By Tommy Fulton, Mobile, Ala., St. Dominic
On August 29th, I had the supreme pleasure of attending the Men of St. Joseph Retreat at the Visitation Monastery. If ever there are times in your life in which you are given an opportunity to choose your future, this was one for me. During all of our lives, we are given options…different paths which will lead to totally different experiences. My reasons for getting involved in the Men of St. Joseph may not be the same as most of those who are already there.
A long-time friend of mine has made it his life’s mission to get me to leave the Catholic Church. While I have never lost my love and devotion to my faith, I regretted that I’ve not done a great job of defending it. As I listened to all of the opportunities to meet with my Christian brothers in a small group setting, I really wanted to grow deeper in my own Catholic faith. I’ve enjoyed meeting with those men, and still enjoy their friendship and camaraderie, but it left me somewhat unfulfilled.
And then, several months ago, I saw a list of small-group meetings that included a 7:00 am meeting of Catholic men at St. Ignatius parish in Mobile, Ala. That list was the same one I had seen many times before, except that it had never included the St. Ignatius meeting. The odd thing is that I’ve not seen that meeting list ever again. That is, the meeting list is still out there, but it doesn’t include the Men of St. Joseph meeting.
As I attended the weekly meetings of the Men of St. Joseph (MoSJ), I soaked up the discussions. I was more excited than ever that we were concentrating on the Gospel and attendees were presenting the Bible in ways not often seen in Catholic circles. When the time came for the retreat, I eagerly signed up. I was not disappointed.
One retreat is not enough to change an entire life, but our lives take many turns. I know there will be times when it will seem so much easier to step back into the old ways…to find the easier path. There will always be new challenges which take us out of our comfort zone. It would have been so much easier to just continue to attend the MoSJ meetings at St. Ignatius. After all, other guys were doing all of the planning. All I had to do was show up. But, that wouldn’t have been the right thing…for me, or for my parish of St. Dominic.
We’ve had two meetings so far at the new St. Dominic chapter of The Men of St. Joseph. I’m thrilled at the early response and the support we’ve received. In a really ironic twist, I owe my rededication to my Catholic faith to the persistence of my friend. Thanks to his efforts to push me away from Catholicism, I’ve become even more dedicated to appreciating and cherishing my relationship with God through Our Lord Jesus Christ. I bet my friend may not see the beauty of that. Too bad…
(St. Dominic's Men of St. Joseph meet at the Murphy Center, St. Dominic parish in Mobile, Ala., on Wednesday mornings, 7:00 a.m.)
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