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Building the King’s Men

Dave Borowski | Catholic Herald

Rick Crete prays the rosary before the King’s Men meeting begins May 18 at Sacred Heart Church in Manassas.

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The King’s Men ministry began in 2004 when three men, Tony
Luna, Damian Wargo and Mark Houck, talked about chastity
after a Philadelphia Theology on Tap meeting. The topic of
the evening was Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” a
series of talks given at weekly Vatican audiences.

The speaker for the evening was Catholic author Christopher
West, and the men started a dialogue on men’s accountability.
Luna, Wargo and Houck continued to meet to discuss sexual
integrity. The concept developed, and in 2006, the King’s Men
was founded and eventually grew nationwide and
internationally.

Rick Crete is the man who keeps the King’s Men group running
at Sacred Heart Church in Manassas. The group, which meets in
the chapel, has been active for almost three years and has a
mailing list of 32. Between eight and 15 men will show up for
the weekly Monday evening meeting.

There were eight men at the May 18 meeting: Crete, Jack Kapp,
Mike Shea, Michael Hatheway, William Douglass, Joe Gilley,
Jordan Thibodeaux and Mike Herrick. All are parishioners of
Sacred Heart except Thibodeaux, a parishioner of All Saints
Church in Manassas, and Hatheway, a parishioner of St. Mark
Church in Vienna.

The meetings last about 90 minutes and always begin with the
rosary. Men bring their own, or can take one from a hook by
the chapel door.

After the rosary, the men discuss spiritual and life topics,
generally picked from a Catholic book. For this meeting,
Crete picked topics from Signposts: How to be a Catholic Man
in the World Today by Tim Sullivan and Bill Bawden.

Questions are posed and discussed.

“Have you had a time when your Christian values have helped
you in the workplace?”

Douglass said, “God is intimately involved in our lives,” so
there is opportunity to use your faith to help or guide.

“Is it OK to hold the truth from a person?”

That generated more questions than answers.

“Is it always good to speak your mind?”

“Sometimes we confuse truth with speaking our minds,” said
Thibodeaux.

“What do you do when your adult daughter comes home with her
live-in boyfriend?”

The response was swift and unanimous – it’s your house and
they must show you respect.

Topics were personal.

The final part of the meeting was sharing progress with plans
made from the previous meeting, and planning for the next.

Topics varied from success in reading and listening to
spiritual books and CDs, to practicing a daily devotion and
meeting with a spiritual director.

Hatheway summed up the group’s hopes and plans.

“Listen to the word of God, and be diligent in your vocation
as husband and father.”

The common thread among the men was that this group would be
a community of men who could share with each other.

“I get together with like-minded men to reinforce, share
ideas and challenges and find solutions,” said Shea.

Douglass said that he felt a need to build a community, and
“the church thrives on small communities.”

Douglass added that the men in this group are great models of
Christian men.

When the meeting ended, the men left the chapel knowing that
they had other men they could count on for spiritual and life
guidance.

The King’s Men is one of many groups in the Arlington
Diocese. One of the largest is “That Man is You,” with nine
parishes hosting groups, including St. Veronica Church in
Chantilly and Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria.

Many parishes have their own men’s group that brings
like-minded men into a community of prayer and spirituality.

Church of the Nativity in Burke has a Men’s Prayer and
Reflection group that meets weekly on Saturday morning at the
church. Founder Greg LaNave said that there is a core group
of about 10 men. He stresses that the group is not a study
group, but a “camaraderie of guys,” trying to grow deeper in
their faith and who appreciate being around other men who
have the same goal.

Holy Spirit Church in Annandale has a core group of about 10
men who meet on the third Saturday of the month. The group is
facilitated by Deacon Nicholas J. LaDuca.

There are many more in the diocese, all trying to fulfill the
need for a community of like-minded men.

Borowski can be reached at [email protected]
or on Twitter @DBorowskiACH.

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