During these first few weeks of my Sabbatical, I have been assisting at St. Ignatius Parish here in Mobile. There I have encountered 2 remarkable organizations that I would like to share with my readers. They are called the "Men of St. Joseph" and the "Daughters of Mary." Both were founded right here at St. Ignatius and grown beyond the parish. The principle forming these two organizations is quite simple: By staying close to the Lord and growing in His grace, we can be better men, husbands and fathers; or women, wives and mothers, respectively. Each is built around a weekly one-hour gathering for prayer, scripture, and reflection. The Men of St. Joseph "chapter"at St. Ignatius has a morning meeting on Tuesdays at 7 am and an evening gathering at 5:30 pm. The Daughters also meet twice on Tuesdays: at 9 am and at 6:30 pm. The structure is similar: a modified liturgy of the hours (the men use the prayers provided in the Magnificat) followed by an instruction based on the Gospel reading for the following Sunday. IN general, these reflections are prepared and presented by members of the organization - the same person usually presents at the morning and evening gatherings. Even in the summer, when many of St. Ignatius' parishioners are away, there were regularly more than 50 or 60 people at each of the gatherings. And, as a preacher, I was regularly blown away by the quality of the reflections offered by the lay men and women to their peers. The reflection or instruction lasts 10 or 15 minutes and is followed by a period of comments and sharing from the group. IN addition to these weekly gatherings, both the Men and the Daughters sponsor retreats and other faith formation opportunities for their members.
The Men of St. Joseph are about 5 years old and has spread throughout the Archdiocese of Mobile and beyond to nearly 60 parishes. They have a website: www.menofstjoseph.com. They are currently interviewing to hire an executive director and are making plans to continue growing and expanding. The Daughters of Mary are about to celebrate their 3rd anniversary. They, too, have expanded to other parishes and dioceses. They are preparing a new website and also looking forward to future growth. Based on discussions with members of both organizations, I would say that part of their success is the informality of their structure. While both have "membership lists" for communication, there are no dues, no formal declaration of membership, and few demands on participants. Leadership is volunteer and the leaders invite other participants to prepare the teaching. Anyone is invited to participate when they can. This having been said, I was impressed by the level of sharing and the commitment that exists in both groups at their founding parish. I was able to attend several gatherings of both groups. The Men invited me to celebrate Mass for their annual summer retreat and the women invited me to offer the instruction at a Tuesday gathering. I was hesitant to accept the invitation of the Daughters because I so enjoyed the instruction I was getting from the lay women who took up the mantle of teacher each week I attended. St. Ignatius is a parish filled with educated professional with what I would call a greater-than-average level of faith formation. That means that the quality of the instruction and presentation is remarkable and I found myself in absolute awe each Tuesday I was able to attend. I am grateful for my contact with both of these fine organizations. If you would like more information about the Men of St. Joseph, you can go directly to their website. If you'd like to know more about the Daughters of Mary, I would be happy to put you in touch with their leadership, just contact me at frbart@gmail.com
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My multiple personality disorder is in full swing these days in Mobile: of course I am around family and friends who have known me forever and still call me "Chip" (and I would have it no other way). In the meantime, I am doing a lot of ministry, where I am "Father Bart." I am also doing a lot of final preparatory work for my overseas studies, all of which must be done in my legal name "James David." Circumstances of my life usually keep these identities pretty discrete from one another. It's enough to bring on a schizoid episode ;)
I met a new girl and fell head-over-heels-in-love-at-first-sight. I'll be living in Mobile now :D
The Doobie Brothers have long been one of my favorite bands and I was grateful for the opportunity to see them again at the Wharf at Gulf Shores on the evening of July 19. It had been a very stormy morning and I worried that the concert might be a little soggy. But the evening turned out to be a beutiful, warm and humid, but ok for an outdoor concert in the evening.
"Jesus is just alright with me"is one of my favorite Doobie songs and I carried Dashboard Jesus into the concert to take his picture during that song (Call me sentimental). Imagine my delight when they opened their set with that perenniel favoerite. The response of the people around me to my whipping out my plastic Jesus to take his picture with Doobies was great. Once again, DBJ evangelizes. (You can see the picture on his blog). The Doobie Brothers sounded great for a bunch of geriatric guys. They played all my favorites: Takin it to the streets, Black Water, China Grove, Listen to the Music. I was not nearly as excited about seeing Peter Frampton as I was baout seeing the Doobie Brothers, but he was enjoyable too! All-in-all a gereat way to spend a summer evening at the Beach. I spent the weekend of August 18-20 at Gulf Shores, Alabama with John Norton and Monica Bertolino. John rented a condo for the weekend because of the Doobie Brothers and Peter Frampton Concert.
Monica and I took the Ferry from Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island to Ft. Morgan on the west end of Gulf Shores. (These 2 forts made up the defense of Mobile Bay from the revolutionary war era until WW2) That ferry did not exist when I lived in Mobile and it offers an alternative way to get over to Baldwin COunty Beaches. It was kinda stormy, but a fun 45 minute ride noetheless. It was an off-and-on stormy weekend, but we got some good quaity time on the beach and at three pretty good restaurants: Friday evening at Happy Harbor (across from the Flora-Bama), Saturday evening at Ginny Lane at the Wharf, and Sunday at Cobalt on Alabama Point. Local Seafood (and desserts)are dong violence to my weight loss. But I am back exercising again. I have been in Mobile for just over a week. I am still adjusting to the reality of being on sabbatical. Like each summer's vacation, the first week or so, I am still remembering 20 things per day that I did not get done before I left; 10 things per day that I could have done differently, and worrying about how this or that will get done. It is one of the reasons I have always tried to take my full month of vacation at once each summer. The first week of that month, I will still be at work. I have feeling it will take a little longer this summer. But that is okay. It is, in a since, laying in the bed I made for the last 10 years when I had my hands firmly embedded in so much of the day to day running of the Newman Center. In that context, I can expect phone calls until I leave the country in September, and I welcome them. At the same time, I settling into my very part-time gig here at St. Ignatius. The people of the parish have received me warmly and really embraced my preaching style. They are kind to say things like "forget going back West at the end of the year, we could use you here." I assure them that at the end of 2 months they will be willing to let me go ;) It is strange living in a Diocesan rectory. As one might expect, there is nothing approaching "community life" among the guys who live in my house. I have a feeling that this is exacerbated by the reality that it is summertime. They do not share prayer or meals and are busy with their lives. We come and go without accountability to each other. I presume they check in with each other in the context of their work on the parish staff. But as I am not part of that, I feel completely disconnected. They are really nice guys and I am enjoying my contact with them, but it certainly reinforces my love for community life (warts and all). I am grateful for the place to lay my head and for the little bit of ministry that I am doing. I am missing Tucson some - especially the Newman Center and the Dominican Community. Some part of each day I have been writing thank you notes for gifts I received in the last couple of months. That means that each day, Iam reading cards and notes adn remembering the special time that has been my separating and leaving a home of 10 years. I have had fun connecting with some people here - During this week, I have spent time with my John Norton, my best friend here in Mobile and his girlfriend, Monica. We had a nice evening out at Felix's Fish camp my first night in town and a great Italian meal on Friday. Ihave also seen my friend Jennifer Duke Lenoir - recently returned to Mobile - a few times. On Sunday, I went to Pensacola to see 2 friends from Tucson: Juliette Moore and Michael Underwood. Juliette retired from the UofA a few years ago. She had been a music minister at Newman for 13 years. Ibaptized Michael 2 years ago. He is in the Air Force adn is assigned to NAS Pensacola for training. It was a fun tme reconnecting with friends and reconnecting with Pensacola. Monday of this week, Iwas blessed to attend the funeral of Judy Johnson, the mother of Bob Johnson who was in my high school class. I did not know Judy and really went to support Bob - his mother had died quite suddenly. The funeral was a beautiful tribute to a beloved woman. I have likewise enjoyed reconnecting with Mobile. I only lived here as a teenager and, while vaguely aware of the historic nature of this city, I never really appreciated either its beauty, its grace, or its grandeur. I have, in the last week been reading a lot about Mobile's history. When I have needed to get out of the house, I have been visiting and taking photos of Mobile's beauty. I have become kind of obsessed with live oak trees. Mobile's nickname is "the Azalea City," and one is certainly aware in the spring how appropriate that is. But the Spanish Moss bedecked Live Oak Trees which form a canopy over the main historic thoroughfares of Mobile could easily provide a different nickname: the Live Oak City. After marveling at the size of several trees, I remembered that I had seen the supposed oldest Oak in Mobile when I was in high school. A simple Google search helped my find it again and I was able to once again be impressed by a 300+ year old tree. I have provided some other pictures of Mobile's live oaks as well. Part of my reason for coming to Mobile as part of my sabbatical was to connect with my family here. It is the part of the sabbatical that is the least defined for me. I have seen my mom, sister, and neices in the last week, but not nearly enough. This is going to take more effort on my part.
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