Team Spiritual Care: Vital Life No. 2

Vital Life: A Friar's Experience Fellow Residents and Staff,

As a child and adolescent, I enjoyed school and did well in it. History was my favorite subject, teachers were my role models, and I wanted to teach history. In 1970 I began teaching social studies at Franciscan high schools in Cincinnati and later in Fort Wayne. I enjoyed the kids but was not very good at teaching. While I in Fort Wayne, I was ordained to the ministerial priesthood by Bishop Joseph Crowley, the auxiliary bishop of the diocese.

In the summer of 1977 Lily, a mother of two of our students, called and asked for a priest to celebrate Mass at a camp south of town. I volunteered. The camp, it turned out, was for migrant farm workers, most of whom were Mexicans or Mexican-Americans who spoke little or no English. Lily herself was not only the mother of two of our students but also the director of the diocesan office for Spanish-speaking Catholics. Summer was tomato season, and the people had come to pick the crop. The camp consisted of central showers, toilets, and tap water, and fifteen or so one-room cabins, with a whole family, parents and children, assigned to a cabin. A slightly larger building served as a common meeting place, and that was where the Mass would be celebrated. Lily assured me that I could celebrate the Mass in English. The people might not know the English words, but as Catholics they would understand the central mystery of the Mass. When I arrived at the camp, to my own surprise I determined to celebrate the Mass in Spanish. The only Spanish that I knew was "Si." I did not know the words of the Mass, and I pronounced them as though they were English. Little kids giggled, but the people appreciated my effort. That summer evening transformed me. For the first time in my life I was engaged in something bigger than myself. I did not have to be a failed high school teacher. I could touch people's lives. I learned Spanish and ministered to both migrant and settled Hispanic Catholics for nine more months. The Holy Spirit had touched my heart. How has the Holy Spirit changed you? In the words of Saint Francis, Peace and every Blessing! Loren Connell, OFM, sacramental minister

September 1, 2011