Catholic Life Ministries

By Robert Fontana

Catholics and Christians the world over celebrated Pentecost on May 24. What wonderful readings for the day! The disciples of Jesus, including his mother Mary, were transformed from a scared group of believers into a powerful community of faith, hope, and love. Something like this happened to my parents and their friends when I was a teenager. The stirring up of the Holy Spirit transformed their lives, and their transformation transformed me. I wanted what they had and prayed for the Holy Spirit to come into my life, and I was in the 8^th grade!

And the Spirit came, slowly. Something was burning in my heart. I heard no words, no voices, no visions; there was just a deep hunger and desire to know God’s love in Jesus. My close friends did not share my enthusiasm for my newfound faith. I eventually found support from some upper classmates who had gone through the SEARCH program at the diocese and had a hunger to know God as I did. I still struggled with teenage issues, but I did so with a growing faith.

This was at the time when there were a good number of Catholic priests in the diocese who were sexual predators. I later learned that a family member and some close childhood friends were molested. I was fortunate to have good priests offer me guidance and support. Fr. Charlie Mallet was a family friend that all of us could laugh with and learn from. Fr. Ronald Groth taught me how to pray. Msgr. Richard Mouton taught me to value good liturgy and take Catholic teaching seriously. And later, Trinitarian priests Fr. John Edmunds and Fr. Dennis Berry guided me on a path to a theological education and a career in ministry.

There were many lay people who showed me that growing in the Christian life was fun and meaningful.  My parents and friends worked on building strong marriages and restoring Christian discipleship to the home. They prayed with and studied Scripture and Catholic teaching; they reached out to serve the materially poor; and they participated more fully in parish life.

I carried this experience from my home parish to college where I met Lori. She was active in a campus ministry and community that was actively seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance to respond to the social issues of the day: the aftermath of Vietnam, poverty and hunger at home and abroad, care for the unborn and the elderly, and the threat of nuclear war. It was Trish Richardson who introduced Lori and me to Franciscan spirituality and a path to serving the poor by living a lifestyle that was modest, just, and simple.

We had a chance to put that lifestyle into practice when I was invited to work as a parish youth minister in my hometown at a very humble salary. Lori and I, with two little children, rented a home just a few miles from my parents where we joined with a few other families trying to create community in a poor, racially mixed neighborhood.

The Holy Spirit had another lesson for me to learn: to lean on the Spirit when confronted with evil:

“When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11-12

A teenager in my Confirmation class invited me to her home to speak with her dad. I gladly did so but was greeted with AN ANGRY MAN STARING ME DOWN.

After introducing myself he yelled at me. “GET IN HERE.” My knees shook.

He continued, “WHO ARE YOU TO TEACH MY DAUGHTER TO LOVE THE BLACKS. I’M A GOOD CATHOLIC. I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CATHOLIC, AND IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BLACKS.”

I was shaking all over until I heard a voice speak loud and clear in my mind. I’m sure it was the Holy Spirit: “YOU CANNOT BACK DOWN TO THIS GUY!”

My legs grew strong and my spirit was buoyed with confidence. When he finally took a breath, I said calmly but firmly, “BLACK PEOPLE ARE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS.”

He went berserk, grabbed me and threw me against the wall, scratching my face, yelling, “I WILL KILL YOU, YOU G** D*** N***** LOVER!

He continued to yell as he chased me out of his house. The Holy Spirit did not have to tell me to run like mad. My feet barely touched the floor as I fled from his house to the safety of mine. What sparked his anger? I had placed his daughter in a Confirmation small group which met in the home of the catechist, a former classmate of mine and a lovely African American woman.

I write about my early years of living a “Spirit-filled life” because the Spirit took me in a direction that I would not have taken on my own. Some of my best friends in high school struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. Others got lost in the world of money and materialism. Still others advocated for White Supremacy causes. If we allow her, the Holy Spirit leads us on a path where we can use our God-given gifts and talents in the world and in the Church to be a power for good. It is not always an easy path, but it is a joyful and meaningful one.

Lori and I pray to the Holy Spirit daily to draw us close to God and to do God’s will. This is our prayer:

Holy Spirit, be in my head and in my heart. Be in my eyes and in my looking; be in my mouth and in my speaking; be in my ears and in my hearing; be in my hands and in my working, this day and always.