{"id":1199,"date":"2012-09-30T19:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-30T19:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/no-actors-life-for-him\/"},"modified":"2012-09-30T19:07:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-30T19:07:00","slug":"no-actors-life-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/no-actors-life-for-him\/","title":{"rendered":"No actor\u2019s life for him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Arlington, Va., Sep 30, 2012 \/ 01:07 pm (CNA<\/a>).- Oscar Wilde once famously said, \u201cI love acting. It is so much more real than life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAn actor was what 53-year-old Mike Garcia always had wanted to be, and he realized his dream by earning Screen Actors Guild and Actors\u2019 Equity cards that gave him access to paying jobs.<\/p>\n

\tGarcia was born to Fred and Stella Garcia in Alexandria and raised in Arlington Forest. His parents were both first-generation Americans. He was the fifth of seven children, all of who attended St. Thomas More elementary school and Bishop O\u2019Connell High School in Arlington.<\/p>\n

\tHis father was a Korean War veteran who moved from Laredo, Texas, to the Washington, D.C. area after the war. He worked in a job he loved \u2014 fixing televisions. But his mother wanted Fred to come back to his Hispanic roots in Laredo.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cLaredo doesn\u2019t have power, much less TV,\u201d Fred Garcia told his mother.<\/p>\n

\tThe family stayed in the Northern Virginia area where the family built a life that centered around the St. Thomas More parish community.<\/p>\n

\tA family tradition included education at the parish school and at O\u2019Connell.
\n\tThe tradition was tarnished a bit when Garcia said he became \u201cthe first Garcia to get detention\u201d at O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n

\tGarcia was a smart boy who skipped third grade at St. Thomas More. He was 16 when he entered Catholic University in Washington in 1976.<\/p>\n

\tHe said he didn\u2019t go to Catholic as much because it was Catholic, but because it had one of the finest theater departments in the country.<\/p>\n

\tThe theater world at Catholic was different for the 16-year-old freshman than the life he had at his parish community.<\/p>\n

\tIn 1980, when he was a senior at Catholic, he began working on the school\u2019s production of \u201cJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,\u201d Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s musical about the \u201ccoat of many colors\u201d from the Book of Genesis.<\/p>\n

\tThe play was a success and it eventually ran at Ford\u2019s Theater in Washington for six months with Garcia in a role after he graduated with a bachelor\u2019s in fine arts.<\/p>\n

\tEven though Garcia said he wanted to be the \u201cMexican Hamlet,\u201d he married Valerie \u2014 now principal of Blessed Sacrament School in Alexandria \u2014 in 1981 and raised two children Adam and Stefanie. He decided that \u201cacting hours stink,\u201d and he looked for something else.<\/p>\n

\tThat something else was working as the drama director and English teacher at O\u2019Connell.
\n\tAlthough he prayed to be a successful actor for years, Garcia said that he believes God answers prayers in three ways:\u00a0One, yes; two, not now; and\u00a0three, I have a better idea.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhat I really wanted was the lifestyle I grew up with. Good people doing kind things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tIn 1985, family friend Martin Harar told Garcia about an opportunity to become a State Farm Insurance agent.<\/p>\n

\tTwo years later he had his license and began a new career in insurance.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI get to meet people one-on-one,\u201d he said about his new vocation. \u201cI love stories.\u201d
\n\tHe likes to hear people talk about their lives and to help them build a future for their families.<\/p>\n

\tThe Garcia family belongs to St. Ann Church in Arlington. He said he\u2019s been studying the tools of his faith for 30 years and is now putting them into practice as a lector and extraordinary minister of holy Communion.<\/p>\n

\tAs a lector, he studies the Scriptures before reading them at Mass.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhat\u2019s the point of this reading?\u201d he\u2019ll ask himself. \u201cWhat is the point the (the author) is trying to make and how can I get the point across to the congregation?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe was first asked to be an extraordinary minister of holy Communion in 1989 by Father John T. Cilinski. He said no because of a scheduling conflict..<\/p>\n

\tSeveral years ago he did volunteer to be extraordinary minister of holy Communion for the hospital ministry and visit the intensive care and cardiac units at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington every other Sunday.<\/p>\n

\tThe 90 minute visit is a humbling experience, he said.
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m bringing them the Lamb of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tSome people are angry and some want to pray when he visits. Either way it\u2019s a rich experience.<\/p>\n

\tGarcia said he wants to be more apostolic.<\/p>\n

\t\u201c(I want to) live my faith better and make my relationships more about others than about me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tHe was asked recently to consider the permanent diaconate. It\u2019s a vocation he is praying about.<\/p>\n

\tGarcia said he tries to live his life by the words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata, \u201cNot all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPosted with permission from Catholic Herald<\/a>, official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Arlington, Va.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arlington, Va., Sep 30, 2012 \/ 01:07 pm (CNA).- Oscar Wilde once famously said, “I love acting. It is so much more real than life.”<\/p>\n

\tAn actor was what 53-year-old Mike Garcia always had wanted to be, and he realized his dream by earning Sc…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nNo actor\u2019s life for him<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Arlington, Va., Sep 30, 2012 \/ 01:07 pm (CNA).- Oscar Wilde once famously said, “I love acting. 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