Please don\u2019t let him die.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not much of a prayer, I suppose, but it\u2019s what I said to God five years ago as I sat in a pew at St. Agnes of Bohemia Catholic Church in Little Village and watched the Rev. Matt Foley sworn in to the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n
Father Matt \u2014 Padre Mateo, as they called him in the neighborhood \u2014 had been the heart and soul of that predominantly Latino community for eight years. He had buried nearly 30 members of the warring Latin Kings and Two-Six street gangs, and now he was heading to war, drawn to be an Army chaplain.<\/p>\n
He read a Gospel passage at his swearing-in: \u201cWhen you were young, you walked where you wanted to walk. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will carry you where you do not want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
You\u2019re not old, Father, I thought. You\u2019re only 45. Can\u2019t you stick around?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be a vessel that God\u2019s going to use,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n
\u2026It starts to blur from there. Four deployments. Visits to more than 60 spots across that war-torn country. And now, I\u2019m happy to report, a safe return to the Chicago area and a new parish to head up, St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights.<\/p>\n
I met Foley in his new parish office on a sunny weekday, the only noise coming from cars zipping along Arlington Heights Road and the occasional squeals of children in the church school. It seemed a peaceful respite from a war zone, and his spirits were good, even as he recounted what he had witnessed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m able to preach about it and tell the stories,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat happens with a lot of these soldiers is they go through traumatic events and then they don\u2019t get to process it. When I was in Little Village, I\u2019d be at Mount Sinai (hospital) to see a teen who was shot. I\u2019d talk about it the next Sunday, I wouldn\u2019t just bury it. That makes a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
His duties were many: visiting with soldiers each day; catering to the injured; celebrating a daily Catholic Mass; delivering news of a family member\u2019s death or illness to young men and women already homesick\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026He described what he did there as \u201ca ministry of presence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo sit in an MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle) and to be ambushed and to look across at the eyes of a 19- or 20-year-old soldier,\u201d Foley said, his voice trailing off. \u201cI\u2019m glad I\u2019m there to say, \u2018We\u2019ll make it through this.\u2019 I\u2019m glad I\u2019m there for the parents who sent their sons and daughters over there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read it all.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Alex Garcia The story, from the Chicago Tribune:\u00a0 Please don\u2019t let him die. That\u2019s not much of a prayer, I suppose, but it\u2019s what I said to God five years ago as I sat in a pew at St. Agnes of Bohemia Catholic Church in Little Village and watched the Rev. Matt Foley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chaplains","category-priests"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n