The Order of Brothers of Reconciliation

As my ever changing life continues to move forward, I have opened a new lay community that is pending approval and supervision of the Bishop of the Dioceses of Lexington Kentucky. This Order, The Order of Brothers of Reconciliation is open to all Catholic men eighteen years of age or older (no upper limit, except based on health and mental status, and the Canon of the Church) who are in communion with the Holy Roman Catholic Church and able to meet the requirements of Religious Life per the Canon of the Church.

To learn more about the new community and to express your interest, go to The Order of Brothers of Reconciliation’s web page and follow the links there.

We are also looking for US tax deductible donations, which you can find more information on here. Prayers for our growth and approval and supervision by the Bishop are greatly needed and accepted as well!

In Christ!

Life’s changes over the years.

When air travel happened in the earlier years, everyone dressed up for the event. Granted, most flights were business based, and when the person go to the other side, they went to meetings, etc. Today, I see people get on planes in pajamas and furry slippers. Again, flying has gotten to be a standard mode of transportation. BUT, one should take pride in themselves and dress appropriately. I agree that a coat and tie may not be needed anymore, but SOME decorum should be used!

Then we get to Church services. Again, not too many years ago everyone went to Church in their “Sunday Best”, dressing up for God and for themselves. Today I see people come to Church in shorts, “muscle shirts”, and flip flops. What happened to decorum there too? Yes, just being in Church is important, but come on folks!! Show respect to yourself, others, and the Pastor/minister on the podium.

Speaking of Pastors, use to be, in the Catholic faith, and a few others, you could tell who was a Minister/Priest/etc, by their clothing. In most cases not so anymore. Many Catholic Priest now wear “civilian” cloths. I asked one Priest why that was so, and his response was “so I can take a break”. Um, religious life is not something one should be taking a break from is it? Another Priest answered the same question by saying, “More people come to me and talk when I’m not in my collar, about religion or anything.” This is a better answer, but it still doesn’t work for me. A person in religious life should be in the clothing of that life. This goes for Monks (most monks are still in habit, but I hear many are “coming out of habit” there too), Friars (a person in religious life, who lives and works “in the world”, but in community as well), and Nuns. MANY, MANY of these religious life folks have come out of habit. I was told by one Nun that there was no need for the clothing. Now mind you, those Religious Orders that have stayed in habit are growing, and those Orders which have come out of habit are tending to grow smaller and smaller each year. When you go into Religious Life, you give a vow of poverty. How are you going to own all these cloths, jewelery, etc that I see these “new” Nuns, Brothers, and Priest wearing? What happened to that vow? Go back to habit ladies and gentlemen, let us know who you are. (You can go to Mass now a days and not even know you are sitting by a Religious Brother or Sister. Not appropriate to my eyes.)

I think these clothing and presentation changes have happened because the world has quickly become a “me” world. Everyone is centered on themselves, and forgetting the world. This has SOME good qualities to it, but while centering yourself on yourself, you should also consider those around you, live, dress and act appropriately. Wearing pajamas on an airplane just doesn’t seem to cut it in that regard, nor does wearing shorts and flip flops to Church.

And when you go into religious life, you are supposed to be centering yourself on God, Love and others, not on yourself. Comfort is one of the things you may be asked to give up in your vows, and worldly possessions such as cloths IS one of the things you are supposed to be giving up!

I pray daily that the World looks at where we are going and begins making some changes for the better.

The life changes continue…

Archbishop Favalor, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami, has disbanded and closed the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Reconciliation, releasing the Brothers and Sister from any vows they may have made, and has asked that they either apply to other, existing Orders, or return to Lay life. (I won’t go into the reasons he gave, but I feel they are probably valid…)

So, in that vein I am in the process of interviewing, and being interviewed by, a Franciscan Order now. Pray for me. (I’m outside of their age group for becoming a new Brother with them, so this may take a while..)

If you have my email address of donb@orderbsr.org, that address will cease to exist in early November of this year. Please change your address book to show me at either or , both of which are active and running already. (And I check both often!)

May the Grace of our good Lord be with you always!

The Brothers and Sisters of Reconcilidation and Me…

Things continue to advance with the Brothers and Sisters of Reconciliation. We need a major growth spurt, but things are moving on. I was able to put on my habit two weeks ago:

after completing a long Retreat on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and the seamstress FINALLY finishing it.

Last weekend I went to another Retreat, this time a silent one! Was a good time of contemplation and prayer. You can see where I was by going here.

Next I will be finding a job, hopefully in the Church or at a Catholic school. It is looking like I will be going to Seminary late next year. This will be a six year program, after which I will have a Bachelors in Philosophy and a Masters in Theology. I need two years of Philosophy, and Sacred Heart in Wisconsin has a six year program that gets both covered, and gives you the two degrees in the process. Looking forward to it!

Why the Catholic Church for me?

Over the last year and a half, as I have told people about my decision to convert to the Catholic Church as my faith center, I have had many people ask me “WHY?” (and in some cases “shouting it”!). So, after some thought about sharing why, I decided to write this, and schedule it to release while I am away on a 30 day prayer and contemplation retreat (returning on the 8th of June 2008).

When I turned 15, for 3 years every night, I had a dream about being a monk. I can remember trying to change my habit from that of the dream to an all black or all brown habit and white rope of the Roman Catholic Monks I had seen on TV or of the orange habit of the Buddhist Monks. I kept going back to the brown on white habit with a blue rope in the dreams, no matter how hard I tried to change it.

As many of you know (and if you read the whole blog, it’s here already), for the past 20 plus years I have been a Shaman (or priest) of the Mescalero Tribe of the Apache Nation. At the time of my life when I was introduced to this Nation, through what is now my Blood Brother George, I felt that the beliefs of the Tribe and Nation very closely followed what I felt in life. I learned the stories of the Nation, their love for the planet earth and all that the Great Spirit/Giver-of-Life (God) gave them, etc. During this time in my life, I felt there was still more out there to learn.

Every time I drove by the Knights of Columbus Halls out there, I had a strong desired to go inside and see what it took to become a Knight within their Halls. Over the last few years before converting to the Catholic Faith, I had a strong feeling that I would become a Knight through the Knights of Columbus… It was a STRONG feeling.

For most of the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 I did a lot of research into religion and faith systems. I looked into the Jewish faith, which was the faith of Moses, Abraham, David, and most of those God chose to his side in the Old Testament which is used by the Christian faiths and the Jewish. I looked into the Muslim faiths, which are an offshoot of the Jewish faith from a line of descendants from Abraham. I looked deeper into the Buddhist and other Eastern faiths. I looked into the Orthodox Catholic cult. (Cult to me is not a bad word in this case, all religions are cults in the original sense of the word. It is only “today” that cult has a bad meaning behind it, and wrongly so in my eyes. SOME cults are bad, some aren’t, and all religions are, by definition a cult.) I looked into the various Protestant church, especially the Methodist, which is what I was raised as until I turned 20ish.

In all of this research, I read at the Bible. (I didn’t REALLY start reading it until January of last year when I finally settled down and began studying the Catholic Church under Father Francis at Saint Henry Roman Catholic Church in Pompano Beach Florida.) In my readings, I found that I was leaning more and more towards the Catholic Church, as I was getting the feelings inside me that it was the Church that was initially founded on the actions and words of Jesus Christ, who I was earnestly coming to believe was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament in no uncertain terms.

As I looked at the various Protestant Christian systems out there here in the US, I found that each had be created by someone that had been wronged or didn’t like something that was happening in the Roman Catholic Church, which they were a member of. For example, the Methodist Church, which I was most familiar with was created by John Wesley, who was originally a Priest with the Anglican (or Church of England) Church, but had a desire to make changes, which the Church did not accept. So, he split off and formed the Methodist Church. (A lot more than that happened, and lead to the split, but that’s a rough, and I do mean rough, summation of it!)

The same appears to be true for most of the other Christian faith systems.

While I do not believe that the Roman Catholic Church is infallible, I do believe that PEOPLE within the Church, including Priest, have made some bad choices, probably listening to themselves, and not open up to the Word of God, and done some wrong things. I do feel that Jesus appointed Peter to lead Jesus’ flock in the pursuit of love and the will of God. I do feel that he assigned the other Apostles of Christ to create the basis of the “leadership” of the Church, or the Bishops. I do believe that the Pope sits in the position of the first Pope, Saint Peter.

I do not believe that the Pope is infallible, but then again, nor does the Roman Catholic Church, contrary to the popular belief of others! I do believe that a good Pope will listen to his Flock as well as to God through Prayer, reading the Word, and consultation with his fellow Bishops.

In my research, I feel, strongly, in my heart that the over all dogma of the Roman Catholic Church is correct and follows the intent and Word of the Bible. I like that it is one of the few Churches that has services seven days a week. That the Priest are dedicated to the Church and do not work in any other capacity. (Yes, some teach, some work in offices, etc., but in all cases, they are religious related postings.) That you can go to any Mass/Service on the same day anywhere in the World and know what is happening and know in advance what is being read and said (minus the Homily or “speech” by the Priest, which is always individual for the most part). That over a three year period, if you go to Mass seven days a week, you will have had the entire Bible read to you and explained to you. (Many of the Protestant Church get fixed on one or two or three Books in the Bible and go back to the often through out the year, and they leave out books that they don’t understand or like or ….)

Upon looking at the various faith systems out there, I felt a sense of relief as I grew closer and closer to converting to the Roman Catholic Church and the few times I moved in directions towards other faiths, I felt a sadness of heart. At each point this past year, as I was accepted as a Postulate with the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Reconciliation last year, as I was accepted into and confirmed in the Catholic Church earlier this year , and as the Order accepted the past year as my Novitiate year and accepted my initial Vows as a Full Religious Brother/Friar in the Order, I felt that relief intensify.

As I go to the Eucharistic Mass daily, participate in the rituals and readings, help others settle their issues with the Lord, pray daily and often in a day, I feel more and more that I have done the right thing in life.

A misconception…

I have heard many people say now that I am a Friar I am no longer able to raise any money from working, etc, because I took a vow of poverty. This is not 100% true. I am still able to earn an income to feed myself and my Brothers, so I am able to accept donations and an income for work done. As much as you want. If it’s more than I need to “survive” I give the “overage” to the Order to keep it surviving, or if a Brother has a need, I give it to them, or if another person outside the Order is in need, I would give them some as well.

So, yes, Friar’s working in the World are able to accept money from you, and in most cases could probably use it!

The Changes Continue…

Back in May I announced that I had started the process of converting to Catholicism. What I didn’t say on that day, was that I had applied to the Brothers and Sisters of Reconciliation, a Secular/Religious Order of Friars and Sisters, to become a Postulate to the Order. On the 27th of May 2007 I was accepted as a Postulate and gave private vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, pending Novitiate status once Confirmed in the Church. So, for the past several months I have been doing my initial studies to become a Friar, and once accepted as a Novitiate, will take my second Private Vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. Once I am fully in the Order as a Professed and Vowed Brother/Friar, in one year roughly, I pray that I will be allowed to begin my studies to become a Priest.

During this study time I have come to learn the “Liturgy of the Hours”, which are a series of prayers and readings seven times a day that are read and prayed by all Religious and Priest within the Church. Many Lay people are once again participating as well. I have read the the Bible via three different translations from the Original Greek and other original languages, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the book of Canon Law for the Church, and MANY other books. (Look at side bar of current readings, pending readings and an updating list of book reviews of all of the books I have read.)

This has been a strong formative time for me, and I have learned a lot! I continue to grow in God and in happiness with each passing day.