April 30, 2025 • 27 mins
SPONSOR: Briefcase Marketing
Cleveland Vocations Director Father Eric Garris shares his unexpected experience of being in on vacation in Rome and ending up at Pope Francis' funeral and his last public appearence on Easter Sunday. What began as a trip to celebrate Easter with Cleveland priests studying abroad transformed into a historic moment as Father Garris found himself witnessing history firsthand and becoming a media expert of sorts for various American media outlets. Fr Garris details:
• Originally traveling to Rome for Holy Week and Carlo Acutis' canonization.
• Distributed communion at St. Peter's during Holy Week Services.
• He received news of Pope Francis' death while praying at John Paul II's tomb.
• Joined other priests in the prayers for the dead in St. Peter's Square.
• Attended the papal funeral alongside other Cleveland and Ohio priests.
• Reflected on Pope Francis' commitment to being with his people until the end.
• Discussed the universality of the Church gathering at such historic moments.
• Noted how many young people came for canonization of Carlo Acutis but ended up like him attending a Papal funeral.
• Emphasized trust in the Church's continuity as the conclave approaches.
We also briefly touch on the upcoming papal conclave and set some parameters that the Cardinals might use to determine the next Pope. The Pillar has thoughts, as does the National Catholic Reporter to give two perspectives from both extremes.
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The week's readings on St. Peter and more.
We'll be covering the upcoming conclave beginning May 7th in future episodes. If you have questions of faith, email mhayes@dioceseofcleveland.org.
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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.
Who was surprised to be at PopeFrancis' funeral?
Hey everybody, this is Questionof Faith.
I am Deacon Mike Hayes.
I am the Director of YoungAdult Ministry here in the
Diocese of.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Cleveland, and I'm Fr Damian Ferencz, the Vicar for
Evangelization.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Fr Eric Garris, Vocation Director, and I presume
to be the one who was surprisedto be at Pope Francis' funeral.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
So, fr Garris, you were in Rome and you just
happened to be there.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
You were on vacation, right?
Yeah, so it was a strange thing.
So, in not having a parishassignment, a lot of our at
least my current kind ofsacramental celebrations are
done helping out differentplaces, different guys.
Holy Week's a beautiful weekand a lot of priests want to be
(00:50):
at their parishes and so theydon't really give up any other
liturgy.
So I talked to some of thepeople here and said, hey, can I
go visit some of our Clevelandpriests in Rome for Holy Week
and then celebrate Easter weekwith them, because they're off
that week and I was givenpermission to do so.
And boom, I was there for itall.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well wait, were you also going to be part of Carlo
Acutisi's canonization mass?
Yeah, so that was part of it,so I went over.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I got into Rome on Holy Thursday and hit the ground
running.
I went to mass on Holy Thursdayevening at the Casa Santa Maria
where Father Damian lived whilehe was over there studying.
We have three Cleveland priestswho are over in Rome Father
Kevin Klonowski, father MartyDober, father Tim Roth, and yeah
, so the intention was to do theTriduum in Rome and then we had
(01:37):
a week, a couple days off, wetraveled a bit and then to come
back to Rome Saturday, sundayfor Carlos canonizationization
and head back Right.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And then what happened?
What happened?
So a lot happened.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
First of all, trinium in Rome was beautiful, so I was
able to distribute communion atSt Peter's on both Good Friday
and Easter Sunday.
So Easter Sunday I was in StPeter's Square.
We had mass with I believe itwas Cardinal Comastri, who I
only know because when I was ajunior in college I used to.
I studied in Rome for asemester and St Peter's was kind
(02:14):
of like my parish and he waslike the archpriest of St
Peter's at the time, so I sawhim all the time After mass.
We're all kind of sitting there.
Actually, when I wasdistributing communion in the
square, I walked back through StPeter's and I looked over and I
saw the Popemobile and I'm like, oh, we're going to see him.
He's going to come out, and sohe came out.
(02:35):
Actually, I have on my phone alittle greeting of Pope Francis
from that morning.
You ready for this, mike?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, cari, fratelli e sorelli, morning.
You ready for this, mike?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah.
So the Pope came out, wished ushappy Easter, gave his Urbi et
Orbi message that was deliveredfrom some Monsignor priest, I
don't know, and then gave us hisblessing and then kind of
rolled through the square.
I saw him on the way out onConchiliazione give him a little
wave and then just kind of wenton with it.
(03:08):
Was the square packed?
The square was packed, yeah.
And then there were people allthe way down Conchiliazione.
So with it being the holy, thejubilee year.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So this Conchiliazione is the major road
that goes into St Peter's andif you see an aerial view it
looks like a big key.
That goes into St Peter's andif you see an aerial view it
looks like a big key.
That's the long part of the keythat he's talking about there.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So then, on Easter Monday, I walked down to St
Peter's early because I wantedto actually pray in the church,
because I wasn't able topreviously because it was mobbed
with people.
I'm at John Paul's tomb, I'mpraying, I get a text from
Father Sean Ralph, who was overin Rome for a sabbatical.
I need to sit RIP Pope Francis.
I check out Twitter like a goodmillennial and have it
(03:49):
confirmed via Vatican News.
And then I ran down below.
St Peter's is where a number ofthe popes are buried and also
where the tomb of St Peterhimself is Prayed there and was
just kind of like this is wild.
So people started coming intothe square.
Some of the American priestscame down, we prayed, we, we did
(04:10):
the prayers for the dead, wechanted the imparadesum, which
is the, the, the prayer that wepray at.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
You know the priest final commendation and all that
stuff so yeah, all together wasjust like crazy, crazy, crazy
and now you.
So you stayed for the funeral.
And so now, how do you get tocan celebrate the funeral?
Do you just sign up?
I mean, how does that work?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
so with the funeral it's different than the other
events.
So on good friday and on easterI had to pre-submit my
celebrant, my priest card andright, and have that verified
and then you, you have to bekind of validated that way and
have a ticket For the funeral.
We got up and we left at like 6am I think the funeral was at
(04:51):
10.30 or 10.
Walked down it was about a25-minute walk and then we just
waited and then we walked in andthere was this huge mob of
priests entering into the square.
The Swiss guards validate yourcelebrate.
And it was kind of funnybecause I have like a little
(05:12):
Cleveland card.
Ours are in Rome, they havelike a hard one.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
It looks like a credit card, it looks like a
driver's license.
It's very professional, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So they're like Rome celebrates here, all other
celebrates here.
So I was in the all otherChellebrits line and so they
validate that.
And then I joined up with inthe square the other Cleveland
priests who were there.
We actually had an Ohio row, soit was Cleveland, cincinnati
(05:40):
and Columbus.
I found out later that Fr MikePakososik and Father Bill Brown,
both from Cleveland, were likea couple rows behind us.
And then actually on the wayout I ran into the Ignatius kids
who were there, who were cominginto Rome for Carlos'
canonization.
There are so many young peoplethere for Carlos' canonization
who ended up at the funeral, andthey ended up at the funeral,
(06:01):
which I think is something thatwas very probably unexpected for
all of them, but still likeit's not just at the funeral,
which I think is something thatwas very probably unexpected for
all of them, but still likeit's not just chasing the
experience, but like you'reparticipating in church in all
those ways, and in the globalchurch too.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I mean you know there's all these people coming.
You know, like World Youth Dayis a good example of that.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It was kind of like Saturday and Sunday in Rome, at
least after the funeral.
Like was very world youth-esque, so like you're walking through
the streets and there's justmobs of young people and they
were all there for thecanonization and ended up being
there for a funeral.
Very cool, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, yeah.
And so what was your takeawaylike from the funeral while you
were there?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
It was.
So, first of all, part of mytakeaway is just, I've been on a
number of media and differentstuff and I never thought papal
death expert would be a titleassociated with this and part of
my willingness to chat withmedia, to share my story with
(07:04):
other people because theyweren't there, you know, and I
just so happened to be there andI wanted people to know that,
like, as much as the church is,this big institution, like it's
also something that's verypersonal and and like you know I
said in other places, likeCleveland was there and and it
wasn't just a Vatican event andit wasn't just a European event
(07:26):
and it wasn't just an eventwhere presidents and monarchs
and all these people were there,the church gathered and
Cleveland was a part of thechurch universal and that was
there.
So that was a really kind ofstrange thing.
Actually, at the beginning ofMass, I remember sitting there
and they're bringing the casketout, and I remember as a young
(07:46):
person, because John Paul diedin 2005 or 2005,.
I was on spring break and Iremember watching his funeral
and it being kind of like a veryformidable memory for me, like
wow, this is a Pope funeral.
And then, like it's startingand I'm like this is a Pope
funeral and I'm here.
I was just sitting there andjust kind of taking it all in
(08:08):
and like they're bringing thecasket on, they're carrying on
the shoulders and the ritual isso deep and symbolic and
beautiful, but it was juststrange to be like this is what
my life is now.
Like, you know, like I'm here,I'm a priest and I was like,
thinking back to that time whenI was like 15 watching that,
that I never thought that, youknow, some 20 years later, I'd
(08:30):
be there as a priest for afuneral.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, it's funny.
When John Paul II died, Iremember I was in New York at
the time working with Busta Talo, and so I had like your role in
New York where, like, they werelike hey, anybody who could
talk about this can can come ontelevision these days, and so I
did like CBS this morning, um,uh, the Sunday version of that
Right and uh, I think I was inthe Midwest version or something
(08:54):
.
It wasn't good enough for theEast coast.
Um, but they, they put me inthe Midwest version and um, I
remember having the same feelinglike, oh, I guess I just do
this now, you know kind of thing.
But when I heard you were overthere and I heard that you were
doing media stuff, my firstthought was, oh, thank God.
I was like, first of all,Father Eric can speak English
really well, and I mean that notlike you speak some foreign
(09:17):
language, I mean that like youspeak well and you know what
you're talking about and you cansay things in the way that
people need to hear them, whichis hard to find some days, sure.
So thanks for representing.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yeah, and I said it was humbling.
It was very, at least for myown like, personally, for my own
vocation, like it was verymemorable, certainly, but it was
also solidifying, Like my finalnight in Rome.
I walked down to St Peter's.
When I was in college I used topray every day at John Paul's
(09:51):
tomb for my vocation and thenI'd also walk down to St Peter's
every night to pray nightprayer.
And my final night there Iwalked down and just sat in the
square I prayed night prayer andthe square itself is like this
big embracing, you know the arms, isn't it?
Bernini's?
Colony and I just felt very muchlike embraced by the church and
(10:14):
very much a part of it.
Not just as like oh, I'm apapal, like not at all, but like
there was a beauty to be a partof those celebrations, because
I think when the church gathersin a beautiful way, it's
awe-inspiring, and just to be apart of that was super cool.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
FD, any takeaways from watching the papal funeral
on your end?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, first, the whole business about
representing or being anambassador is really cool
because People feel connected tosomething greater than
themselves.
I think that's really nice andthat's part of being Catholic,
and I think for many peoplethey're saying like, wow, like
(11:04):
all the Catholics are connectedto this one figure who is a
unifier.
And I think the papacy made alot of sense to people who may
be part of churches where theydon't have that.
They only have their localpastor.
But when the whole church, likeover 1 billion Catholics, like
this, is our guy who representsChrist's authority on earth and
(11:26):
we've been doing this for 2000years, People are like whoa,
that's really cool.
And so there is this sense ofthe body of Christ and the
family, and so there is thissense of the body of Christ and
the family, and it's just niceto be part of that and to feel
connected in a way.
And I think this is a wonderfultime to be Catholic.
I mean we're certainly sad theHoly Father died, but that
(11:48):
Christ provides for his churchand everything that's going to
come next.
This is all part of what we doas a family of faith, and so I
think that's really beautiful,and the fact that he made it to
Easter Sunday.
A lot of times when people aresick and dying, they do have
some control over when they cango, and I do think he wanted to.
I said this last week justexperience the resurrection one
(12:08):
more time on this side of theveil, and so made it really easy
to talk about.
Yes, we're sad that he died andyes, we grieve, but we have
hope in the resurrection.
Death has lost its sting, solet's go we keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
And with that, on my way home, I read one of Pope
Francis' somewhat newerautobiography books.
I think it was just called Life.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Life.
Yeah, life is one called Hope.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I believe I've listened to both of them on
audiobooks and he said at theend of it he's like I am the
pope, but also I am a priest,and as a priest you just want to
be with your people, you wantto love your people, and he did
that.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
He was with us.
He loved us Very much.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And I think that's what the strangeness was Like
the next day, that while like Inever met him personally, I know
Father Damien met himpersonally Like the strangest
was in the same way that likewhen a family member or a
relative dies and you're like Iwas just with them yesterday,
you know, like that was my kindof initial thought.
Like, wait, he was just with usyesterday.
You know like and so likethere's a personal connection
(13:10):
there albeit you know fromdriving by, but like I saw him
and now he's not, and I thinkpart of that is even I was I was
interviewed by the WashingtonPost, like in the square right
after, because I, as as CNA,like to note I'm a tall man and
I'm a basic Hannah Broncus yeah,I'm a big American man, you
(13:30):
know, just tall, and I'm like,and you know the like, you know,
do you think he overworkedhimself and do you think it was
bad that he was like?
no, I think part of it is.
As a culture we don't like toembrace human frailty or death
or any of that.
And like we don't want, likeJohn Paul at the end of his life
, like sick and frail, like that, that said something to people.
Um and for him it's like, yeah,I'm sick and I might be hurting
(13:55):
, but I want to be with mypeople.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And this may be an unpopular thing to say, but it's
also a true thing, so I willsay it.
If he wanted to, he could havejust kept away from the people
and lived silently and probablylived longer.
But he's like I'm 88 years old,I'm going out with my people
and that's how you go out.
I mean, what the heck?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
In my homily last Sunday I mentioned that I said,
you know, I said it would havebeen very easy and nobody would
have blamed him, right, if hejust hid himself away in the
upper room because that was thegospel, right, you know and just
stayed away from everybody anddied a very quiet and peaceful
death, right?
But God love him.
He went out with his boots on.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, and he did die a quiet and peaceful death to St
.
Joseph.
Yeah, sure, but he went out.
Yeah, went out doing what hedid best.
He was our pastor and our pope.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
He was a priest, yeah and a priest.
We should all hope to go outthat way.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
And then that was even like the notion of back to
funeral, like funerals arealways a weird thing because
obviously there's death andyou're praying for the soul of
the person who has died.
But like I also think it'sweird that we use the term like,
celebrate, like we celebratefuneral liturgies and so, like
we're celebrating the paschalmystery, we're celebrating death
(15:09):
being resurrection.
We're celebrating resurrectionwithin the Easter octave, we're
celebrating hope within a hopeof eternal life, like within a
year of hope, a jubilee year ofhope.
So there was just so much thereand even the presence of the
young people, like there's youth.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
You know, and like I, mean as young people.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It's probably different, like you don't go to
a lot of funerals, you know,maybe just for close family
members and friends, but likefor young people to come to a
funeral like that's a message ofhope.
Yeah, exactly, it's wonderful.
And in this Jubilee year ofhope too and I should mention
you, I got a text early Mondaymorning from Loewen, who saw you
(15:52):
, cause you saw a couple of ouryoung friends on the plane home
too and they were happy to seeyou and people were connecting
with each other and oh, I sawthis.
So all that stuff's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, one of the things that's happened to me
during this week is I've gottena lot of messages from
non-Catholics, you know as anecumenical interfaith officer of
the diocese now, and so lastnight we had the Catholic Jewish
Bridge Builders event, which isa lecture series, and they
(16:22):
started out the evening sayingwe just want to say thank you
for Pope Francis and that we,you know, we really have, you
know, we have so much respectfor him.
And it really went on and on andon about it and I was like wow,
you know, I was like this isthe.
You know he really, you know,affected people all over the
spectrum, all over the religiousspectrum, never mind the
Catholic spectrum.
But I think you know, from thatwhole experience, I was really
(16:44):
taken by.
You know how much he united somany people.
You know not just Catholics,but you know he united people
just because of his humanity.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I think people really respected that the arms of the
square are representative of hisarms.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
There's no other office like it in the whole
world.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yes, and a lot of people said that last night.
They said, you know, like thewoman who was from the Baha'i
faith the other day, she saidyou know, we don't have a head
of our church like that, wedon't even have clergy.
She said and we think peopleforget that that they don't
really have an equivalent of thePope in their religion a lot of
the time.
So anyway, pope Francis, restin peace, and the conclave will
(17:28):
be beginning on May 7th myfather's birthday, I might add
and so we'll see what happens.
As it goes, I've been looking ata lot of different news sites.
I try to keep my news balanced,and so here are just a couple
things I heard that I'd like youto react to.
So, the Pillar, let's say theyhad a thing where they said oh,
(17:51):
all the people we're talking tosay that they would like to
elect someone who's like 79,have a short papacy and have
someone who kind of puts thingsin order, and so that's what
they're hearing like all overthe place.
National Catholic Reporter willsay well, you know, the deck is
stacked and it's probably goingto be someone who thinks in the
line of Francis, and you know,we'll see who they pick,
(18:15):
basically.
And so what are your reactionsto?
You know, maybe the style ofthe next pope?
You know, we don't know whoit's going to be, obviously, but
any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It's all speculation.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I'm not going to.
I got bigger fish to fry and Idon't have any control over it.
So I'll pray for the conclaveand whatever happens happens I
don't care.
I mean, I trust it's not theHoly Spirit who picks.
But I'm praying for thesecardinals that they'll follow
the Holy Spirit and the Lordwill not abandon this church.
I do think we tend, especiallyas Americans, to think
(18:49):
politically about church things.
There's certainly an element ofpolitics in the church, but I
think that that could get usinto dangerous ground.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, and it's all when francis was elected, when
we heard bergoglio like you'relike who you know it wasn't uh,
right like you don't know, andand, um, yeah, there's, there is
hope that we will be providedfor in the end it's.
I will not leave you orphans, Iwill not abandon you, you know,
(19:19):
and, and so that's, that's rungtrue, even amid you know,
because someone mentioned, likethe like you think, oh, the Holy
Spirit picks.
Well, you know, google the nameBorgia.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, right, I said that the other day.
That was the Benedict thing too.
He was talking about that.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
But like, and I think even amid all of that, like and
this isn't a judgment on, I'mnot saying this in light of like
Pope Francis, but just ingeneral like 2000 years plus,
good, bad, ugly, beautiful,everything in between we're
still here and this.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I mean, that's right.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
And that being, in the end, like it's the church
being provided for.
I think there was the situationwhen, maybe, benedict was
elected and Cardinal George hadthat thing.
Where he's standing there, he'slooking at St Peter's Square
and as you look out, you can see, you know, the Roman Forum and
all these things.
It's like Rome is in ruins.
Where is Caesar's successor?
Nowhere to be found.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Where is Peter's here here?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
right.
Yeah, I would say this like.
This is my thought on the wholething at this point is I think
that they have two choices.
I tend to think practicallyabout this, you know.
I say, okay, how would theythink more practically about
these things?
So do they want anotherenthusiastic pastor like John
Paul II or Pope Francis was youknow someone who's kind of out
there and can really bringpeople together?
(20:38):
Or do they want more of amanager?
Now, you know someone who cankind of get the curia in order,
someone who can kind of putthings in the right place, could
be more of an implementer type.
You know of someone who kind ofimplements the thought of those
things.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
I don't think those things are mutually exclusive
Correct, but they're hard tofind in one person sometimes,
yeah, but I think also, damien,and maybe even to you, mike, in
being in ministry, like Godsurprises you in your ability to
do certain things.
Ain't that the truth?
You know, like I'm anevangelizer, well, no, I'm doing
(21:09):
administration, I'm doing it.
So, like all of that, I thinkwe wait, we see, and we hope and
we pray.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, yep, if you're a White Smoke listener, which is
another podcast, I'm not sureif the two of you listen to this
, so they've been covering allof this and so they said they
were giving us a little poptoday.
So I want to say, if you're aWhite Smoke listener and you're
listening to us, we hope thatyou'll stick with us.
We'll be here every week.
So we do this weekly podcast.
We answer one question a week.
If you have a question of faith, you could email that to me,
(21:40):
mhays at dioceseofclevelandorg,and you know we'll be kind of
like all things conclave for alittle while now because it's
going to be in the news when weplay the hits here, so hopefully
you'll stick with us.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Is this my longest time being on without completely
derailing the conversation?
I mean, it's just a lot.
We try to shoot for 20, 25railing the conversation.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I mean, it's just a lot.
We try to shoot for 20, 25minutes but we had a little
technical difficulty at thefront end, yeah, so I don't know
I don't keep track, but yeah,you focused really well today.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
You did, thank you.
Thank you, it was because of mysleep deprivation.
My sleep deprivation and I wasdrinking a Celsius before.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
That's right, it's poison, put the poison spray.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Poison smells bad.
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Speaker 1 (22:28):
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Marketing.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
What if you don't know how to use a phone?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Then ask a digital native to do it for you.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Well then, you can call that number and Dan will
show you how to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
That's not using a phone.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Ah not using a phone.
Okay, well, anyway.
So our church could be StPeter's Basilica this weekend oh
beautiful.
What's your favorite part aboutthe basilica?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
actually, well, two things.
So the altar of the chair inthe way back is where I used to
go to daily mass, every day.
So that's a special place forme, as well as the tomb of John
Paul II, who's a hero of mine.
As I said, I used to pray athis tomb, which used to be below
(24:04):
deck in the grottos when I wasin college seminary for my
vocation.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Now he's been brought up top and yeah, our scriptures
for this week, third Sunday ofEaster and we got a couple of
choices.
I went with John 21 todaySaddest words in all of
scripture I'm going fishing.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Oh, there you go.
Okay, let's see which by theway, john 21.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yes, drum roll, please.
Gospel reading of PopeFrancis's funeral.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Oh, very good yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I don't think that Peter was going fishing because
he wanted to return to a formerway of life.
Okay, I think that Peter wasgoing fishing because it was in
fishing that he firstencountered the Lord.
And I'm sure, with you, mikeand Marion, that you have places
that are special to you, whereyou met one another, and I think
for him, he went back fishing,thinking he appeared to me here
(24:47):
before and he might appear again.
This is a place of encounter forme, and I miss him and I'm
longing to be with him, and soI'm going to the place where he
first called me Very nice.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Well, I went through with the first reading.
So this is Peter and theapostles who are saying in reply
to the captain and the courtofficials we must obey God
rather than men.
The God of our ancestors raisedJesus, though you had killed
him by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his righthand as leader and savior to
grant Israel repentance andforgiveness of sins.
So he doesn't beat around thebush.
(25:28):
He says you killed him, youhung him on the tree.
There's two corporal works ofmercy that we don't often give
too much attention to in ourpostmodern age.
That's admonishing sinners andinstructing the ignorant, and
that's what Peter's doing here.
He's giving straight talk, notin an accusatory way, but just
to tell what's true, and thenit's part of his resurrection
(25:49):
story of his own life.
Spiritual works of mercy.
Spiritual works of mercy.
I'm sorry.
And the reason he's able to dothat is because of what happens
in the gospel.
He's experienced the Lord'shealing in his own life, so now
he's able to share it withothers.
Very nice.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
All right, so we're recording this on Wednesday, the
30th, and so if you're aroundForest City Brewery tonight, our
own Father, damien Ferencz,will be talking about Flannery
O'Connor there tonight, so comeon out, it'll be a fun time,
wouldn't?
Speaker 3 (26:18):
it be great if Flannery O'Connor gave a talk
talking about Father Damien.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
She's deceased oh.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Well, she, could you know, Maybe an.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
AI version of Flannery no.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
You know what, one of the slides that Kayla made my
slideshow for tonight and it'sbeautiful, but one is an AI,
flannery and kind of like it,but not really.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I mean I like it because it looks like flannery,
I don't like it because it's aiyeah, we just got a at my parish
they made, had a an artist do arendering of carlo cutis for
our youth room and um, that wasthe one thing we insisted on was
like you couldn't be from likean ai drawing, from an actual
drawing, and then they wouldcopy it from there.
(27:01):
All the stuff that we found toolike.
Before we hired this artist, wewere just looking like, is
there something we can buy?
And all it was AI and we werelike man, we can't put this up.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It's not good, that's not even like that'd be
artificial art.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's right, aa, that's something else
.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Great thing.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Anyway, Father Eric Harris, thanks for joining us.
Thank you Thanks forrepresenting Cleveland out in
Rome.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Grazie mille, fratello.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
See you till I die.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So we'll have this and a whole lot more next time
here on Glister 3.
On today's Question of Faith.
Who was surprised to be at PopeFrancis' funeral?
Hey everybody, this is Questionof Faith.
I am Deacon Mike Hayes.
I am the Director of YoungAdult Ministry here in the
Diocese of.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Cleveland, and I'm Fr Damian Ferencz, the Vicar for
Evangelization.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Fr Eric Garris, Vocation Director, and I presume
to be the one who was surprisedto be at Pope Francis' funeral.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
So, fr Garris, you were in Rome and you just
happened to be there.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
You were on vacation, right?
Yeah, so it was a strange thing.
So, in not having a parishassignment, a lot of our at
least my current kind ofsacramental celebrations are
done helping out differentplaces, different guys.
Holy Week's a beautiful weekand a lot of priests want to be
(00:50):
at their parishes and so theydon't really give up any other
liturgy.
So I talked to some of thepeople here and said, hey, can I
go visit some of our Clevelandpriests in Rome for Holy Week
and then celebrate Easter weekwith them, because they're off
that week and I was givenpermission to do so.
And boom, I was there for itall.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well wait, were you also going to be part of Carlo
Acutisi's canonization mass?
Yeah, so that was part of it,so I went over.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I got into Rome on Holy Thursday and hit the ground
running.
I went to mass on Holy Thursdayevening at the Casa Santa Maria
where Father Damian lived whilehe was over there studying.
We have three Cleveland priestswho are over in Rome Father
Kevin Klonowski, father MartyDober, father Tim Roth, and yeah
, so the intention was to do theTriduum in Rome and then we had
(01:37):
a week, a couple days off, wetraveled a bit and then to come
back to Rome Saturday, sundayfor Carlos canonizationization
and head back Right.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And then what happened?
What happened?
So a lot happened.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
First of all, trinium in Rome was beautiful, so I was
able to distribute communion atSt Peter's on both Good Friday
and Easter Sunday.
So Easter Sunday I was in StPeter's Square.
We had mass with I believe itwas Cardinal Comastri, who I
only know because when I was ajunior in college I used to.
I studied in Rome for asemester and St Peter's was kind
(02:14):
of like my parish and he waslike the archpriest of St
Peter's at the time, so I sawhim all the time After mass.
We're all kind of sitting there.
Actually, when I wasdistributing communion in the
square, I walked back through StPeter's and I looked over and I
saw the Popemobile and I'm like, oh, we're going to see him.
He's going to come out, and sohe came out.
(02:35):
Actually, I have on my phone alittle greeting of Pope Francis
from that morning.
You ready for this, mike?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, cari, fratelli e sorelli, morning.
You ready for this, mike?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah.
So the Pope came out, wished ushappy Easter, gave his Urbi et
Orbi message that was deliveredfrom some Monsignor priest, I
don't know, and then gave us hisblessing and then kind of
rolled through the square.
I saw him on the way out onConchiliazione give him a little
wave and then just kind of wenton with it.
(03:08):
Was the square packed?
The square was packed, yeah.
And then there were people allthe way down Conchiliazione.
So with it being the holy, thejubilee year.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So this Conchiliazione is the major road
that goes into St Peter's andif you see an aerial view it
looks like a big key.
That goes into St Peter's andif you see an aerial view it
looks like a big key.
That's the long part of the keythat he's talking about there.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So then, on Easter Monday, I walked down to St
Peter's early because I wantedto actually pray in the church,
because I wasn't able topreviously because it was mobbed
with people.
I'm at John Paul's tomb, I'mpraying, I get a text from
Father Sean Ralph, who was overin Rome for a sabbatical.
I need to sit RIP Pope Francis.
I check out Twitter like a goodmillennial and have it
(03:49):
confirmed via Vatican News.
And then I ran down below.
St Peter's is where a number ofthe popes are buried and also
where the tomb of St Peterhimself is Prayed there and was
just kind of like this is wild.
So people started coming intothe square.
Some of the American priestscame down, we prayed, we, we did
(04:10):
the prayers for the dead, wechanted the imparadesum, which
is the, the, the prayer that wepray at.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
You know the priest final commendation and all that
stuff so yeah, all together wasjust like crazy, crazy, crazy
and now you.
So you stayed for the funeral.
And so now, how do you get tocan celebrate the funeral?
Do you just sign up?
I mean, how does that work?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
so with the funeral it's different than the other
events.
So on good friday and on easterI had to pre-submit my
celebrant, my priest card andright, and have that verified
and then you, you have to bekind of validated that way and
have a ticket For the funeral.
We got up and we left at like 6am I think the funeral was at
(04:51):
10.30 or 10.
Walked down it was about a25-minute walk and then we just
waited and then we walked in andthere was this huge mob of
priests entering into the square.
The Swiss guards validate yourcelebrate.
And it was kind of funnybecause I have like a little
(05:12):
Cleveland card.
Ours are in Rome, they havelike a hard one.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
It looks like a credit card, it looks like a
driver's license.
It's very professional, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So they're like Rome celebrates here, all other
celebrates here.
So I was in the all otherChellebrits line and so they
validate that.
And then I joined up with inthe square the other Cleveland
priests who were there.
We actually had an Ohio row, soit was Cleveland, cincinnati
(05:40):
and Columbus.
I found out later that Fr MikePakososik and Father Bill Brown,
both from Cleveland, were likea couple rows behind us.
And then actually on the wayout I ran into the Ignatius kids
who were there, who were cominginto Rome for Carlos'
canonization.
There are so many young peoplethere for Carlos' canonization
who ended up at the funeral, andthey ended up at the funeral,
(06:01):
which I think is something thatwas very probably unexpected for
all of them, but still likeit's not just at the funeral,
which I think is something thatwas very probably unexpected for
all of them, but still likeit's not just chasing the
experience, but like you'reparticipating in church in all
those ways, and in the globalchurch too.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I mean you know there's all these people coming.
You know, like World Youth Dayis a good example of that.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It was kind of like Saturday and Sunday in Rome, at
least after the funeral.
Like was very world youth-esque, so like you're walking through
the streets and there's justmobs of young people and they
were all there for thecanonization and ended up being
there for a funeral.
Very cool, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, yeah.
And so what was your takeawaylike from the funeral while you
were there?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
It was.
So, first of all, part of mytakeaway is just, I've been on a
number of media and differentstuff and I never thought papal
death expert would be a titleassociated with this and part of
my willingness to chat withmedia, to share my story with
(07:04):
other people because theyweren't there, you know, and I
just so happened to be there andI wanted people to know that,
like, as much as the church is,this big institution, like it's
also something that's verypersonal and and like you know I
said in other places, likeCleveland was there and and it
wasn't just a Vatican event andit wasn't just a European event
(07:26):
and it wasn't just an eventwhere presidents and monarchs
and all these people were there,the church gathered and
Cleveland was a part of thechurch universal and that was
there.
So that was a really kind ofstrange thing.
Actually, at the beginning ofMass, I remember sitting there
and they're bringing the casketout, and I remember as a young
(07:46):
person, because John Paul diedin 2005 or 2005,.
I was on spring break and Iremember watching his funeral
and it being kind of like a veryformidable memory for me, like
wow, this is a Pope funeral.
And then, like it's startingand I'm like this is a Pope
funeral and I'm here.
I was just sitting there andjust kind of taking it all in
(08:08):
and like they're bringing thecasket on, they're carrying on
the shoulders and the ritual isso deep and symbolic and
beautiful, but it was juststrange to be like this is what
my life is now.
Like, you know, like I'm here,I'm a priest and I was like,
thinking back to that time whenI was like 15 watching that,
that I never thought that, youknow, some 20 years later, I'd
(08:30):
be there as a priest for afuneral.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, it's funny.
When John Paul II died, Iremember I was in New York at
the time working with Busta Talo, and so I had like your role in
New York where, like, they werelike hey, anybody who could
talk about this can can come ontelevision these days, and so I
did like CBS this morning, um,uh, the Sunday version of that
Right and uh, I think I was inthe Midwest version or something
(08:54):
.
It wasn't good enough for theEast coast.
Um, but they, they put me inthe Midwest version and um, I
remember having the same feelinglike, oh, I guess I just do
this now, you know kind of thing.
But when I heard you were overthere and I heard that you were
doing media stuff, my firstthought was, oh, thank God.
I was like, first of all,Father Eric can speak English
really well, and I mean that notlike you speak some foreign
(09:17):
language, I mean that like youspeak well and you know what
you're talking about and you cansay things in the way that
people need to hear them, whichis hard to find some days, sure.
So thanks for representing.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yeah, and I said it was humbling.
It was very, at least for myown like, personally, for my own
vocation, like it was verymemorable, certainly, but it was
also solidifying, Like my finalnight in Rome.
I walked down to St Peter's.
When I was in college I used topray every day at John Paul's
(09:51):
tomb for my vocation and thenI'd also walk down to St Peter's
every night to pray nightprayer.
And my final night there Iwalked down and just sat in the
square I prayed night prayer andthe square itself is like this
big embracing, you know the arms, isn't it?
Bernini's?
Colony and I just felt very muchlike embraced by the church and
(10:14):
very much a part of it.
Not just as like oh, I'm apapal, like not at all, but like
there was a beauty to be a partof those celebrations, because
I think when the church gathersin a beautiful way, it's
awe-inspiring, and just to be apart of that was super cool.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
FD, any takeaways from watching the papal funeral
on your end?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, first, the whole business about
representing or being anambassador is really cool
because People feel connected tosomething greater than
themselves.
I think that's really nice andthat's part of being Catholic,
and I think for many peoplethey're saying like, wow, like
(11:04):
all the Catholics are connectedto this one figure who is a
unifier.
And I think the papacy made alot of sense to people who may
be part of churches where theydon't have that.
They only have their localpastor.
But when the whole church, likeover 1 billion Catholics, like
this, is our guy who representsChrist's authority on earth and
(11:26):
we've been doing this for 2000years, People are like whoa,
that's really cool.
And so there is this sense ofthe body of Christ and the
family, and so there is thissense of the body of Christ and
the family, and it's just niceto be part of that and to feel
connected in a way.
And I think this is a wonderfultime to be Catholic.
I mean we're certainly sad theHoly Father died, but that
(11:48):
Christ provides for his churchand everything that's going to
come next.
This is all part of what we doas a family of faith, and so I
think that's really beautiful,and the fact that he made it to
Easter Sunday.
A lot of times when people aresick and dying, they do have
some control over when they cango, and I do think he wanted to.
I said this last week justexperience the resurrection one
(12:08):
more time on this side of theveil, and so made it really easy
to talk about.
Yes, we're sad that he died andyes, we grieve, but we have
hope in the resurrection.
Death has lost its sting, solet's go we keep moving forward.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
And with that, on my way home, I read one of Pope
Francis' somewhat newerautobiography books.
I think it was just called Life.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Life.
Yeah, life is one called Hope.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I believe I've listened to both of them on
audiobooks and he said at theend of it he's like I am the
pope, but also I am a priest,and as a priest you just want to
be with your people, you wantto love your people, and he did
that.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
He was with us.
He loved us Very much.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And I think that's what the strangeness was Like
the next day, that while like Inever met him personally, I know
Father Damien met himpersonally Like the strangest
was in the same way that likewhen a family member or a
relative dies and you're like Iwas just with them yesterday,
you know, like that was my kindof initial thought.
Like, wait, he was just with usyesterday.
You know like and so likethere's a personal connection
(13:10):
there albeit you know fromdriving by, but like I saw him
and now he's not, and I thinkpart of that is even I was I was
interviewed by the WashingtonPost, like in the square right
after, because I, as as CNA,like to note I'm a tall man and
I'm a basic Hannah Broncus yeah,I'm a big American man, you
(13:30):
know, just tall, and I'm like,and you know the like, you know,
do you think he overworkedhimself and do you think it was
bad that he was like?
no, I think part of it is.
As a culture we don't like toembrace human frailty or death
or any of that.
And like we don't want, likeJohn Paul at the end of his life
, like sick and frail, like that, that said something to people.
Um and for him it's like, yeah,I'm sick and I might be hurting
(13:55):
, but I want to be with mypeople.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And this may be an unpopular thing to say, but it's
also a true thing, so I willsay it.
If he wanted to, he could havejust kept away from the people
and lived silently and probablylived longer.
But he's like I'm 88 years old,I'm going out with my people
and that's how you go out.
I mean, what the heck?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
In my homily last Sunday I mentioned that I said,
you know, I said it would havebeen very easy and nobody would
have blamed him, right, if hejust hid himself away in the
upper room because that was thegospel, right, you know and just
stayed away from everybody anddied a very quiet and peaceful
death, right?
But God love him.
He went out with his boots on.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, and he did die a quiet and peaceful death to St
.
Joseph.
Yeah, sure, but he went out.
Yeah, went out doing what hedid best.
He was our pastor and our pope.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
He was a priest, yeah and a priest.
We should all hope to go outthat way.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
And then that was even like the notion of back to
funeral, like funerals arealways a weird thing because
obviously there's death andyou're praying for the soul of
the person who has died.
But like I also think it'sweird that we use the term like,
celebrate, like we celebratefuneral liturgies and so, like
we're celebrating the paschalmystery, we're celebrating death
(15:09):
being resurrection.
We're celebrating resurrectionwithin the Easter octave, we're
celebrating hope within a hopeof eternal life, like within a
year of hope, a jubilee year ofhope.
So there was just so much thereand even the presence of the
young people, like there's youth.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
You know, and like I, mean as young people.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It's probably different, like you don't go to
a lot of funerals, you know,maybe just for close family
members and friends, but likefor young people to come to a
funeral like that's a message ofhope.
Yeah, exactly, it's wonderful.
And in this Jubilee year ofhope too and I should mention
you, I got a text early Mondaymorning from Loewen, who saw you
(15:52):
, cause you saw a couple of ouryoung friends on the plane home
too and they were happy to seeyou and people were connecting
with each other and oh, I sawthis.
So all that stuff's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, one of the things that's happened to me
during this week is I've gottena lot of messages from
non-Catholics, you know as anecumenical interfaith officer of
the diocese now, and so lastnight we had the Catholic Jewish
Bridge Builders event, which isa lecture series, and they
(16:22):
started out the evening sayingwe just want to say thank you
for Pope Francis and that we,you know, we really have, you
know, we have so much respectfor him.
And it really went on and on andon about it and I was like wow,
you know, I was like this isthe.
You know he really, you know,affected people all over the
spectrum, all over the religiousspectrum, never mind the
Catholic spectrum.
But I think you know, from thatwhole experience, I was really
(16:44):
taken by.
You know how much he united somany people.
You know not just Catholics,but you know he united people
just because of his humanity.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I think people really respected that the arms of the
square are representative of hisarms.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
There's no other office like it in the whole
world.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yes, and a lot of people said that last night.
They said, you know, like thewoman who was from the Baha'i
faith the other day, she saidyou know, we don't have a head
of our church like that, wedon't even have clergy.
She said and we think peopleforget that that they don't
really have an equivalent of thePope in their religion a lot of
the time.
So anyway, pope Francis, restin peace, and the conclave will
(17:28):
be beginning on May 7th myfather's birthday, I might add
and so we'll see what happens.
As it goes, I've been looking ata lot of different news sites.
I try to keep my news balanced,and so here are just a couple
things I heard that I'd like youto react to.
So, the Pillar, let's say theyhad a thing where they said oh,
(17:51):
all the people we're talking tosay that they would like to
elect someone who's like 79,have a short papacy and have
someone who kind of puts thingsin order, and so that's what
they're hearing like all overthe place.
National Catholic Reporter willsay well, you know, the deck is
stacked and it's probably goingto be someone who thinks in the
line of Francis, and you know,we'll see who they pick,
(18:15):
basically.
And so what are your reactionsto?
You know, maybe the style ofthe next pope?
You know, we don't know whoit's going to be, obviously, but
any thoughts?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It's all speculation.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I'm not going to.
I got bigger fish to fry and Idon't have any control over it.
So I'll pray for the conclaveand whatever happens happens I
don't care.
I mean, I trust it's not theHoly Spirit who picks.
But I'm praying for thesecardinals that they'll follow
the Holy Spirit and the Lordwill not abandon this church.
I do think we tend, especiallyas Americans, to think
(18:49):
politically about church things.
There's certainly an element ofpolitics in the church, but I
think that that could get usinto dangerous ground.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, and it's all when francis was elected, when
we heard bergoglio like you'relike who you know it wasn't uh,
right like you don't know, andand, um, yeah, there's, there is
hope that we will be providedfor in the end it's.
I will not leave you orphans, Iwill not abandon you, you know,
(19:19):
and, and so that's, that's rungtrue, even amid you know,
because someone mentioned, likethe like you think, oh, the Holy
Spirit picks.
Well, you know, google the nameBorgia.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, right, I said that the other day.
That was the Benedict thing too.
He was talking about that.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
But like, and I think even amid all of that, like and
this isn't a judgment on, I'mnot saying this in light of like
Pope Francis, but just ingeneral like 2000 years plus,
good, bad, ugly, beautiful,everything in between we're
still here and this.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I mean, that's right.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
And that being, in the end, like it's the church
being provided for.
I think there was the situationwhen, maybe, benedict was
elected and Cardinal George hadthat thing.
Where he's standing there, he'slooking at St Peter's Square
and as you look out, you can see, you know, the Roman Forum and
all these things.
It's like Rome is in ruins.
Where is Caesar's successor?
Nowhere to be found.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Where is Peter's here here?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
right.
Yeah, I would say this like.
This is my thought on the wholething at this point is I think
that they have two choices.
I tend to think practicallyabout this, you know.
I say, okay, how would theythink more practically about
these things?
So do they want anotherenthusiastic pastor like John
Paul II or Pope Francis was youknow someone who's kind of out
there and can really bringpeople together?
(20:38):
Or do they want more of amanager?
Now, you know someone who cankind of get the curia in order,
someone who can kind of putthings in the right place, could
be more of an implementer type.
You know of someone who kind ofimplements the thought of those
things.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
I don't think those things are mutually exclusive
Correct, but they're hard tofind in one person sometimes,
yeah, but I think also, damien,and maybe even to you, mike, in
being in ministry, like Godsurprises you in your ability to
do certain things.
Ain't that the truth?
You know, like I'm anevangelizer, well, no, I'm doing
(21:09):
administration, I'm doing it.
So, like all of that, I thinkwe wait, we see, and we hope and
we pray.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, yep, if you're a White Smoke listener, which is
another podcast, I'm not sureif the two of you listen to this
, so they've been covering allof this and so they said they
were giving us a little poptoday.
So I want to say, if you're aWhite Smoke listener and you're
listening to us, we hope thatyou'll stick with us.
We'll be here every week.
So we do this weekly podcast.
We answer one question a week.
If you have a question of faith, you could email that to me,
(21:40):
mhays at dioceseofclevelandorg,and you know we'll be kind of
like all things conclave for alittle while now because it's
going to be in the news when weplay the hits here, so hopefully
you'll stick with us.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Is this my longest time being on without completely
derailing the conversation?
I mean, it's just a lot.
We try to shoot for 20, 25railing the conversation.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I mean, it's just a lot.
We try to shoot for 20, 25minutes but we had a little
technical difficulty at thefront end, yeah, so I don't know
I don't keep track, but yeah,you focused really well today.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
You did, thank you.
Thank you, it was because of mysleep deprivation.
My sleep deprivation and I wasdrinking a Celsius before.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
That's right, it's poison, put the poison spray.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Poison smells bad.
Speak out of focus.
You know who helps people focus.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Would that be, maybe a place like Briefcase?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Marketing.
Absolutely, and you obviouslyknow what they do, father Eric.
They make sure your churchdoesn't have scattered messaging
or a bad website.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Like streamlining websites and converting visitors
into customers.
Is there any proof of this?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Oh, absolutely.
They get great Google reviewsall the time.
You can check those out.
We have done superb work withour friends at Theology of the
Body, cleveland, womankind, stJohn Cancius, parish, and
Treatment.
We put samples of that work inour show notes and they'll make
it easier for you to check thatwork out.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Great Sounds like they have a clear message,
compelling website and help withdonors, missions, volunteers,
more people sharing messages andadvocates for you.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Well, if you know how to work a computer or a phone,
you could go to 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.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
What if you don't know how to use a phone?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Then ask a digital native to do it for you.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Well then, you can call that number and Dan will
show you how to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
That's not using a phone.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Ah not using a phone.
Okay, well, anyway.
So our church could be StPeter's Basilica this weekend oh
beautiful.
What's your favorite part aboutthe basilica?
Speaker 3 (23:40):
actually, well, two things.
So the altar of the chair inthe way back is where I used to
go to daily mass, every day.
So that's a special place forme, as well as the tomb of John
Paul II, who's a hero of mine.
As I said, I used to pray athis tomb, which used to be below
(24:04):
deck in the grottos when I wasin college seminary for my
vocation.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Now he's been brought up top and yeah, our scriptures
for this week, third Sunday ofEaster and we got a couple of
choices.
I went with John 21 todaySaddest words in all of
scripture I'm going fishing.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Oh, there you go.
Okay, let's see which by theway, john 21.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yes, drum roll, please.
Gospel reading of PopeFrancis's funeral.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Oh, very good yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I don't think that Peter was going fishing because
he wanted to return to a formerway of life.
Okay, I think that Peter wasgoing fishing because it was in
fishing that he firstencountered the Lord.
And I'm sure, with you, mikeand Marion, that you have places
that are special to you, whereyou met one another, and I think
for him, he went back fishing,thinking he appeared to me here
(24:47):
before and he might appear again.
This is a place of encounter forme, and I miss him and I'm
longing to be with him, and soI'm going to the place where he
first called me Very nice.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Well, I went through with the first reading.
So this is Peter and theapostles who are saying in reply
to the captain and the courtofficials we must obey God
rather than men.
The God of our ancestors raisedJesus, though you had killed
him by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his righthand as leader and savior to
grant Israel repentance andforgiveness of sins.
So he doesn't beat around thebush.
(25:28):
He says you killed him, youhung him on the tree.
There's two corporal works ofmercy that we don't often give
too much attention to in ourpostmodern age.
That's admonishing sinners andinstructing the ignorant, and
that's what Peter's doing here.
He's giving straight talk, notin an accusatory way, but just
to tell what's true, and thenit's part of his resurrection
(25:49):
story of his own life.
Spiritual works of mercy.
Spiritual works of mercy.
I'm sorry.
And the reason he's able to dothat is because of what happens
in the gospel.
He's experienced the Lord'shealing in his own life, so now
he's able to share it withothers.
Very nice.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
All right, so we're recording this on Wednesday, the
30th, and so if you're aroundForest City Brewery tonight, our
own Father, damien Ferencz,will be talking about Flannery
O'Connor there tonight, so comeon out, it'll be a fun time,
wouldn't?
Speaker 3 (26:18):
it be great if Flannery O'Connor gave a talk
talking about Father Damien.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
She's deceased oh.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Well, she, could you know, Maybe an.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
AI version of Flannery no.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
You know what, one of the slides that Kayla made my
slideshow for tonight and it'sbeautiful, but one is an AI,
flannery and kind of like it,but not really.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I mean I like it because it looks like flannery,
I don't like it because it's aiyeah, we just got a at my parish
they made, had a an artist do arendering of carlo cutis for
our youth room and um, that wasthe one thing we insisted on was
like you couldn't be from likean ai drawing, from an actual
drawing, and then they wouldcopy it from there.
(27:01):
All the stuff that we found toolike.
Before we hired this artist, wewere just looking like, is
there something we can buy?
And all it was AI and we werelike man, we can't put this up.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It's not good, that's not even like that'd be
artificial art.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, yeah, that's right, aa, that's something else
.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Great thing.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Anyway, Father Eric Harris, thanks for joining us.
Thank you Thanks forrepresenting Cleveland out in
Rome.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Grazie mille, fratello.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
See you till I die.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
So we'll have this and a whole lot more next time
here on Glister 3.
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