SPEAKER_02 0:08

Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey. Join us for conversations about our Catholic faith, and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love. I'm Jay Agnish, and with me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney and our guest this week, John Fanta. How are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Good, Jay. Thanks. Thanks. John, thank you for being with us.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Happy Easter, everyone. It's wonderful to be here.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Happy Easter, Jay. Yeah, it's been a little behind a while. Camera there. Yes, um, but uh uh holy week rolled on by, Easter. We're still in the Easter season. Yes, we just finished the octave, a beautiful uh actually historic day for the diocese on Divine Mercy Sunday. Um we created a new parish. Um the parishes of um uh St. Bonaventure and Our Lady of Pompeii, and they call it the Stony Road section of Patterson. Uh you on Route 80, um uh you see St. Bonaventure's right there, and literally two blocks down in the days when um well the Franciscans had their place there, and the Italian community um uh had Our Lady of Pompeii, and um so uh the Franciscans left uh almost two years ago now. Uh and um Father Alex Nevitt has been the administrator there, and uh Father Frank Agresti for many years had served as the pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii, but things were getting a little challenging in terms of numbers and finances, and uh so Monsignor George Hunt um and Father Manuel Cuayar uh went together to St. Gerard's in Patterson and also took responsibility for Our Lady of Pompeii in uh uh a few blocks away, further away than St. Bonaventures. That was before uh the Franciscans let us know that they'd be moving on. And uh once um Father Alex got to St. Bond's and Monsignor Hunt and Father Manuel, and the people started looking um at uh how close the two parishes were and uh how the two could become one. Uh and there was a lot of conversations and meetings and discernment and uh mass schedule and uh and the name. Uh and uh everyone loves Padre Pio, so uh so it was uh so we started our lady Pompeii on Divine Mercy Sunday. You were there, right? Yeah, yeah. A little procession um after Divine Mercy Chapel. Kind of a steep true, right? It was a heavy mantra, but it was uh so um so uh yeah, that was wonderful on Divine Mercy Sunday, and um blessed to be at the cathedral um for Palm Sunday, the Christmas, beautiful, so many priests in the cathedral was full. Um then Palm Sunday, beautiful washing the feet.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Wonderful um, always a striking image to see a bishop washing someone's feet.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

Well, it's the way we're supposed to be, you know. So uh uh um and uh Monsignor Gino and the staff and volunteers do such a beautiful job with all that they do. But um the um we have a good Friday procession in the street through the streets of Patterson with over a hundred in the cast and staff and crew, and uh uh uh it was many hundred, if not a thousand, that were part of the procession, and um and then privileged on Holy Saturday night individual to baptize more than 20 adults and confirm and give first communion to another 60 or so adults. You know, those numbers have been up here in our diocese and throughout the country. Something good is happening in the church. Uh many young adults are um uh coming back to the faith and or or coming to the faith. Uh so uh we have a lot to uh uh uh rejoice in Easter Joy. Um so and uh and uh happy that John is with us today, and uh you'll do the introduction, we'll say a prayer. But um uh we uh we had uh Steve Javi, the NBA referee on. Uh so uh we have two sports-themed episodes, sports and faith themes episode in a row, and we're not gonna be a sports talk show, but uh we're gonna have a little more today. Um but uh uh John comes to us as a man of faith and uh has come to our diocese, our Lady of Magnificat Parish, right, as a husband and a father, and uh and so we'll be happy to hear your faith journey and maybe we'll do a little sports.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

It won't be Mike and the mad dog, but we'll but we'll try our best to a bear.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

It's wonderful to be here with you both. It really is. Thanks for coming, John. Um thanks, John. So maybe we'll say a prayer and then Jay, you can do the introduction. Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In these beautiful Easter days, celebrating the Lord's resurrection, praying for peace in our country and our world, we pray for our Holy Father Poblio and um and for peace. Um we ask the help of the Holy Spirit as we look forward to the great feast of Pentecost, and 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 Seed of Wisdom, Mother of the Church. Pray for us, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us, pray for us, Saints Peter and Paul, pray. Pray for us. All holy men and women, pray for the children. Pray for us. Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes, right? Oh, popular confirmation name of the young men.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Maybe St. Bernard as well. Okay. So John Fanta is a prominent college basketball broadcaster, commentator, and digital media contributor, known for his work across major sports networks like Fox Sports and NBC Sports, blending play-by-play, analysis, and fan engagement. His broadcasts are lighthearted, engaging, and rooted in genuine enthusiasm for the game. He and his wife and their young son attend Our Lady of the Magnifica in Kinelon, New Jersey. Faith is a big part of his life. He's a product of Catholic school education and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, immersed in a passionate sports culture and inspired by local announcers. John attended Seton Hall University here in New Jersey, where he became deeply involved with the Pirate Sports Network, WSOU Radio and Student Journalism, and laid where he laid the foundation for his national broadcasting career. But its first break was way back when his first grade teacher recognized John's talent for singing and encouraged him to be a cantor and a lector at St. Bernadette Church in Westlake, Ohio. John credits his current success to his ability to adapt to different media, radio, television, digital writing, and podcasts, and he has a fun Instagram account where he does even more storytelling. So thanks again for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

John and uh Welcome and thanks for being here. And uh uh I guess Father Steve and and uh one of the other people. George and uh business uh reached out to us, which we're always happy to get those uh uh recommendations uh for uh subjects and and guests. Uh and then uh Jay shared with me the um the podcast Westlake, is it? Uh the St. Bernard in Westlake, yeah. And we'll link to that and I encourage others. It's uh uh I love the enthusiasm um and the storytelling and uh uh classic old-time radio voice, right? Who was that that was with you?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Trapper Jack in Cleveland, Ohio, who who did a morning show on WDOK 102.1 for a number of years, and Father Joe uh Menkaus at St. Bernadette Parish. He was recently ordained, right? Father Joe was recently ordained and joined Father Phil Rocco, who's the pastor there in Westlake. So that's the parish I grew up in. So it was very cool to get asked by them to come back on because I'm in New Jersey now, have a new parish home, but you never forget where you came from and your roots in Northeast Ohio. That th those are my roots, but um now thrilled to call New Jersey home. And it's it's it's awfully cool to um interact with different parishes. Uh I don't know how many have been on Two Parish Podcasts, so I'm honored and honored and grateful to be able to say that. But I have an uncle who's a pastor at St. Dominic's in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Father Tom Fanta, and I have a cousin uh who is soon to be an ordained priest in Father Sean Neville. It's amazing to say those for the Diocese of Cleveland. So uh we're a very, very faith-based family, and uh we've got several relatives who can handle a variety of sacraments. That's great. And you're one of how many brothers and sisters? I'm one of four. Right. I'm the oldest of four.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Right, good.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Um so you know, my sister and I are are 13 months apart. Oh, my brother and I are 13 months. Yeah, we kind of go back to bed. It's and then there's sort of a two-year gap, but uh, I'm the oldest of four. Okay, great. And raised in the faith, huh? By Catholic parents and family? Raised in the faith. So my dad uh was one of eight, one of eight kids.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

My parents are each one of eight. Growing up in Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

There there you go. So uh and and uh my mom uh has uh one sister, had one sister, so she's one of two. Uh so there's a bit of a uh a difference there between between the two of them. But uh they both grew up with Catholic education being a theme and and the Catholic school, Catholic parish you know, being a theme for for their their lives. My dad, he lived a minute from his church, St. Brendan. Wow. Uh and his father, faith was everything too, super involved in in their parish and the father's club and organizing donuts with on Sundays and doing things that you know that then was passed on to me through my parents getting involved in the parish. My my dad was the athletic director at St. Bernadette. My mom dedicated her time in a variety of ways to parish. Heck, I worked up at the school during the summers. It was a summer job for me to clean classrooms and landscapes. So the point is, you know, and lecturing and cantoring as well, parish involvement was something that my family it wasn't something that had to be said. It was something that was understood in our household that parish is community, that at on Sunday at eleven o'clock, there's not a question of where we are, we're at church. And we're not at church because we have to go to church, we're at church because we get the opportunity to go to church.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

I love that you say that because the bishop says almost the same exact thing about the opportunity that we get. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

It's one hour to unplug. That's right. I don't think we've ever needed it more in our world.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Right, right. And um uh and um uh Catholic school? Catholic school. Grammar school and high school? Grammar school and high school and college. Right. And what led you to Seton Hall?

SPEAKER_00 10:57

What um That's a great I I I believe that that God was involved. Uh I really do believe that. So I was looking at the Northeast part of the country because I graduated high school in 2013 from St. Ignatius High School, so j Jesuit educated in in high school. And you know, I I thought to myself there were a couple of of universities and colleges in Ohio that I was intrigued by. John Carroll University being one on the east side of Cleveland. My mother went there, uh my dad's a Mercy Hearst grad, the Lakers of Mercy Hearst. So I I went and looked around at, you know, I I I did the tour at Ohio down in Athens, I I did the tour at John Carroll, but I wanted to go, I wanted to try to challenge myself and go to the Northeast. So we looked at Syracuse, we looked at Fordham, very close to going to Fordham, looked at St. John's, your alma mater, looked at St. Bonaventure, and only the Franciscans. And I was about to head out on a second tour out to the Northeast, and my college counselor said, Hey, while you're taking a look at uh while you're taking a look at at different schools in the Northeast, I believe that this was right off of the spring of my junior year of college. Um so you know, going into senior year, she said, while you're taking a look, why don't you take a look at this Seton Hill University? Now there is a Seton Hill, but she turned, she she passed me a brochure, and I said, It says here Seton Hall. And she goes, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Seton Hall. And there was sort of a kind of a like, you just hand me this brochure, and you know, it wasn't that she was like passing passing on the idea of the place, but it was brought up out of the blue. You know, while you're taking a look at some of these other schools, you should take a look at this place. So I opened up the brochure and I saw they had broadcasting, and I noticed that Bob Lee, who's an ESPN ledge, right? Bob Lee is an alum of Seton Hall. And I knew that they were in the Big East, and I thought of growing up watching the Big East tournament and watching you know, Jerry McNamara for Syracuse.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Did you go back to PJ Carlisle?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Well, you know, I don't go back to that long, but obviously, you know, then I learned uh of you know Kemble Walker at UConn, the great St. John's teams through the years, whether it'd be with Ron Artest and Dwight Hardy and all those different players. So I thought to myself, you know, I my dad uh and my brother and I were gonna go go out for this particular trip. Mom, they would break it up and whatnot, because being the oldest of four, there's household to manage. So my dad said, Why don't we take a visit over there since we're going all the way out that way? And when I got to South Orange, first off, I love the community feel. I I thought that the neighborhood was just interesting and and uh and fun and you could sense you know, you you I could just sense something. A lot of tradition. A lot of tradition. I saw the 1980s. Catholic roots. Catholic roots, and they had made the national championship game in '89. But so walked into the campus, and it it struck me very quickly into the tour how much the campus was about each other. Whenever I talk with someone and asked a question, the answer was selfless. The answer was whatever you would like to do here, we have the resources to do. We have more internships than students. Because there's a Seton Hall, everybody knows everybody. It's a small the the the base of undergraduate that are living on campus, there's a lot of commuters. So the people that, you know, I was coming from Ohio, the people that were going to be living on campus and whatnot, right, you're gonna get to know each other quite well. And so I said, Can I talk to somebody at the athletic department? They led me to the athletic director's office. This is a big E school here. This is not a low major, mid-major school, nothing against those schools at all, but like the accessibility, a guy by the name of Pat Lyons, who just took over as the athletic director at the University of Rhode Island. Okay, Pat was super helpful and said, there's a blank canvas here. And if if you're looking for an opportunity, we can give that to you. And I looked at my dad, I said, Look, I said, Syracuse is known for its legends and Hall of Famers and Fordham, Vince Scholars, Mike Breen. Mike Breen, Michael Kay.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Oh, sure, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

You know, I I I said, these places are great. I said, the one thing is it's gonna take two or three years just for me to get on the air. Right. Now that doesn't mean that I can't have success, but I thought it was important, or at least in my book, of I couldn't sit around. I wanted to be a doer. And they were saying you can get on the air here right away. And you do it. So that's what led me to Seton Hall.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Uh the broadcasting was your your interest.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

From a very early age, I would I would listen to an inning or watch an inning of a baseball game, or listen to a quarter of a game, uh a football game, and then I would turn the volume down in the living room and start calling it myself. I thought it was the coolest thing that those people got to talk about sports.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

I don't think it said enough. Uh there's something about baseball on the radio. Um we're losing, I think, a little bit of it. I'm sounding old now, but uh um, but um uh um you know, as Yankee fans, uh we had John Sterling and Susan Waldman for the last probably 30 years. And uh so um but uh yeah the um uh but you heard some uh and and you were you were hooked from a young age, huh?

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Hooked from a young age. And you know, I would I would listen to the radio. Tom Hamilton still calls the Guardians games, and it's been known for legendary calls. Joe Tate would call the Cavs games. I was seven when LeBron James was tracked by the cats. And the Browns, long suffering. Oh, yeah, I'm a Jet fan too. But the TF we can relate there. Any and all our prayers, Bishop. Uh that's for sure. Look, the the Browns, uh, as much as they've been suffering, I always thought it was great because the name the voice of the team was a guy by the name of Jim Donovan, who we lost too soon to leukemia a few years back. And you know, I liken it to what Bob was shoes and adds to the Jets. Bob was shoes. You would never know the team's record based on the way they call the games. And I always thought that's a sign of a really good broadcaster. They they do it with passion, they paint a picture. And, you know, I I played sports growing up, football, basketball, and baseball. I was a turnstile as a left guard. I could make I could make a shot as a basketball player, and I pitched a little bit in baseball, but it didn't last. And so I thought I love sports, I love the passion associated with it. I think there's there's commonalities between sports and the church in terms of that word passion.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

Dedication, sacrifice, yeah, sacrifice, busy schedule, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

That adrenaline rush of calling a game, I said it was my way of playing the game.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

Right, right. And uh, and uh so uh after meeting the athletic director uh and you spoke to your dad, it seemed like Seton Hall uh was the was the place you were gonna go. And uh and what was it like when once you got there?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

It was incredible. You know, uh the the the place had such an amazing energy about it. I didn't know anyone walking into the campus gates. I knew nobody. You know, I had met people, but I didn't know them, know them. And my parents, we drove, I mean, I was the oldest of four, so I was the first to go away for college. Eight-hour drive, eight-hour drive, dramatic for mom. And you know, I can remember writing my parents' letters and leaving them back at the house with so when they got home, they wrote them just saying thank you, and I'm gonna try to make the most of this opportunity. And look, two weeks in I was a little bit homesick. But when I look back at that time, during those weeks where I was a little homesick and trying to figure it out, the the chapel was literally fifty feet from from the beautiful, beautiful chapel. Right, in a beautiful chapel. So, you know, honest to God, um, I I the one thing I knew I could do, I there's two things I knew I could do on campus. Before, you know, I was in training at WSOU that you don't just get on the air immediately, but it was about a four or five week thing. I was helping with the athletic broadcast with the Pirate Sports Network, just as a cameraman at first, and then I I could tell you how to do it. Just hang around, do whatever's needed, right? Hang around, tell you how I first got out in the air. Don't remind me of that here in a moment, because I think, again, things happen. But the two things I knew I could do was one, I knew I had to go down to the cafeteria and I could interact with some people there, because my roommate would go home to Staten Island on the first couple weekends. He he was he would he was close enough to home. And I wanted to stay in the dorm and you know, learn people's names and and figure all that out. I knew I could go to the cafeteria, I knew I could go to Mass. And so I'd go to 10 o'clock Mass on Sundays or 8 o'clock Mass on Sundays. They had a 10 p.m. you know, click college, college life. And a guy by the name of Father John Denehy, who is the chaplain for CD. Oh, yes, yes, yes, right. Yes, and um uh Father Mac at St. John's is on the bench with them as well.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

So, you know Father Richie Rock.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Father, not Father Rack. Father Rock, my my bad, Father Rock, who is the best? See Father Rock all the time. Very good friend. You know, that those are the those are the experiences that early on helped help me in my college experience. And then I I was about three weeks on campus, I was helping behind the scenes, laying down courts, being a cameraman. A soccer game had gotten pushed today due to rain and lightning, which soccer can be played in the rain. We all know I mean it can be. It takes a lot for a soccer game to get postponed today. It was that nasty a weather in New Jersey. And I was on the phone with my parents, it was a Friday afternoon instead of a Thursday, and I said, Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to work the game that wasn't originally scheduled for today, but it got pushed, and they said, What else do you have planned for the weekend? I said, I'll figure stuff out, and you know, in my head, I'm like, I don't know really what I'm doing right my second or third weekend in college, I'm still getting to know. Second or third weekend. Third, third, yeah, third weekend or so. So I I get to the the field, O and T. Carroll field, and I'm standing up there with the camera, and the play-by-play announcer was unable to make it because the game got pushed today. The student radio team didn't have it in their programming schedule. So they didn't have a crew on site. They need someone to call this game. So the head of Athletic Communications walked up to me and said, Hey, you know, um, I've listened to about two minutes of your football tape from high school, because I call a lot of games in high school, in addition to lecturing, cantoring, grade school, did some PA announcements. He said, I've listened to about two minutes of your football tape. Can you call this soccer game? Which starts in seven minutes. And, you know, I remember thinking to myself, either you say no out of nervousness or you give or you take a leap of faith. I said yes. Did you know soccer? I got I knew enough about it. I knew enough, I did pregame and halftime shows in high school because I didn't do play by play because I didn't know it that well. I thought, I've watched a couple of games, I'm gonna try. I gave it a whirl, I got done with the broadcast, they came up to me, they said, When can you be back? And I said, Whenever you need me.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Wally piped right to the archives. That's it. That's it. Um, the first baseman uh for the Yankees went Lou G. Gary took over, and then Lou Garrick played the most thousand games in a row. Wally Pip never got hurt one day, lost his job, and was never. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah, Wal Wally Pep, that's right. And and then that turned into one broadcast after the other in a variety of different sports. And uh it it it took off from there. I got to travel over half the country at Seton Hall covering the sports teams. It was invaluable.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

They had a good baseball team too, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:07

They did, yeah. Well, as as you may know, Mike Shepherd uh was the coach for a long time. Now his son Rob is the coach. But Shep was Rick Porcello, I think. Rick Porcello, I mean Mo Vaughn.

SPEAKER_03 23:19

Right, right, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Um Craig Biggio.

SPEAKER_03 23:21

Oh yeah, right? Seton Hall, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Hall of Famer.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Went to go to Cooperstown for his induction. Did you? Yes. Covered it for Seton Hall. Fantastic. It was awfully cool. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

What um so what was did you have a favorite sport or did you decide to go to a certain direction sport?

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Well, basketball, big east basketball is where I really cut my team. So, you know, another another story. Um, when I was a freshman at Seton Hall, the women's basketball coach, guy by the name of Tony Bazella, who if you ever need another guest, would gladly do it because he's got an amazing story himself. You know, met his wife at Seton Hall, went to Seton Hall, now is the women's basketball coach and has been for 13 years. Wow. My freshman year of college was his first year on the job.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

So he noticed he noticed some things on the that I was saying about other sports on the internet when it was the fall. He just noticed some things on social media. I was covering the teams, I was interviewing players, and he messaged me and he said, Stop by and meet with me sometime. It looks like you're doing great work. I'd love for you to cover my team. Well, for me, that was an entry into basketball. And that was at Seton Hall basketball, it's the priority sport. It's a it's a they don't have football. So being in the Big East, uh, so I went to his office and he said, Look, anything you need with our team, you know, we're here, our doors are open. We get to the Big East tournament, and Tony paid me, a college freshman, paid my way out to Chicago to cover his team in the Big East tournament. He did that out of his own, and he did it because he knew a college kid was gonna get the opportunity. And um, so I went out.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

Small acts of kindness, okay?

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Small acts of kindness, but look what it turned into. I am sitting at the arena, I'm doing an on-camera hit, Seton Hall and St. John's, meeting in the Big East tournament, Saturday, 2 30 Eastern time. Cadidra Simmons leads the pirates. I'm doing my hit. And someone walks up to me, a man in a full suit, and he says, Who are you? I said, I'm John Fanta. I covered Seton Hall. He goes, What are you doing here? I said, Well, you know, Tony, Tony Basella blew me out. He goes, You're the only press member that's currently here right now. He said, That says a lot about you. How old are you? I said, 18.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

He said, My name's Rick Genteel, and uh I produce the NFL Today in the Olympics, and now I'm in a role at the Big East where I I oversee broadcasting. We need to meet. And I met Rick at a high rise in New York City. He hired me to start to do Olympic sports in the U.S. I think you told that story on the other podcast, right? Yeah, that was a great story. And uh and he he gave me my first job.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Without Tony, a small act of kindness, slime in Chicago, we may never meet.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

Wow, wow. Um and the Lord working in mysterious ways.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

The Lord working in mysterious ways.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

Um he really does. Uh want to get back to um after Seton Hall and well, starting your career. Um, but also um uh our Lady Magnificat. Well, two things. Um uh you mentioned Biggie's basketball. Just want to mention, as I did to you before we came on, uh Jay Wright, uh man of faith, great uh coach for Villanova, uh coach of the two national championships. He's gonna be with us here in the diocese on May 6th at our um evangelization center. So invited John to come, want to invite listeners, and we'll put some information up. Uh you can register uh the chart. We asked for registration. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Um please. If you have never seen or if you have seen Jay Wright talk, whether you have or haven't, it's a must see event because he blends so much. That is a terrific event that you're putting on.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

So, folks, get get out to that. I mean, uh it's gonna be amazing.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

So, um where did you meet your wife again?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

We met at a Christmas tree farm.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Oh, yes, I heard there were during COVID evolved. Right, in here in New Jersey.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Here in New Jersey, right, right. A neighbor uh who I had gotten to know through another friend, through another friend who was interning uh a summer in in New York and was living with his mom's college friend, says, Hey, why don't you come by? I'm like, Look, I'm happy to come by, but I've never met the people hosting you. Like, I I feel bad just barging into their home. These people were the nicest people, uh, Dave and Kathleen Camposano, uh, and they they have two children of their own, and we got to know uh know each other.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Did you go for the event of picking out a Christmas tree?

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Well, wait, so they said they said if uh we got to know each other in about a you know, a little over a year into our friendship, they said, hey, we go pick out a Christmas tree every year. Well, it was during COVID, so Bishop, somebody offered to do something. I said yes right away. And it's outdoors. So, okay, I helped them with their tree and I'm helping them, and I look over. They a couple of other families that were part of this Christmas tradition also went, everybody keeping their distance. And I looked and I saw this girl, and I I just thought uh I thought she was cute, and I I said to them, I said, Well, she looks like a nice girl. Is is she single? And a date was set up within five minutes. Wow. Our first date was December 19, 2020, uh, about three weeks after picking out the Christmas tree. Our second date was New Year's Eve, and uh we haven't stopped talking since.

SPEAKER_03 28:43

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

We got married in Our Lady of the Magnificent.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Okay, is that was that her parish? Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

She was part of the last graduating class at the school. Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

So I've shared before my my first visit to the diocese, really, um, long before I knew I'd be coming as bishop, was uh uh I spent some Thanksgivings in Smoke Rise. My baptismal godmother uh lived in uh in Smoke Rise, and they were parishioners at and I was at our Lady Magnificon for a couple of um uh a coup uh a funeral for my my my godmother's mother, uh my mom's aunt, wonderful Aunt Mary, um, and uh the the Burgle family, my cousins, and uh so um uh uh when I came first, it was one of the first places I went for confirmation, and I said, wait a second, I've been here before. And uh it's such a beautiful Lady Magnificon, yeah, it's yeah, such a uh um and uh I was buried in the chapel not too long ago.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

You were oh it's amazing. Yeah congratulations. Um it's a beautiful chapel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

In the chapel. Yeah. Oh wow, beautiful, beautiful. Special. And Father Steve is a very welcoming uh pastor, isn't he? Yes, he is. Yes, he is.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Father Steve is is fantastic. He does does an amazing job. It really is a um it's a special parish. It's it's a such a bright parish, you know. When you're sitting there for church, the the the light comes in on the windows and the music is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

It's one of the places when I when I first arrived um that I would get there and I would say, I'm definitely not in Brooklyn anymore. It's uh it's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

You know, it's a great storm. It's so funny that you say that because when we had our wedding in uh 2023, we got married September 1st, 2023, and you know, you send out invites and all this. Well, a lot of people in Northeast Ohio, if they've been in New Jersey, you know, they see an image of downtown Newark, and not that there's plenty of great parishes in Newark, and and I've covered many a game at the Prudential Center and whatnot. They don't know that New Jersey has some beautiful areas in terms of the greenery and the and the the woods. It's called the Gardens Day for a reason, right? Exactly. So when they're driving to the church, they're like, what state are we in? Are we in the Pacific Northwest right now?

SPEAKER_03 30:49

If you didn't know driving to Our Lady of Magnifica, it is in the woods. Right, right, right. Some nice vistas, yeah, yeah. Beautiful. Um, so um uh and your first child was born?

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Uh first child was born. Andrew is 11 months coming up on a year old. He was baptized at Our Lady of Magnifica uh this past September. And yeah, it's been the best joy of life to be a father. And Andrew Gerard Fanta, born May the 7th.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

Beautiful. May the 7th. Oh, the day before Popleo was named. Pople was May 8th.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

And I said to I said, good great memory, I said to my wife, she was in labor as this as we were waiting. You know, I'm like, you're in labor, and there's gray smoke. There's gray smoke, and there's gray smoke in this room right now. You know, you have to have some fun watching the coverage, and I'm just everybody's locked into the coverage. It gave us a distraction while she was in labor. But you know, I remember thinking Andrew had had arrived, and we're then sitting in the room with Andrew, and there it is. Pope Leo.

SPEAKER_03 31:55

And then an hour later he comes out of the market again. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Exactly. And then he came out for the first time. And then, you know, for uh American Pope.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Villanova.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's right. I cover the biggest.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

I'm like, this is all meant to be.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

This is all meant to be. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Right. I'll never you'll never I'll never forget where we were when Pope Leo became Pope.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

I was I was thinking, could I could I cue up a video from your Instagram to kind of get us up to speed with modern day where you are? Sure, sure, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Absolutely. This is fun.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

Well, you're always a big social media guy.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

How do you manage the travel in broadcasting? Well, here's a look at a trip that spans about 5,500 miles. Oh, Jim told me this country to Portland, Oregon. Come up at 4 a.m., head from Denville, New Jersey to Newark Airport, board a 6 a.m. flight from Newark to San Francisco. Now, this is a chance for me to work on my notes and materials. Working on different things for number four and just gonna go to the end of the Big Ten battle. That's about around a six-hour journey from Newark to San Francisco, get a quick refreshment, and now we're gonna take that connecting flight, which is about 90 minutes later, turn up in Portland, Oregon. And it's time to head to Eugene. Driving about an hour and 50 minutes from Portland south to Eugene, and I get into the hotel, get a night's rest. Next morning, topping out, heading in the Matthew Knight Arena, 15-year-old building, really cool hoops house, fantastic. I got a Hall of Fame coach and Dana Allman's being a guy, Dustin's fantastic. We're gonna sit down with the coaches, we're gonna talk with them, we're gonna sit in on shoot-arounds, get to know these teams even more, get a lay of the land, because we have a 1 o'clock local time broadcast, and so the morning is spent from like 9 to 11 getting notes, getting a lay of the land. Really nice club area in this building. Get back to my seat about 11:30 local time. At that point, we look at graphics, we check in with our crew. Now we're hearing up for tip-off, really good national.

SPEAKER_03 33:59

Do you have a particular partner that you work with?

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Michigan top five rainbows.

SPEAKER_03 34:05

Oh, there we go.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

I get done with the game, drive about 10 minutes to the hotel, I get changed. I get ready for a drive from Portland, but I gotta stop at Dutch Bros for a good western coffee place. At this point, I drive. It looks like Kinalon. It does! Get some gas in the car, and then I head to a wonderful time restaurant, Gamba, a northeast 30th Avenue.

SPEAKER_03 34:31

Okay. Um before I forget, um I'll send it to you. Um somebody recently did um an interview with Bill Rafferty at um one of our parishes, Holy Family. Did you see it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's a man of faith, right? And uh Jay Wright um would talk about uh having being able to go out to eat with uh he uh he must know everything.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Bill is the best. I mean, yes. We've gotten to work together. Oh wow. Which was so cool. We've worked together about four or five times, and he's just he's eighty-three and he's still doing his job, still working. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

But that that video is a real a sister of charity. Yes, it's yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, that video, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Well, it's it it sums up the the what the lifestyle is like, which is a lot happening at once. Uh it it certainly is, but you know, it's it's the it's a joy to do it. It it really is. You're you brought up the partner aspect. Oh, yes. I work with different people. Uh I I we'll have about four or five of the same people throughout the year. But one of the cool things about having a broadcast partner uh is you know those people were at my wedding. They they become like they they that there's a work family in what we do too, because we're on the road. I love it. Sometimes we're seeing them more than we are our actual family. There's points later.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Well, Mike Breen is is great, uh, but Mike and and well Clyde Fraser are listening to the Knicks there. Um, right. Um so uh I I wrote a little column uh just before Holy Week on um uh uh some ask uh Steve Davy had been on. I w wanted to say something about the J. Wright event. Um and uh the Oh, St. John's had just uh won dramatically the Big East tournament with uh um uh Darling, right? No, maybe they beat the Kansas. They beat Kansas at the opening round. Yes, yes, that was it. So um uh so um but I was said sometimes when uh a good homilist is often preaching to himself, right? If uh conversion and uh what we need to be careful about and uh priorities, and so um I said uh you know, this year, uh as it does sometimes, the final four falls on the weekend of of Easter. Um so uh I was encouraging readers and others to, you know, sports has its place, talking to myself. Uh but you know, obviously faith is is first, and uh um uh we're all in different circumstances. Um uh whether it be the um final four on on on Easter weekend um or just the amount of traveling, um uh your own faith, your relationship, your wife as a husband and father, um uh some challenges there, I would think, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:11

There are challenges. There's there's no denying that that there's challenges that when you're you know, I I'm sitting in the Portland airport on Saturday night. I had done another game actually out in Portland on this past Saturday, and I was taking a red eye home, planning on having Sunday at home with the family.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Uh I got delayed, we got delayed until about 2 a.m. And then they came on the speaker and they said this flight's now delayed till 12 30 p.m. tomorrow. So through through NBC, was able to get on a different plane sooner than that. But I didn't land until we we didn't land until 3 30 in the afternoon at JFK.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Well, your Sunday morning is wiped out, my Saturday night's wiped out, so uh, you know, when when you're going home to a wife and 11-month-old, in that regard, virtual mass was the option for me. That's what I now sat, watched, listened. Uh I when you have family members who are I try to bounce around, but but having an uncle who's a pastor, I tune into his live stream, I hear what he has to say. And you know, but I think in that moment, life's not perfect. It's not. You you could and and you know, this is something that that I'm sure everybody here has a different thought on of life brings its unscripted, um, life brings its moments that you can't fully control.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

And the mystery of the cross. I mean, uh, you know, we there's uh heavier crosses and and maybe lighter crosses, but um life's not gonna be easy, right? Jesus said we're gonna have to deny ourselves, take off our cross. So there are gonna be challenges and um that we're gonna face.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

And I have to remind myself too what what is the purpose of mass? What is the purpose of church? It's not just for that isolated hour, it's for the next week.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

It's for the next week. And who are you outside of the church? Who are you with your family? And you know, I I I'm bouncing around, whatnot. I thank my wife, who I think is a saint because I have a difficult I have a job that takes me on the road sometimes, as you just saw. Well, I have a I have a kid, I'd love to I'd love to be two places at once, but she she's dealing with it. I'm sure there's a lot of families dealing with it, but I think, you know, all we can do is try our best, all we can do is is be good to other people too. Who who are I often people say, what are your principles as a broadcaster? And I say, number one, do you have to change when you put the microphone on? Are you an actor or are you yourself? And I try to be myself. Number two, who are you off the air to the crew, to the person behind the scenes. Remind me of our wonderful camera. Cecile. Cecile is we can't do this show without Cecile. She's not on camera, but we cannot do this show without her. We can't, you can't do this show without a variety of different people, things, and circumstances. So, you know, those are the two things that I always that I always hold myself to of like, who are you towards people off here? Because if you're not a nice person, what's the point?

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Yeah. Right, yeah, right, right. Any other uh lessons or takeaways from your, you know, relatively young new career, but uh you're coming right along. Uh what anyone aspiring to be a broadcaster or aspiring to move into television or radio or radio or internet, say yes. Say yes.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

You know, when when offered an opportunity knots, opportunity knots. I can recall a time when I was in college, I was a junior in college, and a guy by the name of Dave Popkin, who's been Gary Cohen's partner calling Seaton Hall games for a long time. Gary, the voice of the Mets. Gary's also the radio voice at Seton Hall. John Minko, the radio voice at Spain.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Oh, John Minko, I remember from FN. Yes, FN.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

So Dave has run a sports broadcasting camp for a number of years. I'm actually doing one this summer in back in Northeast Ohio. I participate in the one that's here in New Jersey every summer. It's called Sports Broadcasting Camp for any parents with their families. If you put Sports Broadcasting Camp in on Google, you will find this camp and the event that you want to send your children there. Um I Dave had reached out and said, Hey, I've got a connection. Um and they're they are doing the international uh they're doing like a World Cup for softball. The winner of the event goes to the Olympics. And they are do doing an American feed of the broadcast, but they're gonna produce the games out of Montclair State. And I had never been to Montclair State, just down the road. Just down the road, my wife and I got married at Valley Regency. Okay. Also just down the road. Uh our reception was Valley Regency. We got married at our lady of the Magnificant, so I knew the area. Um, and but I was a junior in college, and he said, the games are being played internationally. I think Japan or something. I I I don't fully remember where they were. But as a result, the games were at like three and five in the morning. They were early in the morning. And you know, he said, Would you be able to do it? Well, I did it for about two weeks. When I tell you it messed with my entire sleep schedule, it did. But you know what? By saying yes, you never know who's listening, who's watching. And you know, the United States ended up winning, so the call, the the games, the games picked up some traction in the media. And you know, what started as at 3 a.m. about 10 people watching, because some of the highlights got picked up on social turned into a million impressions. Or my point is, as a broadcaster, or if you're a high schooler or a college kid that's in your respective industry, if someone calls you and says, Would you be willing? If you're available, find a way to do it because you never know what pathway it could lead you on. You can control a couple things in life. Number one, you can control you how hard you work. You can. You might not always control the circumstances, but you can control that and you can control how you are towards people. So for me, attitude, attitude, attitude, and and attitude is so important. I interned at CNBC. I didn't know anything about finance news. I did some sports finance, but I learned I learned at CNBC, which is actually an angle with Cliffs.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

I learned I learned about being in a newsroom. I learned about accuracy. I learned skills that I didn't even realize I would I would learn. And you know what else I learned? I learned that I didn't want to be in a newsroom. But that's okay. You could do an opportunity and say, I didn't really love that. But at least you learned about yourself in that. Did an internship at Westwood One, did an internship at Fox Sports. I spent a summer in Los Angeles. I lived in a hostel.

SPEAKER_03 43:41

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

For I paid, you know, what I could for rent. And was it pretty living or fan? No. But it was what I needed to do in that moment. And if you can find where there's a will, there's a way.

SPEAKER_03 43:53

Right. Uh and then we can look back and uh be grateful for the blessings, right? That come along and uh um uh um work as if everything depends on us and pray as if everything depends on God, right? Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

And you know, I'll I'll give you the most powerful story of everything blending together. Uh and I think I share this on on another podcast I was on, but I uh to me it sums up the it sums up that sports is a divisive passion for me, as is faith. Uh faith is more important, it it is, no matter how much we love a buzzer beater or whatnot, and I love them. Uh I do. But but to me, um, you know, bac back in January of twenty twenty four, I got a call on a Monday that my my dad had passed away from a heart attack. Um and receiving that call is obviously a jarring experience. Something came over me in the moment. It really did. That in that moment, I didn't have any regrets about my relationship with my dad. I really didn't. I felt like, you know, and I don't know if that's I believe in a higher power. I got grace. I think God was telling me you did everything you could for your dad. Um, you know, he he was a recovered alcoholic. He I I I've lived that chapter, I know what it's like. He went and got help.

SPEAKER_03 45:15

And you were the oldest, so that's the first time. I was the oldest.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

Um, you know, the power of of AA and that group, but I I did have to tell my dad, hey, you need to go and get help. And he did. And he did get help. And but there were bumps in the road. But you know, we had a relationship that that we could be honest with one another. He was a huge supporter of mine, as is my mom, who's still who's very much still around. But that that shook it shakes you at your core, you know, when you lose your parent like that. Um, but I remember my wife coming home, coming in, and um he had gifted her a jacket, uh excuse me, not gifts her a jacket, he had had a jacket at Christmas Eve when we were walking out in Cleveland, and he said to me, He goes, I never wear this anymore. Do you want it? It was raining that day, and she came in the door, and she just so happened to have his jacket on uh by by total chance. And you know, I remember wrapping my arms around her, she was she was having a harder time with it than really in that moment than I was. I don't know what was coming over me. You said the word grace. And I I just said, I know it's gonna be okay. It's it's awful news, but I I it I believe it's gonna be okay. And, you know, um uh let's see, a year and a half later, we give birth to our son, and I know he's watching uh from up above, and I thought life has some uh moments you cannot explain. It has its highs and lows. But I got to s see the full circle of of of life, and I know that there's a paradise, and um I pray for my dad every day, but I know that he's watching over my son, and you you have to navigate the different things that life brings you, and the only way that you navigate is with your faith.

SPEAKER_03 47:08

Absolutely, absolutely. Um, and uh and and again, how grateful um we can be for parents that uh that pass on the faith as the uh and uh and and then when those experiences of the cross come um that the the uh we can do all things and our Lord who strengthens us. So um and uh and um you know sometimes a little easier to say uh looking back, but but that you're able to say even through that such difficult moment uh something was there uh that gave you that um that ability to keep going.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

I didn't even get to the the the story of sports and faith blending. We are at the f we are at the church. Well, first off, at the funeral home, uh because it was in the middle of the basketball season, guys, um a lot of people that that would have liked to be there in person just couldn't be there because of games and things like that, totally you know, out of town and whatnot. So the f the showing of flowers from people that just couldn't make it. You know, the funeral home director was a family friend, said I I just have never seen it. I'm like, well, they they want to be here. I'm like, it's just so we got to the church and we were about we were five minutes from the mass starting, and the funeral home director came back up to me and he said um some flowers just arrived. Is it okay if we put them on the altar? I said, Of course. I said, that's great. I I said where are they from? And at noon that day, um St. John's was playing Connecticut at Madison Square Garden, a game I was supposed to be at covering, but I you know when when life happens, life happens. And he said, they're from UConn Men's basketball. They're from Dan Hurley and and UConn. And you know, Coach Hurley uh St. Anthony with his dad, and Jersey City guy, man of of he is always at church. And I thought to myself, this is in my mind, this is dad's way of saying everything's gonna be okay. Look at the world that you're in, look at these people that have helped you, and so those flowers from the Rainy National Champions were at were at the Lambo, the ambo.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

Um thank you, John, for for for your time, for uh your witness to the faith. And uh uh I hope you'll be a returning guest as well. Things come up and uh we might bring it back to uh give your uh insight and also give bring us up to date on on how you're doing. Um uh uh it's great to have um someone it's to who's been able to go pretty quickly uh um uh up the ladder, let's say, in terms of um uh what you've been able to do in terms of your career. But as we again remember, uh our faith is first in family and uh and to hear your testimony about your faith and your and your family is uh a real blessing for us. So so thanks.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

I appreciate you both having me and uh it means a lot. Happy Easter to everybody.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

Thank you. Thanks, John, for being a part of this. Really appreciate it. We'll keep in touch, huh?

SPEAKER_00 50:01

Sounds great. And maybe we'll get to the game.

SPEAKER_03 50:03

Maybe we'll yeah, and maybe we'll see you on uh May 6th, which are great. That would be great.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

We'll definitely get to a game, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

All right, so before we go. What are you watching now that March Manus is over?

SPEAKER_03 50:15

Uh well uh the Yankees are back on, which is great. Well, not so good until last night. Um finally after the five in a row, they came back and won a game. But um uh not as much to watch uh this confirmation season. So um uh if I'm watching a game, it's I usually get home around the seven inning or so. I'm looking very much forward looking to um the Knicks in the playoffs. Uh so um uh but um it was great to watch a little bit of the Masters on Sunday evening. Um and so uh and I hope to rather be um on the golf course than watching it on TV a little bit in in the coming weeks. So um so hopefully uh its weather is it's quite lovely. Warming up, thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_02 50:54

So um um so good time of year. Absolutely. All right, well, thanks again, John. And thank you all for joining us. Please subscribe, comment, and leave a positive rating. Get to know us better by following Bishop Kevin's Instagram and beyond the beacon on social media. Read the bishop's weekly column on beaconnj.org and get in touch if you have a question for the bishop or a podcast topic idea and discover our other podcasts. See you next time.

SPEAKER_03 51:20

And thanks, Father Steve and George, right, our Lady Magnificon, for the recommendation for connecting us.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

George Castigret, a huge Nova Nation man. Oh, okay, great.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

That's right, that's right. Thanks, everybody, God bless you, happy Easter.