Question 1. How did you come to know about the Men of St Joseph?
Jamie Floyd:
“During
the work day I listen to podcasts of many American Catholic radio shows
(we don’t have a lot here). Among these is my favourite show, Catholic Answers Live,
on which was mentioned a men’s group I had never heard of before, the
Men of St. Joseph. I did some looking into it on the internet when I got
home and liked the look of it. I wished we had something here but
longed to have the courage to start something. I let it sit with me for
about six months.
“Last
New Years’ Eve I made a resolution (not that I’m one for resolutions
normally) to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit more closely.
Well, I go to our Parish church for midnight adoration to usher in the
new year, like I often do, and I decided to stay afterwards for coffee
and biscuits. About 5 min into this New Year a man approached me asking
about men’s groups in the parish. We do have one that is more social,
but he wanted something more formative and faith directed. We discussed
options (read, ‘Men of St Joseph’) and, to cut a long story short, after
the approval of our Parish Priest, Fr Brendan, we talked at masses and
went on a recruitment campaign.”
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| Daniel Miller and son, Joseph. |
Daniel Miller:
"About
a year or so ago I started developing a keen interest in St Joseph in
terms of a role model not only for workers and fathers, but also men
generally. We named our second child, who was born on 31 May last year,
in honour of St Joseph. Just after Joseph's birth it got me thinking
that there is a real lack of Catholic men's groups - not social groups,
but groups that really focus on what one might call masculine
spirituality, and that really challenge men to live out their life with
St Joseph as their model. I remember casually praying at the time "Jesus
I wish such a group existed". One day while off work following Joseph's
birth I was on the internet searching around Google and YouTube, and I
came across the Men of St Joseph! I was immediately wrapped. I anxiously went to the listing of chapters to see where the nearest one
was, thinking that there would be several in Australia and just hoping
that there was one nearby. I was stunned when I realised that we had
none in Australia! I thought to myself, "we need this out here".
Question 2. What is it about the Men of Joseph that urged you to start a group in your parish?
Jamie:
“Primarily
it was the content of the meetings – the scripture and reflections (not
‘bible study’ type) – that drew me to the group, but the apologetic
aspect pretty much sealed it for me. Once again though, I thought that I
would be the only one attracted to this! I am pleased though that we
have the support of Fr. Brendan; he clearly sees some value in the
group.
“Though I cannot understate the importance that Dean Everard
has had in starting of this group. Put simply if he didn’t express his
interest, none of this would have happened. God Bless him!”
Dan:
"It
is a simple but highly effective apostolate that meets a real need in
the Catholic Church. I think it's fair to say that over the past 50
years or so there has been a bit of confusion in the church around how
men and women are called to live out their vocation. You could say that
there has been a push in some quarters for women to become more
masculine and for men to become more feminine. MOSJ has the correct
approach by appealing to men to embrace their masculinity - but not in a
macho or "tough guy" way, but in a true and holy way that appeals to
the truth of what a man is called to be - that is, to be living,
courageous, sacrificial, spiritual leaders of their families and the
broader community. I think its other strength is that it has enough
structure (meeting format, set prayers) to keep the group organised and
consistent, yet enough flexibility and "user friendliness" to appeal to a
broad audience of men regardless of where they are at in their
spiritual journey. I love the challenge that the meeting structure
presents, with men being challenged every week to take something out of
the discussion and implement it in their lives - MOSJ meetings don't
just say "let's try to do this", rather "this is what we need to do,
let's do it". Finally, men openly sharing their experiences encourages
accountability and also a degree of comfort for other men that we all
have struggles and challenges that we're trying to work through in our
perseverance to become the men Jesus calls us to be." |
| Men gather at the Men of St. Joseph introductory breakfast, Our Lady Help of Christians, New Warren, Victoria. New Warren is located in metropolitan Melbourne. |
Question 3. What has the response been like with the introduction of the Men of St Joseph to the parish?
Jamie:
“The
general response of the parishioners has been welcoming and positive.
It is early days still, so we have made little impact in such a diverse,
lively and multicultural parish (the biggest in Australia). But I am
sure that given time, the Holy Spirit will work his mystery in the group
and in the parish, finding a new expression of his love in families and
the parish.
“We
have planned some events for the parishioners (though not yet done
them), like a Mother's’ day mass and morning tea (on the Saturday), and
probably another men’s breakfast around fathers’ day. Though we don’t
want to be known just for these, I think it is important to show our
appreciation to mothers, fathers and their families – the nuclear
church. In addition we are looking into supporting a local mentoring
program and I hope to soon plan for later in the year a one day seminar
on men’s spirituality to help men (and the women in their lives) to
understand what it is to be a man; what is the purpose of manhood.”
Dan:
"Thanks
be to God, very positive. We have a core group of about 10 men now and
usually about 15 people every week - the additional ones being those
who would like to come each week but can't due to work or family
commitments. So far, we have had at least one new person join us every
week which has been a good sign of the Holy Spirit at work. My focus
at the moment is ensuring that we have a robust and challenging meeting
each week. One piece of solid advice Chris Teague gave me was that the
best way for the group to grow is to have existing members invite new
people along. So I've been (with St Joseph's help) trying to follow
that by ensuring that we have a quality meeting each week. The new
people who have been joining the group each week have been invited by
someone else, so thanks be to God that is a good sign. Lord willing,
once we have our group "consolidated" a bit more, I hope to do some
broader activities in the parish (with an evangelisation focus) but for
the moment the focus is on trying to ensure quality weekly meetings,
because I believe that is one of the strengths of MOSJ - it only asks
men to commit around 1 hour a week, and encourages them to take
responsibility for implementing what arises at the meeting into their
own lives, rather than me putting too many time pressures on the guys to
get involved in too many things too soon."
Question 4. Tell us a little about yourselves and the men in the group.
Jamie:
“I,
Jamie, was an early convert to the faith bringing my mother and sister
also into the faith at the same time. After attending primary and
secondary Catholic schools I met and later married my wife. She too
converted to the faith during that time. Together we have two gorgeous
sons, Declan, 9 and Liam 7, both attending the Parish primary school,
Don Bosco PS. Nearly 7 years ago, after slowly sliding away from the
church, I had a massive reversion to the faith. I attended seminary and
obtained a Bachelor of Theology, and am now in my final year of a
Graduate Diploma of Education (secondary) which will qualify me to teach
the fullness of the faith to teenagers. God willing it all comes to
pass (though his will be done). Frankly all this is his will – I never
would have expected any of this ten years ago; if someone had told me
this was going to happen I would have told them they were dreaming!”
“The
core group of men that are becoming ‘the regulars’ are all married men,
all have children at various ages across the group, and all are keen to
participate. The group has decreased a little from the initial group of
9 to 6 regulars, but there is good energy amongst them and each is
providing positive feedback. We ask that you keep us in your prayers,
for continuing strength within the group and for an increase of members.
I am confident that the Spirit will work wonders, as is his way.”
Dan:
"It's
arguably a miracle that we've been able to start an MOSJ group in
Sydney given that many people accuse me of doing Satan's work (I'm a
lawyer by trade). I was away from the Catholic Church for a long time
before coming back into full communion with the church around 12 years
ago. After being away for a while I did some intensive study into
finding the truth. I looked at Judaism, Islam, and all the various
"streams" of Christianity (Protestant, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism)
and some of the other sects (Seventh Day Adventist church, Mormonism
etc). I developed a keen interest in apologetics and found myself
reading all the great US converts (Hahn, Ray, Staples, Akin etc).
Ultimately I found my way home to the church founded by Christ, the
Catholic Church, and I can honestly say that being Catholic is the best
thing I have in my life (yes, as much a blessing as they are, even more
so than my wife and children). I'm married, and currently have 2
children (Emily, 4, and Joseph, 10 months). The men in our group are
fantastic - it is truly inspiring each week to be able to share with a
group of guys who are so passionate about Jesus and want to become more
like Him. We have men from a variety of age groups, some in their 20's,
some in their 30's / 40's and some in their 50's / 60's. Most are
currently working in a variety of different jobs and most of them are
married with families (or about to be married)."
Question
5. Now that the Men of St Joseph have chapters in Sydney and Melbourne,
if an MOSJ member from USA was planning a trip to Australia, which is
the better city to visit, Melbourne or Sydney?
Jamie:
“Clearly
I would say Melbourne and there are many stats to support this. (As a
side bar, there is a bitter rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney. I’m
not really sure what started it but it continues none the less – I think
they’re just jealous.) There are stats, like the many years Melbourne
is above Sydney in the world’s most livable city list, like the number
of international stage shows and acts that debut here before anywhere
else in the world, let alone Sydney. But here is a list I love, as would
all sporting fans: Melbourne is the host city of the world! Just look
at this: We host the first Tennis Grand Slam of the year, the first
Formula One race of the year, we hosted the first Olympics outside
Europe/America, we host the Australian moto Grand Prix (motor bikes), a
horse race that literary stops a nation and draws an international list,
the best domestic grand final seen anywhere in the world (the AFL,
which draws a crowd of about 100,000 people each year for the last 40
years), we have hosted the Rugby world cup, the Cricket world cup final,
the commonwealth games, and so on... Outside of sports we host the
comedy festival (one of the big three, with Montreal and Edinburg), an
international film festival, an international fashion festival, an
international motor show and so on... again. As the first host of the
Australian government, the birthplace of federation in Australia, I
propose that Melbourne is the best host city of the world! And we would
be all the better for hosting the first international conference of the
MOSJ! (Of course if you don’t like the weather when you get here, wait a
minute it’ll change to something you might like – the weather
accommodating like that!)
Sydney
do host some things that Melbourne don’t: they do have the Gay and
Lesbian Mardi Gras after all.” (it’s all in charity of course, Dan!)
Dan:
Other than that key factor? Sydney has arguably the most beautiful harbour in the world, some of the best beaches in the world, some of the world's greatest landmarks (Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge) and the most down to earth people in Australia (Melbournians like to think they're more intelligent and sophisticated, and perhaps they are, but we are more down to earth and friendly).
I will give the Melbournians one concession - Sydney is home to one of the best Archbishops in the world (George Cardinal Pell), who was born and raised in Melbourne before we pinched him from there. Guess it just goes to show that old cliche that God can bring goodness out of bad situations.....
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