SPEAKER_03 0:08

Welcome to Beyond the Weekend 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. We're so glad you can join us. I'm Jay Agnish, Communications Director for the Diocese of Patterson. With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney. Bishop, how are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:28

I'm doing well, Jay. How are you doing? Doing well. Yeah, a little break in the rain, which is which is nice for now. Happy feast of Saint Mon Saint Monica, Saint Monica, Santa Monica.

SPEAKER_05 0:39

And to you. Patron saint of mothers who pray and worry for their wayward sons. With the son of the case. Well, her son Augustine. A little unique in the church calendar. I think it's the only time when on two consecutive days a mother and son have their feast days. Um today, St. Monica, August 27th, and tomorrow St. Augustine. Pope Leo's favorite saint, the son of Augustine, as he calls himself. And uh so um and uh we're recording uh this on August 27th, and um it's also a sad anniversary, the first anniversary of the passing of Father Rafael Ciro. Um I know died by suicide last year, and um I'll be celebrating a mass for him tonight um with many priests who can celebrate at the parish where he was pastor St. Stevenson Patterson. Um Father Diego Monsalvo is doing a good job. Um and the people are walking the journey of faith, the Paschal mystery, and um so we we trust in the Lord's mercy, and we'll have a special mass for Father Raphael tonight. That's great, that's great, yeah. I guess Father Camille is with us. Um uh he would have been ordained a few years before you, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

He also bit older in ordination.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

So with us is Father Camille Kiska, who is back from Alaska, so we want to hear. You got it warmed up now, right? Oh yes. But uh before we start our conversation, do you would you like to open up in prayer?

SPEAKER_05 2:16

Sure. We'll um ask the help and intercession of Mary, our blessed mother, our lady of Chestahova, and um also um pray through the intercession of St. Monica and St. Augustine. Pray for moms and dads, sons and daughters, families, um, especially might when there might be some struggles or some who might be away from the church. Um Monica's that great example of uh uh never losing hope and continuing to pray. Um, and we never know when God can touch someone's heart and they can come back to the Lord. So um uh as we ask the help and intercession of Mary and Blessed Mother, we'll also pray through the intercession of Saint Monica and Saint Augustine. We'll place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We ask the help and intercession of Mary, our blessed mother, as we pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Our Lady, seat of wisdom, Mother of the Church, pray for us. Our Lady of Chestehovah, pray for us, Saint Joseph, pray for us, Saint Monica and Saint Augustine, pray for us, all holy men and women, pray for us. In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We have to mention our Lady of Chestahova, right? We can't forget her. Yeah. There is an Ar and Our Lady of Alaska, is there?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

There is Our Lady of the Arctic snows. Oh, beautiful. Oh, cool. So it's very native to that land, yeah, over there in Alaska.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Yeah, so uh so welcome back. You've been how long were you in Alaska and and how long have you been back now?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

So I started to go to Alaska actually in 2020. Uh for my summer break, uh, my vacation time. That's right, yeah. So I offered my myself to go there and to work uh as a missionary priest in replacement of those priests who actually went for vacation from that diocese.

SPEAKER_05 4:06

Your first summer was 2020. 2020, exactly. In the midst of the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Yes, yeah, that was 2020. And then regularly every year. And in 2024, I was privileged with the huge blessing of our bishop, um, to go there full-time uh for two years. Uh so these two years just passed, uh, and I got back um in the end of May uh to our diocese uh to serve back in uh in our parishes. Are there two dioceses in Alaska? Yes, right now there is two. There is the Diocese of Fairbanks that covers north parts, uh western parts, and a bit of central parts, right? And then it's Arch Diocese of Anchorage Juno that covers southern parts of Alaska uh with Juneau area.

SPEAKER_05 4:49

Right there. There used to be three dioceses where Juneau was its own diocese, but it um they put it back together.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

I believe uh they were joined together in 2020, uh Anchorage and Juno. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:59

But you served in Fairbanks, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Bishop Stephen Makawa, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

Right, right. I met him at uh I think the meeting in June and uh thanked him for uh receiving you, and he was very grateful uh for your being there. Um tell me again, uh um Father Camille, uh your your interest in Alaska originally um that led you, I think then, to write to the bishop and offer your services for a month in the summer, right? Uh uh what was what what kind of led up to that?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

So uh there is a much longer story, Your Excellency. Uh we have to go back to my uh formation in the seminary, and after five years, I Where was that seminary?

SPEAKER_06 5:46

In Warsaw, in Warsaw. In Warsaw, in Poland.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Uh I took a break because I didn't know if I want to be a priest or not. Uh so I really hesitated and I had really huge doubts uh in my not only my vocation but also my faith uh in God. So to make the long story short, uh I left the seminary, uh then I returned uh and I knew that I want to be a priest but a missionary priest. I wanted to go somewhere. And at that moment, that was 2014, uh I was more thinking of going to one of the African countries, right? Somehow I I don't know what I was thinking of Africa. Uh but two of my friends got back from Chicago and they told me that this is missionary church here in the States and that people need to missions of Patterson. Yeah. So I got here to the States, but this desire of uh being uh in need to people in different sacramental way and priestly way was still in me, and that is why uh in 2019 I got in touch with uh Bishop Chad Jelinski then uh of Fairbanks, and he invited me to come and to spend like Do you remember what first brought Alaska into your mind?

SPEAKER_05 6:44

Did you know someone there or did you hear about it?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Or for the very first time, I heard about Alaska when I was in the seminar on the third year. Uh I heard about priests who fly with planes.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

Oh, yes, right, yes, yes. One of the bishops uh I think had a pilot's license.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They did that, yes, definitely. There are some priests now in Anchor uh Archdiocese of Anchorage, Juno, uh, who have the license so they fly. Exactly with those kind of planes, uh sometimes smaller ones.

SPEAKER_05 7:10

You flew in the planes, but you didn't fly the plane, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Not by myself. Although Bishop Stephen now uh wants to encourage some of the priests to do uh the license, and he wants to buy one or two planes over there.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Awesome. Yeah, I have my pilot's license. I haven't flown in a few years, but uh Alaska, you read about it, that's that's the place to fly. Seaplanes. Uh have you flown on a seaplane? Is this a seaplane?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Yeah, this is uh ten people um plane. Uh there. So uh in the last year I was mostly responsible for two places, two villages, uh Kotlik, uh which is in another part of uh Yukon Kuskop Fim Delta, and Mrtarvik, which is in the southern part uh over there. So between the two villages, I had to take three planes one way and three planes uh back. Uh and it was challenging. Uh but yeah, those planes that you saw actually, so that was my daily uh routine.

SPEAKER_05 8:00

Like um tell us what we're seeing here. Is that a parish activity?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

This is actually village cultural activity. Uh this is uh from uh April, I believe. That was our mini potlatch. Uh potlatch is a social event uh where people gather from all the village, and actually other villages are also invited uh to participate. And it's uh much of cultural activities with dances, singing, drums, uh cultural dresses, um, native habits and different things, and also sharing some of the foods uh with the the people who really need uh those products, uh different also products. So it's like um state fair, uh something like that. Um but it's in cultural way.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

So let me just say for those of you who might be listening, I would encourage you to watch this episode because we are scrolling through some photos that we're discussing now.

SPEAKER_05 8:49

Right. And uh you mentioned April, uh you said you had an and here's the look is that a priest gathering? Yes. Uh maybe the Christmas or a retreat?

SPEAKER_01 8:57

That was convocation uh in Anchorage, uh in Anchorage. Okay. So uh traditionally they have uh convocation every year. Uh we I believe we have every third year, right? Yeah, exactly. Uh but they have every year and they gather all the priests from Alaska. From all the three dioceses then and now two dioceses.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Are there in Alaska?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, or in total, I would say it's over 60, close to 70 priests uh ministering over there.

SPEAKER_05 9:23

In the diocese of Fairbanks.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

No, in Fairbanks it's only 27 or 28 at this moment.

SPEAKER_05 9:27

Okay. So the two dioceses have their convocation together, is that right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um so um another time when priests gather is uh the Chris Mass, and uh that would often be during Holy Week, but in uh some dioceses uh where it's not so easy to travel, they have it at a more convenient time, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah, this is what we actually did. Uh so we had our convocation over there in Anchorage, and the priests from Anchor Anchorage Juno diocese stayed there for Christmas with the bishop, and we went on the planes and flew to Fairbanks for our Christmas as we were together uh at that moment, so we were able to do this. Um that's Bishop Stephen, yes. Oh, yes, right there. That was his pastoral visit to Catholic in February. What is very interesting is that uh Bishop Stephen um always flies to our region over there, Hawaii region, and then he takes snowmobile, okay, he takes another person with him just for safety, okay, and he commutes between the villages with snowmobile. So it's very unique that the Catholic bishop actually does this, right? Um he doesn't fly directly to the villages, but he flies to one and then takes the snowmobile and um.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

You did some snowmobiling yourself, I think, huh?

SPEAKER_01 10:40

I did, uh, but not so much. I didn't have to um too much. Uh but yeah, some some of the priests actually rely mostly on snowmobiling.

SPEAKER_05 10:47

Four-wheel drive, right? The little buggy. Right, right, right. Um so um uh this is in ordinary timers, you're dressed in green, but you had said uh you had an interesting experience at Easter.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Oh, Your Excellency. That was that was so unique. Uh um so it happened that I was sent to Mertarvik over there. Uh and uh, as you know, Mertarvik uh there was no place for me to stay at. Uh, Mertarvik is a new village, relocated from Newtok. So there is no Catholic church yet, um, there is nothing. So when I went there for my monthly visit, uh I stayed at the school. This is the social hall at that uh at that school, and I slept in one of the classrooms. Wow. And so I went there knowing that uh it's going to be very difficult for me to celebrate Easter having uh basically nothing. Okay. Last year I went only for Easter Sunday, uh, so I took my ALP from Kotlik and my stall. Okay, I didn't even take the chasable, full chasable not to you know, um pack everything into bags. But this time on Holy Thursday, as I was going there, I realized I don't have my stall. I had only ALP. I forgot to take the stall, and I was like, what am I going to do? Okay, and I was like, I need to get to this old village uh in New Talk uh to bring some of the items. And so I convinced some of the people, very luckily. Um one uh gentleman, he's a teacher at the school actually, said that he's going to uh convince his son to help me with this. So on the next day, on Good Friday uh in the morning, uh we took ourselves, okay? We took his snowmobile and a sled and we went on Frozen River across over there that is uh I believe 11 miles or something, maybe more than that, uh, to Newtok, to the old village that is totally abandoned at this moment. The problem was that uh the river froze uh very unevenly and there were so many spikes. So uh I actually turned my pants on this as I was just moving non-stop on uh on the snowmobile. Uh we made that, uh, and I believe there's more pictures uh uh of uh of that church also. Yes, this is from uh there should be some some other pictures. But my point is that I was able to get to the church. Yeah, I did that for survival. Um I was able to get to the church and to bring the necessary items. Uh so for the first time in that new village, I celebrated Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. This is this old church. Wow. So uh we had a problem with actually the snow in front of the church, so uh we had to really uh duck the snow out. Uh I had to break in uh because somehow the snow actually got inside. Uh this is like a four-year entrance, so I had to push the door uh inside, uh and then yes, to collect the items. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

So that's where you celebrated Holy Week?

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yeah, so this is old village. Uh this is abandonment.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

Which is right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah. But uh like the whole idea of going there, okay, taking items, collecting items, like chalice, hosts, yeah, everything.

SPEAKER_03 13:46

There's your friendly snowman. So what like what did you do for uh for for fun like when you weren't uh working with on your days off?

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Yeah, you know what I had plenty of time off uh to be honest with you because um the uh native people over there are not so active in the church life. Uh so I try to really uh make my own schedule uh to stay active. Uh sometimes I prayed even 10 to 12 hours a day.

SPEAKER_06 14:17

Seriously.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

My days it was like long retreat during winter time because mostly I couldn't do anything, right? It was dark. Uh we had let's say up to five hours of sunlight. Five hours. Um the rest was total darkness.

SPEAKER_05 14:29

And with that wind over there with um what time would the sun quote unquote come up or go down?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Yeah, yeah, usually around 11:30 noon that would go up, yes. The first light? Yeah, and then around four after four-ish, uh around five-ish, uh it would go down. Yeah, something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:29

That was at the at the shortest dice. Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

But uh also winter. Uh it's not like winter here. Uh on that.

SPEAKER_05 15:37

How cold does it get?

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Uh for four months we had negative 20, negative 30 non-stop, four months in a row. So when finally, uh that was the beginning of April, uh, the temperature reached 30 degrees, which is freezing in our understanding, right? 30 degrees, okay. That was like a heat wave for us. Everybody went outside, we were just walking on the boardwalk over there and doing hot, hot weather. Yeah, 30, 30 degrees.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

So now when you were on uh last time, you you had expressed that you were it it seemed like you were kind of seeing the end maybe of your time serving in Alaska. Uh can you get us up to speed on on kind of maybe what went on interiorly or or from that point and uh that brought you back to New Jersey? So you're you're you're done serving Alaska now then, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Okay. I'm done. I will probably go to offer my vacation time from time to time. Uh but uh yeah, I don't think right now of my full-time contract there uh because it was really difficult uh physically to live like that, uh to commute with those small planes, to deal with the weather, and that uh Parish in Mertarvik was very challenging for me. Uh I was always drained of my energy. This is how I slept over there. I made myself this uh this bed uh in one of the classrooms. Uh it was really, really physically tough, uh, and I knew like I I'm not able to continue that in the long run. Uh so um I was also glad that my contract uh was coming to an end, so I knew that I would come back here. However, one good thing was that uh I I really changed myself as a priest uh in my interior, in my spirituality. That was like a huge uh huge step forward for me. Uh it was like two years of spiritual retreat. Uh this is priceless. Uh I'm not even able to explain that, but uh I'm more peaceful and more balanced inside myself. Um something that I really wish every priest would uh would know about, yes, and experience.

SPEAKER_05 17:31

And um did you finish your seminary studies in Poland before coming here to Patterson? Uh and so then um uh there's the four-wheeler, right? Uh um uh interesting. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Uh-huh. So um as uh as we see over there, there is the the heating oil tank. Okay, every place has uh some heating oil tank, and we have to really fill up this regularly and not to lose uh heating. Uh and there is always some kind of serviceman uh who delivers this, alright. So with this, this is my church by the way, uh behind uh behind over there in the back. So uh my church building was pretty old and had many of let's say uh irregular shapes, I don't know, holes or other things.

SPEAKER_05 18:16

Uh so it wasn't very a church, that building there, it's the other is it used for other purposes as well?

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Yes, so on this side here, that was my living quarters. Uh that was my room, um, bedroom, bathroom over there. So uh but yeah, this is this is whole uh old church on the side. So uh I had to repay attention to to deliveries because any delay uh could uh pipes to freeze and other problems, right? And the worst sound I can imagine, I have still like PTSD, okay? It's uh Toyo stove heater, okay? It's like peek, peek, peak, peek. It means that there is no heating oil. I'm done. Oh no. So uh I tried to really avoid that, and uh we got uh deliver us regularly every two weeks uh of 100 gallons of heating oil.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

So the it strikes me the structure of the church, obviously not like any churches here in New Jersey. Are there any that are built more in the traditional style? Like the maybe the cathedral, maybe in the city?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Mm-hmm. In the city.

SPEAKER_05 19:13

Okay. But in the countryside of the towns, villages, I guess not really, right?

SPEAKER_03 19:18

Yeah, they look more like houses, like and you got to know the native uh language a a little bit, or or certainly got to know some of the native people.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

That would be ideal, but uh Yupik, uh Yupik language Yuchtun is very difficult.

SPEAKER_05 19:31

Oh there it is, you pick him though.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah, uh I was able to follow just the phonetics, uh how to read the text, right, without even understanding but how to read the phonetics uh of the text. Uh so I enjoyed singing with them uh a few songs. I actually got to know really well, so I can even sync to my memory. Uh but uh to speak Yuchtun, uh that's very, very difficult.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

How how long has the Catholic faith been in Alaska?

SPEAKER_01 19:55

It came with the Jesuits when um Alaska was actually Orthodox first. Oh yeah, that was first Christianity and then Jesuits. From Russia, would you say? Yeah, yeah. And then Jesuits brought uh Catholic faith um uh to to Alaska. And in my diocese, just right now, in the end of June, uh they finished their mission. Uh the two last Jesuits left.

SPEAKER_05 20:17

Uh so there is no more Jesuits uh in in my diocese uh so uh you finished your uh uh the theological studies uh in Poland but had that uh discerning um call to the missions, and someone told you there was a need for priests in Patterson, right? Thank God. And uh and uh um did you come directly to Patterson, right? From Poland, right? And then um uh did you um you would have spent some time, I guess, studying English and preparing for diaconate then, right? Mm-hmm. That was necessary. And what was your first parish experience here in the diocese?

SPEAKER_01 20:56

So that was when I was seminarian um East uh Saint Rose of Lima in Istanbul. Uh very Italian parish. I still have many friends over there, uh, and I go to to that to visit my friends uh pretty often.

SPEAKER_05 21:10

Italian food is a little different from Alaskan food. Yeah, oh yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

But that was more Italian style, European style. Uh then when I was deacon, I moved to Whippany, uh, and that was like more American like uh parish.

SPEAKER_05 21:23

Uh uh A Lady of Mercy in Whipany, right? And then um when you were ordained a priest, where was your first assignment?

SPEAKER_01 21:29

St. Patrick's in Chatham.

SPEAKER_05 21:30

Um were you already a hockey fan, or did was that Father Bob's doing? Oh, you're a hockey fan? Yes. I'd like to hear that. Uh you and Father Bob used to go to some devil games, right? Yeah, right. Yeah, that's what's happening. Oh yeah. And then um from St. Patrick's in Chatham to uh Our Lady of the Lake, right, right. And then um back to Chatham to the other parish in Chatham, Corpus Christi, right? Corpus Christi. Um so um uh and by the time you were in Corpus Christi, um that call to um uh they they talk about St. Patrick um when he was um enslaved in Ireland and escaped and got back to England, he felt the people um of the place he had been kind of calling him back to serve. Um and uh in some way uh you had been there a few summers and you discerned that uh the Lord might be inviting you to spend some uh be there for uh an experience on a longer basis. Is that right? Yes, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Exactly. That was when I was in Chatham at Carpus Christi. Uh I came to you and I said that yeah, I I wish to go there. Yeah, so we had like a very nice Conversation and with God's blessing and your help, Your Excellency, I was able to go there and to experience this old missionary lifestyle.

SPEAKER_05 22:48

And you know, um in ministry and um uh in discerning the Lord's will and serving as priests, um especially as Daasin priests, um yes, there hopefully we all have some of that missionary spirit, right? Uh but that can take place in Alaska or it can take place in in Chatham or Spartan or Boonton, right? Uh uh and uh uh you said uh your experience in Alaska has helped you in terms of your own reflection on your priesthood, right? Oh yes. Um and now you're doing the your missionary work in Boonton, in St. Cyril Matodians, right? At the Polish church though, yes. Along with um uh St. Virgil's in uh in Morris Plains where you're living, right? Yes. Um so you're back um in the missions of Patterson, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yes, Your Excellency. And actually, yes, there are some things that uh like the skills I have learned in Alaska that I can implement uh here um either uh in Morris Plains or in Bunton. Uh but yes, that that was a very beneficial time for me, and uh it it will really reward me in the future. Wherever I'm going to be, um I will definitely have a little bit of Alaska in your heart, huh?

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Bishop, question for you. Um can you talk about the missionary spirit? Or or I mean uh so we have missionaries, some other missionaries in our diocese, and anywhere you want to go with that?

SPEAKER_05 24:03

Well, uh, you know, it really since the Second Vatican Council, there's been uh Pope Paul VI said the church exists to evangelize. So that were and and and that call from baptism to be um uh uh a call to holiness, but also to be missionary disciples, right? Jesus said, go to the ends of the earth and make uh disciples, baptize them, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teach them and know that I'm with you till the end of the age. So and Pope Francis um was especially in his um uh maybe most important uh uh document, uh Evangeli Gaudium, the joy of the gospel, uh, was very focused on that call to be missionary disciples, wherever we are. Uh yeah, some have that call to leave home and culture and uh and what a blessing it can be. I shared um we um uh another missionary uh from Oklahoma to Guatemala, Father Stanley Rother. Uh there was a movie that just came out about him this week, and uh he's uh he's now been named a martyr, and he just needs a miracle to be canonized as a saint. He would be the first male born in the United States. There's uh a few candidates, Fulton Sheen, Father Michael McGivney, Father Rother. There might be one or two others that are on the path to sainthood, but uh so so far I'm pretty sure that no male uh born in the United States. There's been a few women born in the United States who have been uh canonized as saints, but apparently not a male yet. And uh so Father Stanley felt this call. Um, and uh in in writing about him, I shared, you know, my own experience going to the Dominican Republic or Mexico or um and then in Brooklyn and Queens, and now here in Patterson, you know, getting to know different cultures through language, but also through uh uh through culture. And so, yes, the the language was one thing, but you you got to hold know a whole other culture, right? And uh trying to share the faith in that culture. And it's I think it helps us see the the beauty of our Catholic faith. It's you it is universal, right? That word means universal. And so um there, right? Um uh beautiful picture, that's a good timing. Uh, because it's the same Easter vigil. Okay, the some of the aesthetics might be a little bit different, but uh it's the same celebration of the Paschal Mystery, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Can we pause here? So the thing is that you see that there is a window and it's pretty bright outside, right? Yes. Uh we had this celebration in the evening, okay? Um, okay, so that was all right. But uh normally uh we would have to start after midnight to catch uh some of the darkness. Why? Because uh when the end of January comes, okay, February, March, it's getting brighter and brighter, and you know that there is midnight sun, right? So it starts usually around May time, right? So when the Easter is late in April, okay, it's already uh pretty bright at night. There usually it's uh some some darkness is usually about 1 a.m., 2 a.m. Okay. So for me, like last year, okay, last year we had uh Easter later, uh it was so like weird to celebrate Easter with some sunlight coming through, like outside. Like when you do the fire outside, and it's like uh it's so bright, right? So another aspect that um it would it was more cultural towards that uh region and the people over there.

SPEAKER_05 27:16

Uh so it might go for it goes from uh the shortest days where there's only five hours of daylight to um the longest days would be how many hours?

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Non-stop is light. So over there in Kotlik, uh I didn't see sun directly on the sky, but it was bright like yeah, it was much brighter than this what we see with the clouds. Right. Uh but yeah, going from Arctic Circle, that distance, geographical distance, um there is non-stop sun seen on the on the on the sky. So let's say in Barrow, Utkyavik, that's the last city in in Alaska, uh they see sun non-stop going on the sky non-stop, 24 hours uh per day. Yeah, for a few months.

SPEAKER_05 27:56

For a few months. Yeah. Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

This is what's going on here. The convocation, okay. Any anything you can uh I think I asked you this last time, or we asked you this last time. Um, lessons learned from Alaska during your time that you could bring back to New Jersey for either for your yourself you alluded to, but uh maybe others as well. Something uh to learn.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Definitely time in isolation is uh really good uh because we live in uh this chaos of today's world, nonstop with our cell phones, media, multimedia and everything, right? Uh and it's sometimes really good uh to stop a bit uh and to really listen to our interior, our hearts and minds, uh, and to rely more on God, uh to listen to what God wants to say to us. Uh so this is what I would say to everyone who are watching right now. Um sometimes really to pause to find that time of retreat and quietness is really really important. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

What else do you want to tell us about?

SPEAKER_05 29:01

You had some fun.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

I learned how to survive. Uh I realized uh this is uh this is crazy, but many times I saw people actually carrying eggs, having normal chicken eggs on those planes like that. Okay, so they were um transporting eggs uh from Bethel, uh from that bigger city to their villages. Why? Because many times we didn't see eggs in the stores, local stores. Our stole stores in the villages were poorly supplied. Uh and I believe that uh in my village uh I saw chicken eggs only three times in the course of two years. Wow. Uh because it's also poor business for manager of every store in the villages uh to order eggs uh if they they come broken, right? So many times they don't order eggs uh or they have difficulties with um transportation or um you know good conditions because everything is as you see, right, is um very primitive.

SPEAKER_05 29:56

Uh when we saw the ice fishing, you said you needed it to survive. Uh was that half-choking or was there some truth to that? So I re because now that you're talking, I remember uh that your the diet was a struggle, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh I was actually uh eating a lot of the fish. Last year I went with my uh neighbor uh Paul Hunt uh and his family uh for fishing regularly. So I filled my freezer with fish and I ate for three months non-stop fish. Wow to save also some money because the products in the voters are very expensive. Uh but uh having this abundance of fish, I ate only fish.

SPEAKER_05 30:33

And you caught you caught all those fish yourself?

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Yeah, yeah, but we had fishing nets.

SPEAKER_05 30:37

What kind of fish?

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Uh different kinds, uh, and white fish, different kinds, salmon with King Salmon my favorite. I love it. I love it. Uh she fish, uh, all those different that swim in the rivers.

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Did you bring some back for us?

SPEAKER_01 30:51

No, I ate all of them.

SPEAKER_05 30:53

Have you eaten much fish since you returned?

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Uh not so much, maybe once. Um, but I I really want to eat steaks, not some other meat.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

Not a lot of steak in Alaska.

SPEAKER_06 31:05

But they have moose. Uh they actually can really uh someone gave me some moose meat uh that eat.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

So it's very unique. The most unique is actually seal meat. Oh boy. From seal. Uh it tastes a bit like chicken. Uh no, actually like like drugs, like anti bio antibiotics or something like that. It's really not really tasty. So you have to eat this with something, uh, usually with some pastries or in some stool like um form because uh you have to kill the taste.

SPEAKER_05 31:37

I guess protein is protein if you need it.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Yeah, it's full of iron, uh a lot of the iron over there. So uh but it's it's really good like for survival there in that climate.

SPEAKER_05 31:45

Wow, seal meat. Do they do they eat a lot of seal meat? They do.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Yeah, they they hunt for seal. Um yeah, so there are a lot of seal around? Yeah, in those uh open waters over there, yeah. They have plenty of those.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

So what what's next for Father Camille?

SPEAKER_01 32:02

I'm staying in our diocese, I'm enjoying the moment, and I'm focused on uh ministering in Bunton at the Polish community.

SPEAKER_05 32:09

Okay over there. Yes, yes, St. Cyril Lemotholius, yes. Um so um um we'll have to get you um at some point to speak to our seminarians, right? Because uh uh it's it's uh uh part of our formation um to learn about different um experiences of priesthood and um when we're only in maybe in our comfort zone, yes, that can be challenging in itself. Um but it can be a blessing and a growing experience uh to allow the Lord to lead us uh to some place where we may not be familiar, right? And uh and uh um it can be helpful for guys as they discern the call.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Yeah, oh yes. If I can be of any help uh and give some knowledge to those seminars, I will definitely do that. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_05 32:59

That's great. Um well Father Camille, thank you so much for being with us. Uh uh, we're grateful that uh you know you had that um willingness and generosity to respond to the Lord's call and give yourself. I know Father, as I said, Bishop Stephen was very, very grateful for your time there. Um and we're also glad that the Lord led you back here to the missions in in Patterson. So um we'll keep you in our prayers and uh um we'll see where how and where the Lord leads us uh going forward. But but thanks so much for sharing with us.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

Yeah, big big welcome back, and uh we see you in here around more, hopefully. Um before we wrap up, Bishop, um what are you what are you reading? What are you listening to?

SPEAKER_05 33:40

What's oh boy, um I listen I um I listened to a wonderful book, um uh The Life You Save May Be Your Own, um by Paul Ellie, I believe. Um it's uh a kind of a simultaneous biography of uh Flannery O'Connor, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Walker Percy, uh philosophical writer and novelist. Um and uh um I think I started it before retreat, continued it on retreat, and finished it uh afterwards. Um uh been a big fan of Dorothy Day. Um New York connection, I guess. Yes, right, and uh some Brooklyn connection as well. And um but uh you know I was familiar with Florida Flannery O'Connor a little bit. She's um an acquired taste, I think. But uh one of the great Catholic writers, uh very funny. I didn't realize she was as sarcastic. She's the one that um credited, I believe, with the line at some fancy dinner with some uh upscale uh ladies, maybe, and uh Catholics, and uh or maybe some weren't Catholic. Uh in the course of the dinner conversation, she said they were talking about the Eucharist and uh being a symbol, and uh Florida O'Connor said, Well, if it's only the symbol to hell with it. So uh famous line, yeah. Yes. Um and um and uh again, I'm familiar with Thomas Merton, but um wow, he was very prolific and uh and so popular in his time. Um and um and then Walker Percy, uh the philosophy teacher, Father Robert Lawrence, one of my favorite teachers in in St. John's University, was a big fan of Walker Percy. So uh never heard of that. That was great. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Yeah, Thomas Merton can be a little deep. Uh I'm attempting to read a bit of Thomas Merton.

SPEAKER_05 35:25

Yeah, I tried the Seven Story Mountain a couple of times. Yeah. And uh didn't get all that far. But uh, as opposed to in the seminary, I read Dorothy Day's uh The Long Loneliness, her her um autobiography and spiritual memoir. Um yeah, um she's she's she's she's amazing. Uh and and how popular she was in her time and the Catholic worker movement, you know, uh she's she there was some struggle in her older years when younger volunteers would come and she uh wasn't so uh crazy about the way culture and young people were going in the 1960s and early 70s, and uh she let it be known that she wasn't uh but uh but they came because they were inspired and you know to serve in the Catholic worker and then Catholic worker homes opened up all across the United States, and some are still going. So um, yeah, that was that was uh a good read.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Great. Well, there you go. Some great recommendations, so thank you.

SPEAKER_05 36:19

I wanted to mention I uh in August the 5th I did a final profession, Solemn Vows for uh uh Salesian sister um at um Mary Helping Christians Heldon. In August 14th, I celebrated a final profession for Sister Chiara Marie, uh, who's uh uh a faculty member at Divine Mercy Academy in Rockaway and uh has been serving there for a number of years. She made her solemn vows with the sisters of Christian charity um at their motherhouse in Mendem. And um in uh September I'll be celebrating uh a mass for a Carmelite sister in Morristown who's be making her solemn vows. Um and uh we might have more to come about the Carmelite Monastery celebrating its hundredth anniversary. We will as we pray for vocations, yes, to priesthood, but also to consecrated religious life, and it's great to see in in about a month three sisters making solemn professions. So uh uh keep praying for vocations.

SPEAKER_03 37:18

All right, well, thanks again, Father Camille. Thanks, Bishop, 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.

SPEAKER_05 37:41

Thanks, everybody. God bless. See you next time.