Men encouraged to trust God, let him sow seeds
Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin raises the Eucharist on Sept. 20 during a Mass at the eighth Indiana Catholic Men’s Conference at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown. More than 400 men attended. (Photo by Mike Krokos)
By Mike Krokos
The smile on Mike Dugan’s face spoke volumes.
His son, Nick, a senior at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind. had accepted his father’s invitation to attend the eighth Indiana Catholic Men’s Conference on Sept. 20 at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, and both father and son said the time together was well worth it.
“Both the [morning] speakers were phenomenal,” said 18-year-old Mike, who is a member of Holy Spirit Parish at Geist in Fishers, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, during a late-morning break. “I got engaged in both the talks [by Marian of the Immaculate Conception Father Michael Gaitley and Deacon Rick Wagner]. “They were funny, they were interesting, and there were good life lessons.”
The elder Dugan, who is the father of three children, was excited his son made the conference a priority as part of his weekend plans.
“I am so proud of him,” the father said of his son. “He’s just developed into such a good man, thinks for himself and has got such a strong faith.”
Like his son, Mike Dugan appreciated the message Father Gaitley shared about “the more broken you are, the more [God] seeks you out. That is such a beautiful way to look at God’s love.”
“Jesus I Trust In You” was the theme of this year’s gathering of more than 400 men from across the state, and several of the speakers touched on how we are called to trust God as we live out our vocations in life.
The day included speakers, the opportunity to receive the sacrament of reconciliation, Mass and time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Brian Dudzinski, pastor of St. John Vianney Parish in Fishers, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, led a Benediction service at the end of adoration.
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A father’s example
Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin shared the example of his late father, Joseph Sr., when he discussed a person who played a key role in his life of faith.
“Those who knew him would say he was a man’s man—big, strong, chivalrous, caring for my mother and his 13 children,” he said during his homily at the Mass.
“He overcame great obstacles,” he continued, including losing his leg during the war.
“He never once sent me to church. He took me with him,’ Archbishop Tobin added. “When I knelt next to him—at Mass, novenas or devotions—I said, ‘I want to be a man like him when I grow up. [I] still do.’ ”
The elder Tobin worked for General Motors, but made sure he kept his work and family life separate, Archbishop Tobin said.
“I said to him [one time], ‘I never see you bring home work.’ He looked at me and said, ‘That’s because I married your mother, I didn’t marry General Motors.’ ”
When his father died suddenly in 1977, Archbishop Tobin had to visit General Motors to collect his father’s things. Though he was familiar with many of the things that his dad kept in a box of belongings, there was one thing he didn’t recognize: a wooden cross that was taped to a calculator.
“Anybody who came into that office saw it. He didn’t show it off, but when they got close to him, they couldn’t help but see it,” Archbishop Tobin said. “It was a symbol of what his faith meant, it meant that he was seeding, sowing where he lived: with his family, with his wife, with his children, in his community, in his parish and in his workplace.”
Because 20 percent of the population in Indiana is unchurched, Archbishop Tobin said there is a good chance many of us will come in contact with some of those individuals.
“You will be the seed that God sows,” he said, “and keep your heart fit because God will use you—wherever you live, wherever you work—to bring an abundant harvest.” †
