Question of Faith
A weekly question of faith answered by Cleveland Catholics. Fr. Damian Ference, Vicar of Evangelization and Deacon Mike Hayes Director of Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Cleveland co-host with frequent guests from the Diocesan Office who join in the conversation. Sponsored by Briefcase Marketing--check them out at https://www.Briefcase.marketing
Question of Faith
Will Pope Leo Be a Unifier?
SPONSOR: Briefcase Marketing
Pope Leo XIV emerges as a potential unifier for a polarized Church, with Catholics across the spectrum expressing excitement about his election. His deliberate use of different papal symbols and outreach to diverse groups demonstrates his commitment to continuity with tradition while moving the Church forward.
• Both traditional and progressive Catholics showing enthusiasm for Pope Leo
• The Pope's background as both a mathematician and canon lawyer suggests precision and clarity
• His use of symbols and vestments from different papal predecessors indicates continuity
• Early meetings with the Orthodox Church signal commitment to ecumenical dialogue
• His academic connections to Villanova, the Angelicum, and Catholic Theological Union
• The newly ordained priests in Cleveland all grew up in local parishes
• Summer ministry events including Wednesday evening gatherings at St. John Cathedral
• Young adult softball league beginning June 1st at St. John Bosco Parish
• Procession to the diocesan shrine planned for July 19th
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Theology of the Body CLE
St. John Cantius Parish
Join us at St. John Cathedral every Wednesday night starting May 28th. We'll gather at 5:30 PM for Vespers, followed by food, drinks and live music in the courtyard from 6:15 to 7:50 PM, ending with Night Prayer.
On today's Question of Faith. Is Pope Leo a unifier? Hey everybody, this is Question of Faith. I'm Deacon Mike Hayes. I am the Director of Young Adult Ministry here in the Diocese of Cleveland.
Speaker 2:And I'm Father Damian Ferentz, the Vicar for Evangelization Long week for Pope Leo huh.
Speaker 1:I mean he met with everybody under the sun, saw him meeting with the Vice President the other day and getting an invitation from the president to come to the United States. So we'll see how quickly he takes that invitation and where he goes Chicago, philly, I think he would have to go, but who knows?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, maybe, and then probably in Pope Francis' style some strange place that you wouldn't expect him to go, and by strange I mean maybe not a major city, but who knows, we'll see, maybe Cleveland, who knows?
Speaker 1:That would be great.
Speaker 2:Or Akron, or Lorain or Painesville yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good idea.
Speaker 2:Enough infrastructure to support the visit. You know you need that. So the question is he the great unifier? And we were talking before the show about how it seems that most people are very excited about the new Holy Father.
Speaker 2:And we live, as you know, as we know, in a country that's polarized, in a world that's polarized and, unfortunately, many times, in a church that's polarized Just a touch yeah, in a church that's polarized yeah, just a touch yeah. And so it seems like wherever people are finding themselves on the spectrum you know I like Bishop Molesek says it this way that you got to color within the lines. So maybe you have a more social justice feel for the church, Maybe you have a more charismatic feel. Maybe you have a more social justice feel for the church, Maybe you have a more charismatic feel, Maybe you have a more traditional liturgical feel. Wherever you find yourself, that's where you are Color within the lines of the church. You still have to follow what the church asks us to do and the teachings of the church doctrine, dogma, all that but there are going to be certain things you accentuate more than the others.
Speaker 1:Everybody's a little different that way, yeah, but you still have to follow the Pope and the councils are still the councils and all those things Right.
Speaker 2:So it seems like that everybody's pretty happy about Pope Leo the 14th and that's so refreshing to me and I know it's early, it's only been a week or so but, yeah, even the generation born after 2013,.
Speaker 2:So the kids who are currently in grade school and high school or early years of high school, I suppose, because Gen Z was born between 97 and 2012. Next generation they're calling them Generation A or Alpha, but they're also, according to Gene Twenge are also being referred to as the Polars, because the world that they're born into is so polarized.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2:And, of course, jesus didn't come to divide and destroy. He came to gather the nations to himself and he came to unite, father, that they may all be one. And so I mean I mentioned this last time that Cardinal Burke and Father James Martin were both thrilled with the pick. I just I found that refreshing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, it's like, it's funny. Someone said and one of the sites, I forget which one, they said that it seems like everybody's trying to make the Pope like on their side. You know, it's like, oh, you know, look, he said this over here. Someone said yeah, but he said this over here. He said this over here and I was like oh, yeah, I think Emily said this last week that for people who didn't like Pope Francis, he'll be a more tolerable Pope Francis for them you know, and I think I added to that.
Speaker 2:I said, you know, I said for those who maybe Pope Benedict or John Paul II wasn't their favorite, he'll be a more tolerable version of them too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, he seems certainly to be a man of continuity, history, tradition, yeah, that's for sure. And he's giving nods to everybody. Obviously, pope Francis visiting his tomb just this weekend, he had what a lot of people will say is John Paul II's Crozier has the crucifix. It's kind of modern art silver, but he actually got that from, not john paul ii. John paul ii got that from paul vi, right, yeah, but he didn't live long enough to for him to be known by it, the way that jp2 was. So I think he's he's. He's acknowledging this very long lineage of Holy Fathers, almost 270 of them, all the way back to Peter, and sees himself as one who needs to unify, challenge, comfort all at the same time, and so far so good, and he seems to be switching accoutrement around a little bit too, like he had Francis' Crozier one day.
Speaker 1:He had John Paul II's Crozier one day and the different pectoral crosses that he's worn his different styles of garb.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think he's certainly a man of what do we say like continuation, but also he's adding to the tradition as he moves forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, it's the.
Speaker 2:Catholic both, and it's the ressourcement and the aggiornamento, the two movements of going back to the sources and then moving forward and being what we need to be in the world today.
Speaker 1:And I think, as a canon lawyer, you know there's always something along those lines too I think that we could look at. Is that, you know, I think, a good criticism of Pope Francis, who I adored, right, you know, I think a good criticism of him would be that, you know he's talked off the cuff so often, and then the canon lawyers would have to go back through the books and figure out, well, where is he pulling that from? What did he?
Speaker 2:really mean by what he said and what was the context all that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, all that stuff and they said well, this guy will be a little different that he'll lead with that. Here's where this comes from in the tradition. Here's what the last pope said. Here's where this comes from in canon law, and every I will be dotted, every T will be crossed, and then he'll put out a statement as opposed to, you know, sort of having more off-the-cuff things on the papal plane maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and still with a very pastoral touch and a love for the poor and a love for those on the peripheries and the margins. So I think you've got that. I think some people are very excited that he's both a math major and a canon lawyer, because there will be a precision and a clarity that wasn't present in Pope Francis. But again, I said this before, I really think the Lord allows the popes to be, and I understand we've had bad popes in the past. I don't think Pope Francis was a bad pope. I think that we had the pope at the time in church history when we needed that particular holy father, and so, too, with Pope Leo XIV.
Speaker 1:That's probably fair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it also takes time to pass to see what you actually had. Yeah, like the piece that I wrote for Word on Fire that was published the day after the holy father died. It's actually, I just noticed it's in the new Northeast Ohio Catholic Magazine. They reprinted it in the last article. But I say that when it comes to a prophet, when you have a prophet in your midst, you usually don't recognize it at the time. It's after time passed. You're like oh yeah, it was on to something there that was helpful.
Speaker 2:You know, it's like your parents discipline you. You're like my mom hates me, and then you realize later on oh, that was actually my mom loving me, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:That kind of stuff. I think that way about pastors and bishops. Sometimes, too, it's you know, when they were there and you were working with them, you cursed them when they were there, and then years later you go.
Speaker 2:oh that's what Father Chuck was doing. Yeah, yeah, you know, like now I get it.
Speaker 1:You know it's the kind of thing we all have hindsight to. Here's a funny for you. Maybe not so funny, but interesting. So I'm walking around the other day in my neighborhood and I get a text message from my friend, John, whose son is graduating from Villanova.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:And he says sort of angrily he said now wouldn't you think they could get the Pope to do a video message for the graduates today? I mean, wouldn't you think that would be an easy get, since he's a grad of Villanova and everything else? And so I said well, I said you know, the president was talking the other day and he asked about how they could engage him. And he said you know, I'd like to. You know, I'd love to have you as the commencement speaker one day. And he said you know, I'd like to. You know, I'd love to have you as the commencement speaker one day. And he said sorry, I think I'm busy that weekend, jokingly, and two seconds later I get a second text because, never mind, he sent one. So they did engage him.
Speaker 1:He did give a very brief video message to the graduates of Villanova. So congrats to Jack McDermott, my friend's son, who graduated from Villanova Father.
Speaker 2:Ryan Kubera, who's the pastor of St Mary of the Falls in Olmstead Township, is actually a former teen of mine, at my first parish.
Speaker 1:Yes, I remember, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I help out on weekends over there. I had the 11 o'clock this weekend and then I saw him later on down in Hudson for Father Anthony Donatelli, his first Mass.
Speaker 1:Anthony.
Speaker 2:As we were vesting I said, hey, you and the Holy Father are both graduates of Villanova. Because he got his, it's a master's in parish administration administration or something which is pretty cool and business administration.
Speaker 1:Yeah, business administration yeah.
Speaker 2:And I said and I said I also am an alumni with him from the Angelicum, so we both went to schools that the Holy Father went to, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1:That is pretty cool. My friend Lori went to the Catholic Theological Union and so she was excited about that because he has a master's from.
Speaker 2:There.
Speaker 1:She was interested and she said he even had some of the same professors that he had. So she thought that was kind of cool.
Speaker 2:I saw one of his nuns. She's not a nun, she's a sister. A scripture professor interviewed and she remembered him. I mean everyone says he was a great student. They also say he was really helpful and he got his work done, but then helped other people get their work done which is really great.
Speaker 1:That's good to know. Congrats to the newly ordained, by the way.
Speaker 2:Boy, have you ever seen the cathedral that fall in your life? Maybe yours. My ordination we had 10 and it was a year after the abuse scandal, so it was a party, but it's been a while since it was like that. It was so joyful. The other thing is that all eight of those men grew up in our parishes, in our diocese and that's not true of every diocese, and a lot of dioceses have transplants because people move there for work. But these guys all grew up here, which is really cool, and so they know the diocese, they know the seminary and just very exciting, and I taught all of them too. So it was really cool to see. And Father John Hawkins, who I've known since he was in high school, asked me to vest him, so I had the honor of doing that Very nice.
Speaker 2:Because his youth minister was in my youth group and then her husband took over and was his youth minister after a while too. So there's pretty cool spiritual lineage there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly, and your ordination anniversary should be coming up.
Speaker 2:It was, it was the 17th, it's been 22 years, yeah, exactly. It's a weird number the double deuce and you're on one year of being a deacon One.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, that's the six of us. We've been trying to get together to celebrate, and we just can't find an agreeable date at this point. So we're looking at August at this point.
Speaker 2:That's kind of how it goes. We try one a year. We used to try two. It's harder the older you get too. Yeah, exactly, the busier you get it was nice.
Speaker 1:I went to Father Jeff Lindholm's Mass at Thanksgiving. He was thunderous in his homily.
Speaker 2:I bet and I mean in a good way.
Speaker 1:Passionate young man yeah he was really great and he said he kept trying to pawn the homily off on Bishop Wust. Bishop Wust wasn't having it, so he said no, no, you preach.
Speaker 2:Well, Father Ryan Kubera was Lindholm's priest when he was in high school.
Speaker 1:Right At Rayfield.
Speaker 2:Yes, and he was there because I took his 11 am at St Mary of the.
Speaker 1:Falls.
Speaker 2:That's why I took it so he could go to that first Mass. We all help each other out. That's nice yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was fun, All right. So hopefully Pope Leo will be the great unifier and continue to unify our church, our world maybe.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what too Like even with the Orthodox.
Speaker 1:Oh sure, yeah, he met with them the other day. He met with the patriarch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if we could do that and unite church. Holy cow and he spent a lot of time, maybe day two. Obviously our Byzantine brothers and sisters are under the Holy Father, but even reaching out to them early on and saying we're all together here, that's very important stuff, and that's a continuation of Francis' work too.
Speaker 1:He had been talking about that since Easter was both Orthodox and Catholic and Roman Easter this year, so it was matched up. So he said you know, maybe we should think about just making that a. Thing.
Speaker 2:And I don't remember. I'm sure Benedict wanted that too, and I remember Pope John Paul II because he was from Poland. Certainly it's a long path, but maybe it'll happen under Pope Leo, who knows?
Speaker 1:Exactly. I'll keep it on my radar as the delegate for ecumenical interfaith stuff, you too as well. So the Eastern Church Dialogue which meets out at John Carroll, that's something we have on our radar for a while. So, it'll be good. All right, you know who else has a good radar.
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Speaker 1:Amen, he's the man I was going to ask you something. So you've got summer concerts coming up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now that I'm the parochial vicar at St John Cathedral, bishop, ask that more young people be present down there. And there's a lot of young people who live in downtown Cleveland maybe who we haven't seen yet or we don't see often. So every Wednesday night, starting next Wednesday, may 28th, we'll gather in the church at 530 for Vespers. So get that iBrievery app on your phone. We're going to use that and then we're going to come outside into the courtyard and we'll have food and drinks and live music from 6 to 8 pm Well, actually 6 to 6, 15 to 7, 50. And then we'll end with night prayer. But all summer long every Wednesday nights, wednesday evenings, live. You'll see the logo around town. You'll see some billboards. You'll see it on our digital screen. You might see it in some secular outlets, but I got a bunch of great musicians coming in all summer long and it should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that would be really cool, isn't Matt Fradd's sister, sister, yeah because I think she reached out to you as young adult director and you put her on to me and I was just kind of birthing the idea at that point and I said just kind of birthing the idea at that point and I said all right, let's go, that's so, it'll be fun.
Speaker 1:Fun. Softball season starts June 1st. Come on out, watch us at St John Bosco Parish. We'll be out there all day long. Um, so it'll be great. We're gonna do a little uh sort of controlled scrimmage uh, week before. So if you're, if you're heading around that area, you might see us out there as well. Nice, but uh, every Sunday, from from like 12 to 5, basically we'll be out there. We'll have a couple of games on Saturday this year just to kind of fill a schedule out. A couple of new teams. So that's fun. 171 young adults playing softball, wonderful, so it'll be good.
Speaker 2:I drove past St John Bosco this afternoon, I was meeting with Sister Margaret Taylor and Sister Elizabeth. No, was it Sister Carol? Sister Carol was my principal from kindergarten to third grade and Sister Margaret Taylor was my eighth-grade teacher. That's great, and now they're in leadership positions over there, and on July 19th we'll be at Bosco for a 4 pm Mass and then we'll do a procession down to the shrine, which is one of the jubilee sites for the diocese. So put that on your calendar. Come on out. We're just kind of buttoning up some details on that today.
Speaker 1:Nice. I was out there last night for YCP had an event and the great Bill Preble was their speaker.
Speaker 2:Where At John Bosco or Incarnate.
Speaker 1:Word Incarnate Word yeah.
Speaker 2:Really yeah it was Gabe Kessler. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:He works there, so he was good. Bill did a nice job and Bill's in formation for the diaconate so he's a year away now. Knock wood, god willing. So we'll pray for Bill and for all the guys who are in formation.
Speaker 2:His wife, millie, dropped off some vegan lasagna last week. Oh really, at the cathedral, it was so good.
Speaker 1:She's a good cook.
Speaker 2:Tasted like meat.
Speaker 1:Did I ever tell you my restaurant idea? This is when I was still doing the food show. We had a restaurant. Now, remember, the host I worked with was Jewish, and so we said that we were going to open a restaurant that would be a glot kosher restaurant called Treif, which is, you know, food you're not supposed to eat, but all the food would actually be glot kosher food, but on the menu it would say like tastes like shrimp or something but it would be glacosha.
Speaker 1:That's funny. And so we tested that idea with a rabbi. He said no, no, no, even the idea of eating treif would be sinful. So we thought that was a little much, but, needless to say, we never ventured into the business. But the sixth Sunday of Easter will be our business this weekend, and I'm preaching this weekend actually. So the gospel is from John. Jesus said to his disciples whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. Yet the word you hear is not mine, but that of the Father who sent me. I love the middle part of this gospel Peace. I leave with you. My peace I give it to you, not as the world gives, do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
Speaker 2:Yesterday we had that same gospel at daily mass and the second graders from St Michael's Grade School in Independence came to mass and they did a little tour before in the cathedral. And I told the kids, I said you know you're here visiting God's house. Obviously he has a house in Independence, to your home parish, but here you're at the Mother Church and you know you're dwelling here in his house. But what he came to do for you last week at your first communion was to dwell in your house, in your body. You know so. God wants to dwell in us, and that indwelling happens first at baptism. But anytime we celebrate a sacrament there's a deeper indwelling that God makes within us, and so that's why it's so important to frequent the sacraments. You know, indeed so cool, all right.
Speaker 1:So frequent sacraments this weekend and we'll have this and a whole lot more here next time on question.
