By Pauline Hovey
Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 5/5/05)

Some Northern Virginia Catholic seniors are defying the popular concept that retirees either spend their days traveling the world or sitting at home feeling useless because they no longer have meaningful "work."

Eugene Slaby of Holy Spirit Parish in Annandale and Pat Minihan and Eleanor Lovisek of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Warrenton are only a few examples of how God calls us to service every day of our lives. All three also have the unusual distinction of being members of the Carmelite Third Order. Simply put, Third Order Carmelites are laypeople who have committed their lives to contemplative prayer and seeking to do God’s will.

At 72 years old, Minihan does not appear to have slowed down. "I don’t think my younger years were ever so productive," she says. Although she raised two sons alone and managed a busy dental practice on Long Island, Minihan believes she is doing more now for the Lord than ever before. She retired to Warrenton in 1998 to live closer to her son, but realizing she needed to supplement her Social Security income, she soon found work part time at the parish counseling center at St. John the Evangelist. Her most rewarding "work," however, came as a result of her desire to share her faith with others.

As a Third Order Carmelite, Minihan can often be found in church, so it wasn’t unusual she was there on the day after the 9/11 attacks. A young woman with two children had come to church that day and sought out the older woman to question her because she was afraid. "I told her that they could combat with cells of terror but we could combat with cells of prayer," Minihan said, and she reassured the woman "do not be afraid." Minihan then suggested the young mother start praying with other women in her neighborhood, but the woman doubted she could find others who would be interested. "I told her, ‘just ask the question, and let God be God,’" Minihan said. A few women came together, and Minihan took on the role of their facilitator and teacher, because although they were "cradle Catholics," the women had many questions about their faith. Minihan now leads about 13 women in prayer in their homes, and she always brings along her Bible and her statue of the Blessed Virgin. Since word has spread about this intercessory prayer group, other neighbors have given them their prayer intentions, and together the women have experienced the healing power of prayer.

Minihan is especially excited about the fact that these women were inspired to organize a fund-raiser to help pay the medical needs of a neighborhood child who has a brain tumor. The women have been praying for him every day, but wanted to do more, so somehow, with no fund-raising experience, these women, as of April, have raised $100,000 for the child’s family. As Minihan knows, "The fruit of this prayer life and their trust in God bore out this charity. The enormous task they accomplished is through the Holy Spirit; it was how this inspiration came to them."

Minihan has seen the faith of each of these women strengthened over these past three and a half years, and she sees Divine Providence at work in all of the fruit that bore out of that one meeting with this young mother. "In these times of conflict, of great uncertainty, God is aware of where we are and what we need," Minihan said, "and I wanted so much to make sure that I was comforting this stranger."

Minihan is also a lector and Eucharistic minister at her church and she says, "being a Carmelite is the best part of my life."

Based on the richness of his life, Eugene Slaby would agree. Former president of the Carmelite community, the 69-year-old just celebrated his 10-year anniversary of retirement from the Navy Department "C" Systems Command. Although he always finds things to do and has been involved in his church for many years, serving as Eucharistic minister, even running the ministry program, and studying theology to receive his master’s from Notre Dame Graduate School, Slaby finds that being a Third Order Carmelite is the most rewarding. He rises at 3:30 every morning to pray the liturgy of the hours (one of the requirements of Carmelites), before he leaves to unlock the doors of the church, where he stays for a while and prays. "A Carmelite must spend at least a half-hour in meditation daily, which is hard to do in a household," he explained, "so I felt the best time to do that was when I go to open the church at 5 a.m. It’s a nice private time until people start arriving."

Attending daily Mass is an important Carmelite practice. Slaby and his wife, Lucretia, even plan their vacations around that practice. When on the road, they check in advance what churches along the way will be holding Mass and at what time so that they can plan to attend.

Even when they went on a recent cruise they checked with the cruise line and arrangements were made to have a priest onboard. Several passengers joined the Slabys in daily Mass. On the last day of the cruise, the priest announced he would celebrate a special Mass with the renewal of vows for those couples celebrating wedding anniversaries and many shipmates showed up. By sharing their faith, the Slabys may be impacting more people than they realize.

They have found time to join the diocesan healing ministry. Once a month the Slabys travel to different parishes within the diocese, where a Mass is followed by a healing service. A team of about eight to 12 people join the priest in praying over those people who are requesting healing in their lives. Each of these experiences has helped Slaby in his spiritual growth. He remembers how when he and his wife were first married they weren’t able to have children right away. Even though they had material things available to them, "I still realized that something was missing," Slaby said. "As you get older, you need to [focus] more on the after life because that’s what is important."

Eleanor Lovisek was a secretary until her children came along, but even while raising her children she found herself volunteering at her church. That desire to volunteer has led her to find many ways to serve, from being a "special friend" to abused children living in a group home, to helping people in her church get through the grieving process when they lose a loved one, from serving as lector at weekday Mass, to baking for church events and school fundraisers.

"I like to cook and bake, and God uses what you like to do, because that seems to be all I’m doing," she said. It’s not unusual for Lovisek to bake 25 soda breads at a time. She’s also on the list to make meals for sick parishioners and to prepare food for funeral luncheons held at the parish center. At 66, she’s busy caring for eight grandchildren and assisting her daughters. She still finds time to volunteer outside her church community as well. She currently helps two nuns who run a kennel called Paws Awhile Pets Motel by cleaning their residence.

For Lovisek, becoming a Third Order Carmelite fulfills her lifelong desire to belong to a community. Although she entered a Dominican convent as a young woman, she realized after four months that was not what God was calling her to do. Instead she married in 1962, raised three daughters, and is now seeking to do God’s will in her daily living.

As she, Slaby, and Minihan are proving, there are many ways to serve. "We’re still productive to society," Minihan said. "And here I was wondering what I was going to do with my senior life."