The other day, while I was sitting at a lunch table at Assumption Elementary Catholic School with some of my newest best friends, the following scene arose.

8^th Grade Boy #1: (In the middle of a mouthful of pizza) “So why are you here?”

Me: (Taking a break from my sandwich) “Well, I was hungry, and I was in the area, so I decided to come have lunch with you guys. I don’t like eating alone.”

Some silence ensues

8^th Grade boy #2: “You know what you remind me of?”

Me: “No, what?”

8^th Grade boy #2: “This reminds me of Billy Madison”

8^th Grade Boy #1: Nods approvingly as he goes back to eating his pizza slice

Me: Exit stage left, and crawl under the table and hide. Aaaaaaand SCENE!

I had to laugh. I mean that was funny. There aren’t many things to say back that other than “Yeah, haha” (voice fading into a mouthful of thoughtful sandwich chewing)

Obviously, Billy Madison is not what I was going for. This would be like a football coach ending his first football practice of the year, and having a player approach at the end to say “Hey, you remind me a lot of Richard Simmons”…
Gee, thanks.

As funny as this is, it is also a sad witness into the state of affairs we find ourselves in today. The fact that there is absolutely no image conjured up the memory bank of a young boy to comprehend what was happening. This man wants to sit and eat lunch with us??? The image of an immature, underachieving character like Billy Madison was the only comparison he could think of for why a man would be at the lunch table.

And it has dawned on me. This is why I am here. This is why we need FRATERNUS. This is why I will be back at that lunch table later this week. It is an uphill battle against a culture totally void of what we hope to do. Much of the early process is knocking down the walls of unfamiliarity with love.

Sort of like Donkey Kong.

Which, for the record, is in fact a much better game than Mortal Combat. Thanks Billy Madison, you at least got one thing right.

Over and out.

Titus

With 15 returning captains and 5 newbies at our Cathedral Chapter, this past Saturday’s training (which began with 8am Mass in the Bishop’s Chapel) could not have been more of a blessing. We are currently in the process of training some of our new missionaries as well, with hopes of sending them into at least four different schools by next week. Finally, pray for our new Chapter in Hendersonville, TN  - God is blessing this expansion with many boys (and therefore, a growing need for captains)!

And in case you were wondering, the above picture is what a day of training looks like for FRATERNUS captains. Don’t you want to take the challenge?

Football is finally back at John Paul II Catholic High School in Tallahassee, FL.  17 gridiron warriors have decided to strap on the pads, tighten up the chinstraps, and wear the Panther blue and gold in the Friday night battles.  I am very grateful to these young men because they have given me the chance to coach the sport I love and sacrificed my body for for 13 years (and I mean sacrificed literally - just ask my chiropractor…or my mom).  After several weeks of practice, the guys are finally getting bored with hitting each other and are looking in eager anticipation for 10 days from today when they can line up someone in a different color jersey in their crosshairs.  Hopefully we don’t play like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIELdwg3LpE

B-Rad

Can you imagine what a house of young adult men who are seeking holiness could do to transform a city? My thoughts are that it will start a groundswell of renewal that will propagate through a city, a community and ultimately a culture.

The starts of a Mission House are being developed in Pensacola, FL. Currently 4 Fraternus Missionaries are stepping forward and boldly living their faith in a way currently unknown to many in our small city.

Pray for us!

T$

Behold. How good and how pleasing it is when brothers dwell together in unity.

To give you a snapshot into the beauty of brotherhood, here’s a glimpse into a day with a FRATERNUS Mission Director:

Saturday, Aug. 21st
6:45am Men’s Bible Study with 25 potential captains at our new Chapter in Hendersonville, TN
9:00am Breakfast meeting with Commander & Officer Core of Cathedral Chapter
1:00pm HAWC with 2 missionaries, 8 freshmen brothers, and 2 seniors who came as mentors
4:00pm Post-HAWC cool-down in the neighborhood pool
6:00pm Vigil Mass at Aquinas College
7:00pm “Theology of the Body” lecture from Sr. Jane Dominic, OP

And I just returned from 7:10am daily Mass at Fr. Ryan High School with nearly 10 of our FRATERNUS brothers.

I love this job.

Dear faithful blog reader,

September is a busy month for us.  It’s also a strange juxtaposition of ups and downs.  We have the ups of kicking off and the downs of a very difficult month financially.

The beginning of the year always brings in news from excited Chapters who had a bigger turnout than expected.  Last year, Nashville had over 80 boys for their first night!  This year we’re already hearing about HUGE news from Pensacola (I can’t post it, because I’m sure Tommy will want to).  This Sunday is the first FRAT Night in South Lafourche, LA and we’re expecting a massive turnout and I use the word "massive" selectively.

BUT, it’s also just before the "giving season" that happens at the end of the year (due to taxes).  There’s no dinners like in the springtime, and staffers are swamped with kicking off Chapters so fundraising takes a lot more extra effort.  So the kick off gives us a new drive to push forward, but the donations slow and almost seem to hold us back.

Would you please commit to pray for FRATERNUS this September?  Pray for big donations and big turnouts at FRAT Night.  Also pray that we, as a team, are committed to putting ALL of our trust in the Father - He’s never let us down when we do.

In Christ,

J. Michael Craig

Their mission is truly bold. The anti-culture out there exposes children to pornography everywhere; if you doubt this, you have not recently been to a pharmacy, a bookstore, or a grocery store, nor have you taken a good look at the "spam" folder in your e-mail. So Fraternus attempts to instill into young men the old and character-forming virtue of purity. (One wonders – I do not know the answer to this question – whether any comparable organizations for young women do the same.) The anti-culture corrals boys into those pinfolds called "schools," with less and less time conceded to them for vigorous play, indoors or outdoors. So the men of Fraternus take the boys out for hikes, and for a week’s adventure on the ranch, complete with whitewater rafting. The anti-culture preaches the goodness of boys pairing up with boys for sexual fulfillment. So the men of Fraternus give boys the chance to develop their personalities in the context of healthy brotherhood.

If you are a man, read this article.

In a recent meeting with a HS principle he mentioned his work as a labor of love. I have heard this phrase before but for the first time I really took some time to reflect on the expression. Put in simple terms (my own) I would say it is doing something that you can not believe you also earn a living doing. Something that you would be doing anyway, and want to do regardless if there was pay involved, but now  get to do it for 40+hrs a week because it is also a job. Its a work that is integrated into your life - which can be a heavy burden at times, but it seems to make work also more pleasurable and fruitful.

I would argue that God has created humans to work in this capacity, but how often we get caught up with the things in life that truly don’t matter causing us to sway from our labor of love. Or maybe it is a fear or an acceptance, or something we have to prove that draws us from that love.

May St. Joesph intercede for us that we remain faithful to God’s plan and our labor of love.

Pray for us.

T$

It’s hard to believe that the new school year is upon us! I could not be more excited about all of the great blessings in store for FRATERNUS this year. It’s looking more and more like we’ll be expanding northward in the Nashville Territory, and we are looking to recruit and form more missionaries than ever to get into schools and lead our HAWC groups. To think that we had just received Bishop Choby’s blessing this time a year ago is amazing! So much growth in only one year.

Keep us in your prayers as we make final preparations in these weeks leading up to first FRAT night. God has so much in store, and I feel incredibly honored to be a part of this beautiful movement of the Holy Spirit - mentoring boys into virtuous, Catholic men!

And after three weeks of travel, I’ve decided to go on vacation. Next week: Tarpon Springs, FL, here I come!