sciously set out to do. I don’t say, “Okay,
I’m going to write a poem today.” Ideas
just come to me, and I have to write them
down. It sounds overly dramatic, but I
don’t feel I have a choice. I’ll get a line that
pops into my head—usually when I’m out
walking. A lot of the poetry I write is about
being outside in the neighborhood.
I feel compelled to write and it’s not
always religious. I think the poetry that
is more religious or faith-based also has
other purposes. It’s saying something else.
How would you describe your spirituality?
If I had to say one line, it’s probably
clinging to Jesus through Mary. I find lately
that a lot of my prayer life is saying the Hail
Mary. It sounds very simple. Apart from
the Mass and Holy Hours, it’s just a very
simple prayer. I find more and more as I’ve
gotten older it’s a constant prayer, whether
I am aware of it when I’m walking or just
sitting reading, being with the family. Just a
kind of a slow burn—I’m always aware of it.
I’m always trying to be in contact with
the Lord, even when I’m not in a particu-
larly religious place or doing something
explicitly religious. I have had more devo-
tion to our Blessed Mother, too, the last
few years. Sometimes I just find myself
spontaneously praying the Hail Mary and
followed by a conversation.
Also, I am conversing with loved ones.
My father has been gone now for eleven
years, my father-in-law twenty years, so
I find myself praying to them. I pray to
others, either family or friends, asking for
their intercession. I guess you would say
it’s sort of an intimate spirituality, but very
simple—nothing overly dramatic, just con-
versational.
Sometimes I just find myself lying in
bed and just talking to my dad, talking to
the Lord. Saying, “I really need help with
this. I don’t know what to do. I’m an idi-
ot. Please help me. I’m sorry for my sins.”
Expressing a profound regret or feeling of
repentance and letting it all out—crying. I
think I cry now more than I have my en-
tire life since I’ve become a grandfather.
What changes have you seen at
Sacred Heart in your twenty-nine
years with the seminary? What are your thoughts as a scholar, as
well as being a member of the Archdio-
cese of Detroit?
The most obvious changes are in the
faculty and administration. Every one of
our educators is known in the United
States, if not world-wide. We’ve been ahead
of the curve on many things—including
the STL program and New Evangelization.
When I arrived, it was a sleepy little
seminary in the big city. Walking into my
office the first day there was a telephone
and a typewriter—there were no computers!
Technology has changed my job. I get a
lot of emails about moral questions and
consulting inquiries from bishops and
others. I blog, and I’m on Facebook, Twit-
ter, and LinkedIn because it’s my responsi-
bility as a scholar to evangelize. I use these
platforms to showcase the seminary and
the Gospel. At St. Frances Cabrini on Monday eve-
nings, once a month, we go through the
document. We have a holy hour before,
and then a speaker comes in. I see how
it’s being implemented in the parish and
take my experience back to the seminary
and share with students, seminarians, and
lay students.
Since the document’s release, I’m more
active in my parish. I want to take that
pastoral experience back to my classroom.
I’m not a priest, I’m not a deacon. I do
have the advantage of being a husband,
father, grandfather, and theologian who’s
a parish member to bring to the men and
women of the seminary.
We have so many voices in the culture
today, on the left, on the right, in the mid-
dle. I think the archbishop saw a crucial
moment, a crisis, a crossroad where we are
looking at the trends and the culture. I
think Catholics have lost the sense of what
a disciple is and they need a picture.
The term “missionary” indicates, not
that we must go to Peru, but we must be
out there. Do I feel called to evangelize on
social media or go to the soup kitchen and
preach? It doesn’t matter, we must get out in
the world, using the language of our faith.
When we say goodbye to somebody, we
often say “take care.” Why not say “God
bless”? Even if the person doesn’t believe
in God, why not say, “God bless you,
man”? Something this small is a massive
change.
People don’t have to take classes at the
seminary. We just change the way we are
in the world. Use the language of faith
and don’t be shy about it. The archbishop
says we must unleash the Gospel, unleash
our hesitations, our fears, our old ways
of doing things. Unleash our own spirits,
which are in bondage to the culture.
What projects are you working on and
excited about?
I wrote an essay for Catholic Answers.
The Catholic apologetic organization has
assembled five authors to contribute essays
on the fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vi-
tae, the controversial encyclical of Blessed
Paul VI from 1968. My essay focuses on
the