SPEAKER_00 0:07

Brothers and sisters, welcome to Beyond the Beacon with uh Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a weekly conversation about faith in the Diocese of Patterson, how we respond with faith, hope, and love in the Diocese of Patterson and beyond the Diocese of Patterson. I'm joined uh by Bishop Kevin Sweeney and our guest today, Dr. Peter Kilpatrick, who is the 16th president of the Catholic University of America since 2022. Dr. Kilpatrick had previous tenures in academic administration and teaching in multiple universities, lots of experience in strategic planning, personnel management, faculty and student recruitment research, academic partnerships with other universities. And he is joining us today to talk about Catholic higher education. So, Bishop Kevin, it's been a week since we saw you on the this podcast. I'm replacing Jay Agnes uh temporarily because uh he couldn't be here today. But you were with Jay last week on the podcast?

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Yes. Um and uh I guess two weeks ago, it was we had your other half of from the uh Coffee with Kupke post uh podcast, because Monsignor Kupke, our archivist, uh, took us on a little tour of the archives. Uh four years in the diocese, I finally got to visit made the time to visit the archives, but it was a wonderful experience. And uh uh Father Paul, I'm a big fan of Coffee with Kupke. So uh you're doing the great work there and uh happy to be uh here, especially with uh Dr. Kilpatrick today. And um uh I was blessed just to return yesterday from five days in Mexico at a um uh an orphanage uh run by these wonderful sisters of Mary. And uh we'll say more about that another time. But uh um but wonderful to be here today on the Fisa St. Monica. And Dr. Kilpatrick was kind enough to to join us uh to visit the diocese. And uh Julie McGurn, uh a parishioner at St. Vincent's uh who is on the board, right, at um at Catholic U, uh, was uh helpful in uh arranging Dr. Kilpatrick's visit. And you're gonna speak a little later to um our high school um presidents and principals uh about Catholic higher uh higher education. So so thanks for taking the time to be with us and and and to come on the podcast. So uh look forward, looking forward to the to the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

I'm thrilled to be here, Bishop Sweeney. Great to be here.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Uh Bishop, do you want to start with a prayer?

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Um, I think it's providential that Dr. Kilpatrick is here as we celebrate today the feast of St. Monica and tomorrow the feast of St. Augustine. We think of uh education and uh its parents who are the first educators of their children, and then um in our higher education, both in in our high schools and in our our universities, um uh we look at uh at Saint Augustine as a a doctor of the church and um uh a reminder of uh the importance of of teaching our faith with love. And uh um so uh it's a it's a good time uh to be together and and to talk on the uh speak a little bit about these topics. So let's place ourselves in God's presence, name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, and 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. Amen. Our Lady's seat of wisdom, pray for us, Saint Monica, pray for us, Saint Augustine, pray for us, all holy men and women, pray for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Well, Doctor, thanks so much for again for being here. And uh it was great to spend a little time uh just this morning to uh catch up. Uh we we met um at the Eucharistic Congress uh just uh last month, I guess in July. And uh I was privileged to be there uh two years ago when uh you were um a little more than two years ago, almost uh you're going into your third year, right? Going into my third year, yeah. I was there for your installation. Thank you for coming. That was it was privilege. And uh um so maybe we just begin by giving us a little bit of background. Uh I know you said uh uh your dad served in the um uh in in the Air Force, and uh you can tell us a little bit about that, and maybe um what led you um you were sharing that you came into the faith a little bit later in life, and uh and and maybe a little bit of your background and and and the the short version of what led you to to become the the the president of Catholic University.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah, great. Thank you, Bishop Sweeney. So yeah, my my dad was uh um graduate of West Point in the mid-40s, uh right in the middle of the war, uh was a bomber pilot in World War II. Uh as I was sharing with you, uh, you know, he flew 56 missions over Germany and and Romania and was shot down a couple of times. And it's kind of remarkable uh I have him as a father. Wow. Um and you know, very blessed to have a loving family growing up. Um as I shared with you, I had uh a little bit of a spiritual awakening uh when I was uh nine or ten years old. I was baptized as a Methodist, uh, and then um really uh didn't find a worshiping community that I could be a part of, uh, went out to college, uh, met my wife to be Nancy, um, who was a cradle Catholic, and we got married, and I was actually um, you know, I signed a form when I married her, so we get married in the church that I promised to raise my kids Catholic. Um and then when our first child was born, Elizabeth, and three years after we married, um, my wife reminded me, she said, you know, she said, you know, you know, we we made this promise. And and uh uh under a little duress, I I went and the very first homily I heard at a mass after she was born was uh was a homily on life. Um it was a beautiful homily delivered by a uh very senior uh Paulist priest in in the parish of St. Lawrence in Minneapolis, where I was in graduate school, and it moved my heart. And I just I said, you know, I was almost in tears listening to this homily. And I said, you know, I want to believe what that man believes. Wow. I want to I want to know what he knows. And I went into the RCIA, became Catholic at the age of 25, and you know, thanks be to God, I've never had a moment of a lack of faith in 43 years.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

And you said you became a fan of theology, right? Reading theology and and after having gone through the RCIA, uh you were invited to lead the RCIA. I was.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

I I uh I my first uh teaching position was at uh North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Aaron Ross Powell And we were saying it in '83, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:04

When the 1983. When the Wolfpack won the under Jim Valley. Jimmy B won the national championship with the cardiac.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

So I I moved there, and within a few months, uh the director of religious education at my parish, St. Michael, approached me and said, would you would you be willing to be our RCIA catechist? And I I told him, I said, Steve, I'm a baby Catholic. I don't, I know nothing. And he said, Oh yes, but you're you're a professor at NC State. So, you know, you must be a good learner and you must be a good teacher. So why don't you do it? So I I I said yes. I and and really that launched me on an adventure of really learning my faith as an adult. And I I remember, you know, I I as I shared with you, I I've really bought many, many hundreds of theology and philosophy books, and I listened to probably thousands of cassette tapes, you know, a lot by Scott Hahn and Fulton Sheen, and you know, all these catechists of the of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. And so I'm sort of self-taught, but um but it was it was it was an interesting education.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

And and then you said it l uh that that parish uh became your parish and it's been your parish now for over 40 years.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

41 years. Yeah, since 1983, we've been members of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Kerry, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

This time of year, as we think about going back to school, some have already been already gone back and uh uh will be going back, especially after Labor Day. Uh, but also parish life kind of starts up again. And just I think to mention to you know, not uh uh so many um good volunteers, people of faith who um get an invitation from their priest or pastors, say, could you help with this and be a catechist or help with the RCIA? It's amazing what God can do, right? From a little uh invitation, and if we say, okay, I'll give it a shot. And uh so um, you know, as Bishop, I think of our pastors and our parishes, and and as you say, coming to know uh the importance of parish life, right? And a family being part of uh and and Catholic education, the parents of their first teacher, the ways of faith, but uh uh sharing that um responsibility with um with catechists, Catholic school teachers, um religious and programs, uh um that that's where education uh begins. Uh but then we also are grateful for um our Catholic high schools and Catholic universities that uh that continue that uh again being here of uh feast of St. Monica and thinking the the parents raising their Monica tried her best and had a rough time. Don't give up, right? Parents that are if your children are far from the church, that's always important to remember. But then Augustine, you know, becoming the great theologian and doctor of the church and and maybe even now um in our society and culture that um that uh that our Catholics are educated in the faith, right? And able to to to speak to uh to bring our faith into the public square, which is such a challenge these days. Um uh I guess we can jump into uh you're getting to Catholic University and and and what that responsibility has been like or what the experience has been and um and and and and what the students I think you said the students were a great surprise in terms of how good their goodness, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Yes. So, you know, you uh I I couldn't uh punctuate more your comment about how important it is uh to invite people to learn and to help and to catechize and to evangelize. And I like to call that come and see ministry. That's right. Come and see. You know, that's what Jesus did. Jesus said, you know, the the the apostles, he he he said up, I'll make you fishers. And then they said, Jesus, where do you live? He said, Come and see. You know, so it to be inviting, it's remarkable how people want to be invited to help build up the church. Um, so how did I get to Catholic University? Well, I was at NC State University for 25 years, and I thought I would never leave. Um, and uh we raised our four children in North Carolina, and uh then in 2007, I was I was approached by someone who said, you know, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana is looking for a dean of engineering, and you're you know, you're well known. And and would you apply for the job? Would you come be our dean?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

And just to to to let people know, Dr. Kilpatrick's background was in chemical engineering before Catholic higher education, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Right. So I had, you know, and I loved I loved NC State. It was a wonderful university, but I I wanted to be someplace where I could fully live out my faith in a public way, in a very public way, but also, you know, do my profession. So I went to Notre Dame. I was I was there 10 years. I I was very grateful uh when the provost at that time said, you know, 10 years is enough. Uh, you know, we we don't need a dean for 20 or 30 years, even though I I thought I was very successful because it it kind of forced my hand a little bit, and I went to another university uh and was asked to be the provost at the Illinois Institute of Technology, which is a technology school in Chicago. Three of our kids lived there. But then I was ready to retire. Wow. And uh a friend of mine from Notre Dame called me in 2021 and he said, Peter, the the Catholic University of America is looking for a new president. You should apply, you'd be really good at this. And I said, No, Carter, I'm I'm gonna retire. And and he kind of played a trump card. He said, The church needs you to go to Catholic University. And so after he badgered me for a while, I I applied to kind of get him off my back. Yeah, and then I went on the interview and just fell in love with the place, just absolutely fell in love. So I it's clear to me that God kind of leads you by the nose uh into most of the major decisions and events of your life. And you know, I'm not in control, he's in control.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Would you say anything about your experience at Notre Dame uh versus Catholic University, similarities, differences? I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

Right. And maybe just before that, um having been at so long at North Carolina State and the attraction of going to a Catholic university, maybe you're in first impression of um the maybe the difference between North Carolina State and Notre Dame, and then uh between Notre Dame and Catholic U, that would be great.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah, NC State University is a land grant university. It was uh you know started in the 1880s, I believe, and it was specifically started as a flagship public university for engineering and veterinary school and all that. So secular with a good campus ministry, but a secular university and a public university, big class sizes, uh, you know, good instruction. You know, we took great pride in educating our young chemical engineers when I was there, and I enjoyed it. It was a good experience for me, very research-oriented. Um, then I went to Notre Dame, private. Uh when I got there, you know, the shadow of Father Hesberg was large. It was very large. So very paternalistic university, uh sort of run almost like a uh, you know, a mom and pop kind of shop. Uh very uh very Catholic, uh, very uh focused on the sacraments. There are 60 chapels there, you know, they're they're in every dorm. Uh I had a chapel in my engineering building, and we built a chapel in it and we had daily mass in there. I think they had a football team as well, right? They had a football team. And that's and that's the football uh at Notre Dame really helped the university raise its visibility. And that led to lots of people wanting to go to Notre Dame, which in turn led it to become very selective, which in turn engendered you know some academic excellence. So I I you know I would say I had a very good experience there for for 10 years, not without its difficulties. Um so you know, right.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

I think we can sorry to interrupt, but um Catholic identity and and the media of uh Catholic University, uh um it's it's a challenge these days, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

I mean it is, and and what's challenging about it is the leaders of American culture send their sons and daughters to Notre Dame. And American culture, as we know, has become very worldly. Yes. And the church is very otherworldly. And you know, uh really, as Catholics, we're called to be countercultural. We're we're called to be not with the world, in the world, but not of the world. And and what I saw at Notre Dame with all due respect to my good friends there, and I have many good friends there, is that there's a there's a real uh challenge for the soul of the university. And I actually there have been books written about this. The right, you know, there was a book written in the I believe the 80s called The Dying of the Flame, and by Jim Birchell.

SPEAKER_03 17:17

And and so and then yeah, maybe um just uh the um experience with the Catholic University of Steubenville, right? I mean that um uh that that's uh an example, I think, in our country of somebody saying, wait a second, what does it mean to say we're a Catholic University? And Father Scanlon and uh and and they're really I think uh a a blessing um uh and have been over these decades, um um because they're so uh um uh intentional, right? About and uh I'm sure that's uh and uh having the name the Catholic University of America um I'm I'm sure has been for your your predecessors and now for yourself and the faculty to say, how do we uh um focus on that intentionality and and that Catholic identity while still having to be a a university, a huge university, right? And growing up in the world. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, so so uh the Catholic University of America, in uh, in all fairness, went through the same cultural turmoil of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. You know, many people may know uh the name Father Charlie Kern, who was a moral theologian at Catholic University who led the dissent against uh Pope St. Paul VI and Humanity Vitae. But we righted the ship. And you know, when when Pope Benedict disciplined Father Kern, and then uh you know, Father O'Connell came and served as president in the 90s, and he was very bishop of Trenton. Now Bishop of Trenton, very intentional about Catholic identity, and then John Garvey, who came in 2010, very intentional about Catholic identity, and now you know the mantle kind of falls to me. And I'm I ask myself daily, how do I raise the standard of Catholic identity? How do I be more intentional about Catholic identity? How do I authentically live out our Catholic identity at this university? And what can I do to encourage people to embrace and celebrate and be joyful about our Catholic identity? And I've got a lot of thoughts in that regard.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Aaron Powell Well, your experience in public university and then a Catholic university at Notre Dame really prepared you for this.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

You know, Father Paul, uh I look at my life and I I marvel at how God has prepared me in every major decision of my life. Getting married, having children, being at NC State, being at Notre Dame, being at Illinois Tech, and I I could I could spend a lot of time telling you that was all preparation for what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

For your retirement.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Maybe you can share a little bit about um what you'll um share um with our Catholic um high school uh um presidents and principals. We're blessed here in our diocese with three Diocean high schools, um more as Catholic, where Father Paul had been said served some time as president, uh DePaul in Paseya County and Pope John in Sussex. But we also have four other Catholic high schools that um are very much a part of and a blessing to the church in our diocese. Um uh Mary Help of Christians, run by the Salesian Sisters, uh Del Barton, run by the Benedictine uh uh brothers and community monks, um Villa Walsh, run by the Philippine Sisters, and um uh right here uh next door uh in Convention, St. Elizabeth's. The Academy, the high school, and also the university. So um Sisters of Charity of Charity. Excuse me, sorry, I meant to, yes, yes, thank you, Father Paul. Um uh thank God for all of our religious and uh what a blessing they are um for the again for the church and our diocese. Uh but um uh your message to um our our presidents and principals um uh in terms of uh their role uh is in leading our our our Catholic high schools and and in that secondary education.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Well, they have a a sacred responsibility uh and that's really to uphold our Catholic identity and to to really lead people to the full truth about about themselves, about education. And um, you know, I would just encourage them to joyfully embrace that responsibility. Um, you know, a a big part of I think educating students and helping them understand who they are as persons is to show them all the different ways that what you learn in school leads you to God. Right. So the the the beauty of creation, and I'll talk a lot about that in my remarks uh at lunch, the goodness of creation, the truth, the which and the truths, the truths of creation are really extraordinary. And again, I'll I'll talk about it. It can be revealed to us in the sciences, right? It's not extraordinary, right, right. Well, and I'll I'll talk about that, you know, like quantum entanglement.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

It's just it's it's just a few.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

And I think it's really important that our our presidents and our principles and our teams. Teachers understand that the author of creation and the author of revelation is the same author. And these are all completely integrated and interconnected. And when the students see that, when they see the beauty and the wonder and just the awe-inspiring character of real true knowledge, then they begin to ask those deep, profound questions about themselves. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

I want to emphasize that this is a scientist uh speaking to us about these things because in a in a previous life, uh Dr. Kilpatrick authored hunt a hundred or more articles on on very technical scientific topics. And now you're speaking like a poet and a theologian about these things.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Well, they're they're all connected. Uh you know, I I think um the transcendentals are really the keys to education. Uh they're the they're the keys to helping people see the beauty that that you don't study chemical engineering in isolation. You don't you don't study philosophy in isolation, you don't study history in isolation. Um what a Catholic university does and what a Catholic school should do is show that they're all they're all integrated. Yeah, the big picture. They're all inter interconnected. And and I think that's one of the key foundations of Catholic education. I'm gonna talk about three in my talk at lunch: humility, what I call sacred time, and intellectus. Uh and intellectus is this holistic, reflective, um, you know, ruminating on truth and reality. It was a word coined by Thomas Aquinas. And everyone remembers him talking about Razio, but not too many people remember him talking about intellectus. And yet it's the key. It's it's the key to helping people see the interconnectedness of reality. And I think that's important.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

Absolutely. And um more and more difficult to see that as you use that uh image, um, the true, the beautiful, and the good, um, in a society and culture that's that's clouding. Yeah, right. Fragment. Right, right. And and making it more difficult, you know, the good is whatever I decided it to be, you know. No, no. As Bishop Barron will always talk about the ego drama versus the the theodrama, right? And uh and and uh but you've you've I kind of you feel for our young people growing up in this clouded, um, fragmented um uh culture where um to to see that uh that that um that the truth is transhistorical, that the if it's true, it's true. There's the difference between the the truth and and and what's false and not true, and um uh the true, the beautiful, and the good. And um, yeah, uh I think uh unfortunately a disrespect for the beauty of the human person uh and not recognizing uh that we're uh creatures created in the image and likeness of our Creator. And um when we when that's not there, it uh allows unfortunately for some um pretty terrible um uh abuses of of of um the the beauty of of the human person, especially. Uh so to the challenge for our high schools and our our our universities to try to I guess uh help our young people have that clarity to to be able to see is is a great challenge these days, huh?

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yeah, Char Charles Taylor, the Canadian philosopher, talks about expressive individualism. And you know, we've created this culture in America where people actually believe, you know, I can make of reality whatever I want to make of it, and and oh, by the way, I can make of myself whatever I want to make of myself rather than no, you you received your personhood from a loving God who creates you, created you and loves you just the way you are, strengths, weaknesses the whole bit, just the way you are. And in fact, all of it's a gift. And when you when you revolt against that and you say, No, uh, you know, I I it's my body, it's my personhood, I'll do whatever I darn well please with that. When you do that, you you're really bucking God. Right.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

And uh And he gives us the freedom to choose. And he gives us the freedom to choose. We need to be able to see the the sad results sometimes when there's that uh terrible overemphasis on the and yet the suicide rate of depression, uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

I mean it's just it's through the roof for people who revolt that way. And so I think it's really important to help our young people understand no, you you are loved, you are the beloved son, you are beautiful, you are beautiful, right? You are the beloved son, the beloved daughter, you are precious in God's sight, and you can find true joy, true happiness by uh uh accepting your creaturliness and and your fallen creaturiness and allowing God to redeem you. That that's how you find happiness. You don't you don't find happiness by saying, Doc gone it, I'm gonna do I'm a self-made man.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Right, right. Oh, but um Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict, Pope Francis all uh uh teach exactly this. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Well, it's the gospel. Yeah, it's the gospel.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

Uh he who tries to save his own life will lose it, but if you're willing to lose your life for my sake, you can say to the gospel, you'll find it um you know, easy to say, but um yeah, not so easy uh to to hear, and maybe especially um in in our our current um context. And Mary's the model. Right, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Yeah, though the the woman who totally accepted the gifts that God gave her, who totally received you know, in fact, Pope Benedict uh's whole project, his whole f philosophical theological project was Mary is the answer to everything. She's the response to this expressive individualism and Pope John Paul II told us to us, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:06

It it's all yours. Uh I'm the take with you know, do it less than a lot of people. Tot us to us.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

You um uh made a comment about the the challenge at Notre Dame. Uh parents, uh successful uh parents who are very much a part of the culture sending their kids to the Catholic university. That is very much the issue for our high schools as well, I think. You know, uh unfortunately, a lot of times the folks who can afford Catholic education are are are the ones who are uh influential and influenced by culture. And then they send their kids to a Catholic school. And the challenge for the high school administration is to affirm the fullness of the faith at the same time um trying to be responsive to parents. Yes. Can you say any any more about that?

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Well, part of evangelizing and part of witnessing is engaging parents and engaging families in uh just what we were talking about before. You know, St. Peter and um you know, the letter of Peter 315 says, always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within you. And so sometimes you have to really engage those parents and help them understand that no, no, no, what you know, what's best for your young person is is not to give them everything they want, but to help them see what they really need as as persons, to fully, you know, uh Pope John Paul and uh in Lumengentium says uh you know, the only way a human person can fully know who they are is through Christ Jesus. You know, that's the only way you can know that. And to help them understand that in a in a really healthy way, sometimes it's an involved process. And you and you have to kind of take them through that.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

Uh Bishop Michael Burbage, uh, the Bishop of Arlington, uh, I'm a fan of his podcast, uh Well Cumbly, and in the most recent episode, I think I might try to repost it or something, because he talks about going back to school and he says, and he was talking actually about the Catholic high schools in Arlington and um the um the pressures that are on students. Yes, we want you to do the best academically and want you to succeed, but um in a balanced way. Uh because and uh I think uh both parents and and students that pressure, you know, to to be that the very top. And uh yes, we sure that's that's good, but uh is is that hurting maybe some of their um the mental health issues that they're seeing and facing and and and that that pressure is can be so great to get into a uh a university. Uh um so um uh I uh you know we we were gonna um ask you to share a uh a message to parents, um uh maybe especially uh uh some of our high school um parents with with young people in high school and who might be juniors or seniors and thinking about uh we suddenly wanted to consider Catholic University. And I can say that um my sister and brother-in-law are gonna be here. Uh I'm a uncle, a proud uncle of two nieces, um, one who graduated Catholic U in 2020, my niece Caitlin, uh, who studied engineering and is now living in Arlington and working happily in in construction, uh, thanks to her wonderful education. And my niece, her younger sister, Kira, is uh uh going to be a senior and um studying nursing and did an internship in DC. And um so um I can see for my sister and brother-in-law um the the positive impact that uh Catholic University has had on um on their daughters. Um my their their son um went to Binghamton and my brother's uh younger son also went to Binghamton University and the where the state universities can do a great education, and and yes, parents are their first um uh educators in the ways of faith. But uh maybe to say a word to to parents and and maybe especially high school or college uh parents that have young young children in in high school and and college, um what would would be your advice as now you've gotten uh well all your long years in in in in education uh that uh you might offer to to parents today?

SPEAKER_00 33:16

And this this is a father of four. And grandfather of three. Yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Yeah, Bishop Sweeney, I um there was a really excellent book, uh secular book, but it made a great point called Excellent Sheep that was written about 10, 11, 12 years ago by a Yale professor named William Derri Sivas. Uh and Professor Derasivas makes the point in that book that we we do our young people a great disservice by pushing them hard to excel academically without giving them a reason for the hope that is within them. So when we when we push young people to study harder, to get more A's, to go over the bar, to you know, jump through that hoop and then that hoop and then that hoop, but we don't give them the space to fully discover who they are, to ask the ultimate questions of life. Why am I alive? Why do I exist? Who is God? How do I discover Him more deeply? What is my purpose in life? If we don't give them the space to fully discover who am I, we do them a great disservice. And so what I would what I would say to the parents is pursue, just like we're asking our students, pursue truth, beauty, and goodness. But understand how beauty, goodness, and truth lead us to God. Understand that and pass that along to your children. Embrace your faith deeply, be an example to your to your students, to your children by be showing that you're open to growing in your faith, to deepening your faith. Um, everyone believes in something. Everyone is called to worship something. And when you recognize that it deep in yourself, then you need to get in touch with that and pursue that with some vigor. Go deep inside yourself in prayer and thoughtful reflection. You know, there's I think there's a line either in the Psalms or it might be in the Nag Hammadi scrolls that says, be still and know that I'm God. Be still and know that I am God. Bring your heartfelt questions to sound teachers and mentors who know what they're talking about. Um and don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Yeah, don't be afraid. Uh for Jesus has overcome the world. That's right. That's right. Jesus has overcome the world. Right. So when you're when you're fearless, when you when you're not afraid to go deep inside yourself to discover who you are, I think that really helps your children. Um and so that's what I would encourage the parents to do.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

Thank you for that. And uh um uh we pray for parents on this feast of St. Monica, especially, right? Uh for moms and dads and grandparents and uh but I think actually you paid a great compliment both to our um high school administrators and faculty and to parents um when you say your experience in these two years of Catholic in the students, um yeah uh you're you're finding students who are educated in the faith, right? Both at home and and and getting to university at 18 years of old uh and and and and they have a sense of the faith and they have a sense of they're they're they're there for a reason, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Uh I mean sometimes more than their parents.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

Sometimes more than the parents. We're um Carlaw Wakudis, right? Uh the soon to be uh canonized. Unbelievable converting his mom and dad, right? I mean we're not gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

He held his relic up at the Napa Institute. Oh, is that right? When we did a Eucharistic procession at Napa, and I got to hold his relic up. No, but we we did a survey of our students and our prospective students, and what we found was actually we had an independent organization do it, Heart and Mind Strategies. And what we found was they're more devout than their pre their parents. And I'm thinking to myself, how can this be? And I think what it I think that is a great compliment to the parents. When you when you nurture when you nurture your students to to go deep, to reflect, you you bring them to church, you bring them to the faith, you give a reason for the hope that is within you. When you do that, and then they start to go deep, it's totally understandable that they could have the faith the way they do.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

And it's cause I mean that we shouldn't forget our um parishes and youth ministry programs, right? Because I guess um and uh you're seeing uh some of the fruits of that, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Well, I understand the diocese of Patterson has a wonderful young adult program, it has a yet wonderful youth ministry program, and I applaud that. You know, we we need more vicars of evangelization. We need we need more we need more dioceses focusing on come and see ministry. Right. We need more dioceses doing that.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

The three of us noticed the the youthfulness at uh then the Eucharistic revival. It was so many young things. I see it in our young adults that God is doing a new thing among young adults and young people.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

What did Jesus say? It's one of my favorite scenes in the Passion of the Christ. Uh, you know, Jesus is walking up Golgotha and he falls, and Mary runs to him and she kneels down beside him, and Jesus says, See, Mother, I make all things new. Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 38:56

He makes at the lowest moment. Uh the light shines in the darkness, right? Such a beautiful thing. It is, and I know this scene well in the Passion of the Christ. The eye contact between him and it's just uh right, right. And everything's literally falling apart and falling down upon his shoulders and hers. Uh and he says, See mother, I make all things I make all things new. And he does.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

He does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:17

Well, thank you, Dr. Kilpatrick, again for uh your visit and for what you're gonna share with um our um high school uh presidents and principals and and and some others. Uh and uh and and thanks for taking the time to to be on the um on the on the podcast. Um uh I'm sure any um uh families or young people that would like to go and visit, uh especially uh high uh high school juniors and seniors, they'd be um uh welcome to to visit the beautiful campus, which has the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Maybe say a word a little bit about the campus if there are some that don't don't know the um the the how beautiful the campus is.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Yeah, we're very, very blessed um at the Catholic University of America that my my predecessors, uh Bishop now Bishop O'Connell and John Garvey, paid close attention to the beauty of our campus. And so we've we've built several new buildings recently, we've renovated several older buildings. It it's really one of the loveliest campuses I've I've ever been on. And and uh you can't appreciate that unless you come and visit. And so what I would you really can. Right, right. You can't, you know, you it doesn't it's it's it's magnificent, right? And we built the basilica, right? So the the Catholic University of America in 1920 laid the cornerstone for the basilica, and in 1924 we finished the Crypt Church, and it was our campus church for a while, and you know, so we have this magnificent campus with this the largest church in North America on it.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

And the history um and the the meaning of the university, um uh you mentioned Archbishop Sheen. Um, my niece's uh grandmother uh is a big fan of Archbishop Sheen. And that uh He was a professor and alumni.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Trevor Burrus So the two, in my humble opinion, you know, the two greatest public evangelists in the Catholic Church of the last 60, 70 years, Archbishop Fulton Sheen and now Bishop Robert Barron are both alumni and of our university. And uh, you know, Bishop Barron's gonna give our commencement address next year. And uh, you know, we're we just feel so by the way, we've educated, I think, nearly a hundred of the current bishops, both auxiliary and and ordin and local ordinaries and emeridi. Cardinal Togley was did he say Cardinal Togley is a triple alumnus. Is that right? He's a triple alumnus. So he he has he has an S T L and an S T D, but he also has an honorary degree. So he's a triple alumnus. I thought it was I thought it was the knockout post. It was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

Go out and demonstrate Eucharistic ministers right with the program.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

That's right. No, he was he was phenomenal. Go, go, go, go, go. No, no, we're we're we're very, very blessed. Well, you know, we we really view ourselves, uh Your Excellency, as the bishop's university. Right. We're we're the university of the institutional church, and and we embrace that wholeheartedly. And we're here to serve the bishops and the diocese and the parishes, and we we want people to take advantage of our university. And but you got to come see it. That's right. Or you don't know what you're missing. That's right. You don't know what you're missing.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

Yes. So uh I'm sure they through the website in other ways they can uh um cua.edu.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Great, great. So I think that wraps it up. Join us please for uh Beyond the Beacon next week. Did do we know who's coming next week yet? Um I have to uh put it in the right.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

March for life in New Jersey. I mean, March for Life is uh a great um has been uh uh that that gathering of Catholics in in Washington, D.C. in January and and so many at the university of those days. And uh we're now having as since Dobbs, you know, uh the March for Life is promoting state uh uh rallies and marches, and so we're having one here in New Jersey at the end of September. Uh we probably come from yes, please, you're welcome. And uh uh I think one of the organizers is gonna be um on the podcast next week to talk about the March New Jersey. Great. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Bishop, could you um send us out with a blessing?

SPEAKER_03 43:49

Sure, sure. We once again place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Through the intercession of Mary, our blessed mother, Saint Joseph, Saint Monica and St. Augustine. Pray for us. We ask now God's blessing upon Dr. Kilpatrick and his uh ministry and leadership at the Catholic University of America, the faculty and students, and uh God's blessing as well upon all here in our diocese, especially giving thanks for our Catholic uh high schools and and and administrators and teachers and families and students. We ask God's blessing upon us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Thank you, Bishop Sweeney. Thank you so much. Wonderful to be with you. Father. Thanks all great jobs. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thanks.