SPEAKER_01 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 of Patterson and editor of the Beacon newspaper. With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney. Bishop Kevin, good morning. How are you doing? I'm good, Jay. How are you? Doing well, thanks. So I I want to ask you right off the bat, um, obviously, big news coming out of out of Rome. We had the first of two huge kind of um, I guess, monumental moments really for the Catholic Church with the Synod on Synodality just wrapped up. They there was this 41-page report that was issued. The delegates have been coming back, they've been talking to the press, and we've been learning about what was uh discussed. I just I wonder what your early impressions are of this of the Synod. And and I know we'll I'm sure we'll get into this at in another episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

But what are your what are your early impressions? Well, my first impression uh from your question as you began was with big news. I thought you were gonna say we have a new World Series champion, but that's just the Texas Rangers. So no, the uh um very much so uh the it is um uh historic in in in in our church that yes this the this process of Synodality has been around well the Synodality as we've discussed before has been around since the Acts of the Apostles, and it's uh part of how we are we live as the church and listen to one another and discern and um encounter one another. Um but um Pope Francis uh has invited us to reflect on in a very deliberate and intentional way and how do we do that as the church? And so he said that uh after all many synods from uh 1967 or so, um uh now every three years or so since then, now that there was gonna be a synod on synodality, uh not the most popular name for but uh uh but uh I think if those who have been following it and uh I I we've shared, Jay, that uh we're both fans of the Jesuitical podcast, and uh I think they for me they've done a really good job of um uh the twice a week um having episodes from Rome. The two hosts have been in Rome. And yeah so um they did a uh kind of a summary, I think it was yesterday, and um the uh they had some others on uh from I think they're have a relationship with another podcast inside the Vatican. Yes, it's like a joint podcast episode. And uh so um uh to hear uh the uh reflections of the experience, um uh some of them saying, Oh, now we know even going in saying uh we're we're gonna talk about meetings all a month or uh but now we uh there's even a sense of um the whole um theme of the fasting from media or talking to the press on the podcast, there's been some back and forth. Is that part of the press? Well, is this the best way to go? Or um but um they almost seem to say yesterday uh w with not talking about the substance of the conversations in the press or in the media, um it's caused the media and others following the synod to kind of stop and have to listen and reflect and say, why aren't we, you know, hearing more of the details and and the opportunity at least to appreciate, well, there's reasons for that. The the Holy Father wanted people in that synod hall to be able to speak openly. And uh yeah. And now um I think the 42-page document is gonna give us some of um the fruits of those conversations. And uh as one of them described it, this is halftime now to go back into the locker room and get ready for the second half. And um, I'm looking forward to reading the document and and on the local level, as uh again one of them was saying yesterday. Uh, and it's true that um uh we need to receive what has been discussed and and bring it to our own prayer and reflection and conversation. So I look forward to uh being able to do that here in the diocese and and at the parishes on the local level. Yeah, absolutely. And if uh uh another podcast that I like is Conversations with Cardinal Dolan, and hearing his take as a delegate is a different take from the Jesuitical. Um so uh I'll just mention that and uh it'll certainly entertaining. Cardinal Dolan has uh got a great sense of humor, but he's also very uh he's a great church historian, and um his his take on the on the um on the synod was also I found very helpful. And sure, Cardinal Tobin, our uh Metropolitan, the Archbishop in in Newark, will be uh who was also a delegate, will be uh sharing a great deal. I know he has been uh um uh as well uh by post and um so yeah he's had some great videos um the Arch Science of Newark's uh YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

I wonder, do you do you um do you I mean obviously you know Cardinal Tobin and and uh have you had any conversations with any of the the delegates that have been there? Do you know do you know any of the things? Not yet.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

No, Cardinal Tobin would be the uh the closest. And uh we'll have our um as they were saying on the podcast yesterday, one of them that um the bishops conference will play an important part. And uh in uh less than two weeks now, um Monday the thirteenth, the gathering of the United States bishops will be in Baltimore. So um I trust it'll be on the agenda of Archbishop Brolio, the president of the conference, and many um Cardinal McElroy and and some others were um were there. Yeah. So yeah, I would hope that would be a big part of the conversations.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

I look forward to to hearing about that. And all right, before we go um much further with that, I want to um introduce our guest today, Jim King, who was actually also in Rome at last last week, right? He's he just got back. He so Jim's the executive uh director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference uh here in New Jersey, down in down in Trenton. So he was kind enough to drive all the way up from Trenton this morning. So thanks, Jim, for for joining us and welcome to Beyond the Beacon.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Bishop Jay, it's a pleasure being here with both of you. And uh we always look forward to reasons to get out of the office and visit the diocese. So thank you again for the invitation. It was a pleasure to drive up here from Trenton today. And a beautiful morning, right? Beautiful morning, yes, that's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

And so how do you describe so New Jersey Catholic Conference, right? There's there's kind of the long form on your on your website, but I love the way you described it in your bio that you shared with me. You called it a it's the nonpartisan public policy voice for the Catholic Church in New Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Yes. I uh the easiest way to say it is that we are the government relations firm for the bishops. So if there's anything going on government related, you know, we are the uh people that go out and represent the bishops, represent the church, uh craft the message of the church, uh make recommendations on specific actions. I mean, uh I don't like using this term very often, but I'll use it today. We are the church's lobbyist uh in Trenton. And uh our 90% of our work is state oriented, but uh we do work on federal issues uh from time to time.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Okay. And obviously we have our election day is coming up next week, so that was part of the reason the bishop wanted to have you on. We want to talk about faithful citizenship and some of the work that you're doing. But I'm gonna I'm gonna just ask if the bishop can please open us up uh in prayer.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

And um maybe we'll today open with a prayer and close with a prayer because uh as we uh have our conversation, we'll ask the help of the Holy Spirit. And um we're recording on uh today's November 2nd, All Souls Day. Yesterday was all saints day. So maybe at the end we'll uh offer a prayer for our deceased loved ones as this is the month of the Holy Souls. So we'll do that as as we finish. But first um we'll ask the help of the Holy Spirit and place us ourselves in God's presence, name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As we pray for peace in our world, we also pray for our country and our elected leaders in Thanksgiving for so many blessings that we share here in the United States and the responsibility we have to share those blessings with others, with all of our brothers and sisters. And as faithful citizens in this democracy, we uh have that opportunity to participate in choosing our leaders as we look forward to an election day here. And many of already voting here in our state in these days. We uh ask the help of the Holy Spirit for all those who will be voting, and we ask the Holy Spirit to bless also our conversation today with Jim as we pray, Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in 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 seat of wisdom, pray for you. Pray for us. Our Lady Queen of Peace and Mother of the Church. Pray for us. Pray for us. All holy men and women, pray for us. Pray for us in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

So, Bishop, um, yeah, why don't you just tell us uh how how did you first get to know the New Jersey Catholic Conference in Jim and why have you invited him on?

SPEAKER_00 9:35

We have something called the Board of Bishops, uh, which uh I learned about soon after getting the call for uh that I would be was being named the Bishop of Patterson and uh Cardinal Tobin reached out to me and uh he shared that um the bishops met usually four times a year um with the uh head of the Catholic Conference. And actually when I uh got that call in the spring of 2020 and had my first Zoom meetings with uh the other bishops of the state, uh they were actually in the process of um interviewing candidates to become the uh uh the director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference. And Jim, I think you were involved in that process, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:18

I was involved a little bit in that process. I remember our first interaction though, Bishop. It was, you know, still summer of COVID, because it was 2020. And I called you at your parish in uh in Brooklyn and to because at that time and you know, going back to that time, I did not want to be a candidate for the position. I had not applied for it. I was just asked to act as interim director until uh they hired they found their guy their person, you know, to take the job. And uh, you know, so as I'm navigating this whole pro, you know, this process, helping with that process. Uh Bishop Kevin was appointed appointed uh bishop of the diocese. So I said, well, what would the executive director do? He would call him and welcome him. So I looked up his diocese and I just made a cold call to I looked up your passion. I made a cold call and you called me back, and I still remember having that phone call in the kitchen of my home that day. Well, I was probably in the kitchen of the rectory.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Actually, in those days we didn't, you know, we didn't have staff in the rectory, so we were answering phones and uh returning messages. So uh that I got a number of calls uh that way in those days during the time of the transition. Um and uh got to know Jim. And um I probably shouldn't even mention this, but uh we have to be faithful to our uh um our allegiance is uh a Philly fan, is that right? Uh no, no. Oh no, big giants fancy. That's right, that's right, that's right. No, no, fighting with the Phillies fans, right? You might have to edit that in case my family listen to the five years. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

But I do hear you're Yankees, though. Wow, yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

And that's that differs. My uh uncles and my father were all Mets fans. And that was the way I rebelled, you know, at the time. So no, you're smart, smart. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

So but yeah, it was uh great getting to meet Jim first uh on the phone and through Zoom. And uh again, the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways, and uh uh as you were helping in the process, and uh we had identified, I think, someone who would be the become the director, and that didn't work out. And then uh I think Cardinal Tobin might have had something to do with uh encouraging you to consider the position. Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yeah, he called me shortly after uh Labor Day of 2020, and you know, he said I was on uh retreat and you know he asked if I would take over as executive director, and you know, I you know my background is I went to seminary for six years and I was discerning a vocation to the priesthood, and a lot of that time was learning about obedience. So when the bishop asks, you you you trust that the Holy Spirit's guiding that that request and you trust in the bishop. So I was about to say yes, but Cardinal Tobin in his great wisdom said, Don't say yes, you have to go home and talk it over with your wife first, and that's the important yes. So I did, and of course my wife said yes. But I also remember that we met for the first time face to face that later that month in September. Uh, and I came up, and the first thing Bishop Kevin said to me was, Well, the Lord gets what he wants when he wants it. So that's right. And I still share that story to people when they ask that's why I became executive director. She's like, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

The Lord gets what he wants when he wants it. So And you know, we uh talk about vocations and the way God calls us and um uh being open to that to those to that call as it comes in different ways. But uh um, you know, you talked about your experience in the seminary and surely as developing your own uh personal faith and understanding of um that call that we share from baptism to to live as disciples and members of the church, uh and uh realizing, coming to realize that um uh being the salt of the earth and light of the world that Jesus calls us to be, um seeing him in the least of our sisters and brothers, uh, there's certainly some who would say that the church should have nothing to do with politics, but I think if you um you certainly would have to take Matthew 25 out of the gospel if you were gonna go down that direction. And as difficult and challenging as it may be, um part of our faith is bringing that faith into the public square, right? Advocating for our brothers and sisters in need. Um, just thinking back to my own experience in terms of um even, you know, uh if if they didn't wear a baseball, football, or basketball uniform, I wasn't interested in uh in in grammar school. And I get to high school and it was the mid-80s, and um uh there were these guys called young Republicans, and uh, you know, Ronald Reagan was the president, and uh these guys were all interested in what was going on in and I just guys looking at up, but um I guess uh uh at that time, as I've shared, I um uh became a little involved in in the in the pro-life movement, and um then um in college started to open my eyes a little bit and um and see what it means to to live our faith and bring that faith into the public square and uh and and so um we do um and then serving in in Brooklyn and Queens and and getting to know families and communities and local officials and uh and see how the church at times can work together closely with our elected leaders and um uh and you know how complicated that can be at times, but also necessary. And so um maybe um as you discern uh uh a call to the voc to the priesthood, but God had was calling you to marriage, uh thanks be to God, right? For you and how many children? Uh three children. Three children, right? Um and and as as you've uh now living that vocation as husband and father in in terms of your professional career, um serving, continuing to serve the church as as the director, um maybe a little bit of your background in terms of um the interest in politics or uh how you you the Lord maybe led you to um to be in a position where Cardinal Tobin was going to say, I think you should really consider taking this.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Sure. Uh I think you hit the nail on the head. It's about the service to the most vulnerable amongst us. Um you know, uh politics was always discussed in my house growing up or uh and what was going on in government. Uh my grandfather on my uh father's side was mayor of Borden Town Township and township in Central Jersey, municipality in central Jersey. And uh my father's family were all um, I guess, had experience in campaign work and very attuned to what was going on at the local, state, and national uh level. And we always talked about it. And it was kind of I followed along with uh my my father's allegiance, uh political allegiances at the time, and I can remember in the 80s being in uh grade school and coming in and supporting Mondale and you know Jukakis and Geraldine Ferraro and not having an idea of who I was talking about. Um and I don't want to get too into partisan, but you know, you follow what your children say, and I think you know that's something we'll talk about with faithful citizenship, the role of family and parents and forming, helping form consciousness later on. But uh, you know, and at the time, you know, saying that and everybody else being a Reagan or all my friends here in their parents saying they were supporting Reagan or Bush and you know the earliest days of the conflicts, but uh you know, that kind of went away in high school, you know, um, you know, in terms of my interest, my father's interest remained, my mother's interest remained. Um but I did notice in them at that time in the mid-90s that it went from where my father was um looking at labor issues and became more focused on uh life issues. And he started to develop a different sense of what involvement in politics meant. And I did recognize that. Um but then when I went to seminary, uh the biggest impact it had on my life, aside from developing a deeper faith and a deeper prayer life, was my opportunity to serve in various apostolates. So my sophomore year of college, I worked at a nursing home on a floor with parent patients with severe dementia and Alzheimer's. So I'd do that once a week for eight hours. I'd go and help the staff. I worked at a school for children with special needs uh one year, worked at a parish uh with a soup kitchen and a food pantry. So it was putting front and center uh the most vulnerable, those who need our help. So that really uh stuck with me. And then when I left seminary, you know, it's not easy leaving seminary without getting ordained, because then you're like, okay, I have a degree in philosophy and a couple of graduate credits in theology. What am I gonna do with my life? And I didn't want to go down what at the time had seemed to be the traditional path for next seminarian, and that was high school theology teacher. I was like, I'm not going to high school. I want to do anything other than high school. And I, you know, I ventured off and tried different um uh uh uh pursuits. Uh, you know, I was in application with the NYPD at one point. I thought I wanted to be a police officer, you know. Um but eventually I ended up through just a sheer uh coincidence, just a just an encounter. Providential. Providential, yes, that's the right way. That's the right way to put it. Uh I met with uh the district director of uh congressional office here in New Jersey and uh provided my background to her, and she said, you would fit in perfectly with uh the staff. The congressman would really like to meet you, and one thing led to another.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Philosophy is underrated, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:09

That's right, that's right. So uh they they brought me in for an interview, and I was completely green to New Jersey politics. But again, I was put in a position where I wasn't so much focused on the politics, I was focused on constituent services. So I was uh helping the immigrant through immigration work, I was helping veterans, I was helping people who needed uh access to social security benefits. So once again put in that place of helping the most vulnerable, those who need help, and that that really appealed to me. And through that I saw what good the government could do to help individuals who feel like there's nothing out there to help them. There's no one out there to help them, they feel isolated.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

So you were on the inside of government for a time. Yes. Yeah, and kind of full circle back to your your your roots, your family. Yes. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

The um you mentioned politics being discussed when you were growing up. Uh I think they were discussed in my house. I just really wasn't interested in paying attention because my father would have been discussing Irish politics. And then a little later on, I started uh learning a little bit of the history of Ireland, and certainly that's a a story unto itself. But but uh my parents both being immigrants, and um as you talked about uh the labor issues, um my dad was a bus driver and very much part of his union. Um and I remember there was a time when they were on strike and what that was like for the family and uh the tensions and um and and yeah, the um the Irish Catholic immigrant community would have been strongly democratic for a long time, but uh I think that a lot of that changed in the 80s. I my mom's brother, who raised six kids here in New Jersey, um uh he became very concerned about the life issues, and that um caused him to change his political uh, I think, affiliations. Uh so um and uh um so uh with the election day coming up, uh and uh um you know uh those who are listening and watching hopefully um uh are those who would be living their faith and also understand the responsibility we have to uh live that faith by being faithful citizens, and and part of that means voting. And um we were talking before we began about uh some of uh what our parishioners might want to hear from the bishops in terms of um uh preparing the vote and um maybe thoughts about certain political leaders. Um and um I as we shared, I I understand I've heard some of the frustration that uh some of our faithful Catholics would like the bishops to be stronger about a particular political party. For a particular political leader. But we have to be careful about that. Not that we are hesitant to speak when we need to speak, but addressing a particular candidate or a particular political party is doesn't isn't the best way for the church to go as our experience has been, right? Would you say that would be a question?

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Oh, absolutely. 100%. I agree with that. And I think anybody that works in governmental affairs, governmental relations for the church has to take that approach. And the simplest way to summarize that is to say we're not about candidates, we're about issues, because that's where we understand the work to help the poor, to help the vulnerable, uh, to help the least among us can actually occur. You know, it's not particularly with a candidate. And Jay, you said this before we started the podcast as you were reading the Faithful Citizenship document. The US C C B document. That's right. You were saying you were almost putting D's and R's next to certain sections. You're like, well, this sounds like a Republican thing, this sounds like a Democrat thing. And I think it shows the tran how we transcend partisan politics as a church. And uh I can certainly sit here and uh tell you examples of where you know we've had strong conversations with uh people uh representatives from both parties in agreement on issues that we're both concerned about. And I can also give you examples where we've been uh on the opposite eye uh side of issues with the same people. From both sides of the aisle. From both sides of the aisle. So uh you know, it it comes up. So, you know, uh and you also have to and I and I say at a very base level, we're we represent Christ. We're the church. So you know, unfortunately, partisan politics has gotten very personal and nasty in some areas. And is that really what the church is called to be part of? I don't think so. You know, I think we look to strive- we strive to find the dignity of every individual, regardless of how much we have in common with them, how much we have whether we agree with the right, Bishop, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

So we but we do go to the polls and we do, you know, pull the lever for certain candidates. So how do we form our conscience?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Well, one I think answer is I was just gonna uh uh ask uh faithful citizenship, that's the uh a general uh term, and certainly we're called to be faithful citizens, but it's also a document, right? In a way that the bishops are trying to help um uh uh to Jay's question about pulling the lever and trying to make those decisions as to who we should vote for, right? What do you want to say a little bit about that document there? Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

I would agree. I I think one misconception about faithful citizenship, it's not um you know, it's not a cliff's notes on how to vote. It really lays out the process by which people are to uh uh prepare themselves to to vote. And you know, I I I think you need to read that document, I think you need to pray over that document, um, and you need to do so well in advance of election day. You know, you're kind of you know behind the eight ball. If you open it up on the night before election and say, okay, this is gonna help me make my decision tomorrow. And it's one part of uh uh the whole process. You know, I think that's that's the beauty of the Catholic Church. We we don't just uh we're not solo scriptura, we're scripture, tradition, and magisterium. You know, we have the three legs, and I think you find that in a lot of areas where you know uh you know the faithful citizenship is one part of the process, but you also have to go back and read other church documents. What do we what are our documents on life? What are our documents on Catholic social teaching? I mean the resources are ample. You can spend a lifetime, right, Bishop? You could spend a lifetime and still not read everything that's been written on these.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Well, talk about quickly the resources at NJCC. So you have this really awesome uh set of resources and documents. I wonder if you could just describe those a a little bit and where can we go to review those? It's njcatholic.org.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

njcatholic.org, we uh we tried to come up with the simplest uh website uh address, web address for people to remember. But uh sure. So we do try to help uh consolidate and bring together all of those uh resources that I was just talking about, not just faithful citizenship, but where can you read bishop statements, where can you learn more about the issues, where can you learn more about candidates? Um we often get questions because uh traditionally years ago the the conference and many conferences across the country have started to stray away, but the practice was let's do a candidate questionnaire. And most special interest groups coalitions do that. I remember working on campaigns uh and having to fill them out from you know every type of environmental groups, from gun uh you know, and you know, anti-violence groups, you know, they all want you to fill out where you stand on the code. Right. You would fill out, you would answer their questions, and you know, at times it's a political decision by the candidate whether or not they want to respond to that question during a campaign. So it's not like you have to respond, really, it's a calculated decision. Um so, like those groups, the Catholic Conference would send the questionnaire out to all of the candidates. And it's very time consuming, very costly, because then you get the responses back, hopefully, and you have to put them in print, you know, and it gives answers to like very vital questions like where do you stand on poverty reduction, where do you stand on life issues, where do you you know they give their answers. So education. Education, sure. So uh we did that for a number of years, but what we start noticing was uh um that the response rate was going down. Or we were only getting responses from particular candidates who only supported one issue the church was talking about at that time. And it came across very partisan. Like now it's if we're only publishing the answers of one candidate, you know, it could be perceived as an endorsement. And that's certainly what we were trying to stay away from. So so and to replace that on our website, going back to our resource, your resource question is we've developed a one-stop shop. So the individual can come to our page, and where we have the where a candidate has uh uh created a website for their campaign, we have the link right there. So you can find your district on our website, your legislative district, and we have the tool to do that. If you don't know what that is to help you, because not many people have to. Yeah, there you go. So you can go there, you can find 37, you can see all the candidates that are running for office uh this year, and you can go right to their website and take all that information that we give you on what faithful citizenship means, what the church teaches on these issues, and go and see what the candidate wrote you know on their page. Because a lot of them will put their positions out on their website. So we really did try to make it a one-stop shop, user-friendly, like here's everything. But also, you know, we you realize you can you can't you can lead the horse to water, you can't force the horse to drink. So it's gonna take a little bit of work by the individual to prepare themselves for election day.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Speaking of that, uh so your point about you know not just looking the night before uh to uh get some help to go to the polls the next day. Uh so for those um who are gonna prepare, uh they have a year until the presidential election next year. But they may have only a couple of days between now and November 7th. And uh human naturally speaking for myself, uh there there may be times when we're gonna feel like, oh, I I never I didn't, you know, research who's running in my so uh they do have a few days uh up until Tuesday. I was I wrote the article the week before last that um it struck me that uh you know early voting is now part of um the way we can vote here in our state. And so some may have already voted, but uh but for those um who um might be saying, oh, I I really and it is important to vote, right? I mean there's certainly I think a temptation we we can be frustrated with some of our leaders and some of the politics and say, oh, I'm just not gonna my vote doesn't count. And I thought you made a great point, Jim. And maybe you can speak to this this election now. We're not voting for president or um uh federal representatives, but how important it is, uh the the local leaders that we choose, right? And I believe both uh houses of our state uh legislature are uh the every seat is up um in this election. So maybe talk a little bit about the importance of this election. And if someone hasn't prepared, you know, a month or so in advance, uh what they can do to prepare as best as possible in the next few days to to make their vote um between now and November 7th, next Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. Sure, sure. So first I would say to the person, don't panic. If you feel like you've not prepared yourself and you're be you know you're behind, don't worry about it because the campaigns right now they're going into what we call the GOTV mode, the get out the vote mode. So this is their final push. So they're gonna be just as active as well.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

And mentioning TV that commercials, right? We're gonna be in the right. Go ahead, sorry. Yeah, I can't wait to the commercials.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

I know uh you had mentioned how I was in Rome for two weeks uh attending the I was attending the uh National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors meeting, and I had no access to American television. It was so great. And then I I knew I was back in the States that night when I came home. I turned on TV, I think I was trying to find a basketball game, and the first thing I saw was a a political ad. I was like, welcome home, you know. So but uh uh back to your points. Don't panic. You know, the campaigns are out there, right? You know, the people running campaigns right now, they're they're in their final push. This is one of the busiest weekends for anybody who worked on a campaign, they're knocking on doors, they're handing out leaflets. But uh you know, in terms of the importance of voting, get out and do it. You know, you still have time to read over the materials. And you know, it's the age-old adage in politics. All politics is local. You know, I know everybody gets amped uh amped up and wants to vote for president, wants to vote for uh uh you know uh a statewide senator or federal office, but really where you'll see change is at the local level. And I say it builds up, you know, if you have a school board election, vote in your school board election. And we're seeing so much right now of people concerned about what's going on in our in New Jersey school and curriculum and everything. Well, you want that changed? You know, uh don't demand somebody speak out about it. Go to your school board and run for school board, you know, uh, you know, uh get engaged with your school board. You don't like something going on in your township, you know, be engaged with the town council, you go to those meet go to those meetings, you know, run for office, um, and then the same at the state level. It all works up. I I I I think it's easier to see the connection politics has to your life the closer it is to you. So school board, municipality, um state, you know, county, county, county, municipality, I guess. I'm sorry, state, and then you get to the federal because and you know, I've had these conversations with friends, you know, the presidential election, federal elections are extremely important, extremely important, but it it really does become almost like a sporting event, like you're supporting a team because you're like, why do you support that candidate? Well, they did this. They're promising to do X, Y, and Z. Well, how does X, Y, and Z affect your life?

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

You know, and and few of us, I have a hard time of it, you know, explaining how you know X, Y, and Z will affect my life. You know, um, I'm not saying it doesn't, and I'm not saying that anybody shouldn't, but I'm just saying you can't just get focused on those big national elections. You have to really start at your neighborhood level.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah, and we have, I think as Catholics, we have a civic responsibility to be involved in government, right, and in our communities, which is made very clear in the in that USCCP document that we referenced, which is also one of the documents that you recommend folks check out in your most recent newsletter. And the bishop mentioned it in his column in the beacon, which he referenced.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Um, and Jesus said the last supper told the apostles be in the world, but not of the world, right? So uh we have that responsibility, uh, but we bring our faith um and and prayer to to those to those choices. Uh maybe, Jim, just to say a little bit more about the New Jersey Catholic Conference, one of the I think um uh blessings I think you have is you get to see the church kind of in action um within the five dioceses of of our state and uh maybe some of the things that have are happening or have been happening that that you've um that that the church is doing maybe on the local level um or to help the uh our brothers and sisters who are most in need. Um how has that experience been with the Catholic Conference?

SPEAKER_02 34:45

You know, thank you for that. That's a great question. And uh you know, I recently shared this uh with one of our uh congressional representatives. I was having a meeting on uh one of the big issues at the federal level now is the budget and the continuing resolution and possible shutdowns and all of the social programs that could be affected if they don't actually pass a federal budget like you know, food benefits. Fund the government food. Um I said, you know, and this wasn't meant to sound uh come across as disrespectful to other coalitions that are advocating for the same things. We work we work with all with a diverse range of people on issues of mutual concern. But I said, you know, when you look at the Catholic Church, one of the few advocates or groups that can come in and give you frontline data about how these programs directly impact people's lives or tell you what programs work and what programs don't work, not because of some theoretical sense, but because we're actually out there doing the work. So if you look at our Catholic charities agencies, and I think this is what's great here in New Jersey, we have a diverse state. You know, you come up to North Jersey, it's very urban, there's urban issues, you go down to South Jersey, it's very rural, you got agricultural issues, you got migrant worker issues, you know, and in the center it's kind of blended. So, you know, one day I could be working on anti-violence issues, the next day I'm working on farm issues or you know, depending on what the what the uh issue is or what the need is at that time. So, you know, our Catholic charities agencies respond to diverse issues. So um, and for me that's great because I have such a tremendous resource. If I you know am asked to weigh in on a piece of legislation, or for the conference, I should say, is asked to weigh in on a piece of legislation. I know I can go to one of the Catholic charities directors or somebody in the diocese and say, okay, what's been your experience with this pol uh yeah, with this issue and with this policy work? And we'll get some concrete verifiable data.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Or um uh uh head of Catholic charity, Scott Milliken uh was stopped by my office yesterday and uh starting last year, he would send me um the the local um, I guess, counties. Um they have a uh something called a cold blue when uh the temperature drops below freezing and people are gonna be on the street. There's um the government provides some resources to um uh get those people into shelters so they're not uh on the street in the freezing cold. Um but that often happens through our Catholic charities agencies. And so Catholic Charities is one of the agencies that can literally go out and and and encounter someone who's on the street freezing and get them into a place where where it's warm and safe. So um that's one example of uh of uh the way that um we interact with our local leaders. Uh we also had our um Dasin Respect Life convocation this past Saturday. Um Annie Hansberger and the team and a committee of uh both Daasin employees and uh pro-life leaders from across the state really uh have worked with us. And um uh we uh the talks this year were on um the sad reality of human trafficking. And uh but again there's uh advocates um uh working with coalitions to um uh uh see uh give those who are victimized by trafficking a an opportunity to escape and and when they escape to um to heal and to um to to to be able to live a uh uh a a decent life. And um so uh there's so many um ways in which we need to uh live our faith and care for our brothers and sisters in need, and uh we certainly do that as the church as best we can. Uh but there are times when we can um cooperate with our and should with our local leaders and governments uh and resources to to help those who are in need, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:34

I think I I agree. And I think that uh the more you're involved in helping out on these issues on those front lines, like if you're volunteering at Catholic charities or you're doing something at your parish and you Crisis Pregnancy Center. Crisis Pregnancy Centers, all of them, you you're you're also becoming better educated on the issue. And you're putting a human face to the issue, and it's and again, it becomes personal. I can tell you in my own personal conversion story, uh in my mid-20s, uh one of the hot issues, and it's still a hot issue, uh, was comprehensive immigration reform. And I really was hung up on the church's, you know, the church has its five, what does comprehensive immigration reform mean? And I don't want to go down that path because we can do that otherwise. But they can get the information. But you know, it has, you know, you know, securing the border is one of them, family reunification, expanded visas. Um, but the big one everybody focuses on is a pathway to citizenship for our brothers and sisters who are here undo is undocumented. And at the time I wasn't working for the church, but I was really hung up on that. I was like, that's not fair. You know, the usual record, that's not fair. People have been waiting years, you know. I was working on immigration cases at the time, and I was like, there's no way. I was so anti-pathway to uh um citizenship. And I guess like St. Paul, because this happened, you talk about the Lord's providential hand working on all these. Uh as I was in that mix of trying to figure this all out, I get a call from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and they said, Do you want to come and work for our office of pastoral care for migrants and refugees? Because we need somebody with immigration experience. And the priest who oversaw the office was a friend of mine. And I'm like, I saw I said to myself, Lord, you know that's the one office I said when I was discerning priesthood that I never wanted to work for. And again, my wife was like, You should take the job. And I and I took the job and I didn't immediately lose that um, I guess, that theoretical under resistance that I had to what the church was saying. But I worked more and more closely with uh the various ethnic communities and it put a human face and it was an encounter with Christ, and it really it showed me the rationale behind the church's teaching. So I think that process helps us go through a real conversion experience. It again it plays in there that our faith isn't meant to be kept in under a bushel basket or interiorized. We have to get out there and live it and live it through these experiences.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

That was so well put, and thank you for Road to Damascus. I said road to Tarsus too. Paul was from Tarsus, he was sold in Tarsus. And he was on the road to Damascus as you were on the road to Philadelphia, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

I don't think he I don't think he hit the same type of traffic, got hit on 95, but you could go to Philadelphia. But he got knocked down and the traffic can knock us down sometimes. That's right, that's right. And maybe that road still isn't under construction.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

That's right, yes, yes, yes. Um well thank you, Jim, for uh for your time and your work on behalf of the church. And uh could I add one more story? I'm sorry, just one more quick anecdote.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

I and this goes back to education and people learning about the issues. When I worked for the congressional office, uh the big fight in con one of the big fights in Congress was Anwar drilling for oil up in the uh Alaskan National Refuge or the Arctic National Refuge. And so at the time, both sides were putting out major ads and papers online and everything. And I had a gentleman call me up because the uh environmentalists put out their big Sunday ad and he called me up and said, if the congressman votes to drill in this area, I'm not gonna vote for him next election cycle. I said, okay, so I took his information. The next week, the energy sector put out their ad to support drilling, and it said, you know, call your congressman, stop it, you know, so they don't raise your heating bill. So get the phone call out of here. If the congressman doesn't support this bill, I'm not gonna vote for him next election cycle. I said, okay, can I have your name? And he starts giving me the information. I said, Mr. So-and-so. I said, You called me last week on this bill. You said you didn't want the congressman to vote for it. It was the same person. I said, I said, I said, you don't want him to vote for it last week. You want him to vote for it now. And there was this silence for like 30 seconds. And I said, Hello? You still there? And he goes, It's the same bill. He goes, I said, yes. He goes, I give up on all this. And he hung up and I never heard from him again. But I think again, it goes back to we have to educate ourselves because that's everybody's gonna be calling for our attention. And that's so if you want help, come to the Catholic Conference website.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

We try to And persevere and persevere because we can all say, Oh, forget it. I don't want to, it's uh but we gotta uh uh hang in there on that sometimes a difficult road. But uh we uh we need to bring our faith um share with our brothers and sisters, and one of the ways we do that is um by being faithful citizens, right?

SPEAKER_02 43:08

That's right, that's right. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Awesome. Well thanks, Jim, so much for joining us. Um as we wind down this episode, Bishop.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

Um you said you wanted to pray today for Yeah, we'll um take a moment to remember our deceased loved ones and um um we'll remember Jim's mom and dad, right? Yes, uh and um uh uh this coming week is National Vocation Awareness Week, so please continue to pray for an increase in vocations to consecrated priest priesthood and consecrated religious life. And uh we're having our um Dass and Youth Conference this coming Sunday. Bishop Joseph S. Bayat, an auxiliary bishop, the youngest bishop I think in the country, uh from the Archdiocese of New York, will be with us at St. Elizabeth's uh university in in Madison and Comment Station. And uh I think it's sold out, so um, so it'll be great to have our young people together. So uh keep that in your prayers as as well. Um and uh on this All Souls Day, we'll place ourselves once again in God's presence, name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We the Book of Wisdom tells us the souls of the just are in the hand of God and and they are at peace. And we remember our deceased loved ones, especially on this All Souls Day, and we pray for all those who have died that they would receive the fullness of everlasting life in heaven, as we pray in a special way throughout this month for all those who have gone before us in faith, and all those um whose faith is known to the Lord and who have died, and we pray for them as we say, eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, amen. May their souls and all the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace, amen. Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

unknown 45:01

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Thanks, Bishop. Thanks, thanks, Jim, for being with us. Thank you, Bishop. It was a pleasure. Thank you for Jay. Thank you. So get out get out there and vote. That's right. Absolutely. Here in the Diocese of Patterson, we are conducting our diocesan ministries appeal, which supports Catholic charities, seminary and formation, Catholic urban education, 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 today. 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 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. Thank you very much. God bless you.