SPEAKER_03 0:07

Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast from 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? I'm good, Jay. How are you doing today? Doing well, thanks. What's new? What's been going on? I feel like I haven't seen you in a couple days. You must be must be pretty busy as always, I think.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Well, I don't know about it as always, but it's been last few weeks have been pretty busy. But good stuff. Uh good. We had a wonderful uh convocation or uh catechetical conference at uh St. Elizabeth's University in uh um is that Morris Town? Madison, Madison, the Convention, right? Convention, more accurate, correct. This past Saturday uh for our Hispanic, Spanish speaking catechists and uh ministers, and yeah, it was wonderful, uh really a great blessing. And then this past Sunday was uh kind of a double header uh the feast of St. Pope John Paul II and especially World Mission Sunday. So uh I was committed to uh celebrate mass and happy to celebrate mass at our Dawson shrine of St. Pope John Paul II in Passaic. Uh Father Stefan Las does a great job as pastor there, and uh it was a wonderful celebration. And Father Manning, our vicar for evangelization, celebrated the Dawson uh World Mission Day Mass at St. Paul's Parish in Prospect Park. Yes. We had coverage in the beacon. Yes, yes. So good things happening. And then on Tuesday, I was happy to be at Morristown and St. Margaret's Parish to uh um inaugurate uh or bless the kind of new relationship, I guess, between Catholic charities and Mary's Hands, a group that we'll hear about today, that's been doing great work for a long time in in Morristown and in the community. So um so that and God gave us we have we've had some beautiful weather days recently, a little spring in uh in late October.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

So Yeah, I snuck outside yesterday. I got a little disc golf in. Um my uh my front nine was pretty good, but my back nine was not so good. Uh I was on the golf course as well yesterday. So that was a nice week. Yes, yes. So it's a little hot.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

No, it's uh I love the word.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Yeah, I'm not gonna complain about that right now. Well well, good. Well, um so yeah, you mentioned Mary's Hands. So Mary's Hands is a social services ministry that operates out of St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Morristown. This life-changing ministry began in 2014 under the auspices of Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd, known affectionately as the Running Nun. You can uh find her on the internet. There's some great articles about her. It was formalized as Mary's Hands in 2019, and this week, as you mentioned, Mary's Hands became an official program of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Patterson. And with us to talk about it is Suzanne Tuscano, which is who is across from me over here, Catty Corner, Director of Administration for Mary's Hands, and Teresa Prendergast, Director of Client Services for Mary's Hands. So welcome. Thank you for joining us on the podcast. Thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Yeah. So I'm gonna ask if the bishop could please open us up in prayer.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

Sure. We'll place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As we come towards the end of this month of October, we continue to ask the help and intercession of Mary, our Blessed Mother, in this month of the Holy Rosary, uh, and especially asking the intercession of Mary as our Lady Queen of Peace, as we pray for peace in the Middle East, in the Holy Land, in Ukraine and throughout our world, in our hearts and in our homes, that we might be instruments of God's peace. We thank God for all those who serve as instruments of peace and of God's love and charity, like those who work in Mary's hands and in so many uh wonderful ministries throughout our diocese. We give thanks for all those who serve so lovingly and as instruments of peace. And praying for that peace, we ask the help and intercession of Mary, our blessed mother as together 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 Queen of Peace, pray for you. Pray for us, all holy men and women. Pray for us. Pray for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Amen. Amen. So, Bishop, I'm gonna ask you to kick us off. So, how did you first come to hear about Mary's hands and and the work that Teresa and Suzanne are are doing?

SPEAKER_04 4:37

Uh Father Dubernay, Villemizark, became the pastor of St. Margaret's a little over a year ago, and um he uh had shared with me uh some of the what he was learning as as he began in his time, and he talked about the work of Mary's hands and also as we're um as a country really and dealing with um the the ongoing immigration question, and um as many are still coming to New York City, we know, and in other places, uh we uh we want to once this can be questions about how some of our citizens and brothers have arrived here and uh and what we maybe need to do as a government and what we're failing to do and many other things that we can talk. But as Cardinal um Dolan likes to say often uh in New York, that when someone is here and in front of us, if they need help and if they need welcome, uh that we should uh be able to provide that welcome. Uh so um I was asking and in Scott Scott Milliken, our Catholic charity CEO, um uh we were wondering if some of the new immigrants were showing up here in our diocese, and I believe they are in Patterson and Passaic and in different ways, and also in Dover, I believe. But uh um Father Dubernay was talking about uh new new people showing up uh in the community uh in in Morristown, and he was talking about this group, Mary's Hands, that did um a great deal to uh to try to uh welcome those who are coming and who may have uh material and other needs. Also, uh a good opportunity to mention that this coming Saturday, as we discussed in the podcast last week, we'll have our Respect Life uh convocation, which St. Margaret's is hosting this year, and Mary's Hands has done a lot of work for moms in need over the uh the last number of years. Uh Teresa and Suzanne can tell more about that. But um uh so it had, you know, I've been learning and hearing about the good work. And then Father Dubernay, uh, as he talked about, uh he has some training with the Vincentians before he came to the diocese, and he talked about St. Vincent de Paul and the importance of organizing our charitable efforts, our uh generosity and and service. And uh he he had been speaking about that, and there was a connection between him and Scott Milliken. And uh while Catholic Charities does so much in so many parts of our diocese, I guess they haven't had a base in Morris Town. And uh the the work that uh Mary's hands was doing and the work that and even the support I think that Catholic Charities can provide seemed like a good connection. And that seems like a good place to pass it off to Teresa and Susanna, maybe just share a little bit of your own experience, um, more recent and in the past and and how you got involved and and how things are at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Well, it it did start um with Father Dubernay um after he uh became he came to um St. Margaret's he after about a month as an administrator, he just um spoke with me and I found out that he was uh very much interested in the poor. And um and after that, um actually uh you know he spoke to me uh very sincerely about wanting um to know more about us and and uh anchoring us there.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

I'm remembering now someone had donated Christmas gifts, right? And we brought them over, and I think you helped uh that was a while back now, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yes, that was January. That's when I think he decided that I should meet you. And uh he said, Well, the bishop is bringing toys from Brooklyn, and uh and he said, Um, and I'd like you to meet him. He said, So I want you to sit in the front of the church, and when I signal you, I want you to come over. And he did. And uh, and of course I I was very nervous, uh, but um reason to be. No, you talked to me a lot and you gave me lots of bags of toys, but what father forgot is that I had no storage. So he kept putting them in the rectory. Well, until in his mind he could figure out where I was gonna store all the toys. But yes, that was um when I first met you. I met you before that when I got a medal, but that was another story.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

However, Christmas?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Yes, because that was my introduction into all Father Du Brenay's life because he said, I want to give you a medal. And I said, Oh, does it come with money? And he said, No. He said, but you get to meet the bishop, and I said, That's it. But I did, I love my medal and I enjoy it. And that's when I learned um he had a love for a real love. And if you heard him on Tuesday, you realize that he really was um speaking from the heart about being a Vincenzi and St. Vincent de Paul. And he does have um, you know, perhaps um more on our plate than we realize, because he does have a dream of making a center there, an immigration center in the future that would be a home, not just an office, but a home to the people to come to and visit.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Sorry, is uh on uh there was reference on Tuesday to um uh the women from Mary's hands uh being involved in the convent building, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Um yes, we are actually um the third group. The first group was the sisters of charity, and they were there the longest since the founding of the school.

SPEAKER_04 10:21

Some of them were there on the other side.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Yes, Sister Maureen was there, and Sister Marine said, I was there 50 years ago. And then the other group was um the religious teachers Filipini, and they were there. Um, and my uh good friend was the last one to be the superior there, and the principal when the school closed. So they were all there, and now we're coming in as women to you know um step in with big shoes.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

But um they they're the ones that are um they took the lead, and now we're there as women, and I I feel very good about that and very honored.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

Right carrying on the mission.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Yeah, carrying out a mission and and having um, you know, women, uh lay women now, perhaps that's the future that lay people take over and us women do the work.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

As we've even just gathering here and knowing and learning some of the story of Mary's hands and Catholic Cherry's involvement in the Sisters Filipini, and uh when we talk about the synod on synodality, uh you know this the church has been synodal. We haven't maybe used the word, but uh we've been trying to work together uh in different ways uh for a long time. And we can get back to that, but I wanted to uh ask Susan to give us a little bit about how you got involved and uh um how you got to know Mary's hands and so I was very involved in my children's Catholic school, St.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

James and Basking Ridge, volunteering, and I had taken over the social concerns as a volunteer for the school, and another fellow Villa Walsh grad said to me, Hey, you should reach out to Sister Mary Beth because she does a toy drive every year for children in Newark. So I did, and I had not seen Sister Mary Beth in years. Uh I had gone to Villa Walsh Academy, she was my chemistry teacher. Um so we reconnected and I would I just started by bringing toys that the school had collected, and then when I would be there, um she would say, Hey, we need a couple strollers. And uh so then I would get on the And how long ago was that? Uh about 2014, 2015. Um and then through that I met Teresa who was always there at Villa Walsh, sorting things, helping her, and um so it just kind of grew. So as I was involved at St. James, I also became involved with Sister Mary Beth and Teresa, and then got more involved over the years, and then when my children finished at St. James, I thought, oh, I s I need something to do with my time. So I had said to Teresa, okay, I have more time now. And then she took basically last year.

SPEAKER_04 13:04

So um and then there was uh Sister Mary Beth, right? Is the running nun, right? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And her superior was her superior at the time that we were working with her was Sister Eshenza Tasano. And she's now the mother general at Rome. Yeah, and she's in Rome.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Her mother was a little concerned about uh Sister Mary Beth traveling to Newark.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Is that the the person that uh put a stop to us going to Newark was our former formation director, which was Sister uh Mary Dabaco, which we called Mother. And um uh when I came back to work with Sister Mary Beth, um, you know, mother was there, but at in another position, she was, you know, retired already. And then she said to us, she still ran, you know, she still uh directed us a lot, but she told us to stop because it was dangerous for us, as two women, to go to Newark in this riggety old van and run around Newark giving out furniture to the poor. So she told us to look in Newark, and that's when sister said, Let's go find them here in Marrstown. And she went over to St. Margaret's and and I said to her, I'm not standing in front of this place and just giving out clothes. And she goes, Yes, we are. That was Mr.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Mary Beth's. Yeah, yeah, that was Mr. Mary Beth.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

She said yes, you are. And then she gave them my phone number. Uh, the mothers that we met, she goes, Do you have any needs and stuff? And that's how we started. And uh it got to be that we serviced every month uh 110 mothers that came to get clothes, to get diapers. She taught me how to do this.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

She was my guide.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

She's the one that taught me how to find the poor and how to love them. Um and and you have to know uh the poor, you know, you don't have to go find the blessed mother at Fatima or anywhere or on a statue. You just have to look at the face of these people.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

Right. St. Vincent de Paul uh spoke about uh seeing the the dignity in because it's not as human beings for us to receive help, none of us want to. And just because someone's struggling doesn't mean that they're all of a sudden going to be happy to get say, I need some help. But I think St. Vincent, and it sounds like Sister Mary Beth, um teach us to realize that w we're equal and uh and we want to communicate that I'm not better than you because I can hand you something. Uh I just have received some blessings that uh I would be happy to share with you, right? Is uh and it sounds like that's what Sister Mary Beth uh, as you said, not only find those in need, but how we should share love with them, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yes, and that's how we came about Mary's hands, because we wanted to safeguard the dignity of the people. We didn't want them, you know, for them to walk into church and everybody point and say, oh, those are some of the poor that were look at us, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:53

So when we we formed Mary's Hands, we kind of looked at what we had been doing with Sister Mary Beth and said, Well, we can't do everything. Let's try to focus on what we can do and what we can do well. And so we decided one-on-one support. And occasionally we're giving out coats or clothes to a group of people, but day in and day out, Teresa's meeting one-on-one with families, um, treating them with respect and dignity and empowering them to be self-sufficient ultimately and move to the next level that they don't need help.

SPEAKER_04 17:31

Did I overhear you saying to someone on uh Tuesday that um when you had Sister Mary Beth as a teacher, she was a little intimidating or tough as that? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

It was not the best. And I never thought I would see her again. I was like, thank goodness. And uh when I was in high school, I saw her solely as a teacher. Right. And then now just such a a different view of an amazing person and really an inspiration. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

Right. And Teresa's dead habl español. See, yeah, where'd you learn?

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Yeah. Where did I learn it? Uh Dominican Republic. Oh, wow. My family um is still in Dominican Republic, but I think it's helps in terms of the community in St.

SPEAKER_04 18:22

Margaret's.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

And she knows Spanish fluently, too.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

I understand better than we speak. So between the two of us, if we're writing something, it um it works.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

My experience in learning it was more in conversation. Yeah. And I said I really learned what it was to be illiterate because uh I could converse, but to write and and to read was I could read stuff for the mass because I was sitting. But if I had to read an article in a newspaper, I said, oh my goodness, this but and and so again, we the Lord teaches us in in different ways that uh we're we all have to walk the journey and and find our way and uh and we can help one another along the way. Yeah. Uh Jay, I think Did you learn it?

SPEAKER_03 19:09

Was it the Dominican Republic?

SPEAKER_04 19:12

From my pastoral year as a seminary in Brooklyn, I went to Santiago in the Dominican Republic in my summer.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

That's where my my family, Santiago de los Caballeros.

SPEAKER_04 19:22

I was there for the 500th anniversary of the either the founding of the city or the statue, the monumento, right? Yeah, yeah. Uh in 1995, the summer 1995. That was right, right.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

My my grandfather, um Mario Benedicto, um was uh Jose Maria Benedicto was um uh head of the junta for 12 years. Um but I'm talking about many, many years ago. Right, right. So Dominican has a very interesting history. Yeah, the Dominicans have a very interesting history.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

So Sister Mary Beth goes to Rome, right, in 2019, and this is when your ministry takes a kind of a different direction or or uh shape her.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

The a lot of the women that we volunteered with, we sat down and said, What can we do? And of course, Teresa wanted to do everything, and we're we had to kind of rein her in and say, let's start small. And um first was come up with a name, and we threw a lot of different names around, and then someone, I think it was Caroline, said Mary's hands, and we're like, yes, that's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

And um then it stuck and we kind of had a plan. I think the first year we gave out coats, we collected coats um for children and gave them out, and of course, we'd get donations. Again, we'll put a request out to a local childcare center uh to do a collection of gently used baby clothing or on Facebook page in Basking Ridge, Basking Ridge Moms.

SPEAKER_04 21:00

Well, there's still that connection with Basking Ridge, huh? Oh, yeah. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Um and just say, hey, we need gently used children's clothing in this size. And last winter I had about 30 or 40 hefty bags filled with clothes in my basement, um which we s had to sort through. But yes, uh it's really just the goodness of other people who are often looking for an opportunity to help, but don't know about it until you ask.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Before I forget, how can people support your ministry and either donate or financially or coats or so if if they would like to help um financially, they can certainly go to the Catholic charities website and find the the tab for Mary's Hands.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Um they can email us if they have specific things that they might think we want. Um our email is Maryshands at Margaretchurch.org. Um and then also if people want to volunteer in any capacity, they can reach out to us with an email.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

So you're looking for volunteers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

We always are looking for well, we teach ESL once a week on Saturday mornings. And we need we need teachers there. And we're looking to possibly expand to other days, but we can only do that if we have teachers. Um so there and we're occasionally getting everyone together when we have those forty bags of hefty, you know, hefty bags of clothing, we need help sorting them. Um so we'll have s women come in and organize everything and

SPEAKER_01 22:40

However, our biggest ministry and the big part of us is um our mothers, our pregnant moms, okay? And you're talking about pro-life. Here's where we come in.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

We're not pro-life, but I mean we are not that organization.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

However, you have to understand that I look at a a mother that's pregnant as someone who has done well by God. Absolutely. Okay, she's got this baby, she's in a country, she now has to lose her job.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

You're saying what Pope Francis said. He said sometimes a mom comes to baptize a child and gets a hard time in the rectory, and Pope Francis is saying, she said yes to life. We gotta say I'm sorry, go ahead. Right. But she has to take more time off from work and go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

She has no money and no way of sustaining herself, and she's renting a room. They're not renting an apartment. And that has notion has to be well to understand that now she has to give $800 she doesn't have. We can carry her through. And I said, I can't give you the $800 for rent, but I certainly can give you the stroller, travel system, I can give you clothing, and I can keep you and your baby clothed and you know able to function for at least two years because I can give her diapers. And I'm my goal is to give 80, because that was Sister Mary Beth's goal always, 80 diapers a month to the mother. That saves her a good hundred, $150, because that goes with wipes and clothing and all the stuff the baby needs. So we can do that. We just don't give it to them on a one-time base. We carry them through for the two years. And that is our main ministry with those women that have children, and then they have a two or three-year-old, you know, that they have also that they, you know, and what do they do about diapers for them? So we're we're doing that. And that is the basis.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Um so over the course of a year, yeah um over this year, I think we uh over 115 families, but but of those 115, about 25 percent are repeat customer clients. Clients, yeah. Um and of that 25 percent, 50% are coming more than three times over the course of a year. So it there are occasions that people just arrive from another country. We set them up with clothing essentials, and they're often in connection, you know, in contact with a relative.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

And here's where Catholic charities can, right now that you're the the connection is kind of official, the resources that Catholic charities have, maybe for legal help or housing sometimes, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Yeah, the housing is almost impossible at this point because we have no uh availability of housing. There's nothing there out on the market. But the housing.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

Catholic charities, I think, can help with emergency housing sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Yes, yes, they can help with it. And we're gonna be uh talking with uh Christine Myers about that with code uh blue, because we have to we have to get it together in the Mars County division there section. But um uh you were uh speaking of our parents. When they come, they do come as, you know, coming over the border. They're coming with absolutely nothing, and they have no housing, and they're looking for housing, and if they don't have a relative and they're on their own, we're looking at, you know, putting them in a hotel for a little bit while they are uh getting uh help or something.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

And some of them may have a family member or a friend from their town at home those connections, but and and oftentimes those who might be here all of six months or a year or two years who have established themselves a little bit, they'll take someone else in, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Even if it's yeah, everyone is so willing to help.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

I mean, I can't imagine showing up on my cousin's doorstep, you know, and saying, hey, we're all here. Um but they are also they are helping one another.

SPEAKER_04 26:55

To see sometimes those who have the least of means be the most generous, right? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

But the other ones that have the newborns and have the baby and have three or four children, that's another uh way of handling people that is different from the ones that just arrived.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

Sure, right. That gets to be a little different. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And Catholic charities um I think would have some family support, uh, whether it be uh getting helping moms get the children registered in school or other child care. Yeah, we do all that. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

We do all and we help them. Uh Suzanne has researched um who are the people that we can approach at the public schools, who are the people that we can um and then I do the medical, and I find out uh because they do need charity care when they're having this baby, and then we have to work with the hospitals. We have to teach them how to access that.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

That's the Christine Myers, you mentioned, is also a local representative, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah, she's our freeholder. And also um also a legal order of Malta, yes, that's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

So active in her faith. But uh an example of living, yeah. Uh you talked about the vocation of the lady, right? To bring uh our faith into the public square and when we have uh those elected uh officials who understand what the church can do and is able to do, and then the partnership, right, between because the government is offering services, but sometimes to connect those in need with the and and that they to let the person know you don't have to be afraid to go and to this government office and ask for help, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yes, yes. And and that connection, that's something we look for too. How could we connect with the community because we have to do it in community, we can't do it uh isolated. Right, right. And so we have to access those people and um she is very much um you know available and always willing to help us. So that's someone um yeah, we have a lot of people though that we can reach out to and um they come through. You once you ask, they don't um they don't say no. They just say, Let me see what I can do.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

That word community, uh you know, there's a lot of different understandings of definitions, but you know, the church as community is that community of believers, right? And uh as I mentioned, you what a parish can be when it's striving, you know, we all have challenges and different each parish is unique, like each family is unique. But when you see a parish like St. Margaret's and its history and um but the community of the sisters with teaching uh uh um the back to the sister charity and then Catholic charities and then uh Basking Ridge and uh Christ the King, right? In New Vernon, is that it's a very good idea.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Yeah, Christ the King, Saint Vincent Martyr, and Assumption. The Holy Rosary that gives us a lot of things. Assumption once in your heart was there, yes, right. Yes, assumption gives to us. Yes, right. And and many others around that just um, you know, appeal to their church. Um Angela belongs to Saint Christopher's in um Parsiphone. So, you know, she helps us. So it's it's different. We come from different places, but we're all together in one community of holy. I think that's where we see the Holy Spirit really making connections, right? Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

What is it about service that um what is it that drew you both either either or both of you want to respond to to service and what how has that impacted your faith?

SPEAKER_01 30:27

I I I I can tell you that I don't understand it, but I I you don't understand how you do that, but it just is there within you. And when you go home at night and you pray, you you find uh Mary and she's there. So you don't have to go very far to find her. You just have to uh and I walk and I talk with her, and that's it. And um she guides me, but I don't understand it. I don't understand uh my faith, and I I don't understand why I want to Our Blessed Mother is still looking up for those who run out of wine, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:06

And say, do go to talk to him, you know. Do what he tells you, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Yes, and exactly the wedding at Cana. And um and I just do it. It doesn't um it's not that I'm thinking about it and I'm gonna say, oh, today I'm gonna do community service. No, uh in fact, it becomes 24-7 sometimes because Suzanne and I sometimes on Sunday get tapped and there's a problem and we just do it. Um I don't know why Suzanne thinks of it, but um uh that's the only that's the only answer I can give you.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

Um well I have to say that when my children were young, I was focused on them and volunteering at their school. And it really it was a blessing that I I said to someone at St. James, like um, my older kids were in the public school. I'm like, we should be doing more at St. James. This is a Catholic school. And she said, Well, we're actually looking for someone to take over social concerns, which was such a blessing because it made me get more involved and see all these opportunities to help. And then I've also found that people will reach out to me now. Um, how can I do this? Or do my child needs community service? And it's been very rewarding and surprising. The more I get involved, the more I'm realizing, wow, this was this was meant to be, and there was a reason that and I think the Holy Spirit sometimes helps with timing, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Because the right time for somebody the the they was gonna start the uh social concerns committee, right? And it was the right time for you with your children, your family situation.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Exactly. Yeah, here we are.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Blessed mother knew I knew nothing about finance, and I didn't like to make files and keep records, and she said, I better get her help.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

Because of people who are college.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

She does that, and I am free to to just talk. You know, sometimes there's a mother that comes and says, My husband was drunk last night, and I'm there. Oh wow, what do I, you know. So you sit with them, and I sit with them, and father would let me sit in the front in the parlor, and you just sit for I sat 45 minutes, and she was, she said, and now he's throwing me out of the house, and it's cold out there. Right. I had nothing I could do. I can't, I couldn't go over there and tell the husband, but I just sat with her for five minutes.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

Again, loves the word accompany accompaniment, right? That's sometimes what we can do is that's the hardest. But we can do that, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Uh and I do it, and that's it. And then she can take care of all the paperwork and and contacting Joe at 5 30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Teresa, what was um you had when we did our pre pre-interview on the phone the other day, you had mentioned you were you had recently assisted a mother who needed to see her baby in the ICU. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Yes, and I'm still working on that because um well, the mother lives in the town of Mindham, and she has to get to the Morristown Hospital. Um and uh she has two other children at home in this, you know, room that she lives in, and so she has to pay um the round trip $60 each day from the taxi. And the baby, um, she tried very hard. You know, our mothers do not abort their children, they have them, they keep them, and that to me is beautiful. And she said she tried as much as she could to hold on to the baby, but it came at six months. So that was a two-pound baby, and it's in the intensive care unit, and she wanted to go see the baby each day. So Catholic charities, thank God for Catholic charities in Uber, I try to find the cheapest, but um uh I gave her a ride to the hospital to see the baby. Uh, today we're negotiating figuring out where she could leave the little three-year-old right now. So this afternoon, after I finish with you, I could send her again um back and forth with the Uber. Yes, sixty dollars. They couldn't sustain it. They were doing it for a couple of um days and they ran out of money. So um, yeah, but we're doing that. And that that's an easy one, you know. That's not a hard one now with Uber and Catholic charity. So we're happy.

SPEAKER_04 35:57

I said recently at our Vivere Christus Awards, the medal that you had received, that uh I wanted to talk about the um Eucharistic Congress and this Eucharistic revival that we're having. And uh I said this is gonna sound like a commercial, but it's not a commercial because I was inviting them, you know, to be involved in and uh this is not a commercial for uh our Diocan Ministry's appeal, but at the same time, uh what we say about the ministry's appeal, the the ministry's appeal supports Catholic charities, right? And and and because of donations that they receive, they're able to go, right, right. So to those who are supporting the ministry's appeal, uh know that it's helping moms say yes to the gift of life, right? And yeah, and and and helping a mom whose you know child is in intensive care and can't afford to get to the hospital. And uh but the Holy Spirit again.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Yeah. And she was very frail and sick and um you know could not manage on her own. So we wanted her to get to the hospital to talk to the nurses about her health.

SPEAKER_04 37:01

The mom's own health.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

The mom's own health. So we get involved in a lot of things, you know, all of a sudden it just hits you and you just have to go with it. Um and work with it.

SPEAKER_04 37:14

Thank you for your time today, but especially for all that you've been doing and continue to do. And we'll look forward to working again. And maybe at some point you can come back on and give us an update. But uh uh it was really I mean, the weather was beautiful as it's been on but Tuesday to see all those different uh parts of the community together for that. Um uh and you shared some words of your own memories and uh and uh the Ave Maria.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Um Yes, that was Sister Annette. She had a beautiful voice. Right, right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:45

Um and uh many of are in heaven helping us as well. Right, surely, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

They're they're there, they're there, they're very much there, but the blessed mother is the one she's her and the Holy Spirit make a good team, right? Cool, yes, yeah. It's pretty good, yes.

SPEAKER_04 38:03

And I think Father Dubernay uh believes in her a lot because gentle and kind.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

He's very gentle and sweet. Yes. Yes, he's always given me a name there when it comes to you at all. So he's always giving me someone that's helping.

SPEAKER_04 38:27

That's the community of believers, right? That's the community.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Yeah, we all work together very well, and everybody's very gentle. It's uh and kind. And that to work like that is easy, it's not heavy.

SPEAKER_04 38:41

So but you still put in hours and do a lot of work, so we're grateful for that.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:47

How many children, Susan?

SPEAKER_02 38:48

I have three children. Two are in college, one's at Villanova, one's at Fordham, and then I have a middle schooler.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Yeah. One of the things I have three boys. Three boys. One one is a doctor, one's an architect, and another one uh is a math major. Wonderful computer.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

That's that's great. Tech.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

So I have a good family. Thank God. I have everything, so I don't need to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

Well, we try to gratitude for what we receive, we try to share, right? So um, give it back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

Amen. Yeah. So as we near the end of this episode, Bishop, anything else for Suzanne or Teresa?

SPEAKER_04 39:26

Just to say thank you and keep up the good work. We'll be praying for you. We'll be praying for that mom in particular and her child, but uh each of the moms. And uh and again, uh we as we talked last week with Annie Hansberger, who's organizing the Respect Life convocation, we're grateful for all the Dubanay and the parish for hosting us. Uh that uh just that reminder that uh Saturday morning will begin at 8 o'clock with mass and procession, and then um we'll be actually uh getting some information on the sad topic of human trafficking that's happening in some of the challenges, and other but other good people that are trying to bring the light of the gospels and the light of God's love into those difficult situations.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

That's the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking, which I used to be a part of. And Sister Mary Beth was on the board. Oh wow, wonderful, wonderful. So I know them very well. I stepped back from that because I had to take care of Mary's hands.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

And only so many hours of the day. We're gonna have um information in our show notes and on screen on our YouTube uh version of the podcast about all these things, the um the convocation on Saturday, the 28th, and some information on uh Mary's hands as well and Catholic charities.

SPEAKER_04 40:42

Um we'll be having the uh convocation on the 28th, which is the feast of Saints Simon and Jude. Uh but uh the Eve of All Saints is also coming up right on Tuesday, uh, also known as Halloween. But uh uh All Saints Day will be this coming um Wednesday, November 1st, and we certainly ask those many saints that are only named to God, but uh are certainly helping us from heaven that have impacted our lives. And but um uh I shared in my column this week that uh uh officially election day is Tuesday, November 7th, but we now have early voting in our state. So I think it's um might even be Saturday that uh it's beginning. It's somewhere around the late the last days of October. So um uh as citizens we want to um bring our faith into the public square, and part of that is our responsibility to vote.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

So um, and every state senator, state senate seat is up to the legislative seat.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

Legislative uh state senate. Assembly and Assembly and Senate. Yeah, right. So get out and vote.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

Okay. Um anything else, Bishop? I think that's full plate. To be continued for for next time. All right. Well, thanks again for joining us. Um and here in the Diocese of Patterson, we are conducting our, as the bishop said, our diocesan ministries appeal, which supports Catholic charities, seminarian formation, Catholic urban education, and the health care of our senior priests and more. Please consider helping your brothers and sisters in need by making a gift. Visit 2023appeal.org today, 2023appeal.org. And thank you. 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 Sumi'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 pattersondiocese.org. Thank you for listening to Beyond the Book.

SPEAKER_04 42:49

Thank you very much. Thanks, Teresa Suzanne. Thanks, everyone. God bless you. Thank you.