Some folks are curious about the priest fraternity that I have mentioned and the “Fraternity at Tybee” sign that hangs over the front door of the Rectory. Both Fr. Tom Peyton and I are members of the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests. Initially, I belonged to the fraternity group that was headed by Fr. Tom and Fr. Mike Smith, but fifteen years ago, when I moved from Dublin, GA. to Augusta, I formed another group. Each fraternity group consists of 5-6 priests who meet on a monthly basis to spiritually support each other’s well-being and ministry. The Fraternity has been a huge blessing in my life. My hope in placing the sign over the Rectory door is that I’d love for our Faith Community to become known as a place of welcome and support to any priest or seminarian who needs a few days of ‘retreat.’
The Fraternity was developed in the early 1950’s by French priests and was rooted in the spiritual practices of a rather odd missionary diocesan priest, Blessed Charles de Foucauld, who lived among very poor Moslems in the Sahara Desert where he was murdered in 1916. The Fraternity has since spread throughout the Universal Church. The first Fraternity in the United States was formed in 1962 in the Diocese of Oakland, CA. There are approximately 200 fraternity groups across the United States and 1200 priests and bishops on our mailing list. We’ve had our own National Leadership Team since 1967. This past July, I was elected to my second (and last) 3 year term as Responsible or head of the National Leadership Team.
JESUS CARITAS FRATERNITY ENCOURAGES
Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament
Modeling our lives on Jesus in the Gospels
Simplicity of life
Reviewing our life with our brother priests on a monthly basis
Friendship and Fraternity
Being a Universal Brother to all people, especially the poor and marginalized
Times of Solitude as experienced in a Desert Day
The Fraternity asks each priest to factor into his month a “Day in the Desert”. The idea is to deliberately separate yourself from the active side of priesthood, and to submit to God, welcome God in to your life in a prolonged way. This monthly day of quiet also enables us to think through the way our life is going, to look compassionately but critically at our successes and failures, to thank God for his perpetual presence in our lives, and to prepare what we shall say in the “Review of Life” when next our Fraternity meets.
Blessed Charles de Foucauld believed that holiness was to be found in the midst of the everydayness of ordinary life, in the small things that we do that become great because they are motivated by great love.
The following is part of a reflection that Deacon Patrick May wrote after his summer on Tybee: “During my seminary formation, the importance of priestly fraternity is underscored as a critical component of one’s priesthood. In my diocese, however, the closest brother priest could be over an hour away. I was concerned with the reality that brotherhood could become very difficult. However, during my first summer parish assignment, I was able to observe my pastor, Fr. Tom Peyton, participate in his Jesus Caritas fraternity group. The group met several times throughout the summer, priests young and old, coming together for a day of brotherhood from various parts of the diocese. This was very encouraging for my discernment, and Fr. Tom talked to me about the group and how it operates. He encouraged me to seek a more intentional fraternity while in the seminary.
When I returned to Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary that fall, a brother seminarian and I formed a Jesus Caritas group among our other Savannah seminarians. We followed the Jesus Caritas model as closely as we could and began to plan several overnight retreats during the semester, which included fraternity time and a Desert Day with a Review of Life…. The fraternity of Blessed Charles has allowed us to grow closer as brothers and has provided us with an experience that we can take into our diocese if we are called to ordination. I could not imagine the priesthood without sharing my life with brother priests. Thankfully, Jesus Caritas has been an introduction and means to carry out this fraternity in the future.”