Bear Woznick (left) interviews Patrick Novecosky on Deep Adventure Radio at the Catholic Leadership Conference
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (May 21, 2014) — Deep Adventure Radio’s Bear Woznick took it out into the deep water today, interviewing Patrick Novecosky — editor of this blog and editor-in-chief of Legatus magazine — for his AdventureCast program, heard on stations across the country.
In the third segment, the two talked about the cultural and political challenges for Catholic and other Christian business leaders, most specifically the Health and Human Services (HHS) contraception mandate. Legatus members are leading the fight to overturn the mandate. They also talked about the influence of business leaders and their responsibility to be steeped in the virtues.
Bear Woznick is a two-time Masters World Champion tandem surfer. He is featured in TV’s “Clean Break” reality adventure series, has a weekly four-minute “Deep in the Wave” radio segment and posts weekly podcasts, blogs and video logs at BearsWave.com. Woznick lives on the beach in Waikiki, Hawaii, and is married to his Swedish bride Talin and is the father of four: Fawn, Jeremiah, Shane, and Joshua.
VATICAN CITY (April 27, 2014) — One of the most challenging aspects of being part of an historic event is that the full impact of the moment can’t be fully appreciated until it’s had time to percolate. The day of four popes — new newly canonized and two at the altar for the canonization Mass — was just that.
In St. Peter’s Square the day before the double canonization
Divine Providence, however, was at work for me and the other 1 million or more pilgrims in Rome today for the canonization of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII.
While I had media credentials for the canonization Mass — the third time for me for a papal event at the Vatican — I didn’t receive credentials to be atop the colonnade of St. Peter’s Basilica as I had the previous two times. I was to be relegated to the general media section during the canonization Mass.
Officials told us that the media would have special seating in the square (somewhere), so some of my colleagues opted to camp out overnight near the media office at the entrance of the Paul VI Hall. Accredited media were to be let into the square, which had been emptied for cleaning and security sweeps, at 4:30 am.
I had a late evening, but I caught a few hours’ sleep, got up at 1:30 am and set out at 2 am to find my media friends. I’m staying right on the edge of the secured area which has been cordoned off from vehicular and pedestrian traffic, which is on the opposite side of the square from the media center. I’d been told that no one could pass through this restricted area around St.Peter’s Square. My plan was to make my way through a million people in 2 hours so I could join my friends.
Plans change.
Canonization Mass
I bought a couple bananas for breakfast from the shop downstairs, and then exited directly into the restricted area. It was spookily deserted while the other areas around the Vatican swelled with crowds waving banners and singing all through the night. As I walked the deserted three blocks to the Vatican, I only saw paramedics and a few other workers.
When I got to the edge of Vatican City near St. Peter’s Square at about 2 am, I flashed my media creds and they let me through. I was standing right in front of the square where Rome meets Vatican City. My two-hour journey lasted four minutes. Instead of walking around a million people, I walked three deserted blocks. God is good.
I spent the next two hours chatting with Peter, a 22-year-old Polish student who was a dead-ringer for a young Karol Wojtyła (John Paul II). He was tending to a wheelchair-bound man named Martin.
Video of St. Peter’s Square… and Peter (aka John Paul II):
The largest crowd in Vatican history: Well over 1 million people (click to enlarge)
By 5:30 am, I was in St. Peter’s Square. But security were incredibly clueless about where to have the media sit. We didn’t have chairs. We didn’t have a special section. But we were in the square for a truly historic day in the history of the Catholic Church. I connected with my friends — Dario Mobini from Seattle, Alton Pelowski who edits Columbia magazine for the Knights of Columbus, and Jason and Crystalina Evert of ChastityProject.com.
Then the good news came.
Dario, who was born in Rome and raised in the States, had wrangled four spots atop the colonnade that surround the square. The head of security for the event walked us up the narrow stairway himself. After all of the turmoil of botched accreditation and badly managed media relations on the part of organizers, this was a minor miracle!
That feeling didn’t subside until the Mass was over. There were about 400 media taking in the view as the square filled up. Most of them were photographers. When I was in Rome for the conclave that elected Pope Francis, I forgot my long lens at home. This time, I brought the lens, but left it in my room because access to the colonnade was a pipe dream. I should have been a Boy Scout! Their motto is “always be prepared.”
While I waited, I prayed for each person who had requested prayers from me. I also read the requirements for the Divine Mercy plenary indulgence.
Bishops taking cell phone pics before the Mass
Despite the hiccups, it was a thrill to see Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict from my perch. It was a thrill (despite my lack of sleep) to be part of a Catholic first — two popes canonized at the same time, and with two living popes present no less! And it was delightful to see the great number of bishops and cardinals taking cell phone pictures of the crowd and selfies, too.
My video from atop the colonnade during the canonization Mass:
The significance of the event was not lost of Pope Francis. In his homily, he praised the new saints as men of courage and mercy, who responded to challenges of their time by modernizing the Catholic Church in fidelity to its ancient traditions.
Pope Francis embraces Pope Emeritus Benedict
“They were priests, bishops and popes of the 20th century,” Francis said. “They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful.”
When the hundreds of Eucharistic ministers began fanning out through the square, I grabbed my things to make my way down. But just as I was about to go down the stairs, Jesus came to me! Two Eucharistic ministers showed up to bring Communion to the media. Well played, Lord! We need you.
Divine Mercy Sunday is the Octave of Easter. That simply means that the celebration of Easter Sunday is eight days long. Being in St. Peter’s Square today was a fitting way to wrap up the greatest feast of the year!
VATICAN CITY (April 26, 2014) — I’ve been in Rome for 36 hours and I have completely forgotten to blog. Yes, it’s been that good! Best news first: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will concelebrate the canonization Mass with Pope Francis tomorrow. It will be the day of four popes and two new saints in about 16 hours.
After adjusting to the six-hour time difference on Wednesday, I woke up Thursday morning and went straight to the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross for a C-FAM/Alliance Defending Freedom conference exploring the pontificate of John Paul II, the soon-to-be saint. Speakers included papal biographer George Weigel, Ambassador Michael Novak, Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life, all moderated by C-FAM’s Austin Ruse.
St. Peter’s Square is bustling, awaiting the millions here for the canonization of John Paul II and John XXIII
After a brisk 8-mile run along the Tiber this morning, I waded into the growing crowds streaming into St. Peter’s Square. Estimates range from 1 million to 5 million pilgrims, so it will be a fascinating night — especially since it has already started raining here.
Security will empty St. Peter’s Square of pilgrims (some of whom have camped out for most of the day) so they can secure it for the event, which is drawing several heads of state — including the president of Poland.
Our media contingent will be led into the Square at 4:30 am (10:30 pm Eastern Saturday night), so this guy will need a triple espresso when it’s over!
APRIL 18, 2014 — Patrick Novecosky, the editor of this blog, was a guest today on Review Preview, which aired on Baltimore’s WCBM (Talk Radio 680 AM).
Novecosky and host Steve Peroutka discussed the upcoming canonizations of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. Novecosky will be one of the approximately 5,000 journalists from around the world attending the event in St. Peter’s Square on Mercy Sunday, April 27. Rome is expecting 3 million pilgrims to attend the event.
Novecosky and Peroutka talked about what it means to be a saint in the Catholic Church and the process of recognizing a saint. They delved into the the legacy of John XXIII and John Paul II’s extraordinary 26-year pontificate.
LISTEN: Segment 1 (Note: Large file. Be patient while it loads.)
LISTEN: Segment 2 (Note: Large file. Be patient while it loads.)
If there’s one thing that Lent has reminded me of, it’s that we’re at war. We’re in the thick of a battle for souls, and our eternal destination is one of two places.
Scripture and Church teaching are clear that heaven and hell are real — and that all souls in purgatory are destined for heaven. There’s nothing new in this. The battle for souls has been going on since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. However, it seems we’ve forgotten about the battle. In the comfort of our modern world, it’s easy to forget that 3,400 children are murdered via surgical abortion every single day in America. It’s easy to forget that the multi-billion-dollar porn industry is destroying marriages and warping people’s sense of reality. It’s easy to forget that Christian values are under assault from our own government.
Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the 2014 Legatus Summit
Sen. Rick Santorum reminded Legatus members at its annual Summit last February that secularists are relentless in their efforts to change the culture, to remove every vestige of God and faith from the public square. Christians, he said, seem to have surrendered without a fight in the culture wars. His point is that we need to be equally relentless in our efforts to win back the culture — and, similarly, we need to be relentless in our efforts to win souls for Christ.
“America is broken because we’re afraid to fight,” he said. We must be committed, be all in, we must know what is on the line: “souls, eternal souls,” he said. “We don’t live in a time in America when we can afford to stop fighting.”
Legatus is the perfect venue for business leaders and their spouses to be formed for battle. Legatus exists to help its members “learn, live and spread the Catholic faith.” Formation happens at monthly chapter events, at conferences and pilgrimages, and through Legatus magazine. But that formation needs to be rooted in each member’s personal prayer and friendship with Jesus Christ. Without those roots, sunk deep into fertile soil, the culture will rip us out of the ground and blow us away like a tumbleweed rolling across the desert.
Bishop Daniel Jenky (left) strolls with Cardinal Raymond Burke
Post-Christian America is rarely friendly to those who take their faith seriously. In 2012, Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky told a group of Catholic men in his diocese: “We can no longer be Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction. In our own families, in our parishes, where we live and where we work … we must be bold witnesses to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We must be a fearless army of Catholic men, ready to give everything we have for the Lord, who gave everything for our salvation.”
We are on the front lines of this battle for souls, where every person we encounter has an eternal destiny. Let’s do all we can to get to heaven and take as many people with us as possible.
PATRICK NOVECOSKY is the editor of this blog and Legatus magazine’s editor-in-chief. This article appears in the May issue of Legatus magazine. It is reprinted with permission.
Patrick Novecosky, editor of this blog, is an occasional correspondent for the National Catholic Register. In the following article, published in the April 6 issue, he writes about Florida’s regional major seminary and the Sunshine State’s vocations boom.
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Blessed John Paul II Inspires Florida Seminarians
BY PATRICK NOVECOSKY, REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
Seminarian Julio De Jesus poses with Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski
Julio De Jesus was only 16 when he came to the United States with his family from the Dominican Republic. As a teen in a new country, he struggled with leaving behind his friends, his language and his culture, but he knew he would not have to leave his faith behind.
In his effort to discern his vocation, De Jesus said that Pope John Paul II was his anchor.
“He was a role model for me to make my decision to go to the seminary,” said De Jesus, 42, a student at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla. “When he died in 2005, that was when I made my decision to enter the seminary. He was a normal person. He was a sportsman, he was in theater, but he left everything for the Lord. I thought, ‘If he could do it, I could do it.’”
MARCH 25, 2014 — Patrick Novecosky, editor of this blog and Editor-in-Chief of Legatusmagazine, was a guest on Iowa Catholic Radio in Des Moines, Iowa, this morning. He appeared on the Iowa Catholic Radio TODAY with Mark Reed (Director of Institutional Advancement at Catholic Foundation of Southwest Iowa), Mark Amadeo, Jeanne Wells, and Fr. Joe Pins (Vocations Director for the Diocese of Des Moines).
They asked Novecosky about Legatus and its members, CEOs and business leaders who strive to become better Catholics by meeting once a month for rosary, Confession, Mass, and a good speaker. The conversation then turned to Pope Francis’ announcement of 24-hours-for-the-Lord, happening in Rome this weekend. Basilicas in Rome will be open for Confession and Eucharistic adoration.
More importantly, they discussed the need for Catholics to return to regular Confession during Lent in order that they may experience more of the Lord’s mercy.
Bear Woznick is a two-time Masters World Champion tandem surfer. He is featured in TV’s “Clean Break” reality adventure series, has a weekly four-minute “Deep in the Wave” radio segment and posts weekly podcasts, blogs and video logs at BearsWave.com. Woznick lives on the beach in Waikiki, Hawaii, and is married to his Swedish bride Talin and is the father of four: Fawn, Jeremiah, Shane, and Joshua.
thepraetorium.com 