5/22/2022

Hello Blog Readers,

I’m still going through the ‘honeymoon’ phase with my new hometown here in Marquette, which means every little thing here is still new and exciting. This weekend brought with it some cloudy weather and temperatures down in the 40’s. It gave an opportunity to slow down a bit and enjoy ‘the simple things,’ after my feverish effort the weekend before to take in everything during the summer, resort-like weather.

At work, I’m just digesting a lot of new information and doing my best to meet (and more importantly remember) people. There are bureaucracy and policies to master, a bunch of new software to learn, the names and locations of over 100 parishes, missions, convents and Catholic schools to remember, and then on top of that every day at the office seems to yield at least another 10-to-20 new names and faces. At the end of each day, I’m lucky to retain 20% of all of the new information and people finding their way into my life. It’s embarrassing as I will often find myself asking a question on something I literally just learned about, or I will find myself re-introducing myself to someone I had literally just met (worse is when I think I know someone, and it turns out to be someone else entirely). Definitely a two-steps forward, one-step back sort of life right now.

That being said, I am starting to understand God’s plan and why He called me to serve in this place. My job is literally taking all of my professional experience and everything I learned while living in Northern California, together with my math and legal brain, and applying it to hopefully keep financially-stable and even grow our Catholic institutions. The job requires a careful mix of cultivating and maintaining relationships, while also working alongside creatives, communications, finance, and legal teams to bring people together, achieve goals, and keep constituents happy. The path is not an easy one either. There are many of the same pitfalls and themes in this Diocese as we faced at Mercy High School and in the Diocese of Sacramento: persons and institutions who are claiming that they feel ignored in the far reaches of the Diocese, concerns about ‘where the money goes’ when it flows to the Diocese, persons with widely differing visions on how their local school or parish should be run, and just a general languishing of faith, especially in the 25-55 age demographic. It is going to take some serious networking, transparency, teaching, and good-ol’-fashion evangelization to solve these problems, but I am hopeful that I can bring people together in solving these issues. ‘Yoopers helping yoopers,’ if I am to start using the local jargon.

Luckily, our Diocesan team is a good one and one that has my trust. Our Bishop has done an excellent job of spotting good and talented people and putting those people in the right positions. I mean he hired me after all (I know…humble), but you can tell that there was genius and thought even in hiring my assistant, who recently graduated from NMU with a degree in mathematics. My assistant and I are both mathematicians, tasked with using data and our problem solving skills to push Diocesan development in new directions! This is going to be so much fun!

And then of course during these past few weeks I have also been shadowing and learning from my predecessor. Attending her retirement dinner this week, it became clear to me that for the past few decades she has been doing stewardship and development right in this Diocese: taking it slow, shaking hands, cultivating relationships, listening to people and understanding their needs, and working resources to meet those needs. I have some big shoes to fill. I hope to carry on her legacy well, and wish her the best of luck in her retirement.

But enough about work, let’s get to this weekend! Like I said, this weekend has been kind of stormy and a lot cooler outside than last weekend, so I decided to take things slow. Yesterday, I just went for a short drive, exploring the neighboring towns of Negaunee and Ishpeming, as well as Lake Michigamme.

After that I came back to town and got a pizza, went to Mass, and then just hung out in my temporary, humble, priestly apartment – balancing my time between studying math (a bit on Newtonian curvature) and watching a movie (Seven Years in Tibet). I will say that living in this priest’s apartment the past few weeks has really put me on good behavior! I have definitely become more cognizant about how I live, even when alone. Like…this is a priest’s apartment and it’s connected to our Cathedral, so maybe I shouldn’t indulge on that extra glass of wine or whiskey, or maybe I shouldn’t watch that Netflix movie or series that is full of violence and sex, maybe I should opt for something more wholesome instead, or maybe I shouldn’t sleep in just because it’s the weekend. It’s an interesting adjustment. I feel many of us are pretty good at following rules and remaining morally upright when the spotlight is upon us, but this gives the opportunity to really practice remaining in such a state when entirely alone. Honestly, more people should probably try it.

And then this morning, I decided to brave the mist, grab a cappuccino at a nearby coffee shop, and go for a long, slow morning walk about town. In doing so, I stumbled on several new sights for me – from the iconic lighthouse, to a ship coming in to pick up iron ore – and I just really started to feel like I was starting to ‘get’ this town and its culture. The place feels like a warm hug, like a Spielberg film full of nostalgia, like apple pie, hand-painted signs and Americana at its best (but with the occasional Canadian accent thrown in for good measure), like a place that had to wholly develop and define itself, alone up here on this giant peninsula in Northern Michigan. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Cheers,

-Rob