Mr. James Hoerter (Sacred Heart Lay Missioners)

- In what ways had you known the love of Christ shown in His Heart before your acquaintance with the SHLM (S. Heart Lay Missioners) Program?

This is a rather broad question for me; there are many ways prior to my entry into the SHLM program that I had known the love of Christ shown in His Heart. I would have to say that I had known it through the love of my parents and the sense of love I experienced in family at home, particularly in the sacrifices and working loving shown me by my parents. Being Catholic, I can see where my experiences of the Catholic Church upon my years of growing up at home could be counted among these. My education at Catholic schools, kindergarten through my Masters degree, all showed to me the dedication and devotion of people willing to teach for materially less rewards but more for the spiritual rewards involved. My earlier involvement with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps showed me the same in the laity. I see the Heart of Jesus most clearly demonstrated in the selflessness of those who give of themselves, often through the Catholic Church.

- What attracted you to the SHLM Program?

To be honest, I knew very little of the SCJs prior to my entry in the SHLM program. What drew me into the SHLM program was a small ad repeatedly published in the National Catholic Reporter... which one day demanded my taking it seriously! I was a schoolteacher in New York and was interested in ministry with youth on an Indian reservation; the small ad offered the possibility of such ministry. I wrote/phoned the place listed and received an immediate reply; I was make aware of a job opening. I interviewed, was offered the job and then went through the training necessary (as a SHLM) at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin.

- When you heard the story of Fr. John Dehon, what cord did he strike in you? What light did his vision shed on your life?

I find Fr. Dehon’s centering on love for the Heart of Jesus to be very refreshing. Not only does he have a desire to build the kingdom, but he is also centered on the Who behind it all. There is an ideal in Fr. Dehon’s theology and there are feelings that fuel those ideals. I am interested in aspects dealing with social justice within the Church, Dorothy Day and Oscar Romero being among a few of my hero/ines. Similarly, I can see Fr. Dehon. Fr. Dehon was a man who took time to do something about what he saw and he shaped his Catholicism into concrete actions for the disadvantaged. One of my favourite quotes of his is “the Heart of Jesus is overflowing with compassion for all those who suffer... His is the Heart of... a Shepherd” (and all words in-between). I have had the opportunity to spend a little time reflecting on the SHLM retreat on some of his little maxims... and they apply to my life as a layman as well. He was a humble man who was aware of the ill conditions of his time and who was able to affect them with the vision of the Gospel.

- Briefly, could you describe the way the SHLM program is organized?

Fr. Tony Russo is the Director of our program (when I first entered the program, Ron Zeilinger was our Director who also played the role of orientation guide). I have been invited to live in community with the SCJ community here in Eagle Butte, though I am not an SCJ; at this point I believe I am considered to be a member of the “Dehonian Affiliates” - a lay organization that is guided by the charism of Leo John Dehon; our program is undergoing some changes at this point. I have the SCJs here in Eagle Butte who I believe to be my local program support people. My job entails my being youth minister and member of the Pastoral Team here on Cheyenne River reservation.

- What connections have you had with other members of the “Dehonian Family”, especially the SCJs? (What) has this affected you?

I live in community with SCJs, Fr. Don Barnd, Br. Frank Presto and Fr. Tom Westhoven. I have had the opportunity to meet and visit with other SCJs through visits to Sacred Heart School of Theology where the SHLM have yearly retreats. I have felt supported and connected to the SCJs through provincial Fr. John Czyzynski. Besides the men whom I live with, there are other SCJs in Chamberlain, Pierre and Lower Brule reservation whom I come into contact with at various times. I am included in on and make to feel welcome to participate in various SCJ social activities. I feel very supported by the SCJs whom I have met here in South Dakota and I feel the support of the SCJ community members on an individual basis. Fr. Tony Russo is our present SHLM director whom I see at various times throughout the year, in retreat and evaluative settings. I see and grow in awareness with fellow SHLM at retreats. All of these connections give me the sense that I belong to something rich that has history and depth to it. It enhances my vision of what it means to be “Catholic” because it give me a chance as a lay person to experience religious community, though I am not committed to one in a vowed and intensely studied sense as are the SCJ religious. For these things, I am thankful to God... to the SCJs and to Fr. Leo John Dehon.

Ester Marchese (Dehonian Auxiliary, Monza)

This is a joyful reason to make known the preciousness of our lay journey as it is lived and sustained by the Dehonian charism. I have chosen a letter which one of our Auxiliaries wrote to me two months before her death. It is about a life which was lived in a splendid way, and I feel it is more effective than the many usual words which are said under these circumstances.

Dearest Angela,

It is with great joy that I take a brief look at my "history as an Auxiliary" with you. It was a time which was truly lived with high intensity. The most important and significant moments of this part of my life have been shared with you, in prayer and in the truest and deepest of friendships.

The journey started far back in time - 30 years ago - when my spiritual director asked me if I wanted to live a life of love. This is a question which is still topical. Every day a new reply is required, for a new life is lived every day; one filled with joys, sufferings or pains without measure. These are feelings which flank the "grayness" of the many little moments in which we realize that living only for love would truly be an arduous undertaking without the support of a great ideal: love which gives itself. So many steps have been taken in order to understand the path unfolding before us.

I received much help.

I am sure that you too will remember the first courses at Cavedago (Trento), when the path had barely been indicated; then the correspondence course (my schoolgirlish work may have made them laugh a little but I gained a great deal from it).

Meanwhile our meetings in Monza began to follow a regular pattern and I remember the acrobatics I went through in order to be present: always with great joy and with the heartfelt desire to know more, to learn, to understand.

At the end of these meetings I used to stay and talk with you, sharing my thoughts with you, my heart. And you always gave me a helping hand, telling me about your friends, sharing your experiences with me, your heart. This became a habit which was kept up over the years. How rich were these periods of friendship, when we asked each other questions and found answers, which we concluded with a moment of prayer before the Holy Eucharist!

Thank you Angela for everything you have given me.

Love, oblation, reparation: terms to make my own, to be able to live them. For years they were the subject of our meetings and of the various in-house courses... Each one has left its mark. And every year there was the "apex" at Monza, at the feast of the Epiphany.

Meanwhile the commitment to the Lord became increasingly decisive: the emotion of the first oblation; the first consecration; the reaching of point of the final consecration. It was a new starting point.

It is with joy that I remember being told that none of the structures in our way of life were going to change: family, work, parish; the entire environment in which our life was carried out would remain the same. The difference would be in our new way of being; and this was going to involve a great commitment, since every choice would be a free choice of love (or a refusal of love), a love which makes itself an oblation for reparation.

Little by little these choices have truly transformed my life in its various moments and in its various aspects: from prayer (I learned the joy and the beauty of community prayer, the value of adoration; how beautiful were the bulletins which were sent to us!), to work (first in the office and now at home), to the apostolate. And the spirit of abandonment made its way in my heart. Even if I have to ask for forgiveness every day, I start every day anew with trust: God is great in love.

Dehonian spirituality, to my way of thinking, will always be contemporary because of its proposals of life. Truly those who embrace it can transform their own commitment to family, work, apostolate (under every aspect, even political and social), into a commitment to justice and peace. And the Heart of Christ will be able to become the heart of the world. As I write and glance through these pages of my life I cannot but think of those who have been close to us over the years and have left us because the Lord has called them to Himself. I can see Maria Sala once again, discreet and attentive, and hear her words of goodness. Above all I can see her on her hospital bed shortly before her death: still smiling in spite of her suffering, with her fingers "writing" on the sheet because she was no longer capable of speaking. They were words of faith, of abandonment, of offering to the Lord for the priests. This is an example which I cannot forget...

I admire her tremendously, not only for the apostolate which she carried out in her birthplace, where she returned when she retired, but also and above all for the way in which she lived the great suffering which preceded her death.

I think it is wonderful to remember with you the joy that we shared when we saw our spiritual family truly become "a family"; the sharing in each other's joys and sufferings; the discerning that the commitment taken on was growing and maturing; the many moments of fellowship we lived together. Everything was transformed. After recalling all of these memories (but this is my life, don't you remember?) I will close with a strong embrace, in the certainty that we shall continue to "journey together" with friendship and with deepest respect. Our ideal will be the force of our life.

With all my affection,