SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson. I'm Jay Agnish, Communications Director for the Diocese and editor of the Beacon newspaper. With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney. Bishop, good morning. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 0:21

I'm good, Jay. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:22

I'm doing good, thanks. What's new? What are you even up to?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Summer is moving along too quickly, but as I said last week, but uh last night we had a wonderful event um with young religious uh seminarians, uh, some of our recently ordained from all the different religious, or many of the different religious communities that serve here in our diocese. And uh thanks to the Salesian sisters, Sister Teresa Lee, our uh Chancellor and Delegate for Religious, it's something that I had heard about when I came to the diocese that Bishop Saratelli, I think, had hosted in the past, uh, bringing together some of the younger um women and men that are uh discerning or um living vows uh in in in in religious communities. So we had a gathering at uh Mary Help of Christians last night, uh holy hour, dinner, the nights of Columbus helped with the food, and then uh basketball and ping pong and a few other things afterwards. But a great spirit. And um Did you get in on the sports at all? A little bit. It's uh out of shape, but uh there was no golf. So uh but uh um uh following up on a wonderful weekend uh this past Saturday with the Franciscan sisters of St. Elizabeth in Participant who do great work. Um five of those sisters celebrated their 25th Jubilee anniversary. And then um earlier on Sunday I celebrated the ordination of two Franciscans to the transitional diaconate at St. Mary's Parish in Pompton Lake. So doing that in the parish was wonderful. And many of the Franciscans, really from all over the country, were there gathered. And then on Sunday afternoon, where was I Sunday afternoon? Oh Monsignor Gino, our rector celebrated his 30th anniversary of ordination. Ivania had uh helped in organizing it. She organized it a small crowd of a few thousand came, a few thousands were joined together, but what a spirit of joy. Monsignor, it was really to be there. My pleasure. Yeah, it was so great, great, great, excellent weekend.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yeah, I saw the photos. Congratulations on 30 years, Monsignor. So with us we have Monsignor, Monsignor Gino Silva, the rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Patterson. He's also diocesan vicar for special projects and recently was appointed to the Dicaster for Evangelization at the Vatican. And also we have Ivania Vega McTye, who's the pastoral associate of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Patterson. So you two work closely together on various projects, and we're gonna talk about one of those special projects today, uh the Brea Public Charter School, which recently opened. And first I'm gonna ask if the bishop can open us up in prayer.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Sure. We'll place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. As we think about in these days, the end of summer and going back to school, we ask the help and guidance and gifts of the Holy Spirit as we pray. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, enkindle them the fire of your love, send forth your spirit, and we shall be recreated, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. O God, who has taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in that same spirit to be truly wise and always rejoice in your consolation through Christ our Lord. Amen. Our Lady's seed of wisdom, pray for us, Saint Joseph, pray for us, Saint John the Baptist, pray for us. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Amen. Bishop, gonna hand it over to you. So uh tell us why these guests are here and what we hope to talk about today.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

As uh Monsignor Gino and Ivania are here with us today. I'm thinking back to uh even before beginning in the diocese in the transition time. I remember meeting Ivania when she was working in the Daasin office, right? Uh we met at St. Paul's Inside the Walls and we're talking about Hispanic ministry and catechetical uh work, and then remembering the first time coming to the cathedral to meet Monsignor Gino, uh it was during the lockdown and many things. And uh I remember meeting him in the parking lot, and uh in the back of the parking lot, there was this hole in the ground, right? So uh uh Monsignor and Navanya can tell us a little bit more, but uh that what was uh uh was it the chancery building at one time?

SPEAKER_05 4:34

So there were two old dilapidated buildings.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

When I got there, they had uh been basically knocked down, and uh out of the ground came this beautiful new catechetical center for the uh cathedral parish, uh the vibrant parish that it is. And soon after arriving, Monsignor Gino told me uh uh about a place called Brilla Brobria Academy, uh, which I had heard of a little bit in in the South Bronx, some school that was a charter school that the missionaries of charity were involved in. And uh I'll let uh Monsignor maybe take us through a little bit of the history from there. But I remember you describing to me you're going there for a visit to the South Bronx. Uh and and maybe uh how did you hear first about the the the Seton Foundation? Is that who uh looks over? Partners. The Seton Teaching Partners uh who have this model that uh was they were looking for a new place, a new uh location, and there were many cities in the throughout the country that were uh so go ahead, tell us a little bit about how um the last two almost three years now have developed into a a dream come true.

SPEAKER_05 5:40

A miracle. A miracle, a miracle from God is yeah, I just first of all I want to thank you, Bishop Kim, for your support um every step of the way. It's it's been a challenge and it's really been a miracle. So I arrived at the cathedral in the spring of 2018, and I had been working in the city of Patterson with teen outreach, young prophets, um, and then when I was president of DePaul, I was serving at St. Agnes, and my concern was always for two things: the education of our children in Patterson and the faith formation of the kids in Patterson. And so I had all these dreams and everything. And so I arrived in the spring of 2018. I happened to be at dinner with a wonderful couple who you now know, Tony and Christy DeNicola. And at dinner they started telling me about this incredible school in the South Bronx called Brea. And they started saying that they had helped uh fund it and found it, and this model of pedagogy for inner city children, and that it has an optional after-school catechetical program. You gotta see it. So I said, This is wonderful, but didn't really have the time at that point to go see it. Then the next week I happened to be on the phone with our former superintendent of schools, John Erickson, who's still very involved with schools around the country, and he said, If you want something special, you gotta go to the South Bronx. I said, Don't tell me Bria. He said, Bria in the South Bronx. And then a couple weeks goes by, and I'm at St. Patrick's Cathedral for a funeral mass, and I see Cardinal Dolan, and he started telling me about Bria in the South Bronx. So I said, I gotta make a trip. So our CFO of the diocese, Pat Brennan, who used to be involved with KIPP charter schools in New York, I said, Pat, let's go see the school. So he and I made a trip into the South Bronx. And he and I were blown away when we walked into the school, the joy of the students, and we sat in the classes and we watched these teachers dynamically engaging the students in in the most creative of ways. And so we were there for a couple of hours, and we both went outside and we stood there and we said, Wow. And I said, Well, let's go next door. They said that the missionaries of charity help with the after school program, and I know them from Rome. So I knocked on the door of the convent, and a couple of the sisters that I knew from Rome raved about the El Camino after school program. That's you know, faith formation optional for the kids, how it changed the neighborhood. I was sold at that point. But I thought, okay, what do we do now? And make a long story short, I spoke with the people, the wonderful people that run the SETA education partners, and they said, look, you know, we're expanding here, we're expanding there. But we don't know if it'll be possible to get a charter in New Jersey. Um and I said, Well, look, let's try. I said, I'm putting up, I'm gonna be putting up a new building. Now this goes, this is now 2019, 2020. Um fast forwarding. I said, I'm putting up a new building, and I'll have 13 classrooms, um, we'll have a beautiful facility if we're and so therein started the two-year process of putting a board together. So we have a BRIA board in Patterson, New Jersey that is made up of Bob Garashi, Martin Vregera, Solan Selmi, Sailise Cabral, and myself. So we applied to the state to get the charter, and then we would hire Seaton to start BRIA in Patterson. Got it. And then they would offer the afterschool El Camino program.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

And maybe just to interrupt, just one uh charter schools and public schools. I I um I think people are here sometimes of charter schools. Um people are familiar with public schools, they're familiar with Catholic schools. Um so a charter school is funded by the State, but it's different from a public school.

SPEAKER_05 10:55

And the fact that it doesn't come under the particular uh Board of Education. Board of Education in the City of Patterson. So what it is is we have a charter managing organization that is seat. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

And then literally there's a charter in terms of the mission statement, right? Or the meaning of the purpose of the city of Trevor Burrus, yeah. Exactly, of the charter school.

SPEAKER_05 11:15

And so one of the things about charter schools, and they get mixed reviews, right? Um, and there's not many in New Jersey, right? No, no, no, no. And there's um in that article that I shared with you, I think what is there, 4,000 children on the list for the charter schools in Patterson.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Right.

SPEAKER_05 11:33

So one of the things that I think is brilliant about charter schools is it brings in unique pedagogy. So for example, Bria, it brings in a whole, it's called love and logic, behavior modification. And this is like no student will be expelled, no student will be suspended. So, how do we help children grow as people as well as educationally?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

And so they just they've top research and science, and they've and it works in a an area that's highly filled with immigrant students, values and virtues that we might have religious language for vocabulary, but there can be other vocabulary that are not discipline, hard work, you know, wisdom, prudence.

SPEAKER_05 12:18

But one of the things going back to the question about the charter schools is that healthy competition raises the bar and the standard that we offer the children. And I think it's good. So if, for example, if Brea Patterson, public charter school, if our scores are not, they don't reach a certain level, then we've not done our job, and then we don't get re-upped after five years. And so again, but I think I think healthy competition is good because it makes us want to provide a better education for the children of Patterson. And and I really believe that, and I know for a fact, that what we're gonna be able to provide the children, the way that we're going to educate them, the pedagogy, is gonna be a gift to these children and their families.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And I think this is a good place to bring Ivania in because uh with your I think long experience in uh catechetic catechetical training and working with catechists and uh faith formation. Uh so you were working for the diocese, I believe, and then Monsignor Gino said we need to full-time and the timing was around the same time, right? You want to talk a little bit about your move to the cathedral full-time and getting to know the community there and how the catechetical program is growing and how that might connect with the El Camino and and what's being done at the charter school.

SPEAKER_05 13:41

She's the heart of the hundreds and thousands of families at the cathedral.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

No, I mean, it it was a wonderful opportunity for me. I saw when my senior came back from Rome, I started there actually part-time in 2018. So slowly we sort of build up and we we really changed the model of faith formation so that um we brought in this new model of including families. So having families go to mass together and then together coming over four catechesis, and they would stay, the parents would stay while their children were in class, uh while their children are in class, and they could receive also some, you know, formation, but most especially support and and relationships, so they can really feel that this is a community of faith for them, to be there for them.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

And they many of those parents and families are dealing with some pretty significant challenges, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Oh, so many. And one of the most beautiful things that they know that they can find at the cathedral is a community that welcomes them and wants to be there from. Like I always tell them we're partners and we're your best cheerleaders, right? We're not there um to kind of make things more difficult for them or to tell them what they're not doing right, or there to give them the tools that they need to grow in their faith, but also bring their children, you know, to to church. So we started that in 2018 and slowly it just has grown every year. So in 2020 is when I went there full-time.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

And the cathedral, I think, seeing the need, um, has also offered a uh after school program on its own. And then it's many in the afterschool and the catechetical program, did they hear about their ability to apply for the charter school?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

We we had a whole, yeah, almost two years really basically of really informing the community, getting um, you know, when we first started the application process, a big piece of it was getting signatures, saying, you know, this is the entire city of Patterson, the community of the cathedral is behind this and supporting this. So that was so once we were approved and people started realizing that they could apply, it was so easy.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

And eligibility is based on address, is that right?

SPEAKER_05 15:43

No, now what we did was you can so first of all, it's important to remember we were denied the first time. Oh, right. So that was a a crushing blow.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:54

And that was the summer of 21? 21. And so we said we're gonna appeal it. The Department of Education, yeah, Department of Education. So we went back to work, reapplied, and the application process is voluminous. I mean, it is the the the weeks and months we spent. And then what happened? We got approved um temporarily, all right, um, initially, but they don't do a final approach. So we were approved in 22, September of 22, but they said you're not gonna be finally approved until a few weeks before you open your doors, and so you have a lot more to do to get to that point. So it has to do now. Also, we were fundraising and putting up a building which cost over five million dollars before we even knew. And at the end of the day, we said the leap of faith. Yeah, when there were many speaking of that hole, Bishop, during COVID, I was standing in that hole saying, What am I doing? But you see, it I trusted that no matter what happened in the end, God would bring good and grace out of it. So we have over 500 children in faith formation. We had dreams. We we wanted that building for the faith formation, we wanted it for our Latino community in the city. And so the charter school opportunity came along while we were already in process for that, right? So initially we started fundraising for that in 2019. We really didn't know that we were gonna someday have a charter school. And so uh we reapplied. Then in May, the Department of Education came and they went through and evaluated facilities-wise, and they were blown away by it's like the finest educational building from lighting, width of hallways, fully ADA, air-conditioned. I mean, unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Um so when did you open the the first children came in the building?

SPEAKER_05 18:11

Well, we only got the final approval on July 14th, 2023. And we opened our doors. First day of school was August 14th, 2023. So we're like, okay, if you get turned, and we found out the like the last minute that it was a Friday at 415, we get emailed from the Department of Education, congratulations on everything you've asked for. So it's three grades first year, kindergarten, first, fifth grade. Okay. It's a K-8 school, but it will be. We'll be 680 kids within three years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

And is there a goal of K-12?

SPEAKER_05 18:48

Well, right now we're K-8. The state has approved K-8. As to where we're going to be four years from now and where the first graduates will go, we'll wait and see.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

But then there's also need for uh more space, is that right?

SPEAKER_05 19:01

Yes. So um one of the things is we have uh it's a lottery system, and this is where it's difficult because um people from the community just assume that they would, but you have to put your names on the list. So it's heartbreaking right now. I think we have well over 60 kids on the waiting list for kindergarten. There's a waiting list for fifth grade, and there's a small waiting list for first grade, but we're predicting for next year now that we're open and words gotten out. Um so as Bishop said, we have already outgrown the new building. Why have we outgrown the new building? We want to respond to particular educational needs of the children, and we estimated a certain number of children with what we call IEPs, individual education plans. So we didn't estimate, we underestimated how many children with autism would come in. So our brand new building in June we started ripping new walls down to construct what we call pullout rooms, which are smaller, very case-sensitive rooms where children with autism can go, get individual instruction, where the sound, the the whole environment helps them learn. And so that cost us a lot more money. But it also removed a couple classrooms. So by August of next summer, we have to be across the street at the old St. John's High School. So we are right now raising another $5 million to renovate. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of deferred maintenance, so we have to redo the roof. The boiler failed inspection in June, all new bathrooms, new flooring, new windows. So we've got to really take care of the guts of that building. So now I'm back out on the fundraising trail, and I'm just so blessed. We're so blessed that the diocese has been an incredible partner. So Dennis Rodano with facilities every day is with us because the diocese, the cathedral, our benefactors that everybody just wants the children of Patterson who are underserved in so many ways. And to have a safe, joyful place to get a great education and faith formation. And going back to what Ivani said, too, it's the relationships that have been built have opened up a level of trust that people can come and say, I need help with immigration. I my daughter, we're worried if we come forward that she tried to commit suicide, we'll get deported. Can you help us? So the graces that have come from her approach to faith formation, and now they're going to come from the school.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

As you like to call it the block of mercy, right? There's so much good uh gospel uh service that Jesus calls us to that happens in that square block or surrounding the cathedral and within the cathedral, and um how people um from outside, you you do a great job sharing the message, Monsignor. Uh, but to see the generosity of donors that uh respond because they see the work that's being done. Uh Ivania, the your experience of the Block of Mercy, some of the things that that you see in in the ministry of the cathedral and the ministers, the volunteers I know you work with, they're always there, and uh some of the parish groups, and uh again the connection with the with the the Bria School Health. How how that fits together.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Oh, it's it's amazing. I I was just thinking about the phone call that we got a couple of weeks ago. Um a mom called to tell us that she hadn't been able to baptize her children. It's a ten year old, an eight-year-old, and a baby. And she said, My my cousin goes there and she said, Please call the cathedral because it won't make you feel bad. You know, so that is kind of like the the you know that we really need to be and work so hard that I thought that was beautiful ex an expression of just really how how important it is, not only for us as a staff, but everyone that volunteers there, the joy, whether it's the ushers, the catechists, everyone, I think we've all received so much from God and have been blessed so much and see it in each other that we can't help uh you know share that joy with others. And I think um that's I think that just you're from of course under the leadership of Monsignor. Together it's incredible. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Monsignor talks about the team, as you just said, and uh you have uh a newly ordained priest that's part of the team. I know Father Jorge has been there now for a couple of years. Father Caesar just moved on, but uh how's Father Stalley doing our newly ordained?

SPEAKER_05 23:45

He's doing as I said at the Mass on my anniversary on Sunday, he hit the ground running and has not run out the door. Um and he he's so positive and he's soaking it all up, and he says, I can't believe how much he's going, how much I'm learning. And um, I see Father Jorge.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

I remember when he first got there, I think he was a little overwhelmed. And now he's just kind of uh part of the uh the the the lifeblood of the of the uh day-to-day uh service and and ministry that happens.

SPEAKER_05 24:13

And going back to you said about volunteers, we decided to host a thank you barbecue for volunteers in June. We had over 500 people. Wow. I mean, it was it was magnificent, and everybody wants to give back. And and we have kind of a motto. Our first reaction to anybody's question is never gonna be no. It's gonna be, well, we'll try to figure it out. Because everybody's lives take turns and and and swerves. And how can they find the church at wherever that turn is? And um, I think as Pope Francis said beautifully the other day, you know, so often we can fall into the trap of looking at everybody's sin under a microscope. Right, right, right. We can't we can't do that. And and I think what what Bishop has helped us do, even in Patterson, um, in the short time he's been there, our connection with our black pastors. And they got behind the school.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Well, the local law enforcement and father that hasn't had a great relationship with the cathedral for a long time. But uh to see how they they're there for us, right?

SPEAKER_05 25:21

And and the when we said um it was interesting, so Bishop hosted at the cathedral for Black History Month. It was an incredible idea you had. Let's invite our black communities to to pray, to lead us, and we'll be there supporting them Black History Month. It was phenomenal, the energy. So a couple of the families walked in that I didn't know, and they said, you know, we heard about this school, but is it just for Latino families? And we're like, no. So then the black pastors spoke about it at their churches, and so it's wonderful. I think we're um what is it, 30% of the school is African American? So it's just beautiful, it represents the heartbeat of the city, you know, and it's all Patterson residents? That's going back to that question. So what happens is with the lottery, there are preferences um first word, fifth word, right around the cathedral.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:20

Um and then if um children are from like Halden, it has to be a certain, like a two-mile radius, I think it is, but that takes in a little Prospect Park, a little Halden, a little Clifton. Um, but the majority are all uh Patterson children. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

And the and the positive outcome of this school impacts the neighborhood. The Block of Mercy. What else? Um So the Block of Mercy, the cathedral, Rhea. What else is on the Block of Mercy? You referenced the school across the street.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

There's Eva's village across the street. There's Catholic Charities, one of those Catholic Charities. There was the jail, but now the jail is the city.

SPEAKER_05 27:04

The jail is gonna come down by by Christmas, uh by New Year's. And really what's we're so blessed too is uh the New Jersey um oh um I always forget Bob Garashi's um Corporation, um community corporation, yeah. Um right between the cathedral and the Oliver Street school, that's gonna be, was the old Presbyterian church and presbytery, which they purchased and they're now fundraising to start a full after school art and music program. So think about this. We're gonna have Bria Patterson on Degrassi Street, the cathedral uh church right there, we're gonna have Oliver Street, that'll be K to five when we're at capacity. Across the street is gonna be the afterschool art and music program for children. Think about what that's gonna do to change downtown Patterson. The El Camino after school program. So all those, and and to answer your question too, one of the things we've been doing is um increasing our programs where maybe they're not going on in other churches. So for example, Avanya has a huge catechetical program for children with special needs. So tomorrow uh on Fri uh Saturday, the five o'clock mass will be filled, and the children get individual catechesis before, and they come from near and far. And uh talk about a little, please, the Sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

So the our special needs program we started right after I started in 2020. We actually went to visit um St. Luke in Long Valley and kind of got great ideas from them, how they had started their special needs ministry. And then we decided, okay, we're gonna start once a month with the special needs mass. So children are welcome to come, and Monsignor does a beautiful job to bring them all around the altar. It's just so impactful. Um, and then we have people that come to that mass because you just want to be around the joy that's in the mass. Um, so then from that, we decided a year later to add the actual faith formation for children with special needs. So we have children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, verbal that are nonverbal. Um we have special materials that we've purchased to kind of prepare them for their sacraments. Um and it's been very moving because we do have people that have traveled over an hour to come to the cathedral for their children. Um and then when they're ready to receive their sacraments, sometimes we do it small little group in the chapel. Um sometimes it is during the that five o'clock mass if they're able to. We have to kind of adapt and be flexible to what they really need and what their family needs. Um and everybody's just so emotional because they haven't had the opportunity to be prepared to be able to be able to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_05 29:52

And another bishop, I'm sorry, bishop experienced little Melanie on the show. So her grandparents are parishioners and they bring her, and she can't consume the body of Christ. But Ivania and the grandparents brought her to daily mass so she would get comfortable with me, and she allows me to bring the purificator with the precious blood on her lips, and I give her the precious blood, and she puts her head on my chest and gives me a little hair. And it's there's nothing more beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

And um Yvonne mentioned in going to St. Luke's, uh, you know that uh who we are as a diocese, and I know that you get support from parishes, uh too, especially the Christmas drive and in other times to Thanksgiving. And and uh we think of our ministry's appeal and even the inner the support for inner city Catholic education. I wrote in the article this week about uh two schools in Patterson, the new school being the Bria and St. Gerard's School in Patterson, which uh Monsignor George Hunt is just moved from Madison to become the pastor of St. Gerard's, and we've been trying to support with Tri-County and others, uh, and and we're very hopeful that because some might see oh, the charter school is a competition for Catholic schools. No, it's not, especially in Patterson. There's so many children and families that need a great education. If we can have one great Catholic school, and then there's plenty of more children that uh can be benefit from from brilliant and the and the after-school program. But uh I was privileged to meet uh last week uh with our our presidents and principals, uh Mary Bayer, our superintendent, and uh we're blessed with the Catholic schools that we have in the diocese, our 15 grammar schools, our three Dawson high schools and other high schools and private schools run by different religious communities. So uh it's it we have to work together as the church, and uh we're grateful for um parishes sometimes that can afford to help uh a parish that might need some help economically, and and I know that that you've experienced that on the cathedral.

SPEAKER_05 31:49

The Long Valley um has been in St. Luke's. I mean, Father Owen Moran, and then Fri Father Brian Sullivan heard that we couldn't afford for a volleyball net, a professional volleyball net for the kids on Friday Night for Young Prophets. So they gave us at a special committee. Father Brian came with us, folks, they gave us a check for $9,000. Um I mean, we just and then the the the Christmas toy drive, Little Falls, Holy Angels, Monsignor Condon, um Father Patty O'Neill. Right, right. Assumption in Mars. Oh, yes, right, right. Monsignor Hart heard that we were having break-ins in the side of the cathedral uh on on Grand Street. And I said to him just one day, brother, I gotta figure out a way to get the money to put a beautiful gate up that looks like the other gates that'll stop people from breaking in. Um and Assumption gave us the money to fabricate a beautiful gate. And these are things that when people come to the cathedral, and Assumption did one other great gift for the cathedral. One day, Monsignor Hart was over in the rectory after a mass, and he saw all these buckets in the kitchen on the floor. He looked up, and all the plumbing is so he goes, We'll help you pay for redo the kitchen. This is disgusting. Um the rectory is another thing, but but I have felt the support. Father Parisi at Mountain Lakes has had our kids come up and sell tamales, and we made so wow much for young profits. I we have felt the support of the diocese at the cathedral.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

And again, the Block of Mercy, just one example. Uh you were mentioning uh some of the young students going back to school, wherever they may be going to school. They may not have supplies or book bags. I think you're doing some help for that on this coming weekend, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:41

So Friday night is uh And you have uh uh is it Justin?

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Is the youth minister? And the um the children's choir that's sang in your mask that's been growing over these uh I want to bring them to the Vatican one day.

SPEAKER_05 33:51

But the kids on Friday night, the teens, we have about 75 kids every Friday night. And uh so they'll get to be able to pick out notebooks, binders, pens, pencils, calculators. We we're setting it all up upstairs, and they'll because we want to help these children.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

And the children's choir uh uh received a beautiful uh red robe, right cassock, and a beautiful surplus uh each wonderful on uh and your the your uh music director now uh has been working with them, right?

SPEAKER_05 34:20

Oh, he's tremendous. Dr. David Bauer, and he's also now teaching full-time music in the school. Oh, great in Bria. Um and then we have uh Justin and Tatiana who work with the children's choir. Our dream is that we have about a hundred kids.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

And are there some new people from Seton that are helping win the school or the um The Seton teaching fellows do the afterschool El Camino. And they are children. I guess you'll be working with them, right? Or will you? I hope so, yes. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Yeah, because our hope is that you know, any of the families in the school that participate in that optional program, we can get them connected to the cathedral.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

I remember in the South Bronx you're saying that uh uh children would attend the uh El Camino after school program, realize that it maybe they hadn't been baptized their first communion, and that was then they go to the parish uh with their parents and uh I spoke to the pastor, he said it was amazing how many of the parents he ended up baptizing later on because the kids brought them to church.

SPEAKER_05 35:17

You know, because of the El Camino. The El Camino is just um such a gift, and the number of families that have opted to have their children is unbelievable. So percentage.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

And now you're gonna be sharing with this the Holy Father and his committee, right? Because of your new evangelization. Well, because this is certainly outside the box.

SPEAKER_05 35:37

You know, this is uh a different way of and it it really again to to have an immigrant community, to have people that put together a pedagogy that takes into account languages and and certain challenges and culture. Um and I'm not saying the the public school district doesn't do that, but they have such challenges overall, I mean, just facilities-wise, and the charter has a special opportunity, right? Um to to really hone in on these aspects. Um so we're we're certainly blessed. And again, um to have people like Tony uh and Christy De Nicola, to have Luma Do to have so many people that have given hundreds of hours to help us achieve this has been uh you know unbelievable. I think of Richard Johnson and and Maureen and and um the Minogs, and people from all over the country have donated to this little cause in Patterson.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

How can how can we support it? How can we donate or be involved in the work that you're doing?

SPEAKER_05 36:54

Right now, any help with the renovation of Oliver Street, that's we have to have this building done by August 1st.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

And so Right through the website of the uh Cathedral Tradition.

SPEAKER_05 37:05

The Cathedral, they can go right Building on Tradition, right? They can reach out to me, and through the website, we have Building on Tradition, people can give right on, and it's Pattersoncathedral.org.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Boom. We'll have a link in our show notes. Thank you very much. Yeah. That's great. You're doing such wonderful work at the cathedral at Brea and in the neighborhood in the community. Um so great to see that. Who and anyone who hasn't been to a cathedral mass, there's gonna be lots of opportunities, a lot of special masses there at the cathedral.

SPEAKER_05 37:35

Can I mention one Jay that Bishop did last week? So um we have um a new movement at the cathedral called the Emmaus Movement. And two weeks ago, there were about a hundred men that made this retreat out in Brooklyn, and Bishop celebrated their return mass, which was it's in the beak in the pictures, was one of the most joyful, powerful experiences, Bishop.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

It was Yeah, in the Hispanic community, as with throughout the church, uh the ecclesial movements, uh groups that come together, Corsillo or uh Christian Awakening, some retreat experiences, and Emmaus is one that was within the uh Hispanic community is growing. They're in a number of parishes in our diocese, uh, the opportunity for retreat, uh conversion, some who have been away from the church for a long time. And uh one of your Deacon Herman, right, was very influential at the cathedral in terms of and it was a long and Father Jorge, right? A long time of preparation, right? Registering, inviting, and but the guys responded and to hear the testimonies afterwards was really uh amazing. And and you're already seeing them working with other groups. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:47

Who were my they were mopping the floors after the reception on Sunday night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Yeah, just it was beautiful, even during the mass when they realized there weren't enough seats for Monsignor Gino's 30th anniversary mass. They all just stood up and went along the walls so that they could give their seats.

SPEAKER_05 39:04

So it's just immediately it was beautiful to wonderful new group to add to all the other wonderful great groups. We have the Knights of Columbus, Hermandad de los Milagros, Martin DePorz, the Guadalupani. So we try to represent also the cultures of different Latin American countries um and be very attentive to those things. So yeah, it's great stuff.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

Yeah, great. Well, I know we can talk all day on this, and it's been a wonderful conversation. I think we're gonna You'll have to come back to update us on the other.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Well, thank you very much. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_05 39:35

Really appreciate it, Bishop and Jay. And and and you know, I just want to, on behalf of the cathedral community, thank Ivania because she connects to the families on such a profound level that they just know the door and our hearts are always open. So thanks.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Yes, thank you, Ivania, and thank you, Monsignor Gino, for the time for being with us and especially for all the work that you're doing on the Block of Mercy at our cathedral. Uh so uh again, hopefully we'll have you back to hear more. But um blessings to all those at the school and at the parish and uh look forward to my next visit. Thank you. Thanks, thanks.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

Good. Well, as we wind down the episode, Bishop, is there anything else you want to share with our audience?

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Uh enjoy these days for those especially who are going back to school. I mentioned that this I think Labor Day weekend was my least favorite weekend of the year in grammar school and high school. I wouldn't have had my books reports done or summer reading, but uh but uh maybe a good thing is uh football season is beginning, right? Both college, Notre Dame had a nice win. Uh so uh it's a beautiful time of year. And uh even for the uh and Jets, let's call Jets. So um uh week from Sunday, right? We'll uh begin the NFL season. Jets fan, giants fan, I think. Yankees match, but we're still very close. That's right, that's right, that's right. So uh yeah, uh and um Labor Day, not only end of summer, but uh recognizing those who work for a living and those who are looking for work and the honor, the the um the blessing that work is uh in in as far as our human dignity with human dignity, which is a big part of our our church's tradition and and um and and teachings. So um we're and thankful for our country. Uh we'll mention it probably next week, but uh it's hard to believe. Well, a week from Monday will be the um the uh 22nd anniversary of September 11th. Um so um uh we have a lot to pray for, a lot to be thankful for. Um certainly we pray for our country and um hopefully uh everybody will have a great weekend, uh especially this Labor Day weekend before so many get back to school. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 41:41

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

Okay. Well, thank you all, and thank you, thank you all out there for spending time with us. Join us again for the next episode of Beyond the Beacon. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening. Give us a positive rating, write a review, and if you're watching this episode on Bishop Kevin Sweeney's YouTube channel, be sure to like the episode, follow the channel, and ring the bell for notifications. Email questions and podcast topic ideas for the bishop to beyond at pattersondioces.org. Thank you for listening to Beyond the Beacon.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Thanks, everybody. God bless you. Uh, keep sending in those questions. We got a couple that we have to get to in some coming uh upcoming episodes. So thanks for the questions, keep sending them in. Thank you, and God bless. See you next time.

unknown 42:24

Thanks.