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For Catholic men, a time to ‘overturn tables’

Soren Johnson | Special to the Herald

Msgr. Michael Heintz, retreat master and professior at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, speaks to more than 85 men Sept. 29 in Leesburg. SOREN JOHNSON | COURTESY

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More than 85 men marked the Feast of the Archangels Sept. 29 by
gathering for a morning retreat at St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg
under the theme “Turning Over the Markteplace Tables in our Temples: A Time of
Grace.”

 

Retreat master and professor of historical and systematic
theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., Msgr. Michael Heintz
called on the men to see themselves as temples of the Holy Spirit and to
overturn decisively whatever tables they had allowed into their “courtyards.”

 

“You are governed by the Holy Spirit,” said Msgr. Heintz, “and
there is no part of you that Jesus doesn’t now want to reign in. Do not be the
‘double-minded’ man of James 1:8. Your Catholic faith is not ‘part’ of your
life — it’s your whole life.” Throughout the morning, the men were encouraged
to examine their own “tables,” which the retreat organizers defined as “the
ungodly attitudes, behaviors and habits” that we allow to clutter our
courtyards.

 

“We are priests in our own temple,” said St. John parishioner
Bill Atwill at the outset of the morning, “and someday we will each give an
account for how we have served as stewards of this temple. No table stands in
my courtyard without my permission or tacit approval, and the way we oversee
our temple is fully within our circle of influence.”

 

Atwill founded a parish men’s group called the Fellowship of the
Modest Proposal, which co-sponsored and organized the retreat with the parish’s
Knight of Columbus Holy Family Council No. 6831.  

 

The retreat included Mass, talks by Msgr. Heintz, quiet times for
individual reflection, table discussions and according to event organizers,
“lots of coffee.”

 

“The morning challenged us to not be content with the stagnation
and complacency that so often settles in,” said parishioner Mark Voorheis. “I
think we all left feeling more empowered that we, the men of St. John’s, have a
formidable army of men ready to live the call to holiness and to tackle the
challenges that face our church today.”

 

“I feel refocused,” said parishioner Bill Leake at the close of
the morning. “Msgr. Heintz reminded us that we are worthy of God’s love,” said
parishioner Phil Rusciolelli. Atwill added, “Msgr. Heintz made clear that
holiness often consists in doing the little things, the seemingly ‘boring’
things, well.”

 

“As Catholic men today the last thing we can do is to be pew
potatoes,” said Grand Knight Rick Wagner. “The retreat was a shot in the arm, a
call to each of us to clean up the courtyards of our own temple so that Jesus
Christ can work through us as his instruments.”

 

Johnson is associate director of the St. Thomas More
Institute.

 

Find out more

 

For more information on men’s ministries throughout the
diocese — including the annual diocesan men’s conference and parish men’s
groups — go to arlingtondiocese.org/Enrich-Your-Faith/Men-s-Ministry/.

 

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