Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Podcast with Father Greg and JD Each week, Father Greg and I connect on a variety of topics related to our faith and our beautiful parish in Winona, Ontario. We are here to help spread the good news and further unite our parish community. Very good sign language. That's fantastic. This is episode 17, and we will be focusing on Pope Francis and the octave of Easter this week.
Remember, you can find us on the Spotify, the Apple podcasts, and the YouTube every week. So please like or subscribe. We think it's down here is where the buttons are. And we will find your inbox every week.
Father, can I just say how beautiful the Easter weekend masses were?
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Thank you. I think so, too.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: What a beautiful set of celebrations.
Just so impactful to be part of them. Thank you. Very powerful to everyone who worked so hard to put them together, and for you for leading us in this great season.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: One year, Rain and I were in charge of the Easter fire. I don't know if I told you this story.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: No.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: So we were given all the stuff that we needed and included what I thought was a fire starter. It's windy as heck out there, and we're tending the barbecue and getting things going, but things start moving along really well and we're. The fire is being blessed and everything's going great. Until Father Michael asked me for the charcoal to light the incense, which I thought was a fire starter, I had to delicately reach in with the tongs to pull out any kind of embers that I could to help him light some incense.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: That's funny.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. Just the feeling in that moment, though, of, where's the charcoal?
[00:01:43] Speaker B: That's good. That's just the context. For anyone, this is a side note, but the charcoal at the Easter vigil is lit from the Easter fire so that it can start the incense as we process in the church. But the humorous thing is this was already in the Easter fire. Like, just sitting there.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: So it's a little hard to get a small piece of charcoal out of a big fire.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Gosh. But.
But it. We got it out.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: We got the incense lit.
It was an Easter miracle. We had a beautiful, beautiful service.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: The charcoal was resurrected.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: I have a quick quote from Pope Francis to start. He said, it makes me sad when I find sisters who aren't joyful. They might smile, but with just a smile, they could be flight attendants.
After all, they already know how to carry on, don't they?
[00:02:37] Speaker B: I get it. I get it. I get it.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: There's Another Father Greg quality joke right there after the that. Father, you better start us off with a prayer.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Sure. The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you so much for your love and mercy. We thank you for the blessing of our friendship with you as we've just celebrated Easter. We thank you for rising from the dead so that we may rise in you by following you, allowing you to lift us up and elevate our lives as you bless us, bless our listeners, bless our parish, that we may evermore radiate the joy that comes from being aware that we are your beloved children and that we too are called to rise with Christ. We pray entrusting this podcast and our parish to Mary, St. Joseph, St. Michael, and we pray all this in the name of Jesus, who's Lord forever and ever. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. I was about to make a joke about your carry on bag and say, like, we'll send that joke packing.
That's just a joke. It was a good joke.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: It was a good one. No, no, Pope Francis said most of those things. Maybe not the last line, right. But he said, he said most of the other things.
So sad news this week, the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday and will impact all of us, of course. And the Church will now begin its mechanism to elect a new Pope after his funeral on Saturday. And so we're going to talk a little bit about Pope Francis today and quick little review of him and what possibly might be his legacy.
So of course, Pope Francis, born George Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and the first from the Americas.
A member of the Jesuit order, he became Archbishop of buenos Aires in 1998 and was elevated to cardinal in 2001. He is known for his humility, advocacy for the poor, and emphasis on mercy. He was elected Pope in 2013 and focused on social justice, interfaith dialogue and environmental stewardship. His leadership style does contrast or did contrast with tradition. And he prioritized compassion and inclusivity over formality, hoping that would help revitalize the Church's mission. Today, his legacy is shaping up to be one of compassion, humility and reform. And he's worked to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and focused on mercy rather than judgment, especially towards marginalized group. And I think that directly follows in Jesus footsteps, of course, his emphasis on social justice, care for the poor and protection of the environment highlighted in his encyclical Laudato Si. What didn't mark a shift in the church, deeply engaged with global challenges. And he's also pushed for greater transparency and accountability in the Vatican. And even while facing criticism from both traditionalists and progressive, he's left a lasting imprint as a bridge builder and a voice for renewal. So it's impressive to hear already what his legacy is going to be. And sometimes it's hard to see in the midst of a papacy or in the midst of any type of a leadership run, but sort of looking back upon his life and his papacy, really, that I think those will be some lasting contributions and lasting memories of him.
A few quotes to share from Pope Francis, if I may. A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just. I think that is exactly what we're aiming for.
And this one is apropos because of the.
The devotion that you have to confession here at. At Immaculate Heart of Mary and being so frequent and so available for it. And he said the confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord's mercy motivates us to do better.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: And the last one, Pope Francis says, I believe in God, not in a Catholic God. There is no Catholic God. There is God. I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God the Father, Abba is the light and the Creator. This is my being.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: I believe he also said, jesus, I trust in you.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: He probably did at some point.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Many times. Many times.
All right, so Pope Francis, incredible Pope, leaving a great legacy. And now the process begins to elect a new pope through a conclave and slide right into Ask Father Greg, where each week we respond to a question submitted by a listener or one that I make up.
And this week, let's touch on the conclave. So we hear the word.
But can you summarize for us what a conclave is all about? What's going to be happening in the next little while?
[00:07:36] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. So a conclave comes from the Latin, like con clavis, I think it is, which is like with key, because they used. There we go. Yeah, he's making a joke about octave. And octave, by the way, we're in the octave of Easter, which yours truly might have thought that you could pronounce it octave, but apparently it's octave. Anyways, so conclave.
Yeah, it's with key. And that comes from the tradition of the fact that in the past, the cardinals who are selected by the pope but also are the ones who vote and discuss and discern the next Pope. They would be previously locked in to the Sistine Chapel, and the key was taken away, so they couldn't leave until they made a decision. And that forced them to really think, pray, discern and figure it out now. Now, I don't know if that's still the case now, but I do know that the events that happen during the Conclave are considered very secret in terms of the discussions that the cardinals have with each other. And so there's a lot of discernment, a lot of discussion, a lot of prayer. And obviously, each cardinal that is not over 80, they can vote. But also they need to prayerfully discern and ask the Holy Spirit, who, Lord, are you choosing? Who do you want to lead Holy Mother Church at this time to make it everything Jesus Christ wants his bride, the Church to be? And so they have to discern, they have to discuss.
And every time at the beginning of a Conclave, there's always the papabile, those who are kind of most, let's say, generally considered as possibly going to be the Pope. And so, you know, but there's a lot of thought about how that goes. And then they vote. If they don't get a certain level of unity on that, then every vote, if it's not enough, it's a black smoke that gets sent up just so that everyone knows there was a vote, but it was not successful. But if there's enough of the majority, when a vote happens, then the white smoke goes up. And so that means then finally a pope will be elected, has been elected, and then eventually that pope will get ready and they'll come out on the balcony and someone will say, habemus papam, which means we have a Pope. And so that's a bit about how that goes. We should really pray in a special way right now for the cardinals who are going to be starting this soon after the funeral of Pope Francis. We should pray for Pope Francis as we entrust him to the risen Lord Jesus, who is also kind and merciful. And I'm sure he was well prepared to go home to the Lord. But we still pray for the dead anyways. And if they don't need our prayers, then God uses them for someone else who does need our prayers to help them on their way to heaven. So that's a little bit of an overview. You can ask more if you want, but that's a bit.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: It'd be fascinating to hear over the next week or so, different interpretations of what direction do they think the new papacy will go in? What are the cardinals thinking? Are they looking to continue social justice and more progressive view, or they want to slide back a little bit more? Traditionally, I'm sure there'll be no shortage of opinions on which things should go.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: That's true. And the media, I think maybe it's just good to like, give a little bit of a disclaimer. Like, there's a lot of mainstream media who don't really understand the Catholic Church very well and they'll probably make a lot of comments about things. And I would just say that whenever you're listening to the mainstream media on Catholic Church things, just be attentive to the fact that they might not always be as in the loop or aware about some of the nuances of how things work in the church. So there can be this, this tendency to, I'd say over politicize things about, oh, it's this versus that or this, like, and that's not really what the church is about. And I just think it's important for us to take a step back and remember that, like, the church is not fundamentally a political entity. It is, it is the family of God and yes, the Holy Spirit guides. And there is a hierarchy, there is structure, and that's for the sake of unity and so things can run smoothly. But at the same time, I think it's very important that we don't fall prey to this kind of us versus them or them in this group and like, tribalism and stuff, because every priest, every pope is going to have their unique personality and their unique emphases. But as long as they're within the bounds of what the Catholic Church gives us, guided by the Holy Spirit, that's wonderful. And I think there's unfortunately an excessive tendency for people to compare popes in a way that I think is not helpful. There's a helpful way, but there's an unhelpful way. Like, I think sometimes people in their lack of, like, they don't read all the popes, they don't know enough about the popes. They'll say, oh, Pope Francis, he is more merciful than Pope Benedict. And I would just say that. I personally don't agree with that statement. I think that's a characterization people would say like, oh, Pope Benedict XVI seemed more whatever. I would just say that's because I think Pope Francis has a very personal, personable behavior. I think he smiles a lot, which is a great thing. And I think he has a manner about himself which makes the average person feel Maybe that they can connect with him more. But I'd also say, like beneath the exteriors, the other Popes have also been very approachable and very, very warm and merciful as well. And we see that in their behavior, in their writing. So I think I just want to throw a disclaimer out that we don't want to oversimplify the personalities of Popes and we don't want to fall into an unhealthy like comparing of Popes. Each Pope is going to be unique, so we're not, we're not getting away from that. But I'd also just say that we don't want to over emphasize their differences because I feel like that creates a sort of tribalism or camps within the Church, which itself is not helpful. Like within, when you have us versus them inside the Church, that's not a helpful thing because we're all on the same team. So I think it's just something that comes to my mind where I think sometimes people have said, well, I like this Pope a lot better than that Pope.
I get that. But I'd also just say be careful there because the Popes are all in. They're all there to really help us follow Jesus. And we don't want to create cults of personality and we don't want to create something that creates tension or division when, when the role of the Pope is to create unity amongst the body of Christ. So I hope that's helpful. I've just seen different things happen, so I thought that disclaimer might be helpful.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: And they're all poping in different times, in different circumstances.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: With different influences.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: I love poping like the YouTube.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: And so, yeah, as you said, it's difficult to compare on any basis because we try to go be very linear about things, but that's not really how it works. Again, you know, as is exactly as you said, they're different legacies and we can look at what, what Pope Francis will be known for and celebrate that totally.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: I do think that there are emphases for sure. Like, I think you're right when you say he's probably more likely commenting, have commented more on whether it's environmental things. But I'd say Pope Benedict also commented on the environment. He also commented on interfaith. He almost. Com. He also commented on all the same things.
And it's fascinating what the media picks up because I think the media plays a massive role on our perception of the Pope. But if you were to read every Pope's daily homilies, and every Pope's documents thoroughly. I think you would see, like, an extreme amount of overlap, and I think it would help diminish some of the sort of characterization that happens amongst Popes.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Interesting. Pope daily homilies. Maybe an idea for a future resources.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah, totally. Yeah.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Speaking of Resource of the week, I think you have one right there. I'm going to hand the microphone over you to talk about this week's resource of the week, the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Resource, Resource, Resource, Resource.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Resource.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Catechism.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: This is an amazing resource. Catechism. I can't even talk it that fast. Okay. So, yeah, I think at times like this, not. Not to overemphasize this thing, but I'd say, you know, as Catholics, we go through history and we have our ups and downs. We've seen this in every age. But if you want to know what the Church has always believed, if you want to know what the Church really holds true, nothing summarizes the Catholic faith better than the Catechism in the Catholic Church. Now, catechism is a big fancy word. It sounds really weird. It just means teaching. It just means what has the Church taught. And I think I also want to react to, like, something I used to think before I learned more about the Church. You'll say, well, I don't care what the Church teaches. I care what Jesus teaches. And I would say, why do we think they're different?
Jesus promised to lead the Church into all truth. First Timothy 3:15 says, the church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth.
The Church is guided by the Holy Spirit. That doesn't mean every single member of the Church does everything infallibly, but it means as a whole, the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit. And so what the Church teaches is what Christ teaches. And that's why it matters what the Church teaches.
If we didn't believe that, we would ask, why am I Catholic at all? And given that the Catholic Church is the original Church, for the first thousand years, there was only the Catholic Church, it's important for us to really accept the truth that Jesus Christ did start an institution. And why would he start it if it was just going to fail and be unfaithful? And what good would that have been? So he didn't just start it and walk away. He's present in it, in the sacraments and the leaders of the Church and so on. This is amazing that he. He is still guiding us. And so if you want a great summary of the Church's teachings, Catechism of The Catholic Church is amazing. And the popes have always, you know, this. This was. Let's say this, the popes have been very strong on. Read this and follow it all popes in the last little while. And this. This one is actually the fruit of Saint Pope John Paul ii. He said, we need to have an updated catechism for everybody that summarizes everything. And. And this is the fruit of that. And Pope Benedict was also, before he was pope, was involved in this as well. And it's just a really beautiful, beautiful thing.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: And a helpful summary could be the catechism.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Catechism in your podcast is amazing with Father Michael Schmitz. And there's there's other, like, smaller catechisms, because, like, this might intimidate some people to be like, whoa, I don't know. But every page is just gold. It's so beautiful. It's so profound.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: And the RCIA uses a summarized version.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: They use a smaller one. But we also did give them each one of these. And one of the people in RCIA said, father, I wish I had this when I was younger, because this thing is answering so many questions about life. It's really helping me so much. So it's really amazing how even new Catholics can read this. Not that we don't mandate it, but we give it to them, and if they pick it up, they're like, whoa, this is amazing.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, so rich. So great.
Father Michael talks about. My. Schmitz talks about as he reads through. There's a summary at the end.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: He's great.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Summaries at the end of each major section that really get to the heart of what is. What is being addressed.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: All right. So that's our resource. Resource. Resource of the week. Week.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Week.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: And we are now into the Octav of Easter.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: You mean the octave?
[00:18:58] Speaker A: The octave or octave?
A little bit of debate about pronunciation. Maybe people can.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: I think it's octave. You've convinced me. I honestly. I mean, I think some people still say octave. I think that sounds phonetically right, but.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: I would always said octave. And then I heard octave, and I thought, maybe that's the church version.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: No, it's good, I think. I mean, I don't know. I think I've heard both so much that I probably just have gravitated towards octave, because usually ave most commonly makes an ave sound. Like, if I had multiple staves, I would have staves, right?
[00:19:32] Speaker A: You. You would have multiple staves.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I know, exactly. There's also aave. Like, there's different Ave pronunciations. I'M aware of that, too. But.
Like pave or rave.
Yeah. Wave or wave. Apparently that's the. That's the JD Pronunciation.
[00:19:50] Speaker A: Okay, well, so it is the octave. We'll go with octave of Easter. Divine Mercy Week. So what's. What's going down in week one of Easter F. Yeah.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Octave of Easter is Or octave, man. See, I'm gonna. Old habits die hard.
It's like, okay, so we had Easter Sunday, but it's just too big to just limit this to one day. So, like, we have a whole week where every day we treat it like it's Easter Sunday. So we're on Easter Tuesday. Now as we record this, we're gonna have Easter Wednesday. So this whole octave, Octave, Oct. Is like eight. Right. There's eight days starting Easter Sunday all the way to the second Sunday of Easter, which is also called Divine Mercy Sunday.
That's the octave of Easter. And so every day we have a Gloria in the Mass, and we can sing the sequence which was sung on Easter Sunday.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Beautiful.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And just like, we're. We're doing it up big. Every day during this week is a solemnity, which is the highest rank of church celebrations. So that doesn't happen any other time of year. Even Christmas. The octave of Christmas, not an octave of solemnities. So it's like a big party weekly. You got to be partying. You got to be rejoicing in the resurrection. You got to be enjoying life and just really relishing the fact that Christ rose from the dead and thinking, what does that mean for you? And then Divine Mercy Sunday is a big thing because Jesus asked St. Faustina to help everyone in the church understand Divine Mercy Sunday. And he gave the Divine Mercy devotion, which includes the novena and a lot of special stuff. Divine Mercy image, which we have multiple copies of in our church, which is that Jesus, and he's pointing to his heart, and there's the red and pale rays coming out of his heart. The bottom says, jesus, I trust in you, which we mentioned all the time here. So it's a lot going on.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Wow. Okay, so what a special, special week in the foundation of our entire faith.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: That's right. Exactly.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: All right, so are there any events that you want to draw attention to this week in the upcoming weeks? You know, maybe a pilgrimage. We may be able to witness a conclave or the election of a new Pope.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're going on the trip to Rome. J.D. and I, we're excited. So, I mean, I'd say we might be there when the Pope is elected, we might see the white smoke ourselves. We might. We might not. I don't know. It's hard to know. But odds are good that we will be able to see the new Pope. We'll see, but that's not something we can invite. I mean, everyone is invited, but, like, maybe it's a little hard to get to that. So, in terms of things in the local area, I really want to encourage people to think about coming to the Sarah Club vocations dinner on April 30th. That's really exciting. We've also got first communions coming up this weekend, the next weekend for Immaculate Heart and Mary and St Gabriel schools, respectively, and just lots of wonderful things going on. But check out our bulletin and stay tuned.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: There's stuff for everyone.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. There's so much stuff. It's amazing.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: That's wonderful. But none of it happens all by itself. That's all due to the hours of volunteerism that exist within the church and are amazing parishioners and so many people doing great work here at the parish. Who would you like to recognize this week?
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Okay, before I do that, first I have to say something else that I should have said about what's coming up. So I promise to answer that question this upcoming Sunday. Not only is it Divine Mercy Sunday, but we are baptizing seven children on Sunday, which is exciting.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: Seven.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: So lots of baptisms. That's cool. We should hear about that.
Everyone should know that we have more baptisms, more weddings, more everything. It's amazing. We're blossoming. Beautiful.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: And so on. The notices, are they going to be printed with a baptismal font?
[00:23:28] Speaker B: Totally. Yeah. It's going to be amazing. Yeah. You can't wait till you read baptismal font.
[00:23:34] Speaker A: I've been waiting for best font.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: You're going to be downloading that one for weeks. It's so good. It's so good. Yeah. There's also a family catechism program, which is something we have in our parish, which is a group for, like, families come and the kids get to learn about the teachings of the church and have fun and hang out, play games. It's an amazing program. Really undervalued, I think, in my opinion. And also fun fact for you is on Sunday night and Monday going to go be part of a filming for a secret project that later will be unveiled. But it has to do with me looking a lot like a certain saint, so I'm going to be playing a part in a certain movie.
Anyways, I'll keep you posted about that and lots of other cool stuff, but I promised I would give you a shout out.
So I think. I think, you know, a fitting decision for me for a shout out this week would be the family catechism program is coordinated by a gentleman named Nilo N I L O. And Nilo does a really good job at coordinating this. And there's classes for different age groups. I mean, it's really amazing. So shout out to Nilo with the family catechism program. Nilo's a cool dude. Two thumbs up, gets the shout out.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: All right, Nilo, thank you very much for all you do. It's a very valuable piece of instructing and bringing more families in.
Well, that is just about all the time we have for today. Thank you for your insights. Father, shall we close with a prayer?
[00:25:02] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. God, I thank you for this day. I thank you for this podcast. I thank you for our listeners, I thank you for our parish and all that you're doing in our lives for each of us and around us as we open our eyes during this octave of Easter. Lord, we just see your risen power on full display all around us. And we thank you that you reach out to each of us with love and you're here to continue to lift us up. Bless us. Bless all those we hold in our hearts. We pray this all in Jesus name. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: Thank you for that, Father. Thank you for continuing to remind us of how important it is to truly serve God and not just as an advisor.
Thanks also to our fans and friends and odds and ends for joining us this week through the Immaculate Heart of Mary social media channels, the Apple podcasts, Spotify, and the YouTube. If you like our show, subscribe and tell your friends. And if you don't like our show, subscribe. No, tell your friends anyway. Well, if you don't like it, you can subscribe.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: If you don't like it, you might change your mind.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: If you subscribe, just subscribe and it'll come to you.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: We'll find you. And then it's not creepy at all.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: And it'll be great. But, you know, tell your friends and let them discern for themselves about. About the great work that Father Greg is doing here.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: And if they don't like the podcast, tell them to talk to me and tell me what I can do to make them like it.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: There we go. That's a beautiful insight. All right, have a great week, everyone. We are Father Greg and jd leaving you smarter, happier and more blessed than you were yesterday.
Clink.
