know, they talked about celebrating
something this summer, maybearound Pentecost, was one idea.
I know Dr Starin was talkingabout that with me.
He said you know, we shouldprobably do something around
Pentecost.
That would be a good idea.
So we've been talking butnothing's come of it just as of
yet.
But if it does, we'll let youknow.
Yeah, it'd be cool, yeah, itwould be fun to do that, I think
(09:35):
, and we should do more of thosekinds of things.
You know, I know we have anEastern Churches Dialogue as
well that's out of John Carroll,and we've talked about maybe
doing like a little tour of allthe of all the Eastern churches
in Parma and just, you know,have everybody, have their place
open, like sort of like alittle open house, and maybe
have some food and maybe, youknow, make it into like a little
(09:55):
festival of faith kind of thing.
So that's, that's probably inthe works longterm.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, on state road there there is the Ukrainian
Cathedral for the Eparchy ofParma Ukrainian church.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I was just there yesterday.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, we used to get parochy there when we were kids
and then if you go south ofthere, there is an Orthodox
church on the east side of StateRoad Right, and a few of my
friends had parties back intheir party center back there.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh okay, yeah, that's across the street from the Jess
the Jesuit retreat center,right, no, south, oh south.
I got it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
There's a.
I know what you mean now, yes,yeah, there's a huge, beautiful
mosaic on the front.
I remember as a kid likelooking at that and asking my
parents like, can we go tochurch there?
They're like, well, no, butthey're with us and they're
trying to explain to me in myyoung age how that all worked
out.
You know different rights andfor the, for the orthodox, we
(10:54):
allow them to take oursacraments and there's we
consider valid, but we don'ttake them because we're not in
communion.
You know so, but it would becertainly nice to have communion
once again with our Orthodoxbrothers and sisters, and that's
bigger fish to fry than I'mable to do, but I can certainly
pray for it.
Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
This week was Memorial Day.
It was on Monday and so Ipreached at Mass.
At the 9 o'clock Mass that wehave for Memorial Day in our
parish, one of the things that Italked about were chaplains you
know combat chaplains Greatmovie, by the way, that Paul's
Productions just put out,fighting Spirit.
It's only about 73 minutes longbut it talks about combat
(11:36):
chaplains and how they've had toserve the needs of everybody.
They don't just serve their owndenomination, they make sure
that their own denomination hasservices and that people have
access to those services.
But they end up and certainlyin a combat place right and they
end up serving the needs ofeverybody, pulling all kinds of
people off the line into safety,and they go out there without
(11:56):
weapons.
It was just a great movie.
If you get a chance, reallylook at it.
But one of the stories in thereactually I have a family
relation with my wife's family.
Look at it.
But one of the stories in thereactually I have a family
relation with my wife's family.
Her uncle, mike, her great uncle, was in World War II and so
there were these four chaplainson the Dorchester, which was
sort of like a transport shipthat the war administration put
(12:18):
together, and they were headingout into the North Atlantic to
go to Greenland and then, offthe coast of Newfoundland, a
German torpedo hit them and theDorchester starts to sink and
the four chaplains organized thedisembarkment of people onto
the lifeboats, and so they madeit very orderly and they kept
(12:39):
everything calm and they startedbringing them all onto the
lifeboats.
Well, eventually they run out ofspace in the lifeboats.
They just start handing peoplelife jackets and have to get
into the water and most of thosepeople froze to death, honestly
.
But they started handing outall the life jackets and then
they run out of life jackets andthe four guys took their four
life jackets off and gave themto somebody else and they linked
(13:02):
arms, they said prayers, theysang hymns and they sank into
the water and died.
So four guys Catholic, a Jew, aReformed minister and a
Methodist minister Talk aboutthe gift of self.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
But talk about also.
You know that they could have,could have been in a place where
, well, my religion is betterthan yours, and they didn't.
They united amongst everybody inthat boat and saved the lives
of many, many people that wouldnot have made it if it weren't
for them.
That's cool, certainly the fourwho they gave their life
jackets to in particular.
But they said the last wordsthat were heard.
(13:44):
They said they heard prayers inLatin, prayers in Hebrew, and
then the two guys who werespeaking in English they said
the last thing that they heardwas the guy said please, lord,
we pray today for the people whoare on those lifeboats that
they will be brought to safety.
So they don't even think abouttheir own self at that point.
They just are still focused onthe people that they served as
(14:05):
chaplains.
So they're kind of a nice modelfor ecumenical and interfaith
relations, certainly, but alsojust a nice model of heroism
that we could lean into onMemorial Day in particular.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
What was that film that was out a few years ago
where Teresa Palmer was a reallypretty nurse in there and there
was a chaplain who nevercarried any weapons but he
rescued all these guys off thefield and brought them down?
Was it Hacksaw Ridge orsomething Might?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
have been.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I love that film.
It was a great, great filmabout another chaplain just
self-sacrificing Is that FatherKapoor?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Is that who you're using?
He was in Korea.
I don't know who this guy was.
Yeah, he's the other one that alot of people—the other
military chaplain that Catholicspoint to.
They found him because he wascaptured by the Koreans and by
the—I shouldn't say that he wascaptured by the Chinese during
the Korean War and he broughtsuch hope to the prisoners that
(15:02):
they eventually said We've gotto kill this guy because he's
giving hope to the prisonersthat they eventually said we've
got to kill this guy becausehe's giving hope to the
prisoners.
And so they killed him and theyhid his body for years and they
finally recovered it and theybrought it back and there was
this big, huge funeral for himin the Diocese of Wichita.
I guess he was from Kansas andhe's on his way to sainthood.
I think he's venerable already.
(15:24):
I think I have a pair of socksthat have his face on it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
From Socks, religious , okay.
Teresa Palmer starred in thewar movie Hacksaw Ridge 2016,
which is a biographical dramabased on the true story of
Desmond Doss, a World War IImedic who refused to carry a
weapon.
So he wasn't a chaplain.
But he wouldn't carry a weaponbecause he didn't believe in
violence.
So he, but he stillConscientious objector kind of
(15:49):
person.
Yeah, but he didn't fight, buthe was in war and but rescuing
people is cool, you should seeit.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
If you haven't seen it, I will take a look at that.
I have not seen that movie yet.
Yeah, always good Okay.
Do you eat a hot dog onMemorial Day?
You always encourage me to eata hot dog on Memorial Day.
No.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
What did I have yesterday?
I went over to Father MarkRiley's place, we brought out
the grill.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
It had propane in it, which a People bring out the
grill for the first time.
They forget to replace the pokeprint, so we grilled some
salmon and some kielbasa, ohvery nice.
Yesterday was the 26th.
It was the ninth anniversary ofmy dad's death, so I went to
the cemetery for a little bit.
I cleaned off his grave withscissors, but there was a guy
(16:33):
behind me I was so envious hebrought his weed whacker to the
cemetery.
I'm like good for you, I justdon't like my car smelling like
two-cycle gas, anyway.
And then I went to visit apriest friend, and then I went
to Riley's place and we grilledout, but no, no hot dogs for me.
I think I recently watched avideo on Instagram and reminded
(16:54):
myself of what hot dogs are madeof.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Oh yeah, so I'm just avoiding them Two things you
don't want to see made laws, andsausages.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
There you go, but I'll eat brats oh okay, well,
there you go I mean kielbasa iskind of like a hot dog, but not
really, because the hot dog'sjust scraps of everything else.
That doesn't Usually.
Yeah, yeah, exactly, but unlessthey're all beef.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, I did have an all-beef hot dog.
Well then you shouldn't feeltoo bad At Bearden's in Rocky
River.
Have you been there?
You would like this place.
I think it looks like an old50s kind of diner place and they
have good burgers, goodmilkshakes, good hot dogs.
So Mary and I went therebecause I wanted a hot dog for
Memorial.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Day I've seen the healthier option of hot dogs are
the carrots.
You take a carrot and then youmake it in the shape of a hot
dog and then you cook it.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I saw it on Instagram you know, carrot should not be
hot dogs, nor cake, in myopinion.
I like carrot cake.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Do you like carrot cake?
My wife likes carrot cake.
I don't eat a lot of cake, butI like carrot cake.
I don't eat a lot of cakeeither.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I think I like the frosting, but I like carrot cake
.
I don't eat a lot of carrotcake either.
I think I like the frosting.
Yeah, yeah, that might be rightCream cheese frosting.
Oh, speaking of, sweets.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
The deliveries were made to all the Jubilee parishes
and shrines.
So it's up to those parishesand shrines as to when they will
distribute or have acelebration where this ice cream
will be served.
But look for it, there'll beJubilee indulgencegence and
Pilgrim Tracks.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Very nice, yeah, we'll be out in Parma in July.
For what?
For?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
the Pilgrims.
Oh, it's July 19th.
July 19th, it's not Parma, it'sParma Heights, parma Heights,
yeah, yeah.
So 4 pm Mass, st John Bosco,and then process down.
Pray in the rosary to IncarnateWord.
There'll be live music there.
I got the Tom Evan Chuck Trioto play.
I met with the nuns last weekand I think the Knights of
Columbus from St Peter theApostle will be providing food,
(18:49):
so it should be pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
That'll be fun.
Speaking of fun and speaking ofSt John, bosco and Parma
softball starts this week.
Wonderful Bosco and Parmasoftball starts this week.
So, uh, wonderful, yeah.
So this Sunday we'll be outthere, starting around noon, and
feel free to come on out and uhand watch.
We got a.
We got an extra team this year,so that's good.
So more people 171.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
How many?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
teams playing softball.
Uh, nine, nine, yes, correct,cool.
So yeah, it'll be fun.
I had to go and try to start toget an umpire shape this week.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Well, you know what else looks good besides softball
?
These websites that are made byBriefcase Marketing.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You ain't kidding.
They make sure your churchdoesn't have scattered messaging
or a bad website.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Briefcase Marketing makes marketing for your church
or church-based ministry thatinspires action and delivers
results.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
They will clarify your message to attract the
right audience.
They'll streamline your websiteto convert mere visitors into
customers, donors, volunteers,parishioners, and they'll create
consistency that will buildtrust and deepen relationships
across all of your marketingplatforms.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
That's your emails, your ads, your social media.
If you need proof, briefcaseMarketing has great Google
reviews.
They've done superb work withour friends at Theology of the
Body, cleveland and St JohnCancius Parish in Tremont and
we'll put those samples of thatwork in our show notes make it
easier for you to check them out.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
They've also done Womankind, which is also a great
website.
They did a really good job withthat one.
So, with a clear message and acompelling website, briefcase
Marketing will help you get moredonors giving you your mission,
more volunteers ready to serve,more people sharing your
message and, at the end of theday, that makes them your
advocates.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So visit their website.
That's briefcasemarketing.
We've got their link in theshow notes or text 308-627-1262.
And our pal Dan First will takegood care of you at Briefcase
Marketing he the man Dan FirstLove Dan First Was out at the—.
So you're not first, you'relast.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Ha ha.
I was out at the Jesuit RetreatCenter this weekend directing
three people on retreat, whichwas fun.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, was it a formal retreat.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It was a three-day.
They had some folks there thatwere on a five-day, I think some
folks there were finishing up aseven-day.
So it's sort of that season forthem where they have people
coming in for various lengths oftime, I see.
But this was a three-dayretreat and so yeah, so I
directed three people.
It was fun.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
They just meet once a day with you.
Is that it Correct?
Do scripture passages Correct?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
assign them, or does somebody assign them and then
they just come in and chat withyou or what it depends on the
person.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Okay, sometimes I give them stuff to read,
sometimes they come with stuffthemselves and they want to
concentrate on that andsometimes come with particular
needs, particular things.
So you don't mess with thecreature, as God would tell us
right.
So we accept them where theyare, but then we give them some
direction along the way as well.
So usually I start everybodyout with Psalm 139.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, that's pretty typical for.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Ignatian retreats yeah, and then take it from
there.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I had one of the sisters one of the TOR sisters
who's a trained spiritualdirector.
I met with her a couple timesduring my retreat.
It was very helpful.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Very good so.
I mean there's all sorts ofdifferent retreats you can do.
You can do just silence.
You can do a directed retreat.
You could do aconference-centered retreat.
There's all sorts of things.
I think the most importantthing to do on retreat is to
turn off your phone completelyfor the whole time you're there.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Every single one of my directives said that this
week.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Because you're free of all sorts of distractions.
There's no work, there's noemail.
I left the number of theretreat house, the hospitality
coordinator, with the guysacross the street like Bishop
and Father Don and Father Joe.
I said, if you need me in caseof an emergency, call this,
otherwise my phone's off.
That frees you up to be at theLord's beck and call because he
(22:52):
wants to enter in and he canonly enter in when there's
silence and that's where hespeaks.
So turn off your phone.
Go on a retreat.
Turn off your phone.
Go on a retreat, turn off yourphone.
Um, it's, and it's really easyto make every excuse of why you
need to leave your phone on.
But if you could, you could,you could risk it to turn it off
.
Whoo, great things happen.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Indeed, yeah, I know, even this weekend, while I was
directing people, I turned myphone off and I went for a nice
walk out in the grounds there,which were great, and I came
back in, I just took some timeand really just relaxed, which I
haven't been able to do for awhile.
It's liberating.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, it was really liberating it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
God did speak to me in many ways, so it was fun.
That's good.
And then so, by the way, wecould use this as our church
search the chapel they haveupstairs at the Jesuit retreat.
That's really lovely.
Oh, yeah, so it's, you know,with glass looking out onto the.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Stone walls with candles on the side.
Correct, yeah.
Glass looking out to nature?
Yep, francine uses that.
Does it have a name?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
It was dedicated to Father Howard Gray, who was
director of mission atGeorgetown for a number of years
and at John Carroll.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, I remember him.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
That was how I got to know him.
Just a great guy.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
But it doesn't have like a saint name or anything.
I don't know, not yet.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Okay, they're in the process now of both chapels.
I think they're looking fordonors to kind of rehab both of
the chapels a little bit.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Well then, there's that third chapel, that little,
and I didn't know it was aEucharistic chapel until I
noticed, oh, there is a votivelight there, but the tabernacle
is kind of hidden into the wall.
I like hearing confessions inthere when I'm on retreat, yeah
it's great, it's a lovely place.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So the Jesuit Retreat Center in Parma check it out.
It just kind of pops up in themiddle of State Road there,
which is kind of amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, and the property goes deep.
Yes, and there's a cemetery forJesuits on the back end of the
property.
Stations of the Cross Deer willcome up and eat out of your
hand, although I don't know ifthat's a good idea.
Yeah, it's a nice little oasis.
The apartment.
It's been there forever.
It used to be what theNovitiate House.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Correct.
It was the Jesuit Novitiate,pedro, maybe what the novitiate
house, or the correct, it wasthe jesuit novitiate.
Uh, pedro rupe actually didstudy there for a very brief
time, and so they kind of holdthat up as that.
Uh, that he was on the propertythere as well, um, but yeah, so
, um, yeah, the jesuit retreatcenter is just great.
Our buddy bill hobbs out there,runs a good show, so I go there
often, often.
(25:16):
That's cool, all right.
So we're Ascension of the LordOof, all ready.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, some dioceses still have it on Thursday
because that's 40 days out, butmost dioceses in the United
States still celebrate it onSunday, so that everybody can
celebrate it, correct?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
And so the first reading is for the start of the
Acts of the Apostles, which isalways great.
We hear a little bit about theascension there.
We hear a little bit more aboutit in the Gospel as well.
I have been asked—it's the 10thanniversary of Laudato Si' this
week also, and so our Care forthe Common Earth has asked me.
(25:56):
The committee at St Chris hasasked me to preach on that this
weekend.
So Jesus ascended to heaven,but he left us here on earth, so
our job is to care for theearth will be sort of the theme
that I'm going to be working on.
I haven't written it.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
yet I have mass.
I have a 5 pm somewhere andthen 8 pm, I think, at Holy
Rosary on Sunday.
So it's weird not to have avigil for morning masses.
So I have not started my homilyprep yet.
What I do know about theAscension is that in order for
every human to have access toJesus, he needs to ascend to the
(26:35):
Father so that he's not limitedby time and space.
Right got it, and that's apretty important feature of our
resurrected Lord is that he hasto complete the journey to the
Father so that we can follow himup there and his humanity now,
(26:55):
for the first time, enters intoheaven so that we can all follow
him there.
I think the preface sayssomething like that.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yeah, I think that's right.
Yeah, so that'd be cool.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Awesome Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord this
weekend at your local parish,all right, Well, we got a
surprise for you next week and arecurring guest, but a little
surprise, so something to lookforward to, yeah, something to
look forward to, yeah, and oneof our favorite guests will be
on his way back here.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
True, we just gave away that it's a man, not a
woman.
That's what we do.
We give away things LittleEaster eggs, right, I suppose?
All right, so check out theAscension of the Lord this week
at your local parish.
We'll have this and a lot morenext time you're on Question of
(27:48):
Faith.
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