On Learning About Life & Ministry - May 15, 2022

Dear Friends,

Last weekend I had a very special opportunity to visit Indianapolis and baptize my nephew on Mother’s Day. My sister-in-law wanted to have the baptism at her family church in Indiana, so my immediate family traveled from Texas to be there. It was a priceless moment to celebrate the baptism with both of my nephew’s grandmothers present.

On Monday I took the Amtrak from downtown Indianapolis into Chicago and stayed with the Paulists who serve at Old St. Mary’s Parish. Old St. Mary’s is paradoxically both the Paulists’ oldest and newest parish. St. Mary of the Assumption became Chicago’s first parish in 1833 when the nascent city was under the jurisdiction of the bishop of St. Louis. The location of the church building has changed five times over the course of its long history, including a move to a former Protestant Chapel after being destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871. The Paulist Fathers assumed pastoral care of the parish community, then known as Old St. Mary’s, in 1903. In 2003, the parish moved into a brand-new campus nearly a mile south of their downtown location to grow alongside the new apartments and condos going up in South Loop. Despite all the headwinds facing Catholic schools, the community was ambitious enough to start a new school since they finally had a campus with space for classrooms and a gym. Old St. Mary’s School opened its doors in 2005 and quickly reached capacity. In fact, in retrospect, many regret not building an additional floor on the school building.

Over the past two weeks I’ve been attending meetings to plan the interior finishes of St. Austin’s new ministry building, so I was particularly interested in the carpet, backsplashes, and furniture that I saw at Old St. Mary’s. It was exciting to see their contemporary facilities, and even more exciting to see the community thriving. I enjoyed meals in Chicago with my Paulist brothers Chris Lawton and Fr. Stuart Wilson-Smith, who both served in Austin as novices, and St. Austin’s own former pastor, Fr. Patrick Johnson.

Someone recently asked me how I keep track of my time away. I said that we’re generally free to travel if we have a good reason for doing so, and it is often hard to divide time away into strictly “work” or “vacation.” I love my travels as a priest because it all blends together. I was privileged to celebrate the sacraments with my family and refreshed with the time I spent with my Paulist brothers. Both experiences were quite formative in their own way, and I am always learning about life and ministry in ways that will hopefully shape my preaching for the better.

The success of Old St. Mary’s should be an inspiration for us as we prepare for the next chapter of St. Austin’s history amid the ongoing transformation of Austin’s urban core. I look forward to continuing to write this history together.

God Bless,