Ever wondered what it’s like to attend the National Eucharistic Congress? Join Deacon Mike Hayes, Fr. Damian Ference, and Christy Cabaniss as they recount their physically demanding yet spiritually uplifting experiences at this impactful event. Walk with us through the streets of Indianapolis, share in the profound moments of Eucharistic Adoration, and hear about the unforgettable nightly gatherings at Lucas Oil Stadium. The trio had a deep reflection on the final night of the Congress featuring Gloria Purvis' stirring talk, Matt Maher's joyful worship session, and Bishop Barron's talk. The diverse representation from our diocese will leave you feeling inspired and united in faith. Cardinal Tagle's homily at the closing Mass and Cardinal Pierre's opening homily were both centered on unity and equally inspiring. Fr. Mike Schmitz earlier presentation was also quite good.
Discover how a simple walking stick became a symbol of welcome and continuity between clergy members in Deacon Mike's classmate Deacon Mark's captivating story. Experience the emotional highs of the grand procession, where eight deacons from the Diocese of Cleveland received heartfelt support from the crowd, and the impressive opening ceremony that united thousands of attendees in a powerful display of faith. The high-quality production of the event set a new standard, showing that our faith deserves to be celebrated with grandeur and excellence.
Reconnect with old friends and make new ones as the vibrant Catholic community comes alive in our stories. Hear about serendipitous encounters with familiar faces, including a reunion with a couple married a decade ago and a former student now in the seminary. Witness leaders like Bishop Malesic and Bishop Woost engaging with delegates, demonstrating true shepherding spirit. Reflect with us on the readings for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and celebrate the contagious enthusiasm of the Cleveland delegation in their distinctive Ohio red shirts. Don’t miss this enriching episode that captures the spirit of Cleveland and the joy of shared faith.
Ever wondered what it’s like to attend the National Eucharistic Congress? Join Deacon Mike Hayes, Fr. Damian Ference, and Christy Cabaniss as they recount their physically demanding yet spiritually uplifting experiences at this impactful event. Walk with us through the streets of Indianapolis, share in the profound moments of Eucharistic Adoration, and hear about the unforgettable nightly gatherings at Lucas Oil Stadium. The trio had a deep reflection on the final night of the Congress featuring Gloria Purvis' stirring talk, Matt Maher's joyful worship session, and Bishop Barron's talk. The diverse representation from our diocese will leave you feeling inspired and united in faith. Cardinal Tagle's homily at the closing Mass and Cardinal Pierre's opening homily were both centered on unity and equally inspiring. Fr. Mike Schmitz earlier presentation was also quite good.
Discover how a simple walking stick became a symbol of welcome and continuity between clergy members in Deacon Mike's classmate Deacon Mark's captivating story. Experience the emotional highs of the grand procession, where eight deacons from the Diocese of Cleveland received heartfelt support from the crowd, and the impressive opening ceremony that united thousands of attendees in a powerful display of faith. The high-quality production of the event set a new standard, showing that our faith deserves to be celebrated with grandeur and excellence.
Reconnect with old friends and make new ones as the vibrant Catholic community comes alive in our stories. Hear about serendipitous encounters with familiar faces, including a reunion with a couple married a decade ago and a former student now in the seminary. Witness leaders like Bishop Malesic and Bishop Woost engaging with delegates, demonstrating true shepherding spirit. Reflect with us on the readings for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and celebrate the contagious enthusiasm of the Cleveland delegation in their distinctive Ohio red shirts. Don’t miss this enriching episode that captures the spirit of Cleveland and the joy of shared faith.
Speaker 1:
On today's Question of Faith. What was the highlight of the National Eucharistic Congress? Hey everybody, this is Question of Faith. I am Deacon Mike Hayes. I'm the Young Adult Ministry Director here in the Diocese of Cleveland.
Speaker 2:
And I'm Fr Damian Ferencz, the Vicar for Evangelization.
Speaker 3:
And I'm Christi Cabaniss, Director for Missionary Discipleship.
Speaker 2:
Are you tired, y'all?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, oh my goodness, I'm still tired.
Speaker 1:
Doesn't begin to say how tired I am.
Speaker 2:
My little Fitbit got a workout oh yeah, did you log your miles or your steps? What do you normally get and what did you get there?
Speaker 1:
Normally. Well, I've been walking. I've been doing like a three mile walk almost every day, so it's not too much for me, but usually I'm somewhere around 10,000, 11,000 steps. And my high for this one was 19,000.
Speaker 3:
Nice.
Speaker 1:
Wow, yeah, that's good. That was the procession day.
Speaker 3:
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
And the day before that was 17,000.
Speaker 3:
I was not that high. I was surprised at how low my numbers were when I got back.
Speaker 1:
But most of the other days I was somewhere around 12,000, 13,000, which is fairly normal for me.
Speaker 2:
And a lot of it wasn't just walking, it was just the length of the days and the intensity of the days. So we did a podcast before we left on what we were looking forward to and now we're able to unpack and it outdid all my expectations. I will say, I will say that, and, christy, it's great to have you on, you've become the folk hero of the diocese, because she was really.
Speaker 2:
I mean, it took a team effort, but you really were kind of the captain of the team, at least on the road, and the communications person and the one who was sending all the emails and getting back. So people knew your name, but it took a couple of days for them to put your name to your face and then when they did, it was hoorah, hooray. There she is, our folk hero, the one who gets us everywhere we want to go without losing her temper QB Christy, yeah, so well, who wants to wants to?
Speaker 2:
what do you want? I mean, you opened it with. What's the highlight? I think there's many highlights. There's many, so let's do, you have top three.
Speaker 1:
I've got top three. Go on, let's start. So the last night of the on the main stage, I would say, was definitely the highlight for me. I really, really loved Adoration that night. I had a pretty profound experience of the Eucharist that night for myself. Bishop Barron can't go wrong, and I really thought Gloria Purvis was the star that night. I thought she really did a nice job of talking about unity, getting everybody together, talking about how we have to be in unity with the Pope. I really, really enjoyed her talk. That was the. I thought that was the best talk of all of them, for me.
Speaker 2:
I liked in her talk that she talked about what brings us together and she also gave the opposite what pulls us apart and things we need to. That's a good pedagogy. You know what works, what doesn't work.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so that's highlight one. You want me to do all three of mine, or do you?
Speaker 2:
want to no highlight one. You want me to do all three of mine, or do?
Speaker 1:
you want?
Speaker 3:
no, we could all share one, I mean, I'll say that that too, that the saturday night with um matt marr was there and saying for us. I mean, that was super powerful. I was so excited. Um, that was because we were getting to the close of everything for me. It was a night that I could actually like lean into everything that was happening and so, um, I love that and I was just. I took a couple of times I took like a video shot of it was amazing how many people were there.
Speaker 3:
But on top of that, like the ages and the Diocese of Cleveland good job FDU contributed to the fact that we had every age there. We had little littles, we had two babies, one and three years old. We had elementary age kids all the way up to senior citizens of all kinds of ages and it just for me, it was this huge unifying moment of it doesn't matter how old you are or what your state in life is. We all come together around the Lord and he brings us together. It was so beautiful.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I even tweeted on the way home. In terms of our diocesan delegation, One of the things that we were very much trying to do and did was make sure that everyone in our diocese was represented. So we did have young like who was the youngest on the trip. One year old little Donatelli baby and I don't know how old the oldest was, but I'd say probably seventies or eighties at least 70s, I know that for sure.
Speaker 2:
We had laity, we had religious, we had clergy, we had Asian, black, hispanic, white. We had old and we had young. We had men, we had women and people from Wayne, ashland, medina, we had people from, so that's more of our rural area. We had people from the suburbs, we had people from the city. It looked like us.
Speaker 2:
I liked that very much, so that was cool. I would say too, my highlight. It really did culminate. And for those who weren't there, every night we gathered in the oil can stadium standard oil or whatever it was called Lucas. Oil Stadium which holds regularly 70-some thousand.
Speaker 2:
Taylor Swift is going to be playing there, I think, in a couple months, but there were 50,000 of us about they gathered there every night and there was about two hours, maybe two and a half hours, of programming. So they had three hosts. It was Father Josh, sister Miriam, and what?
Speaker 3:
was her name, monse Alvarado Monse, who's like the CEO of EWTN.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and they hosted, and then different speakers came out and there was different music every night and then some adoration each night, and so on. The last night it was Gloria Purvis, it was Bishop Barron, it was Matt Marr, there was someone else that was there too.
Speaker 3:
Jonathan Rumi Jonathanumi. Okay, there it is. There it is Okay.
Speaker 2:
So here's my that last night was my highlight. When I was first ordained, I was sent to your home, parish.
Speaker 2:
St Mary in Hudson and because I had never worked with Life Team before, I had to go to Arizona to be trained to learn about Life Team. And the guy who was playing music that weekend at St Tim's in Arizona was a young man named Matt Marr. He's only two years older than me, so I was 26, 27 at the time. He would have been 29. And I was like this guy's pretty cool and I like his music. And what I always have liked about Matt is he knows the tradition well, he knows liturgy well and he also knows music well and he can lead well and he knows it's not about performance. He said that this is not a concert, this is praise and worship and he was able to bring us in and play the right music at the right time in the right way, like he's a master of his craft, and was able to bring us in even after the speakers come in and out and know the kind of things to play to penetrate the heart.
Speaker 2:
And Johnny Hawkins and I went to Deacon John Hawkins, we went to a CUA reunion that night right after our dinner and another side of town. We scootered there and then by the time we got back there were no seats. So we were way up in the crow's nest. I think we were section 436 and it was just the two of us. Let's just sit here. But, man, I felt like it was easier for me to get into it and like tears and and I was in, man, I was locked in. And then when roomie came out, in the first of all he looks like a rock star with the long hair.
Speaker 1:
I mean, looks like jesus with all the white all right like white t shirt like john leaden from the white album with the flannery o'connor white jeans, white belt, then yeah, the Flannery O'Connor shirt if it's assembled, to hell with it.
Speaker 2:
And then my phone lit up like boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. Yeah, that was. It all came together. So that too, I mean we share that highlight.
Speaker 1:
Saturday night was awesome, it's funny, I was up classmate also, yes, yes, but more importantly, yours, we, um, we decided to go up, go up high, that night because, uh, we, we had had about enough of people. After the procession which will be my second, I went, I'll talk about later but we were, we were like, uh, we just need to spread out and just be quiet and have a nice night. And so we went all the way up as far as we can go and we're right in front of the stage, but up high, you, you know, on that far side. And that was great. It was really, really nice. It was kind of solemn and I think that's what really got us into it. So it was cool. I think Deacon Mark and I both said at the end of the night that it was kind of nice, just the two of us being together as classmates and just kind of enjoying some solitude for a little bit. And then other people kind of came in and added to it instead of subtracted from it. So it was great.
Speaker 2:
Let me say a word really quick about Deacon Mark Tomeko. So he is my classmate from Holy Name. We graduated in 1994 together New job, and he just took the new job of I think it's mission and identity at Holy Name, which is in addition to what campus ministry used to be. So when I was there we had a full-time priest, father Krizner. I wouldn't be a priest without him.
Speaker 2:
After the diocese pulled him out and made him pastor of St Colette's, they never put another priest in there, and so Mary Wallace has been doing an outstanding job as campus minister. But they decided they needed even more than that. So Mary's going to stay on in theology. But what they wanted was someone not only to minister to the needs of the students but the staff and faculty, and so Mark has been a high school teacher for how many years? His children are students at Holy Name and this position opened up and he's a newly ordained deacon. So to have a deacon in there is awesome, not to mention now Father Joe Menkhaus has been assigned the chaplain. So Bishop has given chaplains to all five of his diocesan high schools and since I'm alumni alumnus of Holy Name, I'm so thrilled that he's going to be there, not to mention that there were some pictures that were posted with Holy Name students already getting to know him. So I have great hopes for Holy.
Speaker 1:
Name High School. Okay, cool story. I hope Mark doesn't mind me telling this, but this is a cool story that he told me while we were there. So he started there and he's looking through this new office which used to be Father Crisner's apartment right, he used to live there and so he's going through different closets and things like that and he found this old walking stick in a closet and had had father prisoner's name engraved on it or carved into it, I guess is what I mean to say. And he was like, oh, this is interesting. And it was like kind of hanging in on the wall in a closet. He goes well, why is this back in this closet? This is kind of cool, we should put this somewhere else. And so he came back, like you know, a couple days later and he opens this drawer and because he's still like cleaning, it.
Speaker 1:
Mark's very organized right, so he's organizing the whole office. He pulls open this drawer. He finds another walking stick and he's like huh, this is interesting, oh, carved in the exact same place. No one has been in that room since he left it. Okay, he turns around, goes back to the other side where he had that walking stick hanging up, and it's no longer there. And it was now in this drawer. And he's like he confirmed no one's been in the room. So he was like so he felt like that was Father Krizner's way of saying welcome, huh, and so he's going to use the walking stick now as like a prop for different things, to sort of one honor his predecessor.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Also, you know, there's certainly a lot of things that you could use a walking stick to symbolize. Sure that would be really good. Cool, that's great. Yeah, it's a cool story. I know how close you were with Father. Christ, yeah, he was very dear to me, so your highlight was also the last night.
Speaker 2:
Saturday, yeah, saturday night. So good, all came together.
Speaker 1:
Sure.
Speaker 1:
Second one for me the procession through the streets of Indy. It was just throngs and throngs of people everywhere and as deacons we all walked together in it. It was actually kind of cool. There were eight deacons in a row and we had exactly eight permanent deacons from the Diocese of Cleveland, so we all were able to walk together, which was kind of nice. Deacon Willie Yoho was sort of the cheerleader and yelling out you know, god is great all the time, you know kind of thing. So that was cool.
Speaker 1:
And I walked with my new deacon mentor. He had assigned a new deacon mentor. So this is kind of cool for me. I had my old deacon mentor. Deacon Chris DePente was my roommate, we'll talk about him in a minute and then my new deacon mentor is Deacon Greg Leisure, who I grew quite close to during formation. So he's coming on to be my new deacon mentor. So we walked shoulder to shoulder, walking down the street. But it was kind of cool, kind of humbling, to hear people say we love you deacons, bless you deacons, as we were walking through. So it was cool. Yeah, lots of folks.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, for the procession, I did tell, I've told people like you are watching the procession happen and see how many gazillions of people are even in it, and so then you're thinking there can't be any more people, but they were packed on the sides of the street the whole way. But I think my second highlight moment was actually the opening of the entire NEC, of the entire NEC. These processions that have been coming from the corners of the United States came together and then the Blessed Sacrament is processed in and the crowd is just everyone's on their knees In the stadium, it doesn't matter where you are, and the quietness and the music and the spotlighting. I mean I've been to Lucas Oil for an NCYC but this was, I mean, probably three times the amount of people that would be at that and just that incredible moment of us all coming together. And then also the papal nuncio addressed the group that night and his comments were tremendous.
Speaker 3:
I just felt this constant theme of let's not be divided, let's unify. Isn't that what the Eucharist is about? Isn't that what Jesus is trying to do? So those opening ceremonies, it was like that whole sense of for me anyway, because of how much work had gone into the logistics like we're here. We made it. Let's begin. It was beautiful.
Speaker 2:
Two things to say. One thing to say, and then I'll build off it. I watched a little clip yesterday on Instagram. David Calavita, who's from Life Teen, mentioned something that I think is worth considering. He said that was the first event he remembers that the, the USCCB, or American Church, has put on.
Speaker 2:
That has been high quality in everything in terms of the production, like no one was pulling back any, like what you would expect from a secular event. In terms of screens and lighting, production. It was all top-tier stuff, which that matters when you're. And he's a creative, so he's an artist and he wants that and I thought, yeah, that's right. I didn't notice that. I guess I didn't consider noticing it because it was there. I guess I would have noticed if it wasn't there, because a lot of times we think, well, we can't afford that or we can't like go for it, go for it. So I thought that was cool to mention.
Speaker 2:
My second would be what I would call small Catholic world, that you know 50,000 people there, but running into people that I haven't seen in a long time. I met your other podcast friend and we did a podcast with your friend and those two are actually married to each other. And it's only when I walked by and I saw, was it Jamborski, jarzabowski, jarzabowski. I should be better with that. I'm from Parma. But I saw her and I'm like, hey, I'm friends with Christy. I said, christy, christy Caban is your. Oh yeah, father Dave. Okay, so we took a little selfie. That was good.
Speaker 2:
I was able to connect with a couple that I married 10 years ago and do a renewal. We don't renew vows, but there's actually a ritual that you could do, so I got to connect with them, some guys I study with in Rome and I ran into Father Dave Pavanka and a bunch of folks. Even when you're vesting you're like, oh hey, you're here. So I like that. I love being Catholic because you don't see people for a long time like dude, what's up? And that was great. I love that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's almost. I was going to say something about that later on, but I'll make that my third highway. It was kind of the same for me. I was vesting for the procession and all of a sudden I see this young man coming toward me in a cassock. He was one of my Canisius students, andy Erdman, who's a seminarian now in Buffalo, nice, and he came over and just gave me a big embrace and it's been a while since I've seen him and he was like, oh my God, I miss you so much. He goes. It's so good to hear. I said, andy, you don't know how good it is to see you in that cast.
Speaker 3:
He goes.
Speaker 1:
You don't know how good it is to see you with those vests.
Speaker 3:
It was just really sweet.
Speaker 1:
I really enjoyed it. And then my friend Kathleen and said hey, I heard you're here, can I see you? And I was like oh yeah, I'm vesting over in F, just tell me when you're there and I'll walk out. And she didn't walk out. She took one look at me and I was already vested and she goes. This is what I prayed for.
Speaker 2:
I was like ah, if I can share a similar experience. Do you remember when Maria did the Behold retreat for daughters and mothers.
Speaker 2:
And one of the women she brought in was a woman named Sam Kelly who runs some outfit called I forget what it's called it's Fierce, fierce, fierce Catholic, because it's like Division One athletes and all this. I discovered at dinner, the night before her talk, that she was a big Springsteen fan, so we hit it off. Then she asked me for my top 10 Springsteen songs. We shared information. She's actually going to join me and my buddy Rich to see Springsteen in Philly, nice, after meeting only once. Anyway, I'm coming into the Lucas Can Oil Stadium on.
Speaker 2:
Friday morning and I'm just coming around the corner and who comes? And it's Sam Kelly. She goes, I just prayed that I would see you and boom, same thing. And 50,000 people run into her. And then the other person, francine, was giving away this book to her teens on the youth council by a woman named Meg Hunter Kilmer, and it was like all these random saints that you never heard of because they're kind of new.
Speaker 2:
And when I read the book, I mentioned it on Insta and I tagged her on there. And then one of my breakouts, the one you had us go to empower she gave the talk. I'm like that's how I know her, and she was on fire and I loved what she had to say. And so after the last mass, on the way out, I ran into her and I'm like hey, because I thanked her, I DM'd her, but I'd never met her before, but I saw those big sunglasses. I'm like hey, so I got to. You know, it's just nice to connect with people. It's lovely, indeed, especially when they say what you just said, like I was praying for you and then, boom, there they are.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I have one that's a of our delegates together, all 250 that went on the trip, and our hope was that the bishops were going to be able to join us. Logistics being what they were, that was impossible. They couldn't make it. So I was super sad and I was like I feel like the group needs to be addressed in some kind of way. So I went to the front of the room and everyone was talking and having a good time with each other, which was great, and I just said good afternoon. Everyone and the room turned and then they erupted into applause for me, which I was literally blown away, like I was like, oh my gosh, you guys stop.
Speaker 3:
But we had our comments and I said the bishops unfortunately aren't going to be able to make it, but talk to each other and share what this experience has been for you and really like engage in this moment and open yourselves up to what's available tonight. And then that night, bishop Molesik and Bishop Wust, after walking all of that way and everything that they had done all day, they walked out to the buses to greet all the delegates on their buses, which was just.
Speaker 3:
I mean that was awesome, yeah, they are really great shepherds and we are so blessed to have them as our leaders, so that I mean that was a huge thing for me.
Speaker 2:
Let me say something about that dinner at the Omni, by the way, which was great, oh, and I want to say this publicly. So when we were heading back from the procession, so I was not in the Eucharistic procession because I knew that you had arranged that dinner at the Omni and I wanted to be part of that. So I was part of the Eucharistic procession but I just didn't process in it. So I was there you know what I mean. And so we were coming back and I thought we were going to the West End and you and Judy had your flags. I'm like I think we're going this way. You're like no, we're going this way. And you two went as you knew you should. And I was so proud because that's what you're supposed to do, and a lot of times people the priest oh, he's the priest, you knew what you were doing, you did it.
Speaker 2:
I admitted to Judy. I'm like, hey, I was wrong there. Thank you for like going with what you knew was right, and I wanted to say that publicly because I think that's really important with the staff that we have. Like, if you know something's true, say it, stand up for it and go, because the priests get it wrong a lot and that's fine. So thank you for your leadership on that. And I also wanted to say that as I was in line for food that night, people were eating so much salad and I heard people saying I haven't had greens in three days and just piling up that was me. I mean, you're eating like granola bars and fast food. It's like oh my gosh vegetables. And just I took a whole huge piling plate of that Caesar salad without croutons and the chicken was so good though those chicken thighs, the chicken were good, it was a great meal. So thank you for organizing that, of course, yeah, it was funny.
Speaker 1:
It was somewhat difficult to find good food at lunch, I thought. But I went out to dinner with my Paulist friends one night. They took me to dinner one night. It was great to catch up with those guys too, and I actually texted a copy of the menu to my trainer and said what should I eat here? Oh, nice so I was doing really well and so he found like a good enchilada meal. That was very healthy actually and it was really tasty, so I was like I was really happy.
Speaker 1:
So he called me actually on Monday and said I'm just looking at your food chart while you were away. He goes, you did a great job. This is really really good and a hard thing to do. He said so good job, it is so.
Speaker 2:
I'll pat myself on the back for staying on my weight loss plan here. I wound up at the same place three different times because I found a place that had good food and I went back. You went there the last day of lunch too. Yep, yeah, it was pretty good.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it was really good. The thing I want to say was you know, I'm always really interested in how other people pray. You know, the bishop named me the new Ecumenical Interfaith Director here, so I'll have to add that to my title at the beginning.
Speaker 2:
It'll go on and on. I only pick one.
Speaker 1:
I'll pick one and go Pick one and go, but we haven't said that on this podcast. I don't think it's good to say it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
You should have a new hat. But the thing that I think I like about this is that I'm always very interested in how other people pray, and the style of prayer at this thing was very sort of evangelical which is not how I pray right, and so it was kind of hard for me to get into it.
Speaker 1:
And then that last night I thought Matt Moore kind of brought it back to you know more of the style that I'm used to being able to pray. I remember you even pointed that out. You said you know, matt really knows how to do this and I was like— he's excellent. Yeah, and that is excellent, yeah, and so I was able to kind of get into it for myself there. But it's interesting to me to see how other people pray and what really moves them and to be able to engage with that in some way.
Speaker 2:
I also wonder, because it sounds like you and I did the same thing. You were with my classmate, your classmate Deacon Mark Tomeko, up high.
Speaker 2:
I was with Johnny Hawkins and there wasn't anyone else around Hawkins and there wasn't anyone else around, and I feel like more able to express myself when I'm not surrounded by a big horde of folks like to put my hands up and all, and I think I'm a little more private in my expression of prayer, even like I pray in the Bishop's Chapel in our rectory on the second floor every morning and I talk like out loud and if you walked in you'd be like what is he doing? I would never do that with anyone else around. But I mean, I've known John since he was in high school so I knew he was okay. At one point. He looks at me. I got tears rolling down my eyes and he did too, like yeah, this is how it is, but I guess I'm a little more private in my expression of prayer.
Speaker 2:
But there was one moment that night I don't remember what song they were like you are so good, and there were about four or five women on the perimeter of the floor and they were like Everything in their whole body was moving like full on. And I look at John and I'm like dude, those are biblical women and they had like dresses on and just it was awesome, I loved it. I was moved by that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, at one point I was near Father Ian Kelly and he had his hands in the air. He's jumping, he's clapping, he's doing all kinds of things.
Speaker 2:
I was like I have never, seen this side of him, dude, I know, yeah, in his cassock. I think it was just a.
Speaker 1:
Oh, I know, I know I'm just kidding, yeah, I think it was just an eclarical shirt, yeah, but that was kind of interesting for me to see. So I mean it was good. You know, I thought the sessions that we went to during the morning those were a little harder. Those were really sort of like call and response kind of things with the deacon Oni and his wife, so that was a little harder for me to get into, but it was.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it was the way it is Well, and I think some people, when they hear a talk or when they talk, they want to say a line and then repeat it back. That doesn't work for me as well. However, a big part of this experience was doing things that I'm not necessarily comfortable with and allowing the Lord to stretch me in that way. For example, at the last mass, I usually defer the purification of the vessels to the deacon or the seminarians who are trained acolytes, and right after I received communion, I'm walking back to my seat and one of those beautiful nuns Father, will you help us purify? I'm like that's Jesus asking me. It's Our Lady.
Speaker 2:
Yes, I will, and it's something that I normally would defer to someone else, but I did it and it was good for me to do it, and I think the Lord calls us to do things that were and it's not I always purify my own vessels, but I don't. That's not something I thoroughly enjoy doing or look forward to, as others some others do, but it was what I was called to do, so I did it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, same thing for me. I got to be a Eucharistic minister in the upper deck the day before the last day. I guess both me and D Mark did that. That was kind of fun. And then, when we were bringing our Saboria back, this nun comes over to me and she says excuse me, deacon, could you do the low-gluten people over here please?
Speaker 1:
And I said oh sure, of course, sister. And then I said please tell them that those are the low-gluten hosts, so they don't confuse them. I said, of course, sister. Thank you, so it was nice.
Speaker 2:
It was also nice to see so many young religious sisters around.
Speaker 3:
It's just a cool witness.
Speaker 2:
And I finally saw a bride group. Well, not bride, what are they called? The handmaids? I have a friend who's a handmaid. She wasn't there and one of them read at the last mass, but I never saw their habits. So they look pretty cool. They kind of look like the Sisters for Life, except their scapulars are black. I didn't know who they were and then, when I found out, I ran up and I'm like do you know Kelly Lilac? I mean Sister Katerina Pia of the Holy Name of Jesus. Like yes, tell her. I said hello.
Speaker 1:
Great, anyways, all right. So let's pick a church for this week, and we talked about going to St Gabe's. So what do we know about St Gabe's?
Speaker 3:
And Mentor, yeah, concord.
Speaker 2:
Township Christy Concord.
Speaker 3:
Township, that's right.
Speaker 2:
But they even say St Gaves, I know, I know.
Speaker 3:
One thing I know is that they are an Alpha Hub Church and if you haven't heard about Alpha, it's a program that invites people to come in and talk about all the bigger things in life, including God, but through a video series where you sit down and have dinner and are just able to kind of wonder about all of the stuff. But Rio de Janeiro and Canemán Cucuso Ken actually was with us on the trip out they run the Alpha there and they're known nationwide as a Catholic Alpha hub.
Speaker 1:
Nice yeah.
Speaker 2:
I help out there every year for their confessions during Advent and Lent, and one of the things I like that they do is when they invite the priests out. They invite you for dinner first, so we have some fraternity and then go over to the church and it's always a wonderful night. The church is modern. It's got a big like blocky stained glass window behind the altar. I think they did some renovations recently. Big school, nice rectory, father Fred Pausch. He's been there for a long time. I think he's about to retire and I think there'll be a lot of changes coming there soon. But it's, yeah, beautiful parish, and I'm trying to remember who's the parochial vicar there now. I can't remember.
Speaker 2:
I can't. Oh, I know who. It's Joshua Trefny, Father Joshua Trefny, who just moved up from Stowe and so he's there. He's one of my former students. He's a really good man. He's into healing ministry and that encounter and Peter's shadow and all that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, nice. And so readings for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, speaking of the Eucharist, loves and the Fishes this week. So John's version of that, and I like that, the part of it where it says that Jesus knew exactly what was going on John's gospel. He's always in control. I also was thinking, like you know, with the National Eucharistic Congress ending. You know, now we are the Eucharist that goes forth. You know that the loaves and the fishes will be multiplied through us as we go through to bring that to other people.
Speaker 1:
Bring Christ to other people.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, one of the things we didn't talk about in our recap was that final mass and Father Chito Cardinal Tagle in his excellent homily.
Speaker 2:
If you haven't seen it, maybe we could link it. But just tying all that together so we become what we receive and go out and mission the world, that was great In terms of the missioning. I think this is why I was drawn to the second reading, which is from Ephesians I urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call that you have received. And so what does that look like? Humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another through love. What does that mean? It means this is like how would you describe how Jesus loves us Humbly, gently, patiently, bearing with us. So that means that we who receive him in the Eucharist must show that to the world in the way that we live. So that's the manner worthy that we've received by our baptismal call and our missioning and confirmation, which is very difficult to do. It's easier to say, oh, I got mine and I'm good for the week, but to actually become what you receive and embody it, whoo.
Speaker 1:
And now I can mix along in that reading too Striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. One body and one spirit.
Speaker 3:
And that leads into what I was thinking about too this you're called to, the one hope of your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. I've also had a sense that God brings us all together back again as a human family. I felt that last week constantly, throughout the course of the Congress. So that's what stuck out for me One faith, one baptism.
Speaker 2:
And the devil Diablo is the one who wants to divide us right, Split us apart, and so we're made to be one. It's one God and we're one people, one church. This oneness, that's awesome. Well, I have my homily for the weekend. Now, there you go.
Speaker 1:
Perfect right. Had a great time on the bus, by the way, Thanks for organizing all the bus folks. My pleasure, yeah. So Emily Allin and I sat together most of the time and we just had a great time together. The archivist for the Diocese of Cleveland and she was going nuts several times.
Speaker 3:
But, hey, cool fun fact in case, if anybody. I mean, this is really for the people that were on the ground there, but there was all this footage that they were running on screens throughout the entire convention center and whatnot. A lot of the black and white footage that you saw there was from Emily from the Diocese of Cleveland, from our last conference.
Speaker 2:
My cousin sent me a piece from the New York Times where they did a little coverage and used some of that footage there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, she does a great job, so thanks Emily.
Speaker 2:
On our bus I had the director of Hispanic ministry, hortencia Rodriguez, and the director of Black Catholic Ministries, sister Jane Nesmith, and one of the things that we did on the way out and way in was a bilingual rosary which was very cool so first, third, fifth mysteries English, second and fourth Spanish, and it was really cool, very cool, that's very nice All right Well this was the National Youth Acoustic Congress.
Speaker 1:
So hopefully, not only did we have a good time, hopefully that good time will now trickle down to other folks.
Speaker 2:
And if you didn't hear anything about it or haven't seen anything, let's include some of those videos like Father Mike Schmidt's talks, sister Josephine's talk, gloria's talk, jonathan Rumi. They're all on YouTube, but they're worthy of reflection. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:
Well, and if you want to hear more, we're going to have a contingent of folks that were part of this delegation that are going to be at the fest. They're going to be sharing faith stories, they're going to be participating as greeters and whatnot. You might be able to notice them in their red Ohio shirts, where the I is a monstrance.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, we got a lot of play with that one too.
Speaker 1:
Yep, a lot of people coming up to me saying that's a cool shirt. You should sell those.
Speaker 2:
Cleveland rocks.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, they do Absolutely, and you rock too, and so, and so we'll see you all next time here. On Question of the Year. Nice.
