Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Hello, and welcome to another edition of Big City Catholic Podcast here. This is Bishop Brennan speaking himself. I don't have Father Chris with me today. I'm on location in St. Louis, Missouri for the SEEK Conference, which is part of Focus, the fellowship of Catholic University students. We just finished a week. I'm here with Father Jose Diaz, pastor of Mary's Nativity St. Anne's, and we just spent a week with 17,000 college students and missionaries from all around the country. We're taking this opportunity to share our reflections with each other and with you. So welcome Father Jose. I'll ask you if you would, to start us off
Speaker 2 00:00:52 With a prayer. Sure. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we are grateful for this time that we have spent together in fellowship. We're grateful for the work that you are doing in the hearts of all these young people and our hearts that you will continue to do as we go back home. We ask your blessing, as we speak of you, as we speak for you, as we witness to your love and to the things that you have done and the workings of the Holy Spirit throughout this week. Bless this time, bless our conversation, and most of all, open the hearts of those who hear this message. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:01:27 Amen. So, father Diaz, thank you first of all for accompanying me on this journey and then for sharing with me in this podcast. I'm really glad that we can have a chance, really, to unpack some of the experience we've had in the last week. For you who are listening, we are actually recording this on Friday of last week, the week that closed out the focus experience, the seek experience. We are getting ready to go home, but we wanted to be able, as we unpack it with each other, to share our experience with all of you. So I've been to Focus twice before I was there when Seek conference was in San Antonio, Texas, and I've been there when it was in Phoenix, Arizona. I always find this has many of our youth ministry things. I find it to be uplifting. It's always a source of encouragement and a source of hope. This is your first experience with Focus?
Speaker 2 00:02:17 Yes. It's my first experience. It's something that I didn't expect. <laugh>, I've heard a focus of course, and I've heard of the SEEK Conference and I've heard it's amazing. I didn't think it was what it is,
Speaker 1 00:02:29 <laugh>. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:02:30 I thought it was simply for leaders, focus leaders. And what we've seen throughout this week is that you not only have focused leaders, you have students and those who are interested in the faith, which is incredible. Young adults who are here and tagged along. Right. Because they want, they see with their eyes what's happening. That's been very, uh, moving for
Speaker 1 00:02:51 Me. It is certainly encouraging and you know, one of the things you read things like Pew Studies, and we see it in our own experience too, that there are far too many young people who are attached to church. So many, uh, leaving the church or have left the church, or really, it's, I think the biggest thing is sort of become apathetic about the church, about religion in general. When you see a gathering like this, again, there's 17,000 from around the country. Okay, maybe that's a small percentage, but boy, are these people on fire with you?
Speaker 2 00:03:21 Wow. It is incredible.
Speaker 1 00:03:22 And they're going to have a huge impact beyond the city of St. Louis. And these are people who aren't just necessarily going to have an experience. And then, okay, that's it. Tuck it away until next year. I'm sure there are a lot of people with that here, but a lot of these people are, as you mentioned, leaders are active in their campuses or here because their heart's already drawing them to Jesus. There's something that they're seeking as the conference says, they're seeking something more. So this isn't going to end here. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:03:52 This is just the beginning. Why don't we speak a little bit about what focus is, uh,
Speaker 1 00:03:55 Bishop? Yes. So focus stands for Fellowship of Catholic University students. They're around 25 years. I found that out this week that they're celebrating a 25th anniversary coming up. They started in Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas with just maybe two missionaries working on, uh, campus. And little by little it grew. And that's really the focus model. Now, they're in campuses all around the country. They have thousands of missionaries and alumni missionaries. Their model is two by two. They, they don't send missionaries out there to convert big numbers of people or to gather big numbers of people. What they ask their missionaries to do is to just walk around in the campus. They don't replace campus ministry. All right. They're not campus ministers. They need to have a campus ministry. I learned that along the way. <laugh>, I was involved when they came to Stony Brook, and they, they made it clear, you gotta have a strong campus ministry before we even think about coming.
Speaker 1 00:04:49 Oh. Because we're not drawing them to ourselves. We're gonna be hearing in the gospel with John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God. John wasn't about bringing people to him. He was about bringing peaceful to Jesus. So, so they told us that you're gonna have to step up your game in order for us to come and be as missionaries, cuz we wanna bring people to your holy hours. We wanna bring people to Bible study. We wanna bring people to mass, literally missionaries. So they go out two by two and really develop friendships. And it's not by, you know, standing on a soapbox and calling out, but walking with people, showing interest in students, asking questions, listening to the story of their lives, and then sharing with them their experience of how Jesus transformed their life and inviting people into Bible study. So the idea, it's like that mathematical equation, you know, two people, each of them invites two more. You got four, each of them invites two more. You've got eight more mm-hmm. <affirmative> on top of what you already had. And then that grows literally exponentially. So that's where, where focus is locally. They're in Stony Brook, Columbia. We have time spent with the Columbia delegation in nyu. Yes. And they have presence in other universities around Long Island.
Speaker 2 00:06:02 One of the things to me that has been striking to say the least is you have 17,000 people here. Right. But not once have I heard anyone say, I have a thousand students on my campus. I have a, this many people come into this. There are no numbers. No one has presented focus to me or anyone active, any leaders, anything like, oh, I, I have all these people who follow me. It's incredible. Yeah. And they've explicitly told me, father, it's great work. We walk with people and the hope is that they come to know Jesus. Period. Wow. In, you know, why it's, it's almost like counterintuitive to me, Bishop, is because we live in a world where the amount of likes you get on a post. That's right. The amount of views you get on a video, on a picture, on a, anything like that, that speaks to your value. And here what they're saying is, no, no, no. That doesn't matter. We care simply about you for who you are and what God wants to do in your life. And that to me is what has to be the, the, the key factor for them. That they show true interest, not in the appearance of what is, but of what, what the truth is about that person. Right.
Speaker 1 00:07:08 Exactly. Exactly. And ironically, that's the measure then of their success. They're not worried about the numbers, but the numbers then feature
Speaker 2 00:07:16 Themselves. And I'm, I'm guilty of this. When we were on the flight here, I was actually sitting that, you remember when we were sitting next to, I was sitting next to two missionaries and, and their child. And I was asking like, okay, so what is a successful <laugh> mission? I'm waiting to hear like, well father, you know, we have 40 people coming now, 50 people coming in a, a Bible study. And he goes, oh, well, you know, I walk with, uh, about four guys. And I was just like, oh, okay. And then they walk with a few others and they continue to do that work because the Lord is doing something in their life. Jesus has truly touched their hearts to measure that not only do they sit in this Bible study with him and have grown over time, they want to give what they've received. And it's only two or four more people or three more people from there. So it's not this big number or focused on, on what I do. Right. But more about, Lord, what is it that you want
Speaker 1 00:08:07 To do? And isn't that the model that Jesus did? As you're talking, I thought of this, I can think of only one time in the Gospels where the gospels tell us how many people mm-hmm. Were there with Jesus and had nothing to do with, you know, the success with the le of the project. It was basically the feeding of the 5,000 was just to give us a sense of how much food <laugh> was needed and how much food was provided, transformed through the miracle of the loaves and the fish. But you know, how many people were at the, at the, uh, sermon on the Mount? I don't know. Sounds like it was probably an awful lot. But that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was each one of those people there mattered to Jesus. Mm. And more often than not, where we see Jesus' ministry, where he's meeting individual people, speaking heart to heart,
Speaker 2 00:08:51 To heart, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 00:08:52 Yeah. Me presence of the people who were here, number of bishops who were here, the number of priests who were here, the number of seminarians like that has another sign of hope where Yeah. Our numbers aren't where they should be, but boy, what an impressive group. It's nice to, it's nice when you see everybody together, you realize, okay, yeah. It's not where it should be. But on the other hand, it's not nothing <laugh>. Right. It's not this poor sickly group. It's a healthy Yes. Um, believing group, number of religious Right. And the different religious orders and missionaries. Uh, young people who from other missionary organizations who were sharing their gifts. You and I had the chance to take part with Damascus. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> group that was very close to me in Ohio. We, we visited their booth and heard about their mission, and they had a night of prayer, praise and worship.
Speaker 2 00:09:40 It was beautiful. Yeah. You know, it's funny, I spoke to 'em after I visited them at their booth and the mission experience. Yes. And I said, you know, you guys, this was amazing last night, there were so many people. And I said, you know, we were thinking that ma, we were worried some people weren't gonna come. And they told me, Bishop, that they figured by the end of the night, just in that hour, they had over 1200 people come by. There were more people that we didn't see. They were telling me. Right. Not only in the room, in the surrounding hallway, and it just spoke to what the Lord was doing to all these people. There was so much joy in that room. There was so much gratitude in that room. And I think most of all, what this does, especially for, for the leaders and the young people who are here, it lets them know, you're not alone. We're in this together. Yeah. Right. We're in this together. And that's where that fellowship comes in. And I think that that's important for them to take with them where they go back home. Right. And, and always understand, oh, there's something greater. There's something bigger. I'm not in this alone. I'm not by myself when I'm speaking, uh, at my campus or walking around and, and no one wants to speak to me. You know, there's that. Okay, we're all on mission. We're all on
Speaker 1 00:10:49 Mission. I firmly believe that that feeling of isolation is the devil's tool. And it hits us. It hits us all. So there's nothing wrong with you if you feel like you're isolated. That's the spiritual battle today. To make us feel like we're isolated, that we're weird, we are different because of what we believe and what we hold or to feel that we're isolated because we're not lovable, we're not worthy. And you, you heard this theme over and over during the course of the week. You are more than worthy because you are a beloved child of God. And God loves you more than you could ever imagine. And the one of the big themes for the missionaries is to say, no, you mattered to me because you matter to God. Mm-hmm. You know? So you mentioned the Damascus group being in the mission experience area. Would you explain that a little bit?
Speaker 2 00:11:34 Sure. So there's this major hall, I mean, just massive, right? Where they have all, it's like a almost for those who are listening and have heard of anything like a Comic-Con or Jacob Javitz Center. Right. Uh, type thing. It's that massive, you know, that big. And in it, you have, it's kind of broken into some different parts. You have, as you said, bishop religious. So half of the room was actually religious and the other half was kind of media, Catholic media, Catholic wear, different ministries. They had a stage for people for, they were doing, uh, concerts. They were doing podcasts, they were doing all types of things.
Speaker 1 00:12:13 And a cornhole, uh, cornhole
Speaker 2 00:12:15 Competition games. And, uh, incredible. I mean, it, it and
Speaker 1 00:12:19 I to Columbus with him cause they have a presence on campus.
Speaker 2 00:12:21 Yes. Major presence. And so you have all of this and you have everyone just kind of funneling through <laugh> visiting, religious, seeing who's who kind of understanding the Catholic culture. Not only that, the resources. Right. Where can I turn to? Oh wow, I didn't, I never heard about, uh, this ministry here. What do you guys do? Wow. That's amazing. And even if I'm not gonna join you, or even if I'm not gonna support you in, in, in a way that you need at this moment, you have one my prayers and two, the reminder that we're in this together. And so you have all these young people. Damascus did something very smart. <laugh>. They, they, they simply offered coffee. Yep. That's cuz they know Bishop Brennan <laugh> <laugh>. So they offered coffee and there was just people funneling through their experience and they were talking to so many people. I went a few times. It was amazing to see that cuz you have priests religious talking to young people, helping them, asking questions, answering questions, leading them, and giving them that hope and that sense of purpose and direction that many are seeking as they're here.
Speaker 1 00:13:29 Yeah, exactly. You mentioned that they have to room more religious congregations. And those religious congregations were there for people who were trying to hear the call of the Lord in their life. And, you know, when you had that opportunity just to see all those possibilities right there in front of you and actually talk to the people in the congregations.
Speaker 2 00:13:47 It's funny, I <laugh> I had an encounter, one of the encounters that I had there was, there was a Dominican priest, op, religious, and a young man sitting next to him. And so I just go say hi cuz I like to say hi to everybody. So I'm saying hi to them and I say, you know what, province, where are you? Uh, what work are you doing, father, the young man is next to him. I say, are, are you discerning? Are you interested? And he says, yes, I am. And then I look at the priest and I say, <laugh>, don't worry. There's no competition here. <laugh>, <laugh>, I'm diocesan and you're religious, but it's okay. Right. And I turn back to the young man and I say, it's good that you're here because you need this exposure for your discernment. That's right. Right. To understand what it is that the church does as a whole and where the Holy Spirit is leading you.
Speaker 2 00:14:36 And that to me was kind of that encounter. Right. There was the purpose of that whole area, that mission way, that mission experience. Right. Right. You all these different encounters and see the different charisms that are present and the, the makeup of the church. You know, some might be more moved to an intellectual lifestyle, more to serving others may be more inclined to serving the poor and living in that community. And so it's so beautiful to see the experiences that the young people were having in speaking to the religious, um, while I was there. So that was just one encounter that I had. I didn't want to butt in, but I also had to wink, you know, wink at the guy. Don't forget about Dias <laugh>. You must discern that too.
Speaker 1 00:15:17 <laugh> <laugh>. That's right. That's, you got it. You got it. So, but again, the exposure to all the different communities, because how often do young people have that opportunity? Not, not terribly.
Speaker 2 00:15:28 Well, I'll tell you this, when I was in college, they used, I went to Franciscan University. They used to do vocations fair every year. Bishop, when I tell you I would spend hours in there <laugh> talking to everyone, <laugh>. And some I had no interest in joining, but it fascinates me. Yeah. Right. Because Poper has benedict me. He rest in peace. He said something and I, this was actually the, what I used for my thesis in the seminary, but he called movement, ecclesial movement in the church as eruptions of the Holy Spirit eruption. That to me is like, wow. He was so convicted that the Holy Spirit is moving in the life of the faithful that is moving in the life of the church. And so that to me is a reflection of that. Right. Whether it's religious or a lay community or whatever is going on. But with that missionary aspect and that missionary zeal, that's eruption of the Holy Spirit right there. That's an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And I hope that, that overflow pours onto us. Right.
Speaker 1 00:16:25 Exactly. Exactly. So let's talk content a little bit because Sure. The, you know, one of the, the main attractions is that they had fantastic speakers, well-known speakers from around the country who really just set us on fire. I, I know I myself was, was so inspired. And next week, or the week, this week, I should say, we are recording on Friday at the end of the conference because I'll be going on retreat after this. But I feel like I've been on retreat these last couple of days. Right. Who, some of the speakers who stood out to you, some of the keynotes,
Speaker 2 00:16:57 I think the keynote last night with Dr. Edward Shree and Father Mike Schmidtz, the two keynotes that we were able to attend fully, I think at least they left some gems for us. It was, it was beautiful because again, it was the keynote, but they, man, they had you had talking about everyone coming together. So this is not breakout sessions. So there are many breakout sessions throughout different tracks you can take. But we all came together to hear this one message, and it was just beautiful. The, the direction that they took. And so, you know, one of the things I, I'll just say one thing that Father Mike Schmidtz said that pe that it was really for me, I was like, wow. And he says that, you know, Jesus loves us as we are, but he also invites us to love him as he is.
Speaker 1 00:17:41 That's so important.
Speaker 2 00:17:42 And that, wow, when I heard that I had to, you know, you ever sitting down and you just kind of like lean back, take a deep breath. Wow.
Speaker 1 00:17:49 <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:17:49 Just that in, you know, because it makes you reflect. And when we look around, the conversations we have, even with ourselves is who is Jesus for us? And many times he can become someone that we like who justifies our existence, our actions, the way we speak, the way we act, the way we behave with others and love others. All of that and, and even our sin. Right? Oh, it's not that bad. You know, Jesus loves me and he forgives me. It's all good. Right? There's this real power to that message of Father Mike Schmidtz, where there's a realization that the Lord loves us so much that he loves us as we are, but see the capacity in us to be great. And he moves us in that direction, in the way that we avail ourselves to
Speaker 1 00:18:36 Him. You know, I, I think it was He, but if it wasn't, my apologies to whoever said it, <laugh>, but along those lines, like he said, if you read the gospels and it doesn't give you consolation and hope, you haven't really paid attention, you missed it. But simultaneously, if you read the gospels and it doesn't convict you or challenge you, then you, you're not reading the gospel either. Because what we end up doing is creating the God in my, I'm creating God in my image and lifeness mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's creating the God of my wants and needs. I love that image of the church, the church of many, the most popular church because there are thousands of them. But the church of one Right. Church of me,
Speaker 2 00:19:11 Mem,
Speaker 1 00:19:11 <laugh> mem.
Speaker 2 00:19:12 That's what he called it. Yeah. He called it mem. Yes. And it's so true. Right? It's so many people all together. But if we all have our own perception of God, in fact, Bishop, I think that that leads also to a very important point for us. And that is that in this encounter that the Lord invites us to have with him our recognition of God as father, how hard can that be if our own perception of fatherhood is broken? So that mem will definitely get in the way of my relationship with God. Yeah. Because how can I truly believe that God the Father loves me, unconditioning holy as I am, if I don't believe that fatherhood is even possible, or if I have a notion of fatherhood that cannot accept that. And so I do think that allowing the gospel to convict our hearts and take it for what it is, is part of the challenge of our faith. Yeah. But that challenge leads to something beautiful.
Speaker 1 00:20:09 Yes. Something liberation.
Speaker 2 00:20:10 Liberation and healing,
Speaker 1 00:20:11 Liberation. And then, and that brings us to Dr. Sre last night. Uh, and Dr. Sre is, both of them are well known. Father Schmidtz is known for the Bible in a year now. He's doing catechism in a year. And Dr. Sre is a big player on the Augustin Institute,
Speaker 2 00:20:25 Augustin Institute form symbol on.
Speaker 1 00:20:27 So you see that in our own parishes. We have access to his, so I invite Look it up, look him up. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and you, and he see what other things he has to say. But Dr. Shree said, Jesus doesn't pardon us like a judge, but he heals us like a physician. He heals us like a physician. Wow. And I just thought, that's it, because Yeah. Pardon is one thing. And that's, I'm sorry, I'm gonna go right back out there again. You know? And, and then I'm gonna feel lousy about myself because I've been pardoned and I failed again. Mm-hmm. But Jesus is bringing me healing. And it may be slow healing, but when we go to the sacrament of confession, when we turn to the Lord, when we experience his mercy in any way, it's not just about, okay, here's the eraser. You know, it's like a reset. It's more than that. It's a reset, but a recreation, a renewal. And I hadn't really thought of that so much. And that was a great insight for me. Wow.
Speaker 2 00:21:18 You know, it's funny, most people that I've encountered have this idea of a God who is this, you know, the, the famous old man in the sky with a gray beard. And I, and I always joke around with the hammer in his hand. Yeah. Playing whack-a-mole. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:21:33 <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:21:34 You did what? Bang, bang, bang. And you know, when you speak a message of hope and healing, it's almost foreign. I, but I think that is the heart of the gospel message. It's hope and healing that forgiveness leads to a change in my heart. Right. There's an actual change that happens, a conversion that is taking place because I have received a sense of overwhelming love in my life.
Speaker 1 00:22:00 Yes. And
Speaker 2 00:22:01 Now that transformation that opens my heart, how do I give that to others? Right. And how do I give of myself to others? But again, first it's about the recognition that the Lord is not simply forgiving me. And it's funny, you know, because the image of I go to confession, the judge, right. They look at the priest like the judge. So he says, all right, you're forgiven. Here's a prayer. And then go pray. Uh, three Hail Marys or go, go say a decade of the rosary or whatever is a sign. That's the, the fee that they pay <laugh>. Yeah. Like, you know, usually like punitive charges or, or anything like that. Like this is what for damage, this is for your damages. Go pray. Uh, three. Oh God, I'm good. You know, I've had people come up to me and joke, oh, father, like if it's funny, father haha, I did this. You know, just three Hail Marys. Right. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:22:48 Well, the other side, you, I I almost always give one hour father, because I say, that's the prayer that Jesus taught us. Sure. And it's got everything in it. Yep. And sometimes people say really just, just one hour father. Right. Yeah. That's it. Because like you say, it's not about paying a bill. Mm. It's about letting the healing steep into our lives and transform us.
Speaker 2 00:23:09 Otherwise it becomes a burden, Bishop. Yeah. It really does. Think about a bill, it's funny to use the word bill. Think about bills that are overdue, create stress. And so if your faith life is leading you to stress, then there's something that is not connecting. Right. Some dots are not connecting. Right. Because the idea is that it leads us to freedom. That's the truth right there. That it leads us to freedom. That my heart is set on fire because it has been set free. Yeah. Right. Free from whatever, whether it's an addiction that I'm struggling with, or some pain that I've experienced in my life, or whatever it may be, that the Lord, everybody's story is different. Right. But the need for that hope and that healing is, I think everything.
Speaker 1 00:23:49 So speaking of healing, we heard from Sister Miriam and s o l T, salt sister, who's well known, and she has a powerful conversion story, but that's wasn't the source of her message. The other night. She spoke about that sense of healing and the false voices. And she mentioned she used the image of the, the sirens in Houma in the Odyssey that would call out to the men on the ships and they, they'd be entrance by, they'd be attracted to the island, and then they'd be ship directed and drowned. It's this attraction, which leads to death. She said, those voices are all around us, and they call us in a certain direction, but then they pounce on us and they speak lies to us. And those lies end up destroying, whether it be addictions or temptations or terrible baggage that we carry. But also she said, the lies of you're not worth anything, you're not loved, you're not worthy. And that by contrast, God sings to us. She used the book of the Song of Songs, God sings us a love song. Mm. You are my beloved.
Speaker 2 00:24:47 That to me is very powerful. You know, as a priest in New York City, there's just so many people. And when I was at my former Paris St. Leo, there were just so many young people, a lot of families, very Hispanic community. And you know, one of the things that I've realized, Bishop, and talking to a lot of young people overall who sit down and, and say they feel that they don't love themselves. And those who come to me and say, father, you know, I, I'm depressed. I always ask them when they tell me I'm not good enough, or I'm not beautiful enough, Bishop, I'm gonna go as far as to say, I've had young people tell me I don't like my ankles. I mean, seriously, I don't like my ankles. I don't like the bridge of my nose. And I, and I hear this and my question is always this. Who told you that? Huh? Who told you that? Yes. And the reply, 90% of the time is no one. Wow. That means that what they're reading and seeing is their measure of who they are.
Speaker 1 00:25:44 Yes.
Speaker 2 00:25:45 And that couldn't be further from the truth and the message of hope that I always, I mean, I hope as a church, this is what we do, right? This is the work we do as apostles, is to let them know, especially these young people that they're loved. Right. It doesn't matter how big your ankles are or, or what, however you feel. It reminds me of the, I don't know if you ever saw the YouTube video years ago, it has to be over 10 years ago, but it was one of the best videos I've ever seen. This artist sits down with people. He'll sit down just like me and you are sitting down and he'll say, okay, I want to paint. I want to sketch a picture of you, but I'm not gonna sketch it based on what I see. I'm gonna sketch it based on what you tell me.
Speaker 2 00:26:25 He does all these sketches. And every single sketch was like a foreign concept of the person. Really? Yes. Wow. Of their self-perception. So it could be someone who's thin and you would see an overweight sketch. You know? And so that right there is the measure by which young people or people in general look at themselves as, I think the heart of what we're talking about, this hope and healing and what the Lord wants to let them know that they are loved. You are loved, you are loved beyond measure. And I think for me, that has been the inspiration here. To see these young people who have allowed that message to take root in their life and to see, you know, the freedom Bishop that I see here is uplifting for me. The freedom in conversation, the freedom in in friendship, the freedom in fellowship. Wow. You know, when I got to college, I remember, you know, again, New York City, the dating scene, it's all, you know, a lot of it is a game, you know? And I remember going to Franciscan and I, and I see people dating and, and they're just authentically who they are. And that just to me was such a foreign concept, you know? Yeah. But it spoke to what the Lord does in the hearts of people who open and avail themselves to his workings and his promptings.
Speaker 1 00:27:36 God will do the rest. Beautiful. Beautifully said. Let's wrap up with really our own purpose in being here. It was really for us to be able to have this encounter as a bishop and priest from the diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, to be able to say, okay, what relationships can we build in the future? You know, without being specific, just focus has different models. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they have parish models, digital models, campus models, all of that. But how might we be able to share this spirit and the fruits of this encounter with people in the years to come? So I'm asking you who are listening, would you please pray for us, pray for us here in Brooklyn and Queens, pray that we might be able to build that culture, that culture of the joy of the gospel, that joy of the encounter with Jesus Christ. And that that missionary spirit will be a source of great hope for all of the church, and quite honestly, for all of the people of the county of Brooklyn and Queens. So Father Diaz, again, thank you for joining me on this, I don't know what you call it, pilgrimage or experience.
Speaker 2 00:28:39 It was supposed to be a conference <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:28:42 This is,
Speaker 2 00:28:42 We moved way beyond
Speaker 1 00:28:43 That. That's right. This experience. And thank you for your zeal for the gospel and for joining me in this particular conversation. Thank you for listening to us on this week's edition of Big City Catholics. May God bless you and your families, and I'll offer prayer of blessing. The Lord be with you,
Speaker 2 00:29:01 With your spirit.
Speaker 1 00:29:03 May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you and be gracious to you upon kindness. Grant you as peace and may nighty. God bless you. The Father is the Son in the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Thank you. God bless.
