Is It Tough To Preach There?

Giving a lecture on Laudato Si in the church to a mixed audience

Giving a lecture on Laudato Si in the church to a mixed audience

If time flies when you’re having fun, it seems to break the sound barrier when you’re busy living out your life’s calling. After eight weeks that I will forever remember at our parish in Triangle, VA, I find myself back at Holy Name College in Silver Spring, MD wondering what just happened. Part of me is in denial. I only started packing to leave an hour before I left, and didn’t even hint at saying goodbye to any of the parish staff until I was packed and ready to go. I sit here in my room half expecting to head back in a few days, but that is not the case. I do not know if or when I will return, but I do know that it has been (dare I be so bold…) my favorite period of being a friar thus far.

For some, this might be surprising given the reputation of the parish. The parish does not have a bad reputation by any means, but before I visited and ultimately decided on it, there seemed to be an obligatory question friars asked when mentioning the parish: “Is it tough to preach there?” What they meant by this was that the influence of the government and military (the marine base at Quantico is just .4 miles away and the parish is the home of many Pentagon and intelligence workers) was perceived to be a detriment to preaching freely about some difficult topics. How could one engage in works of social justice, challenge the culture of war and gun violence, and speak freely about the social ills of the country if everyone there was either a gun-toting conservative or a high-powered government agent that would be keeping tabs on anything controversial (not that either of these things is bad, I should note)? That was the perception I had of Triangle after three years in the Order, having visited the parish only once.

Having now spent eight weeks there and leaving with actual experience preaching, do you want to know my answer? No, yes, and it’s a flawed question. Let me explain.

For starters, the very reasons that some have cited as potentially off-putting are the very reasons that make it an incredible place to work and preach. Because let’s be honest: if you are interested in social justice and actually want to get things done, wouldn’t you want people in the pews who can make a serious difference in their work, say… FBI agents, people who protect and interact with the president on a regular basis, and oh, you know, generals in the armed forces. Sitting in their pews each week are the people that have the power to make incredibly influential decisions on behalf of our country, and are entrusted with the task of forming many young men and women entering these jobs. Rather than reading the New York Times op ed piece and forming an opinion, the people of this parish can go and speak to an actual person working in the Pentagon or investigating an issue on the ground and have a real conversation. This is an incredible resource. Is it tough to preach here? No. Quite the opposite: it’s better informed and more exciting.

On the other hand, having these resources there do require a bit more work in preaching. Our preaching has to be done in a smart way. Unlike “easier” situations for preaching, congregations that are largely similar and everything we say is like “preaching to the choir,” one cannot get away with saying lazy answers or half-truths when those listening are well-informed and diverse. If everyone is conservative in the parish, you could get away with preaching about how there are abuses to the welfare system and the best way to help the poor is to make them “help themselves.” Popular, but not the Gospel. If everyone in the parish is liberal, you could get away with preaching that the entire reason people are poor is because of corporate greed and the top 1% of wealth-owners. Popular, but also not the Gospel. When a parish has the parishioners that St. Francis does, knowledgable and well-connected, and given the issues many have had with their previous churches, overwhelmingly diverse when it comes to the conservative/liberal scale, it can only be successful if it preaches carefully and invites all to the table.

I saw this first hand working with the Care of Creation Committee on Pope Francis’ Laudato Si and the Economics Committee on wealth inequality. Both issues are very controversial. Both have the possibility of alienating parishioners. And yet arch-conservatives and flaming liberals (and of course, us normal people in between!) were able to come together, challenge one another, and not leave the conversation by flipping the table and storming off. Why? Because the conversation was incredibly intelligent, and more importantly, involved people that knew that the real answer had to include everyone. Is this a difficult environment to preach in? You bet.

As a result, though, St. Francis is the most successful parish I know of in actually making a difference in social justice issues. How successful? While many churches have a food pantry and outreach program, which St. Francis does, it also has seven different Action and Advocacy groups. The Anti-Human Trafficking group, for instance, is so well-organized and ahead of the curve that two representatives of the parish were asked to present on effectively organizing a parish-run social action group at the Anti-Humam Trafficking conference organized by the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops a few weeks ago. That’s no small potatoes! It is a certified Green Faith parish, an active community organizer through the Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (V.O.I.C.E.) organization, a major supporter of respect for life issues (a committee that includes but goes beyond abortion in its defense of the dignity of human life), and… well, you’re probably tired of me shamelessly selling this parish by now. But you get the point: it is a successful parish.

So, is it tough to preach there? No, yes, and ultimately, it’s a faulty question. Because, really, shouldn’t it always be tough to preach somewhere? The Gospel is not easy to follow. It’s challenging. If it seems easy to preach and everyone agrees with what we’ve said, well then maybe we haven’t preached well. If we have picked a side and given people what they want, haven’t we also failed to be bridge-builders to those on the other side? Maybe we haven’t challenged our congregations, or maybe we haven’t challenged ourselves. At St. Francis, one can understand the apprehension to preach and its reputation, given the congregation. For me, though, that’s what all preaching should be, and I loved the opportunity to take part and the excitement of knowing that, if the Lord chose to work through me, and if I took the time to actually listen, I could effect change in the world in a way not possible other places. For me, that’s a tough situation, but not for the reasons some might thinks.

 7 Comments

 Posted on July 23, 2015 by

 Favorite, Ministry, Post-Novitiate

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Coming Up For Air: What Does Time Off Mean as a Friar?

I’ve been here at my summer assignment in Triangle, VA for about a month now, and what a summer it’s been so far! Apparently, when I first met with the parish staff back in early May, I said the words, “I don’t want to be bored this summer” four different times. The parish has been happy to oblige my request!

So besides making videos and being a rockstar at an elementary school, the only two things I’ve shared thus far, what else am I doing to stay busy? Let’s see…

  • Twice a week I teach a class for an hour an a half. The first class is “How to Read the Bible,” a class I taught last summer in Camden but have almost completely rebooted given the amount I learned in seminary this past year. It is not a Bible “study” in the sense that we are not focusing on specific passages but rather a class to give people the tools to understand how Catholics approach the text with regard to its genre, historical significance, place in salvation history, and life of prayer. The second class, a completely new idea for me, is called “Catholic Bootcamp.” Over seven weeks, I hope to cover “all” of Catholicism in a sort of remedial RCIA framework that really challenges even the most faithful Catholics. So far we’ve covered Scripture, history, and theology, and will finish with moral theology, social teaching, and worship. It’s a bit ambitious, to say the least, and I am learning a lot about myself (and my own faith) in the process.
  • Twice now I have preached, alternating weekends, and will plan to do that two more times this summer.
  • With the help of the director of religious education, I’m organizing a summer young adult group (ages 18-25) that meets once a week. So far it’s been casual, focusing almost exclusively on building community. We’ve played ultimate frisbee, had a cookout, and tonight, we’ll be watching Wall-E in the gym. I’m amazed at how the group, which otherwise had never met one another, has been so enthusiastic about organizing these events and how well they’ve gotten along with one another. A separate post is sure to follow.
  • One of the big reasons I chose St. Francis in Triangle for my summer assignment was the Franciscan Action and Advocacy group. Among the most active social justice parishes in the province (if not the most active given the amount it has done to effect actual legislation), I’ve had a good opportunity to learn from the director and see how much a parish is capable of. Although the summer is a bit slow, I’ve sat in on meetings for two different groups, plan to attend the USCCB’s Anti-Human Trafficking Conference next week (for which the parish’s director will be a key speaker on a panel) and in a few weeks, will lead a discussion on Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the care of our common home.
  • Miscellaneous tasks include giving the announcements and greeting parishioners at all of the masses, serving at a Eucharistic minister, cooking dinner a few times per week in the house, attending staff meetings, volunteering once a week at the parish-run food pantry, meeting with parishioners on request, and periodically attending weddings, baptisms, or special events at the parish for the experience.

I mention all of these things, not to brag about all I’m doing (I mean, it’s a lot of work, but come on… I know so many people reading this post work so much harder than I do!) but to set up what this reflection is really about: how much should a friar “work”?

Here’s the issue: as a professed religious, we are called to serve the Church in one capacity or another. Because this is the life we live and not a job we fulfill, the idea of being “off” and “on” is not quite as clear as it is for someone who works a 9-5 job and clocks out at the end of the day. Being at a parish, and being someone who wants to work as hard as possible, I’ve found that there are things that can fill every minute of the day if I let them. (There have been more than a few days this summer that I have focused on ministry, in one way or another, from 9am until 10pm.)

At the one extreme, this can be suffocating and deadly. If a friar overextends himself, constantly giving what he has not replenished through prayer, or if he separates the external ministry from what is essential to the charism, namely minority and fraternity, such work will eventually lose purpose and the friar will burnout. This is not good, and as a result, there are many friars that are very sensitive to the amount of work we do, calling others to learn to say no more often, to work less and spend more time in fraternity.

At the other extreme, an extreme I find equally as deadly, is to put so much emphasis on “self-care” and fraternity that barely any ministry gets done. The irony of this situation, constantly focused on avoiding the burnout of work, can actually lead to a burnout of a different kind: isolated and inward-looking, this friar runs the risk of falling into a rut, losing passion, and becoming numb to the comforts around him. This is obviously not good either, and as a result, there are many friars that a very sensitive to the amount of time they take off and call others to spend less time in the friary and more time in the world.

Obviously, the amount of work that one does is going to be based on that person’s ability and we can’t expect more from a friar than he is able to give or judge him for how much or little he works. What I can say, though, is that there can be a healthier, more balanced approach to work for friars (including myself!) Here are just a few reflections at the moment:

  • We can’t give what we don’t have. If we spend little or no time in prayer, do not interact with the brothers enough to let them know we love them (and let them do the same for us!), and are so busy that we lose touch with the outside world, we will eventually have nothing to give no matter how many hours we work.
  • We are a “fraternity in mission,” not a “fraternity and mission”; these two aspects of our life should not be compartmentalized. For those who complain about “workaholic” friars, we need to remember that working together is a vital part of fraternity; for those who complain about “lazy” friars, we need to remember that recreating is a vital part of our mission.
  • Our work is not like other people’s work: while others work to make a living, we live to work for others. Yes, some days are incredibly difficult, depressing, and downright deflating. And yet, everyone needs time off, including vacations, to recharge. But work for us is who we are. Francis made it very clear in his writings that we are to work before we beg, that work (particularly manual work) is essential to be a Franciscan. It’s my hope for all friars, and what is driving me this summer, that we be so overjoyed with the Gospel that we would want to fill every moment of our day living and sharing it, not counting it as “work” to be completed so we can go on vacation or have some “real fun” but something we can’t get enough of.
  • Finally, I need to remember that people in the “real world” work just as hard, but also have to take care of kids, spend time with their spouse and worry about paying bills, without not having the amazing support that we have from our parishes and donors.

My summer here in Triangle is more than halfway over and I’m truly devastated by that fact. I have loved every minute of the work I’m doing here and would do even more if there was more time in a day. And it’s because of that, it is because I love doing what I’m doing so much and want to be able to do so for the rest of my time here, that I’m taking almost the entire day off: relax in my room, grab some lunch in town, play a round of golf, and come back for prayer and dinner with the friars. I know that I could be reading Laudato Si, planning class tomorrow, or taking care of any number of people at the parish today. And a part of me feels really guilty about not doing these things today. But part of my formation as a friar is learning to pace myself, that I want to sprint when it’s really a marathon, that all I want to do is to continue diving deeper, but I can’t do that without coming up for some air every once in a while.

 2 Comments

 Posted on June 30, 2015 by

 Ministry, Post-Novitiate

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The Joy of Being a Kid

Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, I'm not able to take pictures of the students myself, so here's a stock photo of other happy kids!

For obvious reasons, I’m not able to take pictures of the students myself, so here’s a stock photo of other happy kids!

“Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” This was the chant of students as they marched with joy out of St. Francis Catholic School today. After ten long months for the kids (and nearly eight whole days for me) school let out today for the summer and they could not have been happier. All week, the students simmered at a level of excitement that no one could contain; today at 11:30 it boiled over into pure chaos. It was wonderful to see (and even better that I got to go to my own home for lunch and didn’t have to be their parents picking them up!)

I have to say, It’s a shame that I didn’t get a chance to spend more time at the school before it ended. As odd as it sounds to me, I really enjoyed being there. I started to get to know the classrooms, the students, and the teachers, and really felt at home going to the school each day and playing with the kids at recess. Granted, this feeling may have been aided by the fact that it was so close to summer that the students were always excited and fun to be around. Or it was because I was treated like a rockstar everyday, which helps any situation. (It gets better than what I shared in my last post. Yearbooks came out this week.That’s right. I was literally signing autographs at recess to a hoard to students surrounding me. “Brother Casey! Sign my yearbook, sign my yearbook!” That was new for me.)

I think my favorite interaction with one of the students, though, came in the kindergarten classroom yesterday. I’m sitting there during their year-end party coloring with a girl when she all of the sudden looks at me and begins an interrogation: “Awe you mawied?” Now you have to understand that what I absolutely loved about talking to this girl is that she always came off as a bit crazy. Hilariously crazy. I mean… she’s in kindergarten.. what do you expect? Her hair was always going 100 different ways, her eyes could not possibly open any wider, and she always talked to everyone like she had just discovered the cure for cancer. With that image in your head, “AWE YOU MAWIED?!?!” might be more accurate. But it didn’t stop there. When I said no, that I was not married and that I had no kids, and explained to further interrogation why it was that I was single and childless, she looked me right in the eye and ordered, “GO FIND A WIFE!” Seriously, she was not messing around. This was not a request. When I explained, in fact, that I lived with two priests, I thought her eyes were going to pop right out of her eyes. “WHAAAAT?? YOU LIVE WITH PWIESTS?!” The whole interaction, her innocence, her matter-of-fact orders, and the shattering of her tiny worldview, had me laughing all day long. I told a parent about it, who responded with a similarly funny interaction: “When I met her, I said ‘hi ______.’ With squinted, skeptical eyes, she glared at me, ‘What do you mean by ‘hi’…?” I can’t help but laugh out loud picturing the situation as I type now.

The amazing this is that I could share a dozen stories like this, of things I will never forget and really touched me, after just a brief time with the students. I don’t know if it was simply that I had not been in an elementary school since I was a student myself, or the fact that I was given immediate trust by the students and enormous leeway by the teachers to jump in and out of their day, but I really did see my time there as a joyful, worthwhile ministry experience in a way I never expected. Part of it, I’m sure, was the overwhelming nostalgia I had as I walked into every classroom: “Oh… I remember when I was in 5th grade…” There’s just something so wonderful about being a kid, and seeing them with so much enthusiasm and problems that seemed so insignificant to me now, brought me back to a simpler time for sure. That’s not to diminish their experience as “childish” and thus insignificant, though. Quite the opposite, actually. Being able to remember back to my own elementary school days and seeing how truly formative certain experiences have been in who I became as a teenager and now an adult, I realized how important it is to give children quality, life-building experiences; to give them the attention and formation that they need is no easy task but is one that is worthy of the best and brightest people today. By no means do I ever want a full-time job in an elementary school, but I have to admit that I was so moved by these kids that I simply can’t imagine not having some involvement in elementary school ministry throughout my life as a friar. With that sort of joy all around, how can I not?

 2 Comments

 Posted on June 12, 2015 by

 Ministry

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Elementary School Rock Star

Even though we arrived in D.C. from our road trip only five days ago, it seems like ancient history at this point. What a week it’s been! After a day of rest (and laundry!) I packed up what I needed and headed for my summer assignment: Triangle, VA. I was excited to get started and didn’t want to waste any time. They certainly didn’t waste any time with me either…

My first day was a half day, a nice way to ease into the summer. I helped Fr. Kevin pick up his broken down truck, met some people at the office, and found my way around the place.

My second day was not a half day.

Starting with mass at 8:45am, I ended up being on my feet until almost 9:30pm. Between the elementary school, ministry group meetings, and planning/teaching my first “How to Read the Bible” class (we had 28 people the first night), it was a full day. I did stop for two hours to sign up for a gym and work out, I took some time to eat lunch and dinner, and truth be told, I took a 15 minute nap. Outside of that, though, I can honestly say that I was being productive the whole day!

Funnily enough, I happened to talk to my mom after it all and her reaction was perfect: “Well think of it this way. It’s only for eight weeks, so enjoy what you can but know that it won’t be that long.” I had to laugh. “What are you talking about? This is what I’ve been waiting for. Through all the workshops, classes, seminars, days of recollections, and “formation of my first couple of years, I finally get to do what inspired me to be a friar in the first place, and what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life as a friar. I’m sad that it’s only eight weeks!” The whole day was wonderful, and while the two days following were a bit lighter, they were filled with new experiences and high energy ministry.

The highlight so far has been working at the elementary school attached to the parish. These kids are awesome. And given that it’s the end of the year and I wear a habit, I’m free to knock on any door at any time of the day and interrupt class to have some fun. I’ve done show and tell, answered questions, taught them about the friars, and in one english class, taught them how “Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” is a real sentence. I’m not sure that they believed me. On Wednesday I got to see their school play, “Disney’s Mulan,” today I was a part of their final school mass of the year in which the 8th graders passed on the “light of leadership” to the 7th graders (very touching moment), and spent a couple of hours playing soccer, keep away, four square, and learning gymnastics at recess.

Which brings me to the title of the post: I realized today that it took no time at all to become an absolute rock star. All day long students were yelling “BROTHER CASEY,” coming to give me hugs, wanting to tell me all about their artwork or where they were going over the summer, and generally just being giddy in my presence. And do you know what I say? It’s about time. Only 10-20 years late, elementary school kids finally think I’m cool. High fives all around.

And while most of what I want to share is just a superficial, fun reflection on the week, I’m realizing quickly that there could be a deeper to this small experience. As friars, especially ones with a lot of energy and a willingness to serve, it’s easy to become real “rock stars” at a parish. Given the poor experiences so many have had with rigid and un-pastoral priests in the past, showing a little respect, a good sense of humor, and halfway decent preaching is enough to really excite people. In my brief travels around the province, I see it in one place after another: “Father X is amazingI We love him so much. He’s so much better than the guy at the other parish. We are so blessed to have a priest like him!” In so many of our places, we are blessed with parishioners that support and even adore us in what we do, even if what we do is not all that special (like walking into a 5th grade classroom in a habit. I have done nothing but show up to deserve this rock star status!)

And here’s where we need to be attentive: while we love that our parishioners are thrilled to have us there to serve them, it is very easy to take our newfound rock star status too seriously and actually think that we more special than we actually are. There is nothing wrong with being charismatic, hard-working, and self-sacrificing in a way that people want to shower us with praise. Don’t get me wrong. Look at John Paul II and Francis. The affect they shared with others in such an open and unrestrained is a wonderful gift, and it’s no wonder that they are so beloved worldwide. Following their example is not a bad thing. The issue for us, then, is how we deal with whatever praise we receive. Do we morph into an inward-focusing, self-involved diva with an inflated sense of self? Or do we remain humble in our praise, thriving on people’s affirmations but remaining a servant of God and God’s people? My guess is that it’s a tough line to toe. How could it not? Everyone loves affirmation and to feel that we’re important. Think about having a job in which, for better or for worse, you do something that the majority of people can’t or is not allowed to do, you are in high demand, and people love you for it. Left unchecked, that’s a recipe for an enlarged ego if you ask me.

Luckily, that’s why we have the fraternity. Not only do I have excellent examples of rock star priests that are all things for all people, men that show me how to struggle to remain humble amidst praise, I have the brothers that will always be there to serve some humble pie when I need it. Sure, the 5th graders may think I’m the coolest guy in the whole world, but my brothers at home know that I’m an unpleasant person in the mornings and that I can be kind of a slob, and they’re going to be there to remind me when I forget. For this reason, I don’t know if I will ever reach true rock star status in the places I serve like some of my brothers, but as long as I have brothers around showing me the way (and willing to hold up the mirror when I need to see the true “me”), being a  “lesser brother”  will always be more important to me than being a rock star.

 7 Comments

 Posted on June 5, 2015 by

 Fraternity, Ministry

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Breaking In The Habit

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