day fourteen: a saint of a man

I first met Father Patrick when I was enlisting a group from his parish, St. Anthony of Padua, to participate in the Walk for the Homeless. Little did I know that he would end up DJ-ing at the end of the walk, leading the Electric Slide in wayfarers, an afro wig, and his cassock.

Father Patrick, posing with a very sleepy baby boy. And yes, he dresses like this every day.

Father Patrick is a Franciscan monk and the priest of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and School, located in a poverty-stricken area of the West End of Greenville. The food pantry the church runs is just one of many ministries to the homeless and poor in the area.

Our donation for today

St. Anthony's food pantry, which gets restocked once (sometimes twice) a day

Dropping off the food is the easy part. Walking away is what's hard.

There are people in our lives who, although they never intentionally make us feel inadequate, simply by virtue of who they are and what they do make us feel like we don't measure up. Father Patrick is one of those people. Anytime I go by St. Anthony (which, sadly, is not very often) or see him at a United Way meeting (yeah, he does that, too...check out this article about one project from a couple years ago), I feel like I should be doing so much more than I am.

Even while we were there, Father Patrick talked passionately about other needs the church is trying to meet. They are providing dentures for the poor, at a cost of $300/set, because free clinics, Medicare, etc. will take care of pulling teeth but will not cover giving teeth. St. Anthony's is trying to cover a couple of sets a week, and they have a waiting list of hundreds. Can you imagine trying to eat without teeth?

Father Patrick also told us of people who sit in their parking lot and are so hungry that they eat dry Ramen noodles. Sure, they could get something to eat somewhere, but so many organizations make them jump through hoops or say prayers or confess sins. St. Anthony's Church just shares what they have and helps however they can...no stipulations. It is probably the purest ministry I know of in town.

Father Patrick is a saint of a man - a person who truly lives out the call of Jesus, taking Jesus' words seriously when he says, "Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor...then come, follow me" (Lk 18:22). He owns nothing. Everything he has was given to him as a gift. 

And what if we all lived like that? Not like a monk, per se, but as if we own nothing for ourselves, as if everything we have is a gift, to share what we have and help however we can...no stipulations? 

What if?