Personally Speaking ep. 93 (Bishop Joseph Espaillat)

bishop joseph espaillat he is the youngest american bishop recently named by pope francis to serve in the archdiocese of new york he's our guest on personally speaking please stay with us [Music] [Music] hello and welcome to personally speaking i'm your host monsignor losanti and bishop-elect joseph aspayat joins me now last month pope francis named father joseph espaiad to be an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of new york and when he's ordained next month bishop-elect joseph will be the youngest bishop in the united states at 45 years old and one of the youngest bishops in the whole world bishop desinet espana was ordained in 2003 as a priest and has served as pastor of san antonio padua parish in the bronx since 2005. he attended cathedral preparatory high school in manhattan before studying at fordham university where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy while at saint joseph's seminary in dunwoody bishop-elect espaillat earned a masters of divinity degree in theology and a master of arts degree in theology specializing in church history he is the director of this hispanic catholic charismatic renewal for the new york archdiocese and has also served as director of youth ministry for the archdiocese of new york as well in 2021 bishop designate espaliard launched a podcast called sainthood in the city which included discussions on faith music sports fashion and pop culture and has also been seen rapping in a number of youtube videos leading youth in a god mode encounter through wrap bishop elect espallard is here with us today to talk about being named auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of new york and how he's encouraged and motivated by young people and hopes to encourage them as well to embrace jesus christ joining me now i'm so pleased to welcome to personally speaking bishop designate joseph aspayart first of all congratulations on being bishop elect and i my first question will sound not unlike many other people's questions where in the world is targabala tagarbala is in tunisia modern modern day tunisia uh northern africa uh actually i am the next country uh next to uh hippo saint augustine okay next next to algiers okay is it is it in any way catholic right now or is it all completely muslim no i think it's i i haven't done much research sorry i'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that i am a bishop yes right you know so i haven't done the research um but from my understanding the reason as you would know monsignor the reason why they give titular seas um in the old names is because those are really vibrant christian communities um but it's no longer so yes my my inkling is it's it's probably more muslim today bishop i'm going to tell you a little story i don't know of how it relates to you but maybe it does years ago i was living at san agua's cathedral in rockland center and bishop mcgann left a note under my door saying see me first thing in the morning important i spent the entire night wondering what i had done wrong and how i was in trouble only to have him say at breakfast oh by the way you're now on my senior and i said could you have told me that last night and saved me some sleep my point is what happened to you when you found out they want me to be a bishop it was crazy um i i you know it's funny you're the first one to ask me that story because everybody else has been focusing on so many other things but it you know uh the the the real story i will share it with you so this is an exclusive you're getting the exclusive here you know uh the real story is um i got four phone calls from washington dc on martin luther king jr day on monday okay so i got these four phone calls and now you know as well as i do all of these spam phone calls i don't pick up i i was like you know who the heck is calling me from washington dc who do i owe money to or you know i was like why are they calling me i thought it was a spam honestly yeah um and so i never picked up and by the way mondays are my day of rest it's my sabbath day okay so i was i was at a friend's house family friend's house and i never picked up the call now tuesday morning i i ruptured my achilles last summer playing basketball uh so i i still am going to physical therapy so tuesday morning when i came back from physical therapy they called me once more while at physical therapy and then finally you know i'm getting ready getting ready to start my day and and he calls me again and finally i was i was really i wasn't at a good place because i got six phone calls from washington dc and i picked up the phone when i'm like hello and and here's the nuncio and the nancy was like yes this is uh christoph pierre archbishop christophe pierre may i speak to father joseph espana and i'm like who you know my head is not in the right places like i'm like why is the archbishop calling me the nuncio and and so he says i have some news for you are you sitting down and at that point i said no i just finished getting out of the bathroom like i'm getting ready to go no i'm not sitting down and then eventually he he broke the news to me and he says pope francis you know has elected you to become an auxiliary bishop of your sizes of new york do you accept and at that point i said can i sit down now you know and i said can you repeat that again and he said the same thing and uh and that was like wow you know i i i was totally taken by shot right yeah you did say yes right i did good say yes how long before you're able to let your parents know no you can't you can't say anything you know you cannot reveal anything um you're under the pontifical seal uh you know until the the announcement is officially made um but as as a you know a priest friend of mine was driving me down to saint patrick's cathedral uh at that point you know i i i said let me t my parents and my sister before they know before it comes out public you know and so i i told them then at that point um you know what had happened and and that was a fiasco because i said look i don't have much time i'm going to the cathedral but i was like this is what's going to happen you're going to get bombarded and flooded probably by people that you know would hear it from me first but they were enthusiastic they were ecstatic um but my mother's reaction was the best uh because my mother said you're not even a monsignor yet you skip that stage where you're not old enough to be a monsignor right now they're not making them until they're 65 and you've got 20 years to go before you can become unseen but i think you've jumped the gun i think i think uh bishop bishop kind of trumps that a little bit now let me ask you take me back as we're talking about your parents the family of origin makes or breaks us in many ways tell me about these people what are your mom and dad do right in raising you um i come from such a blessed home monsignor um my mother and my father have always been there for me um i've been privileged you know to have both mom and dad at home i have a loving sister a younger sister um my father i come from a military background my father uh was a marine uh he he served our country he fought towards the end of vietnam um my sister is a jag army jag she's a lawyer in the army she's a major uh and and so that discipline has always been there with my father you know my father always got up early in the morning you know he would always you know look well well represented to go to work you know um he never allowed me to miss school you know um i could be i could have a cold and my father's like no you're getting behind dressed and you're going to school um so school you know whenever i got perfect attendance award uh he was like that doesn't belong to you that belongs to me i'm your father i'm the one who used to get you up out of bed in the morning and my mother it's right i came from a background that was very disciplined very organized um i you know i still make my bed in the morning uh you know when i get up out of bed it's the first thing i do you know i say my prayers as i'm getting up and i'm making my bed before i even brush my teeth uh so i came from from that upbringing and a home full of love my mom and my dad uh are very loving parents um you know my dad thank god uh you know uh i still you know i have him around i'm blessed to have both of them around yeah um and and a very loving home um you know a very catholic upbringing because of my grandmother she was the matriarch my grandmother tremendous faith just to give you a quick example and before my grandmother died she came out of the hospital and told my father never forget it like today i was in the seminary already and she told my father she says you drive me by church and he said ma you need to go home and she goes you will not tell me what to do with god i need to say hi to jesus wow and we drove to her parish our lady queen of myers church of manhattan and i will never forget she knelt down for an hour this is a woman who just came out of the hospital yeah knelt down for an hour and i knelt down next to her and prayed with her and then after she did her holy hour she says now we go home and she died a couple of weeks later wow now that's that's the kind of grandma you want to have now let's go back for a second you know we talk about this all time i parish about the need for an increase in vocations and everybody wants priests but the usual response is somebody else's son not mine because they want to have the son be married and grandchildren all the rest your parents reaction to you saying mom and dad i think i'm called to priesthood they were probably not going to get grandchildren from you so what was their reaction my mother was okay with it my father at first at first was the one who was hesitant he was like ah you know what i went i'm a lifer one senior so i entered when i was 13 years old yeah i'm i'm i'm like the old school right right right because they don't do this anymore right i enjoyed i was 13 years old i did four years of cathedral prep four years of college at neumann and then four years of major seminary plus the spirituality year and when i when i got to college my father told my mother you know what it's a phase he'll get over it uh you know you know he'll find girls in college and he'll get over it and so it was it wasn't until the end of college when i graduated from fordham uh and my father he said to me so what are you gonna do and i said i'm gonna continue i'm gonna move on and he said to me you're really serious about this aren't you and i said to my father yes i am my father looked me right in the eyes being a military man and he said to me promise me one thing he says you're gonna be the best darn priest out there and if you're going to do this he said this you're going to do it 110 yeah he says do it all the way or don't do it at all he's right and uh and and and i looked them in the eyes and i said dad i think this is where god is calling me and then he says you have my support well that's great to know let me ask you this too because uh one of the great things about father joe and now bishop joe is that uh if you go online and you look him up on youtube he he talks uh in a way that connects to contemporary people he's uh filled with life and spirit uh in a word bishop you are a normal normal guy that relates to people but you know and i know i if we've been around the track at all that something happens to some people when they become bishops where they develop what i call bishop speak where they say something but it really says nothing uh and it stops being connected it stops being real um what are you going to do what what do you have around you that will keep you the genuine man that you are today uh well first and foremost my prayer life uh you know my my i'm rooted you know in the lord i mean you know every day you know i try to stay rooted in him um i uh i had a major encounter seven years ago uh when i was baptized in the spirit uh so that rocked my world that changed my life i was pretty um boisterous and pretty uh out there when i spoke but um when that happened to me seven years ago when i was baptized in the spirit uh there was no turning back and uh and i came to the realization that i had already laid down my life for jesus at the altar of saint patrick's cathedral and that i was dead to the world and i have nothing to lose and everything to gain uh you know so what's going to keep me true and grounded are my classmates um i have i have the best class i'm sorry if i'm saying this and other guys are gonna because most priests i've never heard a priest say that like you know i have the i have the best class in the world there's only four of us and we are so tight and we're so united that for the last 18 years like we haven't missed an ordination dinner we haven't missed a thanksgiving dinner or christmas dinner and we keep each other right like rooted and grounded you know and we're real with each other so i have amazing priest brothers uh and i have amazing lay people around me i'm not afraid to surround myself with lay people that will call me out on my you know my baloney if you will uh they you know um so i have great lay people lay friends um both old that were with me in the seminary and are now married and half families and new people that i've met the parishes throughout the years i've served that have become family to me um and and i tell them all the time i'm like listen if i'm full of it tell me you know if i'm not doing the right thing call me out on it and there are some guys that are afraid of that you know yeah and they live in their little bubbles you know they live in a in an unrealistic and unnatural world i think i live in a in a real world you know and i try not to um think too highly of myself because it's just not much to think of god sees me in a better light than i see myself one of our more popular programs on personally speaking was with a guy named bishop jim conley i knew jim because we had been arrested together years ago in pro-life demonstrations but he's now the bishop of uh of nebraska lincoln nebraska but he he announced to his people a few years ago i'm suffering from depression the job is too much and i'm going to get some help and hopefully i'll come back but the vulnerability of bishop jim to tell his people i'm i'm hurting like you are sometimes those of you who face depression and i'm going to get the help i need that was like mind-blowing that any bishop would tell us the truth uh are you a truth sayer bishop oh big time monsoon you know you don't know me yet you're getting to know me but uh i mean just with the little probably you've researched me online uh i i don't mince words and there's a spanish saying my parents being from the dominican republic is which means i don't have hair on my tongue which means i speak freely okay so so yeah no um i i don't i don't think we have time to mince words we don't have time to play games you know souls are not games you know and we need to speak the truth and we need to speak the truth boldly and we need to speak it in love and not be afraid to do that bishop joseph i got to ask you bishop amel selah one of our auxiliary bishops he's now about 90 but when he told his mom that he was made an auxiliary bishop while she congratulated him she said the problem in the church too many chiefs not enough indians which brings me back to have you any insight into like i love the priest and i can't imagine why thousands more guys aren't stepping forward to say please please allow me to serve how we're going to increase vocation so that the needs of the church are met in the future any idea of what we're supposed to do yes um to be uh be real witnesses do not be afraid to be bold do not be afraid to proclaim the gospel um you know to be vulnerable um it was monsignor luigi giusani i'm sure you're familiar with mancinia luigi dusano um you know who said you know cry when you need to cry laugh when you need to laugh be real men and again i i don't i don't see that from some of my brothers you know they they they kind of like shy away and hide um and and aren't there with the people you know um it's okay you know to to to be you like i was on the conference call today with this hoodie you know i'm wearing a hoodie and and one of the bishops texted me during the conference call he was finally a bishop that gets it he's wearing a hoodie i'm like this is who i am like why do i have to be necessarily like in a ravi in a suit or you know it's this is how what i wear every day at my parish with my people um and and we need to be real we need to be human uh and and not be afraid to do that and when we do that the young people today i have a very very big heart for young people um i'm passionate about our young people um when we are real the young people see that and they're attracted to that when we are genuine right um it was pope paul vi right pope paul vi who said people listen to witnesses more than they listen to to teachers and they only listen to teachers if they are witnesses yeah right okay you're raising a whole bunch of good points but i need to ask you to you just mentioned paul paul vi and i am old enough to remember him you're a kid so you wouldn't but i mentioned it because when i give clergy conferences around the country one of the more disturbing things i sometimes run into are people who identify themselves by the particular pontiff oh i'm a john paul the second guy i'm a benedict guy i'm a francis guy and i like to say back to them we're all jesus's guy you know what what is it that we can do to make sure that the church doesn't subdivide itself by deciding that uh you're too liberal you can't be catholic you're too conservative you're too you can't be catholic you know why can't we all be one monsignor you are speaking my language i like you you're my brother in christ i love you let me change that i love you in the name of jesus thank you no seriously you are so right it it irritates me to to hear my brothers speak that way and we can be so divisive right um i say all the time to my people like the same way you say to your people i say all the time i grew up with jp2 okay i grew up with benedict and i'm now living through um pope francis and i say i love all three of them yeah i love all of them i i'm a jp2 baby i i'm a b-16 francis baby i was like i love all of them and all of them have brought a different element to the church that was necessary when the church needed it yeah and and and we have to believe in the power of the holy spirit right god has called these men during these times to lead the church so i 100 agree with you and our church is universal we're catholic yeah and so guess what if you can be all the way to the right right and you can celebrate the latin mass and you could be all the way on the other side of the spectrum and be charismaniac be charismatic right because unfortunately you know it's like it has to be one or the other right why can't it be why can't it be both end uh-huh holy and and guess what my brothers and sisters who may be for the latin mass amen and my brothers and sisters who are celebrating you know the mass in africa and playing drums amen this is our church and all of it is beautiful absolutely bishop i want to ask you a question more about ethnic background i had i had an italian-american father uh his father was born in italy and then my mom who's 101 and is still with me is uh irish america that's awesome congratulations it is a great blessing but i mention that because i know that you know the irish and italian background influences the kind of man i am uh the good and the challenging but what does it mean to have your roots in the dominican republic oh man it means so much monsignor it means so much uh my my heritage my background from my ancestors uh it's a long story maybe that's another session we could have but um yeah i mean it's a great impact on my life for example really quickly being from the dominican republic right people don't realize that the reason why the dominican republic is named the dominican republic is because of saint dominic okay so saint dominic is the founder that's why the capital is santo domingo saint dominic not saying sunday right right but saint dominic and so saint dominic plays a major role the order of preachers in the dominican republic right um and it's funny because the dominicans come from the dominican order if you will right a lot of people don't know their history they don't know that history um and the dominican republic has not only a patroness of the dominican republic which is our lady of mercy but we also have a protectorate which is our lady of alta gracia our lady of high grace okay and i say we're so small but we need two you know two titles of our lady to watch over us and our people have such a great devotion to our lady and that has always been part of my spirituality uh growing up so i have a great devotion to our lady of mercy a great devotion to our lady of high grace and that has influenced me throughout the years in growing up um really quickly personally my heritage again my name is espayyat we began in the southern tip of france and from the southern tip of france we moved into spain and then from spain we crossed over to the dominican republic so that's where i come from in europe um but the beautiful thing is i've had two of my great um great grandfathers who were presidents of the dominican republic right and one of them was actually like the abraham lincoln of the dominican republic wow right and he fought for human rights there so my heritage plays a very big part in who i am and in my upbringing and in my leadership style okay thank you for that and we are going to close down and let you get back to other work and i was thinking when you got on the camera that you know that was a amongst cal you're wearing i don't know it was a hoodie so that's good i like it either way but i just want to thank you bishop for being with us and and just know that all of us uh both out here in the diocese of rockville center and i think throughout the church because this program is is universal just hoping and praying that the dynamism the excitement in your voice right now the love for jesus the love for the church the love for for helping people that it only grows deeper with the passing of time and and that you are you're a young bishop but that you have that many more years god willing to serve the christ who unites us all we are with you 100 and thank you so much for sharing with us on personally speaking you're the best thank you monsignor you're awesome and thank you for what you do to proclaim and to spread the gospel and the good news of jesus as we end today's program i want to thank you all for being with us if you'd like to be in touch you can reach me at personallyspeakingpodcast gmail.com personally speaking is also on youtube uh go to personally speaking with monsignor masathi and please don't forget to click like and subscribe personally speaking is also a podcast on personallyspeakingpodcast.buzzsprout.com [Music] you go to past episodes at www.closeencountertv.com or you can get both past shows and daily mass and homilies by going to www.olmp.org that's in my own parish our lady of louis in massive people park new york o-l-l-m-p dot org personally speaking is also on facebook and personally speaking with monsignor masanti and we're also now on instagram and personally speaking podcasts please share and let others know about personally speaking i'm privileged service host and executive producer personally speaking our producer is lisa jandevitz thanks so much for joining us we'll be with you again next time on personally speaking [Music] you

Channel: Personally Speaking with Msgr. Jim Lisante

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Id: WajU2GEZ9Jo

Length: 28min 0sec (1680 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 03 2022