0:00:00 - Deacon Bob Rice
This week on they that Hope. I've lost hope in the Cleveland Cavaliers, but I've gained hope in the amazing students we graduated this weekend.
 
0:00:08 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Our famous Papa. We have a Pope and he's from America.
 
0:00:11 - Deacon Bob Rice
That's right from Chicago.
 
0:00:13 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Pope Leo.
 
0:00:14 - Deacon Bob Rice
Chicago Da Bears. You can check out this episode and many more at theythathopepodcastscom. Welcome to they that Hope. Habeas Papa, we have a poem. My favorite meme was the one where they played the music they used to play for Michael.
 
0:00:46 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Jordan.
 
0:00:49 - Deacon Bob Rice
The most amazing thing, bob. Yeah, what was the most amazing thing? He's a baseball fan. He's a baseball fan. You know what's worse? You know what I hate more than baseball? The Chicago White Sox. You would. All right, we're going to talk about the Pope at the end, when most of you have stopped listening.
 
0:01:14 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Oh, welcome to they that Hope.
 
0:01:16 - Deacon Bob Rice
Faithandreasoncom Franciscan University of Steubenville, osvpodcastcom.
 
0:01:20 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
 
0:01:22 - Deacon Bob Rice
Well, I'm glad— we're going to talk a lot about it.
 
0:01:24 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
The Pope, yeah, oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, I'm glad— we're going to talk a lot about it. The Pope, yeah, oh, it's mostly going to be about the Pope, yeah.
 
0:01:28 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, but I want to—let's start low and go high, yeah.
 
0:01:32 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Okay, let's do the drama, because we don't want to end on a low.
 
0:01:35 - Deacon Bob Rice
No, no, you do not, you want to start low— what's the worst, the most gut-wrenching sports loss defeat that you've ever experienced, Either as a, let's just stick with the fandom. Okay, I know you have a huge athletic career that you could draw from, but let's just focus as a fan a moment that you wanted to throw a TV out the window, abuse a small animal, perhaps. This is all hypothetically, of course. No actual animals were hurt in the recording of this podcast. It could be.
 
0:02:07 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
The year would have been, I think it was 1992. Okay, notre Dame had just had a huge win over Florida State. Florida State might have been the number one team in the country, okay, which put Notre Dame in line to play for the national championship. They had won two years earlier. So it was another chance for a national championship and they lost to boston college it was.
 
0:02:27 - Deacon Bob Rice
Maybe was that doug flutie no, I don't.
 
0:02:29 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I don't think it was flutie, but are you sure I don't think it was? I'd have to check, okay. But I mean, there were nobody, absolutely nobody. It was in notre dame. Everybody was like all right, they need to get this over so they can play for the national championship. Yeah, I cried actually. I feel I feel a tear coming on right now, do you? Yeah, here we are like all right, they need to get this over so they can play for the national championship. Yeah.
 
I cried Really. Actually, I feel a tear coming on right now, do you?
 
0:02:48 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah.
 
0:02:48 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Here we are 40 years later. Wow, it was awful. That's amazing. Just curious why you ask.
 
0:02:53 - Deacon Bob Rice
Well, that's interesting.
 
0:02:54 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
You're talking about 40 years later.
 
0:02:56 - Deacon Bob Rice
Let me talk about four days ago.
 
0:02:57 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Four days later.
 
0:02:58 - Deacon Bob Rice
I had a A horrible experience. So, as you have been listening, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the number one team in the East. They're in the second round of the playoffs. They are playing the Indiana Pacers. They lose game one at home.
 
0:03:15 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
That happens, it's a shock. It's one game now.
 
0:03:17 - Deacon Bob Rice
But you know what? Darius Garland injured Sure. He's one of our main guys and it was a close game, so, okay, all right, game two. Well now Darius Garland's out, evan Mobley's out, deandre Hunter's out Okay that's going to be tough.
 
0:03:29 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
This is pretty serious. That's going to be tough.
 
0:03:32 - Deacon Bob Rice
And I am at the game with my daughter, eliana, and the place is rocking. We are up by 20 at the half you got. Upgraded are kind of a mixed blessing, they're not good.
 
They're not good view seats but they're great vibe seats. So we're behind one of the nets, so we're kind of on the side and but again, for the vibe it was great. And actually the seats I had aren't my usual seats. They weren't very good in the first place. So I'm like we'll take the upgrade. We're having a great time. Actually this sounds horrible. It's actually awesome. We were so close to the court.
 
0:04:05 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
We actually awesome. We were so close to the court we can't see the scoreboard like without craning our necks up, we're looking down there.
 
0:04:08 - Deacon Bob Rice
So, if you heard the story of it, the Cavs were up by seven points with 50 seconds to go Apparently it's over. The record is teams that are up by seven points with a minute to go win 164 times to two. Okay, now it's 164 times to two.
 
0:04:25 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Okay, now it's 164 times to three.
 
0:04:29 - Deacon Bob Rice
So the Pacers got fouled. He made the first basket, he banked it off the second back, it ran up, dunked it, they lost, they threw it in, they stole it. Three-point shot, dagger to the heart basket goes in. Now I'm actually not that aware, Like this is in the course of 50 seconds. I'm not even aware of the score. All I know is there's whistles blowing and I look up and we lost and everybody around us is like what just happened? What just happened? What just happened.
 
0:05:00 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
It was like a funeral, but don't worry. Don't worry because you can always come back from that. So the next game we won Outstanding, and the next game we lost.
 
0:05:10 - Deacon Bob Rice
We're down three to one.
 
0:05:11 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
But you can come back, Bobby.
 
0:05:14 - Deacon Bob Rice
I'm not doing anything.
 
0:05:15 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, they'll come back. I'm calling it right now the Cleveland Cavaliers will end up winning this series.
 
0:05:21 - Deacon Bob Rice
You're welcome, they that hope You're welcome, but I do have a question. Okay, I actually really had to struggle, like, as I'm walking out of the stadium, I had to just keep telling myself it's just a game. I got to go to a playoff game. I had an amazing night. I had great seats.
 
0:05:35 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I had a great time with my daughter.
 
0:05:36 - Deacon Bob Rice
We had so much fun and yet there was like this life is a meaningless, dark void. Life is a meaningless, dark void, you know it's interesting.
 
0:05:45 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So one might think that when Notre Dame lost in the national championship game, that I might have felt that way, but I did not. I mean, it was just great to be there and nobody expected them to get that far. But honestly, it's crazy how sports can just do that to you, isn't that crazy?
 
0:06:02 - Deacon Bob Rice
I mean I was standing outside of myself being like are you really this?
 
0:06:06 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
upset. Are you really 12 years old?
 
0:06:07 - Deacon Bob Rice
I mean, I, this is this sounds horrible, but I was so glad my daughter was there, because I was like you didn't say any bad words. I didn't say any bad words and I didn't grab a bottle of tequila.
 
0:06:17 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I was so devastated.
 
0:06:20 - Deacon Bob Rice
And you know and now I'm trying to cheer up Ellie which is better to try to. It is so funny, isn't it?
 
0:06:25 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
You're trying to cheer up a 19-year-old girl.
 
0:06:26 - Deacon Bob Rice
I realize that most of what I, a lot of the teams I cheer for, actually don't usually win Like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
 
0:06:33 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Well, they won a Super Bowl.
 
0:06:34 - Deacon Bob Rice
They did with Tom Brady. That was kind of fake. But like now, if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Okay let me just say, if you would have, literally had a kitten on this table, you're not wrong.
 
0:06:45 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
You would have thrown something at me, but like now with the Buccaneers.
 
0:06:47 - Deacon Bob Rice
I'm like, oh, win the NFC South. It's the worst division in football, but that's okay. I love low bars. It's the hope that kills you, as they say in things. Okay, so.
 
0:06:59 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I'm sorry to hear that.
 
0:07:01 - Deacon Bob Rice
Let's hope the Cavaliers can win All right.
 
0:07:08 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So there's a couple teams that I follow. The Washington Nationals have no bullpen. They just literally cleared house. They got rid of a bunch of their pitchers and then brought in some new ones. The Colorado Rockies are on pace to have the worst record in the history of baseball. I think they're 7-35.
 
0:07:21 - Deacon Bob Rice
Now the worst record in the history of baseball, interestingly enough, is the Chicago White Sox, white Sox, yep.
 
0:07:25 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Okay, and then the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. So let me just say if you're a fan or if you're somebody significant in baseball, you should ask that I don't follow you because everyone I like right now is an absolute train wreck.
 
0:07:39 - Deacon Bob Rice
Now the Washington Capitals. Yes, when are they. They're doing great.
 
0:07:43 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
There, you go.
 
0:07:43 - Deacon Bob Rice
They're in Washington and they're in the playoffs, which is super good. The Florida Posers are doing too well.
 
0:07:52 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I'm not happy about them. Fantastic.
 
0:07:55 - Deacon Bob Rice
But other teams that you root for. How are the Broncos looking for next year?
 
0:07:59 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Interesting. I think the Broncos are going to be better. Okay, nick's, their quarterback is good. They brought in a defensive kid that looks like just a stud. He's the one that said on the phone thank you for changing my mother's life. Oh yeah, that's sweet, that's cute.
 
0:08:14 - Deacon Bob Rice
Speaking of Pope memes, two of the Pope memes I thought were really good was the Catholic Church picked a Pope in two days, and it took Shador Sanders three days to get fixed.
 
0:08:25 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
That's really funny.
 
0:08:26 - Deacon Bob Rice
And another one was Chicago gave the world a pope before it was able to produce a quarterback that could throw more than 4,000 yards in the season.
 
0:08:35 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
The other one is Trump's taking the tariffs very seriously. We had to have an American-made pope.
 
0:08:43 - Deacon Bob Rice
Okay, wait, no real quick, a couple things Okay.
 
0:08:45 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
The Preakness is happening this weekend, oh, okay.
 
0:08:48 - Deacon Bob Rice
So, and what's the Sovereignty is not running, is not running.
 
0:08:51 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So there will be no chance of a Triple Crown this year which is a lot of debate on whether or not people even want the Triple Crown anymore.
 
0:08:58 - Deacon Bob Rice
But they think or even know what the Triple Crown is.
 
0:09:00 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, when the Belmont, the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby Now, what's the order?
 
0:09:04 - Deacon Bob Rice
Does it matter? The order, no, no.
 
0:09:06 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
It's always Kentucky, preakness, belmont, okay, but what they're saying is that they should spread them out, put one in May, one in June and one July, so that they're worried about the horses running so often. So that's an interesting thing, keep your eyes on. Believe me, folks, we. The other is, the PGA Championship is also this weekend, which is golf, yes. So it's a course that Rory plays really well in. So the question is, once he finally won the Masters, is he going to win all kinds of other tournaments?
 
0:09:34 - Deacon Bob Rice
Will that unlock the mental gates in his brain? See, that's it, that's it, right there.
 
0:09:37 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So pay attention there, pay attention there.
 
0:09:40 - Deacon Bob Rice
Or will Scotty?
 
0:09:41 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Scheffler, that's right. Who just tied?
 
0:09:43 - Deacon Bob Rice
the record. Well, scotty Scheffler, that's right, who just tied the record Shattered, so we'll keep you posted.
 
0:09:46 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
It should be a fun tournament.
 
0:09:47 - Deacon Bob Rice
And will he get arrested again? That's the big question. I'm going to say no.
 
0:09:50 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I'm going to say that nobody's going to die and he's going to get arrested again. But the big thing this weekend is Katie and Joe's wedding.
 
0:09:57 - Deacon Bob Rice
Oh, that's right they are.
 
0:09:58 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
That's the big.
 
0:10:00 - Deacon Bob Rice
We co-mentored them, did we not? My wife and I were their mentor couple and you were their mentor priest, and they are a very sweet couple. They are a sweet, sweet couple.
 
0:10:12 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
There's your shout-out.
 
0:10:12 - Deacon Bob Rice
It's a nice transition so that was sports into Franciscan, because they're a great example of the kind of graduates that we have at.
 
0:10:21 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Franciscan. Oh, I know where you're going.
 
0:10:22 - Deacon Bob Rice
Faithful, joyful loving, kind, generous and adorable. I don't know if they're generous.
 
0:10:29 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Have they given you stuff? It's not just money, yes, it is, oh, okay.
 
0:10:33 - Deacon Bob Rice
No, they're not at all. Yeah, they're stingy. Well, last weekend was Franciscan University's commencement ceremonies. I can't wait for the texts I get from them after this episode airs. We had yet another record-breaking class, with more than 900 graduates. We were so blessed to have Bishop Andrew Cousins at our Baccalaureate Mass and to hear a beautiful commencement address from Mary Rice Hasson no relation, of course. The greatest blessing was to be able to honor our graduates with their families here on campus, so a big congratulations to franciscan university's class of 2025 and anybody else that had people that graduate.
 
0:11:18 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Congratulations to them father jonathan saint andre got his doctorate, so big deal big biz. Hey, it's hard to believe. Okay, I have a couple thoughts. Okay, 2025, quarter ofa century since Y2K.
 
0:11:31 - Deacon Bob Rice
Wow, that's great. I wonder if my powdered milk has expired.
 
0:11:34 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
No, it's fine, Okay, Mary Hassan Rice this week.
 
0:11:37 - Deacon Bob Rice
Mary Rice Hanson.
 
0:11:38 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Excuse me, mary Rice Hasson. We gave honorary degrees to a married couple and she told the story of her husband. And you know, this is fundamentally true. Everybody who has faith should be grateful for her husband. And nobody knows who he is. And he started a law firm called the Beckett Fund and what they do is they fight for religious liberty. So the Hobby Lobby case they fought, they won that case in front of the Supreme Court. The case, the contraceptive case, they argued that case in front of the Supreme Court. So just, it was a beautiful, beautiful witness. I'm sure it's online right, I don't know, I'm sure it is. It wasn't in the promo we talked about it a little bit.
 
0:12:20 - Deacon Bob Rice
Last week beforehand we talked about Seamus a bit. Yeah, week beforehand we talked about Seamus a bit, what I really loved. So his wife is also an attorney and active in the Beckett Fund and she quoted somebody I don't remember who, but I thought this was very insightful, talking about challenges that the church faces, and in the fourth century it was the Arian crisis which was the challenge is who is Jesus?
 
0:12:44 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Right right.
 
0:12:45 - Deacon Bob Rice
In the 16th century it was the Protestant Reformation, so it's what is the church, and in the 21st century it is what is a human being. You know what is a person. And she spoke really boldly about the need to affirm two genders, a need to stand up for the. Again, this is what you're saying the religious liberty rights. You know, if everybody doesn't have religious liberty, then nobody has religious liberty. And to be able to speak into dialogue. And I think that was what I really liked about what she said, which is we should be able to proclaim that boldly and have conversations about it. And that's it Like have conversations. There's people that don't agree with that. Let's have a public conversation about it. Let's not muzzle one side or the other and say, well, okay, if you're offending one side, then you need to be quiet about it. It really is about that. I mean, this is what you know. I'm trying to think of the old phrase of I don't agree with what you'll say, but I'll die to the death.
 
0:13:48 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, you're right to say it, right to say it, and I think that's so at the heart of America, like really, really what it is about. Well, I shared that story that I went to this event, the Beckett Gala, and it was early in my presidency and I thought, oh great, this is another thing I have to go to.
 
0:14:05 - Deacon Bob Rice
And I walked in and I shared and at that gala weren't you wearing a dress that said tax the rich? Or am I thinking somebody? No, that was me.
 
0:14:10 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, that was me yeah, um, I walk in and you know I look around theologically a lot of people I disagree with, but everybody was there for the same purpose and that was the right to worship. One of the lines they showed was this really moving video. But you know your candle doesn't extinguish my candle. Your light doesn't extinguish my light and I just thought it was a great, great image. So the Beckett Fund Seamus Hassan, mary Hassan, mary Rice.
 
0:14:37 - Deacon Bob Rice
Hassan, she did great.
 
0:14:39 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
It was great.
 
0:14:40 - Deacon Bob Rice
That was a real gift. Bishop Cousins spoke at our Baccalaureate. Mass. Bishop Cousins led really the Eucharistic Congress and he was the driving force behind that. But such a catechist, such a beautifully articulate bishop in Crookston.
 
0:14:55 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
His homily was so catechetical.
 
0:14:58 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, it was awesome, yeah, it was really good, yeah, I mean all of us catechists were like at each other and nodding like, yeah, you got it, you got it. Now let's talk about hope.
 
0:15:05 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So that was a real gift. That was a real gift.
 
0:15:08 - Deacon Bob Rice
Habemus Papam. Okay, where were you? I was in my office, all right. I was getting ready to go to lunch with somebody and then, you know, everyone's immediately texting white smoke, white smoke. Yeah, so you know. So I turned on my computer. My friend who I was going to go to lunch with this is Paco Paco got to read it. We were sitting there and watching and waiting like the rest of the world was, I mean, just so crazy.
 
I was going back and forth to different stations to see who I liked better of the commentary of things we're in Mass.
 
0:15:39 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
And we were talking about. You know, father Gregory had the Mass, so he was talking a little bit about the Conglade we're talking about. You know, father Gregory had the Mass, so he's talking a little bit about the conclave. And I don't know, right before the consecration my phone just starts blowing up and I'm thinking, oh, we've got smoke. So we go into the sacristy and everybody's like what's going on, and so yeah, it was fun. Jc Williams Center packed Students just all around the TV. I had to go to my office because I knew we had worked this all out, that as soon as there was an election there was going to be interviews that people are going to want to have Sure sure.
 
So myself and Tanya she works in my office with me we're all it's funny. It was lagging a bit, so it's like which one is the most?
 
up to date what's really going on. But it was. It's so fun, you know. I was thinking too that, because of the nature with which we moved from Benedict to Francis, there was an extended period of time where we didn't have that no pope, right, you know. So this made it a little. We still were waiting to see the results of the conclave, but there was still that, that no pope, which is kind of this fatherless. What's going? On, so it was so fun, so exciting on. Yeah, yeah, it was so fun, so exciting.
 
0:16:44 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And did you know who this was? I mean Cardinal Robert.
 
0:16:51 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I explained to my team earlier in the morning why we would never have an American pope.
 
0:16:55 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah.
 
0:16:56 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, so I explained very articulately why that would never happen.
 
0:17:00 - Deacon Bob Rice
And I just keep. Our pope is a guy named Bob from Chicago. I'm a guy named Bob from Chicago.
 
0:17:05 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, I'm a guy named Bob from Chicago.
 
0:17:08 - Deacon Bob Rice
Are you the Pope? Well, I'm thinking I'll never. I never will be now.
 
0:17:12 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, that's totally true, because they're not going to do two Bobs from Chicago. And, by the way, sorry, Bishop Barron.
 
0:17:17 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, it's just over. Anybody named Bob from the Chicagoland area.
 
0:17:21 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, you're not going to be Pope.
 
0:17:22 - Deacon Bob Rice
There's going to be an immediate no vote.
 
0:17:24 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I mean no, I did say. I said there's no way an American's going to be Pope, but I said if there was one, it would be this guy.
 
0:17:33 - Deacon Bob Rice
Really, yeah, oh, so you knew of this guy beforehand.
 
0:17:36 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yes, yes, because he was the head of the Bishop Dicastery of the individual. Who's in charge of the choosing world? Who's in charge of the choosing world, the bishops worldwide. So that's a fairly prominent position. So that's what I knew of him. I didn't know at the time that he was also the general for his religious communities in Augustinian and he did that for 12 years in Rome. So this is a person where most of us weren't very familiar with him, even though some of the cardinals weren't familiar with him, but they're very familiar with the role that he had. So I think when they walked in the well, actually, Bishop Dolan. I followed Bishop Dolan during this whole thing and he really didn't know. I mean, he knew the name right, but he didn't really know him. But he said he apparently came to the meetings two days late and as soon as he arrived, people started asking him what do you know about Provost? What do you know about him?
 
So he said immediately it's like okay, there's something going on here that he wasn't aware of.
 
0:18:25 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, yeah, it was really, it was fantastic. Yeah, absolutely.
 
0:18:29 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So when they said an American, like what was your first thought?
 
0:18:32 - Deacon Bob Rice
Well, I thought well, maybe he was born in America and then went somewhere, you know, because it was like well, he was born in Chicago, but he was the Latin American, whatever and he was in Peru, but he was the Latin American, whatever and he was in Peru. So I thought, oh okay, maybe this was somebody that was just born in America and then moved away from America. But no, he's like legitly.
 
0:18:53 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
American. You asked my first thought no, that's absolutely right.
 
0:18:56 - Deacon Bob Rice
Oh, okay, well, maybe he was just born in America, but no, he is. You know, that's interesting.
 
0:19:02 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Some people don't want to play that out. Villanova yeah, like he's he is. You know that's interesting. Some people don't want to play that out. Villanova. It's like, well, yeah, he was born in America, but no, he was born in America, he's an.
 
0:19:08 - Deacon Bob Rice
American folks. He was an American teenager. He was an American college student, like he's American. I mean, some of the things have been funny.
 
0:19:12 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
It's like our popes had a Big Mac.
 
0:19:20 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, he has a.
 
0:19:20 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Wawa order in Philadelphia right Right. Some of the memes have just been great. One of them was the Big East. Villanova is part of the Big East. It says Big East, popes one, everybody else zero.
 
0:19:33 - Deacon Bob Rice
It's surreal and again, being somebody who grew up in that area of the world not like South Side Chicago, but outside of Chicago it's very strange to be like. I mean, I really like wake up. I'm like. Our Pope is a guy named Bob from Chicago, yeah, like, and his brother he plays wordle with his brother every morning, so awesome.
 
0:19:53 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, did you see his brother in Florida? His brother in Florida is a riot, he goes. It was interesting, though he said if I get to see my brother which just really says something, I mean that day that he's chosen his life, he brother which just really says something, I mean that day that he's chosen his life.
 
0:20:10 - Deacon Bob Rice
He will never, yeah, be able to go home and just hang out in his brother's living room. Yeah, ever again. I mean, it's such a radical, in fact. Here's the question do you ever think he'll throw the first pitch? In comiskey no, I do not, it'd just be two nuts it'd be two nuts, did you hear? About um in july, when the white socks are hosting the Cubs, it's Leo XIV bobblehead night. Oh heck, yes, it is.
 
0:20:30 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
It's funny too, because the Cubs were putting out Wrigley it's like he's a Cubs fan.
 
0:20:33 - Deacon Bob Rice
He's a Cubs fan. The initial thing was everybody thought he was a Cubs fan. No, he's not.
 
0:20:37 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
And again, I don't know. I know that Southside is actually where the White Sox are. Some of the people were saying you can't be from the South Side, there's no way. He's a Cubs fan. Well, he was at the World Series game.
 
0:20:48 - Deacon Bob Rice
I mean you can Google it In the World.
 
0:20:50 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, the White Sox World Series game in 2005.
 
0:20:52 - Deacon Bob Rice
So it was just Fun White Sox fact the house I grew up in was His neighbor. No, the owner of the White Sox, bill Vecht. Oh.
 
0:21:02 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah.
 
0:21:02 - Deacon Bob Rice
Interesting, and after we sold it to somebody else, they made it a historical monument, I imagine they did.
 
0:21:08 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, this has nothing to do with anything. This is inside. It's just very, very random. This is inside baseball. So here I am.
 
0:21:16 - Deacon Bob Rice
I'm a Bob from Chicago who lived in the house of the guy that owned the White Sox.
 
0:21:22 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
And the Pope went to that game.
 
0:21:23 - Deacon Bob Rice
You're basically best buddies, I mean how do we not text each other on a regular basis? It?
 
0:21:29 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
was just honestly. It was surreal when they said you know, provost, and I thought we have got an American Pope.
 
0:21:35 - Deacon Bob Rice
Some of the memes are hysterical.
 
0:21:37 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Have you seen the one with St Peter's Square with a Buc-ee's in the middle and a Costco on the corner? And it's I mean instead of white smoke, it was red, white and blue. The Swiss guards are now red, white and blue. I mean some of the memes out there that have just been hysterical. But one of the things that he said. That was really beautiful the first time he spoke to the Cardinals the next day.
 
0:22:01 - Deacon Bob Rice
The St Louis Cardinals.
 
0:22:02 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, I'm surprised at how much some of the cardinals are talking from Newark. What's his name, tobin? Yeah, I was surprised how much he talked about the conclave.
 
0:22:12 - Deacon Bob Rice
Oh, like how much he spilled the tea Well.
 
0:22:14 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I mean, that's just it. I mean there's rules about what you can say and can't say, but most of the cardinals just don't say anything. But he talked about his chatty yeah, really was. He talked about watching him as, as the votes are being counted and it's becoming more clear that it's him, he said he kind of placed his hand in his, his head in his face, and I'm going to start that again his hands. Yes, over his face, kind of yes, um, and then his head in his hands.
 
0:22:40 - Deacon Bob Rice
Thank you very much. Thank you, so when I'm here, it's been a long day yeah, actually it's been a long four days of graduation.
 
0:22:45 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Be that as it may, but the Holy Father said the first homily he gave. You've asked me to the cardinals, you've asked me to accept this cross, and I mean, think about it, bob. I mean we've talked about this, I think, in some ways before, but it makes it different that he can never go out and get ice cream.
 
0:23:03 - Deacon Bob Rice
You know he's never going to go to baseball game again.
 
0:23:07 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
You know I love his brother down in Florida. He's really right. He said, if I get to go visit him, the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to say what were you? Thinking he said I'm going to call him an idiot and I'm going to take the hat off his head and give him a noogie. It's like oh my gosh.
 
0:23:24 - Deacon Bob Rice
It is not All right. Let's talk about what we're excited about him. Yeah, From the shallow to the inspiring. I'll start with the shallow. We want to start low, go high. That's the whole theme of it. Right, this is very shallow, but I'm very excited that we have a pope that speaks English.
 
0:23:40 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, Just because it's never been done. I mean this speaks as their native language.
 
0:23:45 - Deacon Bob Rice
Their native language, sure, but I mean even at least John Paul II, when he'd come to America. The homilies would be English Benedict spoke English. It was always tough to hear Francis translated. Like you know, you just miss something with that, but you're right to have somebody in the native language.
 
0:24:00 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Well, here's the question Will he write his official documents in English, ooh? Well, here's the question Will he write his official documents in English? Ooh, you know, because everything we have is a translation. So will he write in English? Now he speaks Italian, spanish, portuguese, french, has a working language of German and I guess he's good in Latin, so maybe he'll write in Italian. But that would be interesting If the official encyclical is written in English and then everything else is a translation.
 
0:24:30 - Deacon Bob Rice
Well, because there were some beautiful insights I would get from some of what Pope Francis wrote from people that were native. Spanish speakers yeah, no, that's right, and they would say well, actually, what he meant here was how it gets translated in different things does make a difference.
 
0:24:41 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Were you surprised that he didn't speak English when he came out on the balcony?
 
0:24:46 - Deacon Bob Rice
No, but at that point I was still stunned at what was going on.
 
0:24:50 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
 
0:24:51 - Deacon Bob Rice
So I thought it was nice that his opening his first homily, he began with some comments in English and then went into it. I think it is expected now, what do I know? I think it's expected that you speak Italian on that first thing, like I remember John Paul II of course I wasn't.
 
0:25:08 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I don't remember it, but did he only speak Italian? I don't remember. I know he talked about his.
 
0:25:12 - Deacon Bob Rice
English. He talked about his Italian being bad, and you'll have to humor me. Yeah, which is a joke because it's really good. Right, but that's why.
 
0:25:18 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I was. I was wondering that I was going to look back and see. Did he speak in any Polish at that time?
 
0:25:23 - Deacon Bob Rice
I just don't know. I don't know, yeah, yeah.
 
0:25:27 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So yeah, so that's cool. Okay, other little things that I'm excited about he's a missionary and that says something about his heart. I think this desire for mission, this desire for evangelization, this desire to leave you know his native land and go to another place, I think I like that. Yeah, that has to color his native land and go to another place. I think I like that. That has to color his pontificate. Yeah, I mean, I can't. I'm not an expert. I can't think of a previous missionary that became pope.
 
0:25:58 - Deacon Bob Rice
Not in a while at least yeah. Yeah, that's a good question.
 
0:26:03 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, that's something for the historians to figure out.
 
0:26:06 - Deacon Bob Rice
I was really excited at his name.
 
0:26:08 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yes, yeah.
 
0:26:11 - Deacon Bob Rice
So my main focus when I teach is scripture and youth ministry, but once a year I get to teach a church history class. It's kind of part of just teaching at a college. Sometimes they say, hey, we need somebody to cover this class, it's not my field of expertise, but we just need you to do it. And I remember Alan Shrek helped me out tremendously for it, as did Sister Johanna, and it was exciting for me to dive into a new class, a new subject, you know. I mean, I know how to research, I know how to teach, and so I go through a lot of the major—we call it catechetical saints, like the doctors of the church, the saints that really define doctrine. And so Leo XIII.
 
I remember when I first started preparing for this class, I thought why haven't I heard of this guy before? Dude, he wrote a lot. He wrote so many encyclicals. Now I believe I remember reading something from Pope Leo XIV why he chose Leo XIII, which is really interesting. Which is really interesting, and Leo XIII is most remembered for Rerum Novarum which did I say that right? Yeah, you just gave me a weird look. I thought, oh, no, no, which is the social teaching of the Church. And he's writing this in the late 1800s, when industrialization is just happening. The language in that document is absolutely prophetic. Some of it reads like he just wrote it within the last decade I mean it's really, really crazy.
 
But other things I love about Pope Leo XIII Okay, we'll make the connection to AI.
 
0:27:41 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Oh yeah, go ahead. No, you were going to make the connection to AI. I thought To what? To AI?
 
0:27:46 - Deacon Bob Rice
Oh, I wasn't going to make the connection to AI.
 
0:27:47 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
When they asked him about why he wrote that, he spoke about that very document and the relationship between work and the Industrial Revolution and he said that the human race is experiencing another revolution in its AI.
 
Interesting and he says and in this it is the very it goes in many ways to the same question about Mary is what is the value and dignity of the human person and the ability for AI to begin to take the place of a human person? So that was one of the reasons that he said that he chose the name Leo.
 
0:28:17 - Deacon Bob Rice
That's very cool. Well, other cool things about Leo XIII is he loved the rosary. He wrote 13 encyclicals on the rosary.
 
A lot. He wrote 13 encyclicals on the rosary Dude. He wrote a lot. He wrote a lot. And maybe the most other famous thing that Leo XIII did but isn't often remembered for or given credit for is he is the one who wrote the St Michael the Archangel prayer. He had a vision coming into the beginning of the 20th century and he wrote this prayer and he said every church needs to pray it. And, of course, what happens in the beginning of the 20th century? World War I and World War II, I mean the most horrible evils and mass murders in the history of humanity all combined up until that point.
 
0:29:01 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
All beautiful, but if you would, have asked me.
 
0:29:03 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, I am asking you Can.
 
0:29:05 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
I ask you Sure about Leo XIII.
 
0:29:06 - Deacon Bob Rice
Would you tell me what you think about Leo XIII Consecrated the world to the Holy Spirit. Oh, did he?
 
0:29:11 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, and he prayed for a new Pentecost, and it was actually at that very time when the Charismatic Renewal begins, not in the Catholic Church, because it didn't happen in the 60s, but in a small little church in Topeka, kansas. The day that he consec consecrated the world to the Holy Spirit was the release of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in that group.
 
0:29:27 - Deacon Bob Rice
Isn't that interesting.
 
0:29:29 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
So he had a huge devotion of the Holy Spirit.
 
0:29:31 - Deacon Bob Rice
I mean this was you know, 65, 64 years before Second Vatican Council. He said come Holy Spirit, with the new Pentecost. He's also famous for Therese of Lisieux jumping out of line and asking permission for him to enter the convent early and he said it was something about God's timing. She was very disappointed In the story of a soul, she wrote. He looked so old I thought he was dead.
 
0:29:57 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Okay, that's old. Okay, but here's my question. Maybe you know or maybe you don't, okay, is he buried in St Peter's? I don't think he is. I think he's buried in the ladder.
 
0:30:05 - Deacon Bob Rice
I don't know the answer, but something I do know that my students often ask me because.
 
0:30:10 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
We'll find out for you next time. We'll find out for you next time, or you can just Google it yourself. And the reality is, every time we say that we never follow up. Yeah, we just assume you will. A question my students often ask Unless it's me saying I fast Right? We get a lot of emails about that.
 
0:30:21 - Deacon Bob Rice
We get a lot of emails about that. So Pio Pius well, pio Nono, that was his nickname. Blessed Pius IX preceded him. Saint Pius X followed him, and then you had Pius XI and Pius XII, and people have said so, how come he's not blessed or saint? You know like he had such an impact, and so one of my hopes is that maybe Pope Leo XIV might make at least a blessed out of Leo XIII. I'm going to sneeze, oh, okay, go ahead. Are you going to sneeze? No, I don't know. I thought I was Okay and I just think I mean again, I don't know how that works, yeah, but I just think that would be a really amazing gift to the Church. You know, when I talk about him, and I talk about Pius IX and Pius X and Leo XIII in between, you could look at it as they're very dramatically different papacies, especially Leo XIII and Pius X. You know very dramatically different approaches to the world, and so I don't know how that's going to play with what we had with Benedict and.
 
Francis and Leo XIV.
 
0:31:36 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Well, yeah, it will be interesting to see how it plays off. And the other thing is everybody's trying. It's like reading tea leaves, like what's it going to be and who's it going to be. And I was reflecting on Benedict. When Benedict became Pope he was the head of the congregation, doctor of the faith, you know, really tough. And the first document he writes is God is love. So Francis, francis said before Pontificate he didn't speak a lot about joy because it just wasn't his experience. So what's going to be the particular grace that Leo was going to have? I love the fact that he's a religious Also, you know, it's interesting, a friend of mine said before Francis was elected he goes, I just want a pope who doesn't use notes, who can just talk.
 
0:32:13 - Deacon Bob Rice
Well, that's exactly what we got right.
 
0:32:16 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Well, it's very interesting because Leo is a canonist. His doctorate is in canon law, so he's going to be very, very, I mean, like any lawyer. He's going to be very clear. So far I don't think. I mean he talks just a minute or two off the cuff, he sticks to a script and he reads what he's written, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I will say, one of the things I appreciated about Barron was he said it wouldn't be bad if we had a quiet Pope. Although Leo's young, he's only 69. So please, you know, please, lord, you will be done, but he will be with us for a while.
 
0:32:50 - Deacon Bob Rice
So it'll be interesting.
 
0:32:52 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Yeah, it's just, it's exciting, it's fun. And the other is don't tell me, faith isn't relevant. Literally, the whole world is looking at a chimney in this little place, in this little church. Right, it's pretty bad.
 
0:33:06 - Deacon Bob Rice
What other institution?
 
0:33:08 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Nothing.
 
0:33:08 - Deacon Bob Rice
No one you know has has lived. There was some interview with a cardinal who I guess was looking odd during the thing, and they said what were you doing?
 
And he said he was looking towards, I think, the Colosseum, and he was just thinking to himself that, you know, at one point Rome, you know, was the center of the world. You know was the center of the world. You know there were emperors. You know it lasted for centuries, it was never going to fall, and it's fallen. And here we are, 2,000 years later, choosing a pope, choosing a pope, and the whole world has stopped what they're doing that was really cool and they're all watching.
 
0:33:43 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
And even if you're not Catholic, they're I don't remember. Yeah, that was really cool. I read that. That's really cool.
 
0:33:47 - Deacon Bob Rice
That's a beautiful insight.
 
0:33:48 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Well, praise God. Yeah, amen, I'm kind of surprised it wasn't you, but I had predicted it would be a Bob from Chicago. It was going to be a Bob from Chicago, yeah, yeah.
 
0:33:57 - Deacon Bob Rice
Most people might have thought Barron.
 
0:33:59 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
The people in the know thought me.
 
0:34:01 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah, those who. So I can't wait to hear, though. Here's another that will close on this. Just a random exciting thing for me at least. Personally, I was so—that's not the right word. Well, I guess I was disappointed. I love Blessed Carlo Acutis as many people do.
 
As somebody who has devoted my life to ministry with young people and teenagers, to have him be canonized was so exciting. To have him be canonized was so exciting. They announced the date of his canonization and it was the weekend of the last week of school and I thought I can't go. There's no way I could fly to Rome and be a part of this the last week of school, heading into finals, and I just thought, oh shucks Lord, I really wanted to go.
 
So now I'm thinking, hey, they're going to reschedule it and maybe I can be there for that event and I would do it. I mean I will.
 
0:34:56 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
We'll see. All right, we're running late. Okay, here are two questions. Oh okay, very simple answers. Sure, does he come to the United States before the end of this year? Oh, yes, the end of this year. Yes, because they generally do go to their hometown. Yeah, okay, does he come to the United States before he goes to Peru?
 
0:35:14 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yes.
 
0:35:15 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Okay.
 
0:35:16 - Deacon Bob Rice
I think he goes to the US and then goes south. Yeah, I think it's all going to be the same trip. That's a good point.
 
0:35:23 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
That's probably accurate.
 
0:35:25 - Deacon Bob Rice
Yeah.
 
0:35:25 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Alright, you're going to pray. Yes.
 
0:35:26 - Deacon Bob Rice
Jesus, we are're going to pray. Yes, Jesus, we are so grateful of your faithfulness. You told us that the church would stand the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
 
0:35:37 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Amen, Lord.
 
0:35:37 - Deacon Bob Rice
And once again you have proven yourself faithful and we ask that you would bless Leo XIV.
 
We ask that you would bless his family, all who know him who are just scratching their heads at what's going on. I'm sure he is doing the same, and whatever that gift you want to give him, I thought that was really beautiful, father Dave, you know just how the Lord gives unexpected gifts to people who end up in this role and that he would just welcome that with joy and the power of the Holy Spirit. Continue to bless the Church in this time of joy and transition. May we continue to be faithful witnesses to your light and, just in all of our lives, lord, continue to give us the gift of hope that we, as we continue to celebrate this Easter season, might look forward to the resurrection and believe in your providential care. May the blessing of Almighty God be upon you, father, son, holy Spirit, amen, amen. Thank you, father Dave, and thank you everybody for listening and all those we got to see. Didn't you see a number of people that were saying they listened to our show at graduation? You don't talk to people at graduation.
 
I mingle.
 
0:36:43 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Nobody mentions it.
 
0:36:44 - Deacon Bob Rice
Hi to everybody. Send us an email Franciscan hope at Franciscan dot.
 
0:36:49 - Fr. Dave Pivonka
Pope Leo.
 
0:36:52 - Deacon Bob Rice
Is that our new web address? Yeah, yeah, excellent.
 
Transcribed by https://podium.page