There is a serious man crisis one in three Catholic men that have been baptized have left the faith if you’re a thinking person you have asked yourself that question why am I here not only does God have a plan for your life so does Satan good evening welcome back I’m
Brother Joseph William Creator and host of kns Club Knights of Columbus Benedict Council 2355 broadcast on spectrum and worldwide on YouTube since 2021 tonight marks our first episode in season 3 what began as a discernment of God’s will using the St ignacious method has become an inspirational form for Knights parishioners families and
Children we kick things off now with an exciting clip from Trinity’s Triumph an independent compelling movie that is gaining serious interest in reviews I’m especially excited to interview the movie’s creator and producer Bergen County’s Zone father Steven Fitcher who will discuss its premise of peeling back the stained glass curtain on the
Priesthood 2 on2 let’s go uh and loser washes dishes yo hey grouchy come here sit down have some Kung chicken shall we take a peek even just three people can hold up the entire world you are setting out on an extraordinary Odyssey to answer the highest of all
Calls how do you handle it when You’ fallen in love with somebody I wouldn’t I said when we’re all just trying our best I’m not talking about this I’ve decided happen I don’t know if it’s serious I’m telling the truth pushing this anger down for years you didn’t
Cause anything he abused his power and betrayed your trust and where was God when that was happening what are you going to do to stop I’ll do whatever I damn well have to Joe come on you’re my best friend you’re my brother but you’re free to leave a
Message don’t think it Tom feel it none of us can fly unless we leap first even just three people can hold up the entire world welcome to Nights club father Steven really appreciate you taking the time to talk about your movie Trinity’s Triumph thank you and we like to start
Out with some questions sure and the first question is how did you conceive of Trinity triumphs at the point of discerning God’s will as a seminarian you were very young can you go into progress of how that evolved over time into the movie sure sure So I entered the seminary in
1986 and then from 1990 to 1993 to 2000 I was living in Rome so I studied for 14 years to be a priest uh very lots of studies different languages lots of master’s degrees finally got a doctorate at the end so a lot of that but about um
1998 I had this idea that I thought it would be really good if we could make a movie that would be inspirational to the modern generation of young people at the time now when I had grown up I remember seeing some of these older movies these
Like black and white movies of bells of St Mary’s are going my way where B Crosby was the parish priest a beloved figure in the community and then starting like the 90s when you had some films the priest wasn’t this exalted figure anymore but maybe he could be the
Villain in a movie or you know just it was a portrayal that was very different I thought and Michael Medved who used to work for PBS I remember he made a document entire Sunday afternoon and the basic essence of what he was telling me which is what I brought into our current
Version of the film he said instead of making it the story of one young man why don’t you make it the story of three young men and then may each one of them can take a different path he said from a a film making concept I think that would
Be easier and better to work with so I said okay great and then but at that time I was studying I was working I was traving a lot and so around that time there’s a woman at my previous Parish that she was into television and radio
Production and I shared with her I said listen this is what I wrote this is what zepelli told me this is what’s happened in the ensuing last six years or whatever I really want to go back and see if we can remake this and re-edit it
And we did and as we did that a woman in my previous Parish you probably heard of her Mary Higgins Clark AB mystery and Mary was almost like a grandmotherly figure to me we were very very close and I said uh Mary Kathy Carson and I have
Written this script based on the history that I just shared with you and you know I want you Mary just give me an honest opinion just tell me if this is a piece of junk please tell me so I don’t waste any more time but if you think this is
Good let us know and so Mary really loved it and she called Kathy and I over to her house and uh she started talking about some of the character development and how we could bolster it and things like that so Kathy and I went through another rewrite as Kathy likes to say
That the stack of rewrites that we have are actually taller than Kathy is herself uh we had a few foray into Hollywood trying to work with people it I I got bruised along the way let’s say you know different things that just didn’t work out and there were different
Stages where I was going to just give up and that you know talking about Discerning God’s will every once in a while I realize that you know maybe this isn’t meant to be I mean I have it in my heart I feel that God put it in my heart
But and just keep running into these roadblocks as we talk about challenges and we talk about the inspiration that kept you going in spite of it and as you just said that I’m going to give up what what am I doing I maybe I shouldn’t be
Doing this maybe it’s not God’s will I I understand that and and you suddenly kept on going in spite of was a lot of prayer involved a lot of pray keep on going yeah a lot of prayer and that you know that determination that you felt
That God put it in your heart and you wanted to bring it to fruition and you want to work through those challenges and obstacles but it was a friend that I also went to high school with a burton Catholic and he was coming in from California he’s working in the
Entertainment industry told him about all the Priestly work I was doing and the academic work and I said also I have this you know film that I’ve been working on he goes well let me see it and I said sure So I gave it to him and
He said to me goes this is really good you should really get in contact with my brother and so his brother then joined the project because his brother had worked on a few independent films so we went with this company and they introduced us um to Wick Michael Wick
Who did all of the filming in just three weeks wow that’s incredible it was really incredible and we shot in New York in New Jersey I was calling in favors from so many different friends we fil that’s the way it works yeah yeah exactly we had no money for it so uh you
Know we went to Christian Health Care Center to film our Hospital scenes we went to the brick house to film our restaurant and bar scenes even vanderplatt uh lent us a coffin the V here in Michael they lent us a coffin for the for the scene that you remember
The the prank that that’s played and then we filmed both at forom and calwell University so it was really great so I thought at that stage all of the obstacles were overcome we now we got the money we did we filmed it and we were out in La end of February 2020 we
Did all of our editing we were so excited and then you know what happened in March 2020 Co Corona virus unfortunately played a very difficult part in launching your movie movie attendance wise and many other things that were going on I want to just go back and and get your take
On uh monor heck and the three young seminarians and the goal you wanted to accomplish in the movie and bringing out the trials the tribulations the discernments of God’s will to become priests sure yeah so each of the characters in The movie were really um based on real life characters so
Everything that you see happening in the movie is either because of something that happened in my life or one of my friends life so for example man senior heck who plays the big role of being the mentor in the film he’s based on my own spiritual director and even some of the
Names actually all of the names have a significance in my own life but what we’re trying to do is we were really trying to humanize the priesthood we wanted to take it off that pedestal of perfectionism right where people were thinking oh the priest does everything right and there’s you know it’s almost
Like a a demigod or something which is false we’re human beings like anyone else but then the opposite thing especially when the pedophile crisis came everyone’s like all priests are all bad and that’s also false right so we wanted to look for that middle ground how could we show the priesthood for
What it is and its real Humanity but also how could we um attract the Next Generation so where we’re not afraid to show that hey as a Catholic Church we’re imperfect as I always say to people the church is divinely instituted but humanly constituted and that’s really what our film is looking
To do from my experience in watching the film you certainly accomplished that and you felt what was going on with the three seminarians and you you talking about celibacy and the problems of accepting God’s well or not you brought that out in the movie in an overpowering whelming
Overwhelming manner that that I simply did not have that understanding the human understanding of the Seminary and becoming a priest which carries through through the whole movie with Manor heck and how their your story occurred and they dealt with it uh I think anyone that watched that movie parishioners
Layman non-catholics really got an insight into priests and who they really are in the human world we live in thank you and and Brother Joseph I totally agree with you I found so many people and they saw the movie whether they’re Catholic or not or some are even
Atheists that have spoken to me they said wow that really changed my vision of the church changed my vision of the priesthood and but it’s also one thing I always tried to tell everyone it’s not just about priest yes that is the premise of the movie but as you know mon
Senior heck gives that lesson at the very beginning that V lesson VI T and that’s really the lesson for all of us whether you’re religious or not whether you’re Catholic or not that lesson at the beginning of the movie and that’s why I know a lot of people who are
Watching it now a second time or a third time like oh now I get there’s another level to your movie and that’s something that we were really trying to look at because if it’s just a movie about seminarians or priest as valid as that is and as helpful that is to as Kathy
Likes to call it like Look Over the Garden Wall you know look through the stained glass window and see what is the real life like of priest it’s it’s a life lesson that’s really there for everyone and I do hope that all of your viewers all of you watching us right now
Please please please go to Trin triumph.com and when you click onto our website you can see it’s on Apple TV it’s on Amazon it’s on YouTube Google play a plethora of platforms and if you’re not good with those things ask your child or your grandchild I could
Tell our viewers right here when I watched it for the first time as I told you before it really grabbed me I got a great understanding of the human aspect of being a priest and I know for sure I haven’t had time since I reviewed it a
Week ago but I will watch it for the second time maybe the third time because it’s so important what’s going on there to assimilate it to embrace it to understand it it will give those that watch it a whole new picture of priesthood humanity and everything that
Goes along with it from sin to Heaven yeah it’s incredible yeah and there’s everything in it there’s romance there’s comedy there’s drama there’s all these different elements so I think a lot of people have told me like father I was going to tell you it was a good movie
Just I wanted to be light but wow really surprised me that was really really good so one question I have is sort of U goes to the heart of naming it Trinity’s Triumph can you give me a macro on on that I get it but
I want to hear from you father sure yeah so we were really trying to play on a few different elements we thought when people hear the word Trinity right away you’re going to think okay this is a religious movie when you hear the word Triumph you know it’s going to have a
Happy ending so we wanted to make sure people were aware of that but Trinity plays in a lot of different ways there’s the Trinity of God the Father Son and Holy Spirit you can see them blessing and praying they’re obviously Catholic seminarians and Priests but it’s also
The Trinity of their friendship Joe Tom and Mike which is a wonderful friendship you can see they’re all likable guys but like every friendship it’s tested and there’s tensions and there’s Mis understandings and there’s difficulties and that’s where we really wanted to show that and it goes back to that V to
Lesson you know the truth the Integrity but above all it’s a movie about the endurance of friendship and that’s why remember when when senior heck gives the lesson at the beginning of the movie he says always be friends always be good friends to each other and I don’t know
About you and your experience of friendships right some people you get along really well with but then once in a while there’s a little misunderstanding something happens and when that misunderstanding happens that’s when you delve in deeper and you forgive each other and you move forward
And that’s what we show and at the end you know it’s like on senior hex says at the very end your Trinity has triumphed right which is basically your love has triumphed your friendship has triumphed through all the trials and tribulations we talked a little about before and you
Mentioned to the fact that you’ve talked to parishioners other priests and uh Layman and uh and their responsiveness to the movie which is exceptionally a plus looking at the priest in general and what’s occurring here uh with most recently with Pope Francis in the Vatican on excluding Latin uh there are
Changes occurring in the church that I think are productive the Catholic church and the views of research I’ve done has gone from an exceptional embracement of the Theology of Roman Catholic faith to somewhat disintegrating and losing parishioners and losing and we all know there’s many things occurring in the real world in
The 21st century that distracts people that takes them away from the focus of their creator of What’s real true divine love joy and happiness in your life if it isn’t our creator you’re not going to get it in the world through Game Boy right how did you see the reaction of
The the priesthood changing not only because of the movie it did but what could be coming Downstream yeah I I think for that’s a deep question and it’s a futuristic question like we don’t know what’s going to happen but you know we as priests as Catholic priest we know
That Pope Francis is our Vicor of Christ he is a successor of St Peter and that’s the one we’re following and before him it was Benedict the 16th before him was John Paul II everyone has a hard time with change but those changes I really do believe
Are led by the Holy Spirit right and that’s what we believe in our church that it really is the holy spirit leading us and guiding us so um the priesthood has changed the church has changed but to your point about how people maybe are going to mass less frequently now religious affiliation
Isn’t as strong now some of my research that I’ve done has helped me to see that you know in the United States I would say um it’s really which sounds crazy perhaps but I really do believe that Sports has become the new religion the new God the new God right for example
When I was a child growing up there were no soccer games or baseball games you know during a Sunday morning or whatever so we’d all have time to go to church to worship and things like that but I mean I listen to people like I remember one
Woman years ago she told me oh she goes oh Father I’m so sorry I wasn’t at Mass yesterday I was like oh well what happened she goes well I had to drive 4 hours down to I don’t know Randolph New Jersey I stood outside in the freezing
Cold rain as my daughter was playing soccer then we had to have lunch and then she had another game and then we drove back and it was raining by the time we got home it was like too late and I didn’t say it to her but I felt
Like saying well like you did go to your church you know your your church was your soccer field and that was where you were worshiping so um and I think that’s because we’ve gotten so caught and I love sports I mean don’t get me wrong I think sports are great for kids it
Teaches them you know a good uh conduct and teamwork self- sacrifice I mean there’s so many good things that come with sports but it’s like we’ve exalted it where you know sometimes we’ll have kids say oh I can’t go to the confirmation retreat because I have a
You know soccer practice I was like what’s more important like God or soccer and sadly that’s what’s happening but the other thing that’s also Al why we address it in the film sociologically from the research we’ve done and stuff the sexual abuse crisis by priest really affected this current generation
Of young Catholics if you think of a 20-year-old today 20y old today their entire life you associate the priesthood with sexual abuse now you and I are old enough to remember times before that where you wouldn’t make that assoc assciation but that’s all they’ve heard if you’ve been born 2004 forward that’s
All you associate with so that’s why we wanted to bring in sorry just to finish this thought that’s why we wanted to bring in the sexual abuse crisis because we didn’t want to sweep it under the carpet we said it’s a reality thank God it’s a very small reality and it’s
Horrible for the children who’ve been abused by the cre it’s horrible for the families it’s horrible horrible horrible and I wanted people to know as well we were outraged by that I remember the first weekend after the news broke up in Boston if you remember I remember I got
Up into the pulpit and I I broke down I just started crying and crying because of how much damage those priests did and how much they sullied the church and then then the priesthood so I I I also wanted to show that aspect that we were just as outraged and in some ways
Probably more because it affects us you know in a very intimate way in our professions and recapping in a conclusion you know I look at this uh and I watched the movie I was absolutely inspired by it great changed my mind enlightened me educated me good and uh I hope this also
Entered my mind in hearing your answers that there’s so many questions going beyond the movie answered a great part and I wonder about a sequel oh very good brother Joseph yes so our desire is to do a sequel a lot of that however will depend on if we can get the money
Back to our investors because I would love to go back to the investors and say hey we did one successful thing maybe we could do another one at another time so this is where I really reach out to all of you that are watching this interview
Whatever you can do by supporting um us we would really greatly appreciate it so that we can continue to spread you know the message of Jesus far and wide if you want greater faith and love in your heart watch the movie I’m telling you it’s great God bless you all God bless
Thanks everyone coming up is a small sampling of the good and godly Deeds of our council’s shining nights included are some great picks of the many charitable and religious activities we sponsor throughout the year the top left Council to 2 355 brothers are holding Christmas gifts to be donated to the
University Hospital pediatric Ward to the right grand night guide denapoli and cloria tachia and fellow brother father Bonnie a $500 donation for his charity to help those in need in his Nigerian Hometown the middle left is a candid shot of a proud father Nero a fellow brother celebrating his installation as
Pastor of the Church of the Epiphany for our Cooperative Council Reach Out Brother Joseph Willam presented Nights Club episode 7 at Madonna Roman Catholic Church shown are fortly Grand Knight Tony Renaldi and brother Paul creators of gathering far right Council of 2355 members and volunteers give out Halloween treats in front of sedona’s
Tap Room in Cliffside Park bottom left Brother Joseph William presents the Nights club mission at the B County Federation Knights of Columbus meeting finally is a group shot of knights celebrating at the pride and our priest dinner along with many priests and dignitaries from Bergen County moving on from one Steven to
Another I’m honored to introduce the president of the Knights of Columbus Bergen County Federation brother Steven Martin who will Enlighten us on some benevolent ways our Brotherhood carries out the legacy of Charity unity and fraternity daily and of course patriotism if you could address the
Mission and try to tie it into what the Federation accomplishes and its Mission the Bergen Federation is a like I I like to call it a collaborative Cooperative Confederation of all the councils in ber County it missiones the same as the Knights of Columbus the principles of Charity Unity fraternity and
Patriotism what’s our goal we’re in service just like the Knights of Columbus you know to in service to our church our priests and our community and we try to bring everyone together uh as one unit as best we can uh to achieve those goals um you mentioned earlier uh
We mentioned the fourth the fourth uh element of our mission is patriotism the Federation this year was able to reinvigorate the mass of the veterans home uh which is very very important to a lot of our members who are veterans and uh I just came from a m this
Afternoon you walk out of the mass like that reinvigorated as a member of the knights because your your faith is what’s the word I’m looking for sort of resurrected right you’re there you’re there to mass with some people who are uh very very happy to see you and uh
Through the efforts of some of the councils to get priests there that’s one of the things we’re doing community uh last Sunday at the Bergen County St Patrick’s state parade we inst we tried to Institute this year to get more councils involved that’s what I was
Looking for and this year we had about six or seven councils March down Washington Avenue in uh Bergenfield we had the fourth degree there we had nine or 10 members of the fourth degree there unbelievable leading us down Washington Avenue um and I heard it back later
About the presence of the Knights of Columbus at that event was really uh striking and for a lot of people because let’s face it Joe a lot of people don’t know us um and uh my mission was try to get the knights out there and in other
In other areas um and I guess that’s that’s the long and the short of it as an introduction when we uh talk about uh the knights getting involved on the council Lev level uh to the Federation which inspires us all to do more in charity and unity which is great and
Especially I have to mention a few weeks ago when you gave me the opportunity to appear with Nights club and present our mission what we do uh it was uh uh a collaborative effort where we were able to bring our message of Faith development Cooperative efforts uh to
All the grand Knights there and the other dignitaries uh that were there that support the Federation at the state level we had a few and uh that led me to just uh go into one focus on that is the fact that this would have never happened unless you had father Steven there on
Trinity’s triumph which was the main speaker before I gave my speech and he’s a heart act to follow it was terrible you mentioned that yeah he was the first time I met met fall steveen I’d spoken to him and that was a big highlight of our meeting we had a big turnout you
Were there and you jokingly said it’s a tough act to follow and he was um but there another part of getting getting the the Catholic message out a lot of people didn’t know who he was honestly I wasn’t familiar with his work uh PR priest up in white he’s heavily
Involved in in the educational hierarchy of the arch dasis he’s um and it was it was an interesting evening and uh it was important for him to get his message out also and the story that he told in that movie well it was terribly impressive to
Me where the next day I called him if it wasn’t for the Federation and you given me that opportunity certainly we would have had another episode but this was a focused episode of something of tremendous value to to the human aspect of the priesthood that father Steven
Delivers in Trinity Triumph also he’s a he’s a he’s a local boy he’s from tener Fly New Jersey yeah he went to my high school Bergen Catholic uh not when I was there he went there years after right about 10 years I didn’t know that when I
Was speaking to him so he’s a local priest he’s he’s making a difference in the world and and to me that was a big part of the message that evening now I’d like to get to you on a question sure President Steve what was your introduction to
Becoming a KN and how you moved up the ranks to be president of the Bergen County Federation well I mean I was a parishioner of St Mary’s in Dumont and that’s when we had that’s what that’s when we had lot they Church Drive and they and they recruited me there so
They ask me to join and uh you you you get you learn more about the organization eventually arise to the top I guess so so this is this is my Year Joe well wow well certainly we appreciate the sacrifice certainly you have to go through and to prep for these
Meetings uh in conjunction with your law practice and New York representing who’s who in New York as you know we’re we’re a great organization embedded in the Catholic faith and I’m proud to be a member of the kns of Columbus thanks again appreciate your time and effort and God bless you thank
You Joe thank you it took father Fitcher 25 years to take his beautiful creation from script to screen overcoming many trials and tribulations along the way we’ve all been blessed with many gifts and talents as good caretakers of God’s grace it’s up to us however to make them count
Jesus says let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in Heaven something to think about before we say good night I would like to conclude this episode with a blessing for all our viewers intentions for healing and
Miracles in their lives Blessed Mother of Guadalupe pray for us and bless us blessed Father Michael mcgivney founder of the Knights of Columbus pray for us and bless us good night all God love you
source
