/
RSS Feed
Episode Description
Father Thomas Petri of the Dominican House of Studies shares his thoughts about our new Pope, including the pontiff’s choice of name and what it means to his papacy. The Dominican priest also discusses the connections with his predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, and his love for St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.
Msgr. Roger Landry joins us with a look at this Leonine pope with the heart of a missionary. We also discuss the upcoming CIC Eucharistic procession kicking off this weekend, carrying the Blessed Sacrament in front of the White House. Last year’s event drew over 1,000 people with a procession that included priests, nuns, sisters, and lay faithful, in a public portrayal of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist.
Bios
Father Thomas Petri is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception of the Dominican House of Studies. Born in Detroit and raised in Kentucky, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the Pontifical College Josephinum, and his Doctorate in Sacred Theology from The Catholic University of America. He was ordained a priest in 2009. In 2013 he was appointed Vice President and Academic Dean of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. In 2012, he was named a clergy-Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and was commissioned a Papal Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis in 2016. He’s the author of Aquinas and the Theology of the Body: The Thomistic Foundations of John Paul II’s Anthropology and has published articles in Nova et Vetera and The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly.
Monsignor Roger Landry is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts. He writes for numerous publications, speaks on radio and TV, and is the author of the book, Plan of Life: Habits to Help You Grow Closer to God. A graduate of Harvard and the Pontifical North American College in Rome, he served as Attaché to the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the UN in New York. Father Landry traversed the full 1500-mile Eucharist Pilgrimage in 2024 and joined the historic Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, an event which coincided with his 25th year in the priesthood. In 2024, he was appointed the new National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the USA by Pope Francis.
Ashley McGuire is a Senior Fellow with The Catholic Association and co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Conversations with Consequences. She is the author of the compelling book, Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female, and founding editor of altFem, a web magazine devoted to the exploration of faith and gender. She writes for numerous news outlets and speaks regularly on major television networks, serving as a prominent voice for the pro-life movement and religious liberty. She is the recipient of the Phillips Foundation Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship and the Susan B. Anthony List’s Young Pro-Life Leader award. She is also the mother of five children.
Mary FioRito is an attorney, public speaker, radio show and podcast host, and an EPPC Cardinal Francis George Fellow specializing in human life issues, abortion law and ethics of life. She has a degree in English Literature from Loyola University Chicago and a Juris Doctor from Loyola School of Law. She served as Director of Pro-life Activities for the Archdiocese of Chicago and was named the first female Vice Chancellor for the diocese in 2000. Newsweek Magazine named her one of their “Women of the New Century,” and she received the “Woman of the Year Award” from St. Joseph College Seminary. Her writings have been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, National Review, and many religious publications. She is a contributing author to two books and has appeared on major Chicago area news outlets as well as NPR, EWTN, and local and national religious media. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three daughters.
The following transcript is machine generated.
Episode 317 Transcript
| Ashley | Hello friends, and welcome to Conversations with Consequences. We are the radio show and podcast of the Catholic Association where we aim to change the culture one conversation at a time. You can listen to conversations with consequence US on the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. Eastern or catch the encore at 5 p.m.. We are also on Sirius XM Channel 130. Of course, our radio show is also a podcast. Go to the Catholic Association dot org or directly to wherever you listen to your podcast. |
| Mary | Welcome to Conversations with Consequences here on EWTN Radio. I am your host, Mary Fiorito. |
| Ashley | And I'm Ashley McGuire. |
| Mary | And we are happy to have with us today Dominican father Thomas Petri. He is a well-known voice to EWTN radio listeners and a known face on the broadcast side of things as well. And Father, we'd love to chat with you today about some very interesting facts about our new pope, Leo the 14th, who is from Chicago as a Chicago. And I'm now required under Canon law to mention that every time. We are thankful that you could be with us today. |
| Father Thomas Petri | I'm always happy to be with you. It's great to be here. |
| Mary | So, Father, I think we have to start with this really incredibly important fact is that you and the friars had kind of a bracket going on and that you won the name contest. You were able to guess the name correctly. That's really interesting. Why did you think the new Holy Father would choose that particular name? |
| Father Thomas Petri | Well, we did have a bracket going on. I think other religious houses do the similar thing. I think it's illegal under canon law to gamble on who might become pope, but there's nothing against trying to figure out what the name is going to be. So, yeah, I chose Leo the 14th. It was a combination of both wishful thinking and an educated guess. You know, it was wishful thinking because it seems to me that the last several pontificates since the Second Vatican Council. So. John the 23rd. Paul The six, John Paul the second. Benedict and now Francis have been in some ways rehashing and interpreting the council. And there's been different factions associated with each of them. And sometimes even operating out of 1960s or 1970s theology or reaction to those theologies. And quite honestly, I just wanted to get off the merry go round. I want you know, I want to go back somewhere before the council, not to discredit the council, but just to say we got to move on at some point here. We can't we've got to stop the navel gazing. So that was the wishful side of things. But the more educated side was that and hopeful, I think, was that Leo the 13th was Pope during a very difficult time in both the church and in the world. He was he was the first truly modern pope. You know, he was the first pope to live really in the Vatican voluntarily. Pius the ninth was the last pope to have the papal states lived at the cranial palace, as most previous popes before him did. And Pope Leo the 13th was the greatest, probably the one of the greatest teaching popes in the church's history and really outlined at a time when the world was experiencing a lot of political upheaval, revolution. And the church was diminished in its influence in the world. Just really highlighted how Catholics are supposed to move forward in the modern world. And it seems to me that we're kind of at a similar place now, you know, with the world in upheaval, a lot of confusion in the church and I daresay even some probably at the late 19th century as well, some despair perhaps about the state of things, the state of the church or the state of the world. So I was really kind of prayerful and hopeful for a Leo the 14th, and I was obviously thrilled. I mean, I was listening to the album was Papa and I missed the aliens part, but I caught the number in Latin. And so I heard I distinctly heard 14 as like, my gosh, it's Leo the 14th. That's awesome. |
| Ashley | Father Petry, the first encyclical I ever read as a Catholic, it was Rerum Novarum, which was written by this Pope's Namesake's predecessor, Leo the 13th. And, you know, I think people rushed to jump in to, he's going to pick up with this and it's going to be about workers. And I was intrigued to see that. In fact, he said he wants to confront artificial intelligence and AI and and the technological revolution. And that made so much sense because if you think about it, other than, you know, the sexual revolution and the industrial revolution, the techno logical revolution, if we want to call it that, has probably been the most disruptive thing to humanity, to our lives. It certainly brought about great goods, but also huge human costs. What do you see as some of the the the biggest things that the pope might want to tackle on that front? |
| Father Thomas Petri | Well, I think that's a great question, Ashleigh. And I think, you know, I had not put that together. And I'm grateful that you put that together, because you're right. I mean, it is a it is a revolution. And there is great good, just like there was good in the Industrial revolution, in some sense, certain goods in the sexual revolution, if we want to regard certain understandings of love as good versus ones that are bad. But yeah, the technology technological revolution is not just about A.I., it seems to me, or programs or robots or software. And Pope Francis talked a little bit about this. He never really went into detail about it, but it's also the rise of what we might call a technocracy in which people are reduced to simply coders and programmers and set aside for the efficiency of computing. And I suspect and this is what one of Pope Leo the 13th great insights was with regard to labor and workers that when that the dignity of work means that the human person is actually contributing something and puts an impression of himself or herself, the worker, there's something of the worker in the product that they're creating, that they're making, and that invest a certain amount equivocal speaking of a certain dignity in the product. And you know, already here at the House of Studies, we've had some conferences on Saint Thomas Aquinas theology and artificial intelligence. And there's a great deal of worry about the how fast artificial intelligence is growing and where it might go. But we do know that at the base level, artificial intelligence isn't able to do what humans can do, which is to take in experiences through our five senses, to amalgamate them and to reflect on them that in fact, computers still require and will always in some sense require the human experience to do what they do. They will require the data of humans to do what they do. But at the same time, we want to make sure that people remain free and that AI remains at the service of healthy lifestyles and the service of the common good and at the service of the human person. |
| Mary | Father Pope Leo the 13th, I believe, was the first Pope to be captured on film. And, you know, which was a wonderful thing to be able to go back and see actually images of him in that way. And then Pope Leo, the 14th, met with journalists the other day and was the first to be able to address them in English as as a primary language in English, has now, I think, really surpassed French as being the international language that everyone knows. And he also spoke very movingly to the journalists about those among them who were imprisoned for telling the truth about stories. Was there anything else in the Holy Father's message to the media that was striking to you? |
| Father Thomas Petri | Well, yeah. I mean, he sort of asked them to always be for the truth and to to to find the truth and to tell the truth. I mean, I'm still in some ways, like I suspect, like all of us here and all of us in the United States are just stunned that we have a pope whose first language is English. You know, the last pope was pope, Adrian, the six, I think somewhere in the 1400s. He was the only English, the only British pope. But it's really remarkable because now we have a pope. We know what these Italians feel like that and and Poles and Argentinians and Germans that he's got cousins and nephews and family who are going to, I presume, like he's got family who are still school age going to school. And my cousins, the pope, my uncles, the pope, I mean. |
| Mary | Both of his brothers have been doing both of his brothers. |
| Father Thomas Petri | You know, he joked with the journalist, have been on TV more than he has, you know. |
| Mary | And they've been delightful. I've just what I've called I've like you, I've made a prediction. I think they're going to have their own talk show by the end of the month. You know, Will and John Pope's splaining or something like that. But they're really fun characters. |
| Father Thomas Petri | I think the two the two of them and Pope Leo the 14th. And you see this already and how Pope Leo the 14th works. And it did seem never really true. BOND Those three brothers, which obviously says their parents did something really well, you know, in raising them but also Pope Leo the 14th really exudes a sort of love and humility and a charity just by his expression, you know, And I think we needed that. I mean, I personally am over the last week thinking to myself, just seeing a younger hope. I mean, he's 68, 69, right? But when's the last time we've really seen a vigorous pope walking around unhindered, you know, unhindered by old age? And you're it's the 9090s really what John Paul the second before he started to get ill. Right. And I forgot what that looks like and it's really I think it's going to be very invigorating both for the church but also for the church in the United States. |
| Mary | And then his love for sports, which is very natural. It's nothing contrived. He there's video of him now at Chicago whites, white Sox games by himself wearing a White Sox jersey. And he met with tennis players yesterday. And so I think that speaks to a lot of young people. |
| Father Thomas Petri | Absolutely. Absolutely. I I really do feel that the Holy Spirit was really working in this. And this is of course, I want to be clear not to take anything away from Pope Francis. I mean, I think Pope Francis had a wonderful pastoral heart. I think he was very good for the mission of the church. I think he did want the church to get away from navel gazing. And the synod duality thing, I think, went sideways. I mean, there's evidence that he wasn't always pleased with how the synods were going. I think because there's a temptation in those to do too much navel gazing. What can the church change? What can we do when really we need to walk with Christ and introduce people to Christ in all in all walks of life, in all places? And the the difficulty was, I think, under Pope Francis is that I think he did leave a lot of people in confusion. You know, I don't think that's critical. I think every pope has gifts and weaknesses jump on him. Benedict now not excluded from that in, I believe that Pope Leo the 14th theories, the pastoral heart, the missionary zeal of Francis. But he'll also have clarity. I mean the man has a doctorate in canon law and he majored in mathematics and science. You don't do that unless you have a brain for that likes precision and clarity. |
| Ashley | You know, speaking of the synods, he he mentions infidelity in his first remarks to the world, which Mary and I happen to be in St Peter's Square for. But, you know, I think we all kind of agree that the synods didn't exactly. Their end result was probably more confusion, less unity within the church. What do you see as as kind of a path forward for them? How does the pope kind of steer the church forward, you know, and and bring Catholics closer together while still dealing with this kind of issue hanging out there, and especially the fact that you have the German Germans already lunging forward saying, let's keep going with the equity. |
| Father Thomas Petri | Yeah, well, I think the Germans, I mean, are going to have to be dealt with. I mean, I think that's kind of obvious. They're going to have to be dealt with. And Francis was trying to deal with them. It'll be interesting to see how a pope who is a canon lawyer will have a different tact or might have a different tact. You know, the synod duality thing, I think it sounded like a lot of corporate jargon. I think for a lot of people there was a lot of jargon there. And so and I think the Holy Father, Pope Francis, was never actually precise on what he thought the synod ality word was he was letting cardinals and different people speak about it. I went to Quito with EWTN for the International Eucharistic Congress and it was absolutely wonderful. But they spent a whole day and one day, one one day, same was the synod ality of the Eucharist. What is that? Right? And so what I realized in that whole week though, was that the whole focus of that Eucharistic Congress and the dance in Fidelity was simply about helping the lay faithful take up their mission as baptized members of the church to reach the world and to take ownership of their apostolic mission, their evangelical mission in the world, and to find ways to do that together. And in accompaniment, I hope Cardinal Prevost and Pope Leo the 14th gave a like an hour long interview nine months ago at a parish in Illinois, and someone asked him about this. And it was interesting. He made the same very similar comment. He said that Synod ality actually has been going on in lots of places in America or indeed in the world for many, many years. And I I'm sure he's talking about the American experience. It's not like we don't have laity involved in decision making in the United States. I mean, they're involved at all levels in the United States already. Right. But that's not true everywhere. And I think when we hear synod ality, we hear corporate jargon. The Germans obviously here, we can change this, we can do this. We're going to have more power. You know, the Latin Americans here, it means walking with the church. I think Cardinal Prevost said since modality is nothing more than Lumen Gentium the Vatican's constitution on the church in action, that's what it should be. And that seems to me to be the right way to go. Now, my question is, why do we need to invent all of this new language? Let's just use the language of the Second Vatican Council, the church that the the people of God are meant to be the evangelization. I can see why that would need to be emphasized in a place like Latin America, where probably a lot of Catholics think it's the priests job to go out on the streets and evangelize. I think in the United States, we have that message. In Germany, they still seem to be doing a lot of navel gazing. You know, the Italians, maybe they need to also hear that kind of message. So I suspect civility will continue. But I really do anticipate we're going to see it under a different mode or a different register, as you might say. |
| Mary | Well, Father, when most American Catholics at least think of religious communities of men, they think of the big three, right? The Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Dominicans. The Holy Father is from the Augustinians, which is a much smaller religious order. I think there's only 3000 priests worldwide. How do you think the particular charism of the Augustana fans will impact his his papacy? And can you explain to the listeners who might not be familiar with the community what their particular charism is? |
| Father Thomas Petri | Right. So the Augustinians and the Dominicans and the Franciscans have a very similar background. We were all founded in the 13th century and we were part of a new type of religious order called Mendicant. Say we were all mendicant and it was the first kind of religious order of men who weren't monks, who weren't just staying in the abbey or staying in the monastery to pray, but were basically monks. We live like monks, but were in the world, too. So someone once said, you know, the men deacons are kind of like monks on the move or always monks on the move, you know. And the Augustinians were founded in that sort of context during the 12th, the 13th century, when bishops and diocesan priests were really not living the good life. You know, they were not preaching, they were not necessarily present to their people. And so all of these movements in one way or the other, it was the Franciscans, the Dominicans or the Augustinians, the Carmelites were also part of the mendicant movement, were emphasizing different aspects of that August, of that Christian vision of community and evangelization that we hear about in the Acts of the Apostles. The Augustinians follow Saint Augustine and so on. Their charism is really, you know, being faithful to the early church, being faithful to the mission of the church. However, it takes them, whether that's with the poor, whether that's with in parish ministry or missionary work, whether that's teaching. And what you're going to see is a very strong attachment to the theology and writings of Saint Augustine. And I think we saw that in Pope Leo, the 14th first homily to the cardinals. It was decidedly Christo centric. And you saw the primacy of grace, so much so that Pope Leo the 14th, reminded the cardinals that the pope is simply the steward of the mysteries that he's been given and is intended to pass on, and that, in fact, the pope should recede, should diminish so that Christ can actually shine through. And that's a very Augustinian just the primacy of grace. And I think and I don't remember exactly how he concluded the homily, but it was something to the effects of pray that I will always have the grace to do this. The Augustinians and I, you know, Saint Dominic, the Dominicans, we follow Saint Thomas Aquinas, who was certainly a faithful student, a devotee of Saint Augustine. And I would argue to the Dominicans, there's no order in the church that places a higher primacy on grace than the Dominican order. But if there is one, it would be the augustinians, as opposed to a spirituality that without falling into heresy, might emphasize activity more, you know, and what we can do more than what Grace might do. Of course, we run into the problem there of a possible plagiarism or a semi plagiarism. |
| Ashley | When my understanding is the Holy Father has a connection to the Americans and that he did his doctoral thesis at the Angelica. Tell us more about that. |
| Father Thomas Petri | Yes. So that's exciting. Father Thomas Joseph White is the rector of the Angelica and he's a Dominican from our province. And he and I entered this shit together. So I'm really happy to see he's already he's already scrounged around and found father proposed doctoral dissertation and he points out and others have started to point this out that in the doctoral dissertation which is on the authority of a prior or the superior of an Augustinian community, that authority is always about service and serving and charity for Saint Augustine Authority is never an end in itself. And so it's wonderful that you know, that that's sort of in his background as a young priest. He was already wondering what it means to be a superior and what authority means in the Augustinian tradition. And I mean, in this sense to say it's the Augustinian tradition, it's not. I mean, that's the truth. It's true. That authority is about service. And I suspect we're already seeing elements of that in this first week of Pope Leo, the 14th pontificate. |
| Mary | And Father in the Holy Father's new coat of arms. There's a very prominent floor daily in honor of Our Lady. And, you know, when I think of the rosary or, you know, devotion to our lady, I really think of the Dominicans first. Can you speak a little bit about why the Holy Father might have placed that emphasis in his papal coat of arms? |
| Father Thomas Petri | Well, I think it's important that, look, the Blessed Mother is is our way to the sun in many ways, right? I mean, she she's our mother. And the fact that he made a pilgrimage already to the Augustinian Marian Shrine, the fact that Francis did that routinely to Our Lady of the Solace, Romani and Santa maria, a majority Benedictine. I mean, I would love to see this kind of continue on where we're getting these Marian elements in the papal sort custom, where there's a pilgrimage to Mary to offer your pontificate to her, where there's some element of her in your coat of arms. Because popes have been doing this for a long time in their encyclicals and letters, always concluding with some address or invocation of the Blessed mother. And so I think just having the Blessed Mother, if there is a Petrine, to quote von Balthasar, you know, hunters, von Balthasar, one of the great 20th century theologians, if there's a Petrine dimension to the church and the Marian dimension is in fact greater because Mary, it pulls into herself all that is good about not only being the premiere disciple, but also being the primate, the one who brings the word to the world. She's the one who gives birth and to the word in the world. |
| Ashley | Father, we're running out of time. But one question that I've been asking a lot of our recent guests is it's it's clear that America's having a real Catholic moment. And this I was saying before, we just had the first American pope elected. But, you know, this last Easter, it seemed like every single parish in America was just bursting at the seams with record numbers of of new converts. And I know social media can maybe amplify that a little bit or distort reality. But, you know, just, you know, speaking of media, something that our new Holy Father clearly seems to care about, you know, just just the new and interesting media outlets, The Hallow app and you yourself are a teacher to young people. You're right next to the Catholic University of America. What do you think is driving this Catholic moment right now in America? |
| Father Thomas Petri | Well, I'm going to try to answer this succinctly. I think you're right. I think we are in a Catholic moment. I think back to that wonderful radio address that Joseph Bradshaw gave in 1968 about the church and faith in the future. This is the famous point, the place where he famously said that he thought the church would be a smaller church going, you know, in the future. But that's not really the point of his of that address, of his message. He spends time going through history that the church and the world go through these cycles where the church loses influence in the world games and secular society gains prominence. But that can only go on for so long because the human person desires, meaning the human person is made for God. Right. And so he says that every time this has happened eventually, and this is my language, not his, that society goes over a cliff. It hits a wall of of a desire for meaning and a desire for something that's greater and transcendent. And that's when God historically is always raised up like unique saints that speak to the world at that moment. And so, you know, when we look at the world, I think as Catholics and we look at even our own country in other countries, it can be very easy to fall into the temptation of despair and to say, gosh, how can we get over some of this polarization? I mean, even some of the transgenderism and I mean, some of it is so absurd. How can we get over that? And I think the message of the church and this was certainly a strong message of Pope Benedict the 16th, and I think we'll see it in Pope Leo the 14th is that it is by being faithful to the graces of God, and that God ultimately will be the one to solve these issues and this problem in the end. That's why Ratzinger said that Christians he didn't think were allowed to be either pessimist or optimist, that we were rather supposed to be people of hope, because hope is optimism says we can get get our way out of this pessimism. There was no we can't. Hope, says I don't have I can't. But God can. And he has promised to do so. And so it's also kind of remarkable that we're in the middle of this jubilee pilgrimage of Hope that we received this new pope who clearly is going to emphasize grace and the primacy of God in evangelizing and changing the world. |
| Mary | Well, Father, we just have about a minute and a half left, but I'd like to ask you, because you actually and I were in Rome when all of this happened, so we didn't get to see some of the video of different religious communities and schools and stuff finding out where were you when you heard the news and who were you with and what was it like? |
| Father Thomas Petri | Well, I was in this very seat. I was in my office and I was actually doing an interview for a major secular news outlet. And I had the Vatican camera on my on my computer so I could see what was going with the smokestack. And I noticed it before the anchors did. And they were they were outside and one of the roofs and they turned around. He said, he's right. It's there is it's smoke, it's white smoke. So it was really, really remarkable. |
| Mary | Yeah, It was just an electrifying moment. And still I think we're just still all just basking in the joy of it all. So. Well, Father Thomas Petrou, thank you so much for giving us so much time this morning. And if you'd like to learn more about the Dominican House of Studies, please visit DHS dot edu and you can follow Father Thomas Petry on social media at Petri. That's tri0p and make sure to visit the campus association, talk to learn all about us. And thank you for joining us. |
| Ashley | Welcome back to Conversations and Consequences on EWTN. Renew on your hostess, ashley McGuire. |
| Mary | And I'm Mary Fiorito. |
| Ashley | And this weekend marks a very exciting event in our nation's capital, the annual Eucharistic procession organized by the Catholic Information Center. The third of its kind will be taking place on May 17. And we have the director of the CAC who is organizing this wonderful event with us today, Father Charles Trehalose. Welcome back to the show. Father Charles. |
| Father Charles T | Thank you. And thank you for having me on. |
| Ashley | So I would love to hear all about this event. But first, we kind of can't help with all of our guests talking about the momentous occasion of the election of our new Holy Father Pope, Leo the 14th. And we'd love to get your your thoughts on this man, the fact that he's the first from the United States. You're someone who's not from the United States, but you've lived here for many, many years. What was your reaction when you saw him come out on that balcony? |
| Father Charles T | What I was very excited. First of all, I to be completely honest, I didn't know much about him before. And I was running to the CAC when when I was out. And then I heard about the white smoke and we had prepared some prosecco and some celebration at the Catholic Information Center. Many people came in from downtown Washington, D.C. to see the new pope, who that person was going to be, because, you know, the excitement and the anticipation of of of the new pope, it's it's one of the most amazing events, I think, in in in in our times. And when we heard the name and the fact that he was born in Chicago. Right. And then he was an American and so everyone, you know, they were so excited. And I think that with his background as an American and also as being been having been a missionary and having been in so many countries and having worked in Rome and at the custody of bishops, I think he has a global understanding of the church that gives him kind of an authority and an understanding of what the needs of the church are at this present time. So I'm very excited and let's see how how all develops, right? But the Holy Spirit is always behind this, behind the church, behind the pope working, you know, beautiful things. So I'm very I'm very happy. |
| Mary | Father, what do you think it is about the election of the new Holy Father? That that quite literally moves people to tears, actually. And I had the great privilege of being in Saint Peter's Square when the announcement came out. And there was a woman standing nearby who also spoke English and who kind of turned to me and said, I don't even know why I'm crying. I'm not Catholic. But she was so moved by the moment. And obviously there's a lot of pageantry and ritual that is part of this. But I get the sense there's something more deeply spiritual going on. Can you speak to that particular piece of it? |
| Father Charles T | I had the same experience with other people who I know, friends of mine acquaintances were not Catholic, and they were also very, very happy and excited about the new pope, even if they didn't know who that person was. And I think that has to do with the fact that the Pope represents Christ, raises a vicar of Christ here on Earth, and he has a special role in caring spiritually for for all mankind, for everyone, regardless of their background, where they come from. And that, you know, that is felt, I think, in our society and all the popes that we have had, you know, in recent centuries, our I have been you know, it was in this in this regard. It's very committed. Any pope writing in history is the vicar of Christ. And so this is something that I think that people understand and cherish, regardless of whether they are Catholic or not. Catholic. |
| Ashley | Absolutely. Well, Father, in my neighborhood, I live in a very Catholic neighborhood. And every year we have a little mini Eucharistic procession. And it's, you know, similar to the pope, a kind of gathers the intrigue of people going by, especially frustrated cars that, you know, we actually close down some streets and people set up altars in their driveways and we make stops along the way. But you certainly, you know, similar to the election of a new pope, you get a sense of the tradition, the pageantry and the kind of mystical beauty of the church that's just very different than everything else in our modern times. But you have been organizing and running that on a much larger scale in downtown Washington, D.C. So tell us tell our listeners what exactly this entails, like logistically and then what your experience has been with with this procession in the streets of our nation's capital? |
| Father Charles T | Well, I think that I have to say that all this started three years ago or two years ago when when the Eucharistic revival hit our our country with with it was providence. Right. God's providence and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops decided to that we all should push in this direction. And then I, I kind of came to mind the Eucharistic processions that I used to attend when I was a boy in Spain. And and also all the story in the stories of all their Eucharistic processions in different parts of Europe and how the revival was encouraging this aspect. And I you know, the Catholic Information Center, we decided that this was the moment to start. And this event, this event, the faith in our nation's capital, which is a very important place for for our country and very significant. So we organized the organization of this Eucharistic procession is really intense. And, you know, it's kind and logistically speaking, complicated because you have to are many different groups of elements that need to be to come together. And the civil authorities because they close the streets, they protect us, the law enforcement enforcement. Right. But also we have so many volunteers, so many staff members, so many people attending the procession. And and we want also to have a beautiful beauty for the showing of our faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ. So also the liturgy place, I like and I like a fundamental role here in making this this procession something very beautiful and attractive for everyone because they can see the goodness and the beauty of God and Jesus Christ in how we proceed with with the Blessed Sacrament. So it's a complicated I didn't anticipate how complicated this was because, you know, I have a small Eucharistic procession can be kind of simpler. But this one involves so many people. And anyway, but I'm so happy to be able to to be a part of it. |
| Mary | Father One of the other interesting things about this time this year is that in addition to having a new Holy Father, which is very exciting, we have our first Catholic vice president, or I should say our first Catholic vice president, but we have a Catholic vice president who's a convert and very enthusiastic about his faith. But also it's the year of hope. It's this jubilee, year of hope. So will the jubilee theme have play a role in the procession this year? |
| Father Charles T | Absolutely, yes. So I was very happy when Pope Francis announced the title or the topic of this jubilee year 2025. Right. That is celebrated every 25 years. I remember the previous one I was in in Rome myself studying for the priesthood in the year of, you know, the year 2000. It was an amazing event. And this year I sort of the jubilee year, of course, is a sad day. A year of rejoicing, of joy, of bringing hope. And we normally write one of the the elements of the Jubilee year, especially those who go to Rome, but also in different capitals of eastern states and dioceses. And there are these leaders right when you to pass through. Right, to express your desire to be renewed and to convert and to start over. And I thought that the Eucharist is not just passing through a door, but it's bringing hope itself to the streets of our nation's capital. When people see Jesus Christ and see the faith that we express through our devotion, through our prayers, and they I think that we are kind of at lifted up and and renewed in the sense of hope that we can really go to heaven despite our difficulties, our own weaknesses and limitations, and that God is merciful. And that's a beautiful thing to see physically when we process with with the Eucharist. |
| Ashley | You write that one of the places you will stop and make stops along the way is the Department of Veterans Affairs, and you'll pray for service members and their families. Are there any other specific places you stop or specific, like uniquely American Prayer or intentions that that you make? |
| Father Charles T | Yeah, we plan, we pass by and different historical landmarks, right? We are passing through Syria with the square Maximus and a squirrel, a square, Lafayette, the square. And those are, I think, historically speaking, very important elements for our country because they represent the independence of our country. And then in the civil war. Right. With General MacPherson and the first admiral of the Navy, David Farragut. So and they are and there are, of course, Lafayette, right. That are like a foreign military officer who fought alongside Washington, George Washington, for for the Revolutionary War. And I think that in passing by these places, we are an especially in view of the White House. That's another, of course. Right. That that represents in some way in the care of our country that and the common good that the executive branch should always care for. Right. We are praying for our country, for the people of our country, not regardless of where they come. They come from different states and and for our government and our leaders so that they can always make decisions in the light of God's loss. Those are elements. That is, of course, the procession. This procession is so unique, I think. |
| Mary | And Father, do you have any stories from previous years process, irons about conversions that may have taken place or something that you feel is very noteworthy that you would like to share with our listeners? |
| Father Charles T | I have it's beautiful to see how many people stop in the streets to see this event that they have never seen before in their lives. And and they're beginning they are wondering what this is. And they ask and then the people in the procession take and come out and they start explaining our faith and what the Eucharist means for us, for Catholics, how the real presence of Jesus is there. And it's very is I think it is very moving to see that. But I have to tell you something. One, I remember passing by a big building with with windows, and then this person was hanging on in the middle of the facade, you know, cleaning windows. Right. With with a hanging. I mean, he he was really high, right? And then when he saw the Eucharistic procession, it turned around and then he removed his hat and he started to pray from that attitude right from that height, which was so beautiful to see, because in Europe, the tradition has always been that when the Eucharist, the Eucharistic procession passes for, you know, straight the different balconies of the houses and they all decorate the different facades and people come out from their houses. So that reminded me of, of those images of the past and also it reminded me or I would say came to mind that rain is coming to mind right now. Pope Leo the 14th in in Peru when during the pandemic he came out he came out to the streets of the city by himself, walking by himself with three or a few other priests. You know, we all separated. And he was blessing all the streets of the city with with the monster and with a blessed with the Eucharist. And that that's really moving to see that from the pope. |
| Mary | Yeah. And following the pope's funeral in his death, many people referenced that moment as being one of the most significant moments for them of his papacy, that he came out and bless the world and was praying for the world. And, you know, during that interregnum, when there is no holy father, that's the kind of like spiritual protection you feel you don't have because there's no holy father to pray for the world that way. So that's very beautiful, Father. Thank you. |
| Father Charles T | The other thing I wanted to say is the fact that the pope was or is a fan of the White Sox. They said, why are they here? Right. I used to live in Chicago. And I think that the first professional baseball game I have ever been to, it was a White Sox game against the Yankees. And and, you know, in a way, it makes the pope very close to to to me personally. |
| Right. And at the same time and thinking of the Eucharist, the processions, because we wanted the Eucharist, the processions to be also very a kind of a common scene in the life of the church. And I see that many churches are now implementing or having more, you know, especially on Corpus Christi. So it's a beautiful thing to see in America. | |
| Ashley | We've also just seen the end of this extensive Eucharistic pilgrimage all over the country, multiple different routes. And the thing that I was most struck by with the different images and stories coming out of that was how youthful they were, how young people were leading the way. And you're someone who works with a lot of young people. You're in a downtown professional urban area. Are you seeing this? What we keep reading about, which is this in addition to a Eucharistic revival, really a youthful revival in in the church with young people, you know, I know the CIC runs the Leonine Forum, which seems like it's just exploded. Tell us a little bit about what you're seeing firsthand with young people in this country, young Catholics. |
| Father Charles T | I am in a very fortunate place because these are what the exactly what you just described is What I have been seeing recently. So many young people coming back to the faith, not just coming back to the faith, but growing in their faith in downtown Washington, D.C., young professionals or, you know, fathers or mothers with their children with it's kind of flourishing. And in the also, the attendance that we have at the daily mass, at the Catholic Information Center, which is a small chapel by the White House, has, as you may know. And then we had and we have and there every day for hearing confessions, for instance, and giving people direction. And we have programs and events and it's and the learning forum that you mentioned, which is a great program to teach the social teaching of the church to young professionals. So it's so beautiful to see that it makes my my, you know, ministry something that I enjoy so much. And I'm very thankful to God for for the place where I am. I have always been involved with young people, but especially this place is it's wonderful. |
| Ashley | Well, we thank you so much for your time and for bringing Christ's presence to the streets to be close with the people. And certainly will be praying for a successful event. Where can our listeners find out more about your work and even about the details of the event? |
| Father Charles T | You can find more at our website. That's AC DC dot org and also through our social media. And we will be processing with you because the procession on on Saturday, whether it rains or shines. But I think there's going to be there was going to be some sunny, sunny day so anyway well wonderful. |
| Ashley | Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Father Charles. |
| Father Charles T | Absolutely. Thank you so much. |
| Ashley | Yes. In D.C., they are kicking off the CIC Eucharistic procession this weekend, but also beginning is the last leg of the national Eucharistic pilgrimage going from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. Marina Fratelli, a perpetual pilgrim on the Seton route last summer, shares with us what walking the entire journey meant to her. What caught my attention about the Eucharist was on Twitter way back when was the words national Eucharistic revival. And so those words really were the ones I was like, What is that? Like, What does that mean? And I Googled it and that's when I really encountered the word Eucharist after a really long time. And when I in framed in the context of revival, it was really meaningful to me as a Protestant. I saw I just like so much coalesced when I did that research. I saw like this is a central tenet of the Catholic faith. This is something that even the bishops are admitting, like not every Catholic fully grasp. And that was all very helpful context to me as someone who had been to some masses before, had known, some Catholics, though not, and until I was. And so it made me have to wrestle with it like, you know, like, what is this revival? Why are they doing it? What is the Eucharist? What are the implications of that really big claim on a Christian's devotional life? You know, so when the national Eucharistic revival was launching this pilgrimage, it was really near to my heart already because I thought that the national Eucharistic revival was like really powerful for conversion because it was like really set my mind into into place and it initiated that. And so I knew it was going to be a big challenge because I was graduating law school and I have a lot to do with that and with the bar and with working. But technically the dates fit. Technically, there was not anywhere I had to be during the exact dates of the pilgrimage and then the Eucharistic Congress. So I applied and I was so busy during that time that I honestly just I had I gave myself like an hour and a half to type out that application to write all those essays. I'm just like, if it's God's will, he'll put me on his pilgrimage. But, you know, I wasn't able to like to to really edit things I wanted to. And it was just like I really left it to God and I was accepted and and I prayerfully chose to do it. But it was it was a risk and it was a sacrifice, but it was absolutely not unrewarded. And I'm so glad I made that 65 day journey. What I witnessed in America during that time was, I would say, true revival. I saw people who were already faithful, received deep encouragement. I myself spoke to people, several people, many people for the first time, the teaching of the Eucharist. And so I just saw so many people kind of gain new life in their faith and I saw so many seeds be planted in. And I'm just so excited. Yeah, about what happened that summer. And I'm excited there's going to be another one, another pilgrimage this summer as well. Welcome to Conversations with Consequences. I'm your hostess, Ashley McGuire. And I'm joined by our dear colleague, Monsignor Roger Landry, who I was with not too long ago in Rome for the historic election of the first American pope. And so he remains in Rome with much with much work to do as a new pontificate begins. So welcome to the show. |
| Msgr. Landry | Great to be with you, Ashley. It was great to have you here in Rome. |
| Ashley | So, Monsignor, there's so many questions that people have and there's so much to be seen. But one thing that we know is the Holy Father's new name. And so tell us a little bit about the significance of the choice of the name Leo. |
| Msgr. Landry | So he described why he took the name Leo Always when a pope takes a name, you're wondering what the reason was. And he told the cardinals whom he convened the day after his election, why he chose it, because he wanted to link his papacy to that of probably the 13 to as pope from 1878 to 1903. And Pope Leo wrote Rerum Novarum. He's the father of Catholic social teaching in order to take the light of Catholic moral theology and apply it to the industrial age. And so our new pope, Leo the 14th, he wanted to take the light of the church's teaching and apply it to the new digital age, especially to artificial intelligence, that these are going to be big time questions coming forward. Many are already erasing them, and he doesn't want the church to be on the sideline of that, but he wants to be right in the center, basically bringing the church's treasury of the understanding of human beings and how they're going to relate to the questions of intelligence and work. He wants to bring the ethical dimension into the use of AI. He wants to bring the full set of the church's 2000 year old wisdom to the questions that are coming. So that's why he said he took the name. But for me, when we look at the name Leo, we have the Latin word for Lion. And so I am hoping that we're going to have a massively courageous successor, Saint Peter, leading us during this age in which so many people are afraid, so many arrange this, so many need to hear Jesus telling us again, have no fear, I'm with you. It is I. |
| Ashley | Monsignor, I wasn't able to watch your coverage for EWTN as his election was announced because I was standing underneath you in the scaffolding in Saint Peter's Square. But I just have to ask, were you shocked or were you as shocked as so many Americans were when his name was announced? |
| Msgr. Landry | I really was. As soon as Cardinal Dominic Lamberti. But that word, Robert, I knew that there were four Roberts in the college, and I didn't think any of the other three would have been chosen when he said Francesco, he was the only Robert Francis, and then later Preval. And even though I knew that those names were coming, I still couldn't believe that we had an American. My my mouth was agape, the eyeballs and my teammates and the obedience that were about to pop through dilation. And it's just even several days later, I'm still getting used to the reality that a successor of Saint Peter was baptized not in the Jordan, but in Chicago. That's where he made his first confession. Holy Communion. That's where I received the Holy Spirit to strengthen for the work he's now doing. And so I'm so proud of the church in America that's produced this type of mature fruit whose faith raised in our own country is now going to nourish the world. |
| Ashley | Well, I must say, as a mom of baseball fans, it's also very exciting and hard for my kids to believe that there's actual footage of the Holy Father at a World Series game in a White Sox jersey. And but I also agree with you about the sense of pride. And I think there's nothing wrong with being proud that America produced a new pope. And certainly it's it seems as though there's sort of a new a Catholic revival going on in the American church. |
| Msgr. Landry | What is to be proud is to be grateful, above all, to God that he has chosen one of the members of our family in the United States to become pope. He's not a stranger. He was nourished on the same sacraments and word of God in culture we were nourished by. And so if the Lord has an exalted vocation for Robert Francis, bravo, imagine what he has for Ashley Samuel McGuire and Monsignor Roger Landry. The Lord who called him, is calling us, and he's calling all our listeners to be able to say yes to whatever his plans are for our life. The same way this son of the South Side of Chicago has said yes repeatedly to the Lord, who continues to call. |
| Ashley | Early exciting times. We thank you so much for joining us, Monsignor Landry. |
| Msgr. Landry | Okay. Next week. |