SPEAKER_00 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, how you doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:21

I'm good, Jay. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Doing good. It's good to be back after a couple weeks off. How is how's your uh time how's your summer been going so far?

SPEAKER_02 0:30

So far, so good. I had a few days off last week and was in Lake Placid and Boston. Uh got to Fenway Park for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Unfortunately, it was a rematch of the 86 World Series. The two friends I was tra I was traveling with are Mets fans. So uh but it was uh it was wonderful to be at Fenway. We had great seats and uh each team won one game, so like that's not so bad.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Awesome. Yeah, it looks like you got some color.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

You got away yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I did, yeah. I got some color, did some swimming. I was in uh beautiful British Columbia in Canada on the West Coast visiting family and doing some rec recreating. And oh, you'll appreciate this. I got my first ace in disc golf. Oh, great, which was pretty exciting. And uh yeah, time off, and I'm refreshed and it's good to be back. So uh I'd like to introduce our guest today. With us is Father Joseph Healy, who is a missionary priest with the Mary Knoll Fathers and Brothers, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America. Hi, yeah, how are you doing? Thanks, thanks for being here. Welcome, Father Joe. Thank you very much. Thanks for being here. Bishop, can you open us up in prayer? Sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

We'll place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We we are a pilgrim people where on the journey of faith day by day we respond to the Holy Father's invitation in the synod of synodality to focus on that encounter with one another on a daily basis, that listening to one another and that discernment of the ways in which the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding us. As many will be journeying these days to Portugal, to Fatima, and especially to Lisbon for World Youth Day. We ask Mary, our blessed mother, to journey with us to World Youth Day and journey with each of us as her children, day by day, leading us always closer to Jesus, her son, as we ask her help in intercession as we pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, Mother of the Church, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Joachim and Anne, pray for us. Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, pray for us.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, thanks, Bishop. So Father Joseph Healy was ordained in 1966 as a Mary-Noll father, excuse me, and has been a missionary priest to Africa for the past 55 years, a trained journalist. Father Joe taught at the Catholic University in Nairobi, Kenya. He currently has a full-time internet ministry and facilitates small Christian communities through Zoom and Skype. He has taught and written extensively about small Christian communities, an important part of his ministry. Father Joe is one of eight missionaries sponsored by the Diocese of Patterson through the diocesan mission office. He recently relocated from Africa and lives in the New Vernon neighborhood of Harding Township. He assists at the Church of Christ the King there, and he is, for the record, a Baltimore Orioles fan. Bishop, can you uh tell us why you invited Father Joe and what you hope to do?

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Because the Yankees are playing the Orioles this coming weekend. No, that's not a reason. That's just coincidence. And uh us Yankee fans are hoping that we'll gain some ground on the first place, first place Orioles. No first place. Wow, wow. Uh so um as we had a couple of weeks off and now are coming back, and we'll have a couple of more weeks off because uh from the podcast, because I'll be heading with our Daasin group to um to Portugal for a visit to Fatima and then uh for World Youth Day uh in the coming week. And um as we prepared for World Youth Day and uh Father Joe helps uh at uh Christ the King Parish in New Vernon. Uh one of the well, the main leader, really organizer for our Daasin group to um to uh World Youth Day is Jonathan Camiola, who's uh pastoral minister at Christ the King. And uh through our getting to know each other over these uh few years, and um uh uh Father Joe's brother Tom and uh his sister-in-law Meg are great supporters of the diocese. And um so as I've gotten to know Father Joe and Tom and the family, um uh also getting to know Father Joe's wonderful work. And I think for that reason alone, just to hear uh Father Joe's experience as a missionary, as a Marinal priest, uh is is is uh will be a blessing for all of us. And also then uh Father Joe uh in our plans for World Youth Day said he has a group of young adults that he works with in Africa, and some of them will be going to um World Youth Day, and we're hoping that our diocese of um Patterson group will meet with the uh Father Joe's young adult group from different parts of Africa and even Asia, is that right?

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Right, yes, Pakistan, yes. You want to tell us a little bit about that group, maybe to be sure um we have a uh slogan, go digital or die. So during COVID, when physical small Christian communities, these are uh Christians who would gather once a week to read the gospel the following Sunday, but that was impossible. We started going into virtual or online small Christian communities. And then in preparation for World Youth Day, we decided to focus on young seekers uh small Christian community. We asked the young people what word attracts you, and they like the word seekers, so we called them uh young seekers. So we have an online uh young seekers, small Christian community that meets every two weeks on Zoom and they interact through WhatsApp and all those other social media. And we had the privilege of having a full uh gathering with uh Bishop Kevin uh when he met all the young people in living in Nairobi and Pakistan, and we could hear about uh Patterson Diocese.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

And we're looking forward to hopefully seeing each other uh getting together in the midst of uh hundreds of thousands, if not millions, at uh in Lisbon for World Youth Day. Um, Father Joe, uh small Christian communities, I know really it goes back to the Acts of the Apostles, right? And that's many ways the church uh began. But tell a little bit about your own uh coming to know about the movement maybe of small Christian communities, maybe you know, more recent in uh this past century, and how you um got to know about it yourself and then how it's lived out maybe in some of your experience in Africa.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

Well, there's a joke about small Christian communities. As you travel around the world, people say uh they're like flying saucers. Everyone's talking about one, but no one has seen one. So in America, it's a different model. It's a small group model or small Bible-sharing groups in parishes. But in Eastern Africa, 50 years ago, the uh bishops of nine countries in Eastern Africa said this is our key pastoral priority. And they use that communion ecclesiology where the family is the basic unit of uh the Catholic Church, and then the small Christian community is a communion of families, and then the parish becomes a communion of the small Christian communities, and that's been our pastoral thrust. And for 12 years I taught a course on small Christian communities in the theology department of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, where it's a required course for all seminarians. And just a story about myself, I'm 85 years old now. So I walked in the class, and all the students were in their early 20s, and they started calling me as a title of respect, elder, the elder. And I said, no, no, not yet, not yet. Give me another name. So the next day they walked in the class and they said, Padva, we have a new name for you. We're gonna call you the youth from a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Young and heart, young and heart, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:43

So if you're gonna reach out to young people today, it's not gonna be in the normal way. Uh, Bishop Kevin and I have discussed this the CARA research has said 60 percent of the young adults in the Catholic Church in America do not meet at the parish. They meet outside on social media and in other gatherings. So we have to reach them where they are. And that's why online small Christian communities are so important.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Uh I know also that um in uh some missionary territories, uh I had the experience in the Dominican Republic, um, and actually in Brooklyn and Queens, uh, there were some Hispanic parishes where uh small Christian communities were were emphasized and and built up within the parish. Uh and but um when in some missionary territories when there was not when the priest couldn't get to all of the places um uh uh every Sunday, uh he there might be one main parish with 30 plus chapels in in in of wide ranging where the priest might get once a month, but uh they would have a leader of that community, right? And uh and they would share the word and uh they would gather on Sundays um when they couldn't have mass, but uh but would uh strengthen, maintain the faith and and catechism, and and they would basically run a parish, a little parish, uh without a priest.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Right because that's what and they would call that Sunday service without a priest.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Is that right? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

And uh they would have a homily on the readings, and it would all be done uh as a normal mass, but without the Eucharist.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

And there would be a great deal of training for those leaders, right? Right, yeah. We have training. Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

And one thing that maybe the West doesn't realize in Latin America, you mentioned the Dominican Republic as well as Africa and Asia, the catechist is the cool person. Yes, right. And the Pope has been uh elevating the role of the catechist now to a serious ministry in the Catholic Church. And in all those out stations or mission chapels, it's the catechist who runs them on on the weekly basis. The priest might only come once a month or twice a year in some places.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Right, right. Um as we uh hear some of your story, Father Joe, can you give us a little bit about maybe uh how it started? I know uh born and raised in Baltimore, I believe that's led to your Orioles affinity. Uh, but getting to know a little bit about maybe your family growing up and uh getting to know the Marinole community and entering their formation program, uh can you share a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Sure. And let me combine the sports and the mission. So I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Uh I'm 85 now, so I was born in 1938. And in those days, uh, as a schoolboy, a grade school boy, we didn't have a major league team. The Orioles only came to Baltimore in 54. Oh, I didn't realize that. So my team were the Brooklyn Dodgers. Okay. And the reason was there's so many black Americans in Baltimore. They said, you've got to join us because we have Don Newcomb, Jackie Robinson, uh, and uh Roy Campanella. So I was a Dodger fan until 1954 when the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and we became the Baltimore Oriole fan. And with all respect, Bishop Kevin, when I became an Oriole fan, it meant the Baltimore and New York were in the American League and we were strong opponents, but still lots of fun. And uh so in Baltimore, as I grew up, I really liked the black Americans. And so when I was asked in Marino, where would you like to go in the world? I said, Africa. That was uh obvious. So I never really wanted to go into the diocesan priesthood. Uh I went to a Benedictine high school in Rhode Island, and they sing chant all the time. I can't sing. So I said, I don't want to fake it in the choir the rest of my life. So mission and overseas in Marino all came together. So I joined Mary Noah in 1959. And Mary Noel's home is in upstate New York, is that well it's actually north of New York City, Austin, New York. Yeah. Uh Austin is famous for Sing Singh Prison. Oh, yes. And then next to Sing Sing Prison is the Marino headquarters.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

That's right. But they um for a time they they sent missionaries all over the world, right? Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

We were started in 19 uh eleven with the gold of China. All our early missionars, and we had a bishop, uh Bishop uh James Edward Walsh from Cumberland, Maryland. He was one of our first bishops in China. And that was our goal, you know. And even today, you know, China is the mysterious part of the world where we're restricted. But we went there until the war when all the Marino missionaries were thrown out of China. And so we started looking around the different places. We went to Latin America in 1942, and then we went to Africa in 1946. So now we're worldwide.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

And what year did you first go to Africa?

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Okay, 68 I first went. Yes. I was sharing with Jay that after journalism school, I was ordained, spent two years in journalism school. The bishops asked for an American priest to come and start their communications office in Nairobi. So I was the one.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Yeah. The Nairobi version of the beacon. That's right. I know Jay had some questions as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Well, tell us about so so what did you uh what did you first do there then?

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Did you start a newspaper or did you Well actually uh I started the communications office of uh the bishops of Eastern Africa, and that's nine countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, and Zambia. Eight, nine countries, all English-speaking in East Africa. And uh in those days, it was basic media out in the rural areas, proverbs, saying songs. For example, this book here, African Narrative Theology, is all about proverbs and stories. That's the way you would reach people in the rural areas. And then we used a lot of audiovisual. And as I said to my brother Tom, whom the bishop knows, my uh gradual moving into digital media, that's part of reading the signs of the times. That's where you're gonna reach young people today. So I was happy to be a Zoomer, as they say, and use S.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Even before the pandemic, huh?

SPEAKER_03 16:06

Right. Oh, yeah. We've had a uh small Christian community of my friends online on Skype for 12 years. And we've met every Tuesday for 12 years without fail, and we read the gospel of the following Sunday. And as the small Christian community model of church emerged, all these neighborhood groups, whether in rural or urban areas of Africa, would also meet and read. And what's very nice is we see the parish as the communion. The Sunday liturgy is one that links together the parish for the week. And so by reading the scriptures on Tuesday, you prepare yourself for the Sunday liturgy. So it's a communion of communities model.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Are there um things that you've learned uh from your time in Africa that that you can uh share with us here in New Jersey or vice versa, like some differences or things that I'm it's gotta, I'm sure, work both ways.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Well, I have two answers. One a serious one, and one a humorous one. The serious one is people say to me, You've been in Africa for fifty fifty fifty-five years. Have you seen many changes? And I say, No. I went there and there was corruption, we still have corruption. I went there and there was tribalism, which is our version of racism, there's still racism or corruption and tribalism. So it hasn't changed in that way. But still, uh the people are very happy. In the other book that I wrote called Once Upon a Time in Africa, Stories of Wisdom and Joy, I use a uh Zimbabwean proverb. If you can uh talk, you can sing, if you can walk, you can dance. So dancing church. Uh I scare Americans when I say there are five-hour liturgies in uh in uh uh Kenya or Tanzania. Really? When the bishop of Nakuru had an outdoor liturgy, a visitor from America said to the bishop, How long would this liturgy last? And he said, until the people get tired of dancing and singing.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

So they could go on and on. So most of that time is dancing and singing? Right, definitely. How long are the homilies?

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Well, the homily could be an hour. That would scare you to death. Now, the funny part is every time I leave Kenya, I say, What should I tell the American people? And recently a man said to me, You tell the American people, you Americans have the watches, but we Africans have the time.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Oh, yeah. And that's it. Yeah, that's it. We're always we're in too much of a hurry sometimes here in the Middle West. Yes. Yeah, we need to stop sometimes. I know, uh Father Joe, that uh you've been excited about uh the Holy Father's uh uh initiative of of the Synod on Synodality, and maybe um you have a perspective that maybe not everyone here in Patterson or um in in this part of the world um uh might see the value and and the importance of what the Holy Father is is trying to do in terms of inviting us to uh be part of the synod on synodality.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

Well, I'm blessed because I've learned so much from the African people. And when you meet African bishops whom you'll meet in uh Portugal, they'll tell you synodality for us is a way of life, the community life in Africa, personal relationships, uh teamwork, those are all values embedded in African culture. So when it comes to synodality, we've been doing it. Uh, sister Natalie, who is one of the leaders of the synod office in Rome, she went around Africa and she said, I've discovered that the small Christian community model you have here is an expression of synodality. So it's part of their life, it's part of their lifestyle.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

That's great. And uh we're also uh with the bishops of the United States uh entering into this now, into our second year of the three-year Eucharistic revival. I think you said you had a good story about young people and the Eucharist, is that right?

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Uh I continue to do a lot of work on campus ministry, and I've written several books on that. So this is a story from Michigan State University in the state of Michigan. This young woman uh went to a Catholic high school in New York, and uh she went every Sunday for four years with her parents to mass, very loyal to mass. Well, she got there as a freshman at Michigan State and realized she was totally on her own. This is a crucial moment for young Catholics when they're on their own in residence at a campus, and also Michigan State is a secular campus. So the first year as a freshman, she went to Mass at the Newman Center every week. Then she was getting kind of a little bored. So some of her evangelical friends said, Why don't you join us in our uh evangelical service on Sunday? Because we have singing, dancing, we have big screens with videos, and we have a band. So she did that for a year. And then toward the end of her sophomore year, she said, Something is missing. Something is missing. She prayed about it and she realized it was the Eucharist. She missed having the Eucharist every Sunday, receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ. So her junior and senior years, she was back at the Newman Center. And my idea, even from your opening prayer, if we're going to reach young people today, our first question is what is your relationship to Jesus Christ? So I hope in the Eucharistic revival here in the United States, we start there with a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and then move to the Eucharist.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Yeah, we uh certainly um need to do something to reach our young people and also to um uh encourage that appreciation for that gift, that incredible gift that of Jesus' presence of his body and blood that he gives us in the Eucharist. But that also is that invitation to that daily personal relationship with our Lord, which we uh is strengthened by reflecting on his word, right? Is one of the beauties of the small Christian communities and and other movements in the church, I think, that uh invite people to reflect on that word and and not only hear it at Mass on Sunday, but have reflected on it during the week to prepare for a Sunday Mass, right?

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Exactly. And our model of the small Christian communities in Eastern Africa is based on lectionary-based face sharing in the middle of the week and practical action. So the scripture is core, but then it should lead to the Eucharist and to the United States. So it's just not a prayer group.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

And then on Sunday you join the mass at the parish church when the Eucharist there is the center for the whole weekend.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

What else what else? How else can we reach young people?

SPEAKER_03 23:25

Well, uh, I suggested another story that I heard recently. I was at Marino, New York last week, our headquarters, and I met a friend of mine, Father Mike Sloboda, who serves in Hong Kong, and he told us this story. He said that some time ago some young uh late teen tourists were uh singing and dancing on Friday night and causing a disturbance. So the police came and there were 12 uh six uh teenage uh women and six men, and they put him in jail for the weekend. They said that this'll teach them a lesson because they were disturbing the peace. So they were in there from Friday night until Monday morning. So the the newspapers heard about it. So on Monday morning, the local TV station got there, and the reporters and the reporters, as the teenagers were coming out of uh the prison, uh said, uh, how was it? Uh did they beat you up uh uh during the the weekend? And they said, worse, worse. Did they abuse you? Worse, worse. Did they uh violate you? Did they torture you? Worse, worse. And the reporter said, What could be worse? And a teenager said the police took away our smartphones.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

Oh God, I thought you were gonna say they kept them from the Eucharist.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

I thought that was gonna be the So the smartphone has become just too much, uh you know. Yes, but still uh that's the way the young people are going to uh communicate in uh Portugal. The new iPhone has that automatic translation in the different languages. Right, right. So they stand there with the phones and they talk in their language and they're a young person from Patterson, New Jersey, USA can meet someone from China and start talking to the phone. Talking to this phone. That's really the uh translation app.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Right. It's uh it's not maybe the thing itself, but it's how how we use it and uh and how self-aware we are of whether we're um you know addicted to it or um uh or we're using it for good or it's leading us down the wrong path.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

And a lot of spiritual resources iPhone now. Every day I almost do my meditation through resources from and the U.S. Bishops Conference Daily Readings and Reflections, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:52

That's U.S. C C B Daily Readings for anybody that wants to get a little closer to the Word of God and you use your iPhone, just USCCB United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, daily readings. You Google that and you'll get the readings for each day for mass. And if you can't get to mass every day, at least you could uh you can even listen to them. Sometimes I I have an audio feature, right? Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

And then they have a reflection by someone on those.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

That's right, that's right. Uh it's interesting you mentioned the story about the young people being uh in jailed. Uh, and I've been um doing a little preparation for uh the trip and um reading up a little bit on the apparitions at Fatima in 1917. And one of the things I wrote in the beacon this week, and I want to extend the invitation uh through the the podcast, that uh I'm gonna I've decided that I want to um offer a prayer intention each day um for those who are gonna journey with us spiritually. The many, not many can go physically to Lisbon with us or to Fatima and Lisbon, but um uh uh people throughout the diocese can accompany us spiritually day by day in prayer, asking them to pray for us and the young people, as I know there'll be conversions and and vocations will be discerned. World Ute has that beautiful um charism, I think, since St. Pope John Paul II of as the young people come together, something happens in their relationship with the Lord. So, but we need prayer support, and also we'll be praying for others. But as I um read a little bit more and re-familiarized myself with the story of Fatima, there was the uh the the lady of uh the Blessed Mother appeared, I think for the first time was May, and then each of the months um on the 13th. But in all in August, um the the Freemason government was not happy with what was happening, and uh the the guy in charge of the of the city of Fatima kind of tricked the kids and got them uh in a cart and brought them then put them in jail, uh these three little kids. Uh and there was some bad people in the jail. Uh but um very quickly, the the innocence and the um just the fidelity of the young people who had already, you know, had this encounter, the angel of peace visited them before the blessed mother, and uh she was uh training them to say the rosary every day. And so in the jail, um I think it was the uh uh Francisco, the boy, um started praying the rosary, and and the people in jail started praying the rosary with them. I think at one point Francisco went up to one of the guys who was praying the rosary wearing his hat, and he said, You shouldn't have your hat. And the guy gave his oh sorry, and he gave so uh um uh again uh going that that um that world youth is going to be in uh Lisbon and Portugal, I think is uh a beautiful reminder of the message of Fatima and and what that has done and continues to do, and and hopefully maybe we'll refamiliarize um the church with our ladies uh you know it's nothing new as with all of the uh Blessed Mother's apparitions, it's it's prayer, it's conversion, it's return to the sacraments. But maybe we all need that spark to be lit at different times in our lives, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:51

Um Right. And I would suggest for the Catholics here in Patterson Diocese to think of being in solidarity with you when you're in Fatima. I believe it's a six-hour difference between Eastern time and uh uh Europe. Uh so that that would mean if it's noon and uh Fatima at 6 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

here, is that right?

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Yeah, exactly. So that they could be thinking of w where you are and what you're doing during that time.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

And we'll be putting it on social media for those who use it. Uh, we'll be right back. We'll be posting each day. And uh you'll be at Fatima prior to So we leave tomorrow. Um uh we're having a mass at Holy Rosary and Passaic. Hopefully, Father Joe will be with us. And uh uh I think the parishioners have prepared a little lunch for us after mass, and then we'll head to the airport. Um, I think it's about a five o'clock fright flight, and we get in very early on Saturday morning, and I think we go right from the landing to a bus to take us to um uh from Lisbon to Fatima, and then we'll be in uh Fatima Saturday, Sunday till Monday morning. Uh then Monday morning we head back to Lisbon and the opening ceremony, I believe, is Tuesday afternoon or evening, uh, and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday activities, catechetical sessions, and um Saturday everybody heads out to a big field, I think, and spends the night in uh in the vigil with the Holy Father, and then the the big mass will be on actually the Feast of the Transfiguration on Sunday, uh August 6th.

SPEAKER_03 30:19

And there are a lot of spiritual activities like the way of the cross will be on the Friday, yes. That's right. That's right. And then certainly when those million people are sleeping out in the field, that'll be an experience.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Could you been at several of these? I have, yes. Uh I uh still remember being out in the field in 1993 in in Cherry Creek Park in uh in in Colorado in Denver, uh, and uh just uh the experience of being with St. Pope John Paul II and his connection with the young people. And then as vocation director, I was in Sydney and in Cologne. And one of the strongest memories from Cologne was lying on my back in my sleeping bag, looking up at the stars, saying, God, please let me fall asleep. Please let me fall asleep because that was a little rough, but uh but well, well worth it uh for the blessings.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Um Well, it's so easy now with social media like FaceTime, they can be in the mass there with the Pope. That's right. That's right. Talking with their family, that's right. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

That's great. Yeah, can't wait to uh see those posts coming in next week or in the next upcoming days. Um and before we let you go, Father Joe, um you have a missionary presentation, right, at Assumption Parish in Morristown in the Right.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Right, yeah. Um I'm one of the eight uh missionaries who reside in Patterson Diocese, spread around the world, uh in Brazil, Philippines, different So uh the eight of us are going to be preaching on that weekend of the 19th and 20th as part of the Patterson Diocese Foreign Missionary Program. So albeit all the masses yet the Assumption.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

And we should mention uh Mila Berdios, right? Uh our mission coordinator here in the diocese who's worked with you really over the years, right? Over the years, yeah. And she coordinates all this. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

And uh it's a wonderful partnership, I think, between uh the uh Patterson Diocese and the Church in Africa. Right. And uh the collection, as I say, goes to the young people and their small Christian communities, and I think things can happen afterwards because the follow-up after the uh uh World Youth Day is important.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Absolutely right.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

I was reading about World Youth Day on the internet today, and there was Bishop Barrens who saying those who don't go to World Youth Day can participate.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Absolutely, right.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

And then when their delegates come back to their diocese, they can have follow-up activities.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Yes, yeah, and we plan to do that here on the diocese, and we'll be uh sharing it on the podcast, right? We may have some of the uh participants come on and uh and share some of their experience. Absolutely. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

So uh yeah, visit um rcdop.org slash missions dash office to learn more. And the one of the websites that uh Father Joe moderates is smallchristian communities.org. And anything else you want to ask of Father Joe before we move towards the end of the episode, Bishop?

SPEAKER_02 33:15

We'll see about maybe a wager on the weekend series in Baltimore. Okay, fine.

SPEAKER_03 33:20

My uh Yankee fans say it's only July. Okay, July. That's right, that's right. But it is a very intense uh Eastern uh conference, you know. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Oh, the division, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

Three or four of those teams could get into the I'd like to maybe end with two proverbs. Go right ahead, please. Yes, that'd be great. And both of them fit very nicely into the spirit of our conversation today. Uh one of them says, if you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together. And then, since you know Spanish, uh Bishop Kevin, there is a wonderful Spanish proverb that comes actually from Spain. We create the path by walking.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Oh, that's right, we create the path by walking.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

And I think that that's the spirit of synodality. We don't have all the answers. And the Pope wants to gather these 400 people in Rome in October. That's right. And he's gonna have young people. There's a wonderful young woman from Philadelphia, Julia Oseka. She goes to St. Joseph's University, and she's one of the official delegates from the U.S.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

I um was invited to uh help to lead one of the catechetical sessions on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday uh um during the World Youth Day. There are these catechetical sessions which this year. This year, yes. Congratulations. Um thanks. Uh in Spanish, I believe it's gonna be. And uh, but this is the Holy Father, I think, um uh his spirit and the way in which he's leading. Uh, I think in the past, and it's been wonderful for me, that you would gather with a large group in a particular language, and there would be a bishop who would usually give a talk um on a particular topic. Uh the theme actually for this year's World Youth Day is um Mary got up and went with haste. When Mary got up and went with haste, uh the the scripture from her going to the to visit Elizabeth. Uh so um and again, go um um we should put a link on our website um for um the uh World Youth Day website. Uh but you can just Google World Youth Day and the official website will come up, and there's a great deal about uh the theme and and and the development of that theme, even going back to the last World Youth Day in um Padama. And uh Holy the Holy Father has a letter to the young people, which I also encourage uh others to read, and maybe we can uh add a link. Um, but um, dear young people, and then he talks about the journey from Padama and what's been happening over the last number of years. Um and so for the catechetical sessions uh uh this year, um, yes, the bishop will be involved, but he's gonna respond after he listens. Uh the young people are gonna lead it and run it uh and give testimony, and um then there will come a time in that session where the bishop will respond to what he's heard from the young people. So that's a very uh certainly synodal um uh very much that's the listening process. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

Listen to the experience of the young people and responding. Right, right. And that's we create the path by walking.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

That's that's it, that's right. And if we go to together, we'll go far without uh the American being in a hurry to get there by myself. So uh thank you, Father Joe, for this time and and for all that you're doing for our diocese and the church throughout the world and so your great spirit. Um uh what was it, the um the young person from long ago? But still young at heart. So thank you, Father Joe. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Thanks so much for being on.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

And Bishop, is there anything else you'd on your mind or anything you'd like to share before we just asking for prayers uh for for our journey to to uh Fatima and World Youth Day and promising uh if you have an intention that you want to unite spiritually with us, we'll be praying every day uh at Mass and in the Rosary for the people here in Patterson who are asking our prayers as we journey um uh in in Fatima and and in Lisbon. Um so we'll be praying for you, but please also pray for us uh in as as we'll be leaving uh tomorrow um afternoon. Great.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Well, okay, thanks so much. Um and thank you 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 patternsondioces.org. Thank you for listening to Beyond the Beaker.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Thank you. God bless you. Thank you.