Voices of Holy Cross: Stories of Hope

Longtime pastor Fr. John Dougherty has lived the majority of his priesthood following the earliest model of life in Holy Cross, serving parishes from Granger, Indiana to Portland, Oregon to Austin, Texas. He gives us glimpses of a couple typical days in his flourishing parish, and while he doesn't necessarily advise this today, tells how he once presided at 8 Masses in a single weekend.

Notre Dame's Moreau Seminary Rector Fr. Jim Gallagher CSC sheds light on an undervalued discipline in shared life: genuine forgiveness. In this conversation, Fr. Jim tells stories of how forgiveness has strengthened his own experience of community life, and offers concrete tips for extending forgiveness... even when the other person is getting on your last nerve.

Longtime Holy Cross lay collaborator Dr. Lisa Kirkpatrick of St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas shares stories of accompanying students and colleagues in some of their darkest moments, and what it feels like to come out on the other side of those transformative journeys: the side of hope, joy and resurrection.

Longtime lay collaborator Ken Hallenius tells stories of how he uses modern tech tools to spread the Gospel and share hope in his work with Holy Cross, speculates which of those tools Blessed Fr. Moreau might be drawn to, and shares a new feast day he's pushing for: Meating Friday.

Working among the poorest people in Portland's downtown St. Andre Bessette Parish, Fr. Randy Rentner and Fr. Pat Hannon have learned to flex and grow their compassion muscles and tell stories of what it's like to honor the inherent dignity of their neighbors, sharing both their burdens and their joys, including a cat named Thomas.

Host Karen Eifler collects stories from Dianne Barlas, who has worked in parishes all over the world with the Congregation of Holy Cross, pursuing social justice and helping form people of faith--from middle schoolers to parishioners and now students, faculty and staff in college. Along the way she lets us peek at the moment she knew she was in this for keeps, having found her home as a lay collaborator.

Award-winning theology professor Fr. Kevin Grove offers stories about making God real and accessible for students from 7th grade through Ph.Ds, and how he strives to help people not accept brokenness as the status quo.

Longtime Holy Cross lay collaborators Stacey & Josh Noem reflect on how Moreau's model of the Holy Family makes it possible to "have life, and have it to the full" in this conversation that makes room for lamentation and for joyful laughter in their own family and in their labors with the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Fr. Charlie Gordon CSC offers glimpses of how he is learning to cross borders of every kind as he reflects on how he--a kid from Chicago's South Side--now finds himself serving as Pro-chancellor of the University of Notre Dame-Bangladesh, amidst governmental insurrection, flooding, and celebrating life's precious moments.

 Fr. Dick Berg CSC plucks three vivid moments from his sixty-one years of priesthood to reflect on how reliance on Divine Providence has nourished him and those he’s served, from a quivering young seminarian afraid to preach, to saving the life of a young burn victim, to catching stories of PTSD survivors. Along the way, he wrote a play, made a movie, and he’s just getting started!

Just a few months after their ordination, Fr. Tyler Kreipke CSC and Fr. Nik Guiney CSC share stories of the zeal and deep hope that led them into Holy Cross, and talk about who in the Holy Cross family tree they’d like to have a kombucha with. In the audience participation portion, they ask for particular prayers to sustain them in these early days of their ministries.