ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Tim J. McGuire is a baseball fan, but that wasn\u2019t why he kept a framed Mickey Lolich card on his desk when he was the editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.<\/p>\n\n
That baseball card was a gift from a man who applied for one of the newsroom\u2019s top jobs and, here is the twist, did not get it.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBut he wrote me a beautiful letter and he remembered that Mickey Lolich was one of my favorite players,\u201d said McGuire. \u201cSending me that card was such a beautiful, gracious thing for him to do.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cFor me that isn\u2019t just a baseball card. It\u2019s a sacred object.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
McGuire mixes work and spirituality all the time, even though he knows many people think this is heresy. Still the former editor is convinced that journalists and other stressed-out professionals must find some way to stop ignoring the holes in their souls.<\/p>\n\n
That\u2019s one reason the 53-year-old Catholic layman parachuted out of his newsroom last summer, weeks after finishing his term as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He wanted to be able to speak his mind even more freely than he did during his years as a journalistic gadfly known for his brash management style and profane wisecracks.<\/p>\n\n
Instead of retiring, he began writing a syndicated column called \u201cMore Than Work,\u201d dedicated to values and faith in the workplace. He also is a leader in the Partners In Preaching network of Catholic speakers.<\/p>\n\n
Work is the last place most people think about spirituality, said McGuire, speaking during a seminar on \u201cFaith, Religion & Values\u201d at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Instead of being the place where they express the values that are most precious to them, work becomes the place where these values are irrelevant.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWork is brutal. Work is a four-letter word,\u201d said McGuire. \u201cMost people don\u2019t think that work could possibly have anything to do with spirituality. \u2026 They assume that these two worlds cannot mesh. But if we bring our souls to work, then we can transform our work. That is when our work can begin to transform us.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe problem for most people is that their work transforms them into something bad, something bitter and tired and broken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
McGuire saw this happen day after day, but he doesn\u2019t think journalists are more \u201csoul sick\u201d than other people. All kinds of people struggle to find ways to cope with pain, confusion and anger. Some purchase mountains of possessions and others keep trading in one romantic relationship for another. Some turn to drugs and alcohol. Some literally worship their work, even though they may hate the work that they do.<\/p>\n\n
This struggle is spiritual, whether people want to admit it or not. Finding a way to sleep at night is a spiritual process.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cEverybody has to have a spirituality and everybody does have one,\u201d said McGuire. \u201cWhat we do with that personal madness that makes us who we are is our spirituality. \u2026 Spirituality is about how we try to fill that hole in our souls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Welcoming spirituality into the workplace doesn\u2019t mean holding revival meetings and letting people speak in tongues at their desks, he said. Proselytizing is wrong and there are settings in which it would be wrong for believers to display the symbols of their faith. The key is to make personal changes and vows that help \u201cbring Sunday on over into Monday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
That\u2019s why McGuire treasured that Mickey Lolich baseball card. That\u2019s why he uses computer passwords such as \u201cblessed\u201d that make him stop and think. A glass eagle sculpture on his desk is a reminder to treat his staff like eagles, not chickens.<\/p>\n\n
Believers can find way to seek holiness, without being \u201cholier than thou,\u201d he said. Take office gossip, for example.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat are you supposed to do about that? You should not participate in the sin. You have to walk away,\u201d he said. \u201cSo far, so good. But what you can\u2019t do is point at those people and say, \u2018You\u2019re sinning! You\u2019re sinning! You\u2019ve got to stop gossiping!\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cNo, the way you cut down on the gossiping is that you stop gossiping yourself. But that\u2019s the hard part anyway, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Tim J. McGuire is a baseball fan, but that wasn\u2019t why he kept a framed Mickey Lolich card on his desk when he was the editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. That baseball card was a gift from a man who applied for one of the newsroom\u2019s top jobs and, here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[487,720,819,931],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-journalism","tag-religion-news","tag-spirituality","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"\n