Why Jude Is My Favorite Roman Catholic Saint

 

Our daughter Joanna, in good humor, once gave me a St. Jude candle, the apostle Jude being the Saint of Lost Causes and Impossible Cases. 

She, like myself, was keenly aware of how many of my efforts over the years have proven to be largely in vain.

Here are just a few examples:

1. I came up with a plan several months ago I thought would help conflicted voters who, like myself, who didn't want to have to choose a lesser of two evils in their choice for president. Not that I didn't feel the character (and record for truth telling) of one of the candidates didn't represent a far greater evil, but in light of the record of both in supporting ever more military aid for human slaughter, for example, I and many others have had a difficult time lending our support to either. So my plan called for finding a conflicted Trump voter willing to join me in abstaining from voting for either presidential candidate this year, thus not adding to their popular vote numbers, while also not adversely affecting the outcome. In other words, we would simply be cancelling each other's vote ahead of time rather than at the ballot box.

After multiple conversations with Trump leaning friends, I finally found one person willing to engage in this plan to trade our votes. Only one. Others either didn't understand the math or felt it sent the wrong message. So while I may have succeeded in terms of my listening my own conscience, my efforts to spread the idea, while leading to some very significant conversations, never gained much traction.

2. As a strong supporter of the Virginia Relief Sale's annual effort to raise raise money to aid war and famine refugees through Mennonite Central Committee, I proposed a special fast and fundraising day for congregations. On some Sunday prior to the Sale, especially for the sake of those unable to attend in person, churches would be encouraged to promote a fast from Saturday evening to Sunday noon (simply skipping breakfast), then join in a simple rice and beans or similar meal after the Sunday service. The goal would be to raise consciousness about the poverty of millions around the world and and to have a special offering to add to the Relief Sale's fundraising effort for MCC.

I was naive enough to think at least a few congregations might at least consider this, but to no avail. In spite of blog posts, emails and sharing the idea with numerous church leaders, not one expressed any interest in actually trying such plan. Not one. So, feasting to raise funds for the hungry appears to be OK, but fasting? Not so much.

3. There have been numerous failed efforts on my part, and on the part of the Valley Interfaith Action and the Valley Justice Coalition (of which I am an active part), to bring about changes in policies in local jails. One issue I've been especially concerned about is the "keep fee" ($1  per day) charged by our local facility on Liberty Street and by the Middle River Regional Jail ($3 a day) which our City and County partly own. This arbitrary fee, permitted but not mandated by the state, places an undue and unjust burden on the families of offenders in the opinion of many of us, and actually adds a relatively small sum to the jail's annual budget.

So far, none of my efforts on this have produced any results, as has been the case with numerous other jail policies that adversely affect struggling families, often with one of its chief breadwinners being behind bars (Fortunately, there have been some modest successes on some other issues).

4. Having worked as an apprentice carpenter in numerous building projects as a young adult, I developed a special appreciation for all of the raw materials and craftsmanship that go into a well constructed building. When I see evidence of what I've come to call "domi-cide" or "home-icide," the demolishing or gutting of well built homes and other buildings primarily for the sake of profit or prestige, I find myself crusading for the preservation of existing construction whenever possible. I feel especially strongly about the "woe and waste of warfare" and its effect on life-sustaining infrastructure so necessary to human communities. 

All of this continues to fall on seemingly deaf ears as businesses, government agencies and even congregations and church supported institutions continue to demolish existing buildings at will.

5. After serving twenty years as a pastor of a well established rural congregation that was considering a half million dollar expansion, I made a career change and began to work as a counselor at the faith based Family Life Resource Center and became a pastor of Family of Hope, a living room size house church congregation. Along with a core group of fellow idealists, we had visions of house churches becoming a creative alternative for some marginalized individuals who didn't feel at home in traditional congregations. Like churches in the first century led by Jesus followers like St. Jude, we would simply worship, study, fellowship, serve, and break bread together without being burdened with expensive church real estate and paid staff.

At a 24 year FOH reunion in 2011, former FOH members from as far away as California, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Oregon, some of whom had served in places like Ethiopia, Germany, Guatemala, El Salvador and elsewhere, gathered to remember and renew ties to fellow members pf this enduring experiment. But for whatever reason, the house church model never generated a lot of support.

Meanwhile, I seem to have lost my St. Jude candle, which I could use at this stage in my life.