Everyone has a faith story. One of the best parts of my job as pastoral associate is being a part of your stories. As part of the Vision 20/20 team from St. Anthony’s, I was asked to give my own faith talk at Mass. Here’s my faith story (at least part of it).
It may come as a surprise to you, but I've always been into my Catholic faith. I can remember talking about Jesus at age seven on the school bus. Challenging teenagers that were three times my size on the language they were using. I said, “Jesus wouldn't like you saying those words.” I'm so lucky, I never got beat up.
I always felt Jesus' presence in my life. I came very close to becoming a brother in the Society of Mary, a religious order which runs the University of Dayton, where I received both my bachelors and master’s degrees. When I told my parents that I wanted to become a brother and eventually a priest, they were upset and worried, especially my father who wasn't Catholic. My Dad thought that we Catholics “worshiped” Mary and here his son was looking at joining the Marianists. Being a good eldest son, I backed away from that call.
Throughout my personal and professional life, I've tried to be perfect. Perfect son and brother. Perfect husband, perfect father, perfect college administrator and teacher, perfect member of all kinds of different community organizations, and most importantly perfect in my Catholic faith.
Slowly, but surely I learned the hard way that perfection is unattainable. In many ways, the more I tried to be perfect, the more I actually moved away from Jesus. I remember sitting in a chapel at a Jesuit retreat center and reading the words of Jesus – “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest.” Reading those words gave me comfort, but believing those words from Jesus has not been easy.
After years of success as a college enrollment officer and consultant, I moved out here to take the Vice President position for enrollment at St. Ambrose. Being the head of enrollment at any college is an extremely challenging job. In higher education they call that position "THE HOT SEAT."
