Month: January 2021

January 6, 2021 will go down as one of the darkest days in American history, and a blight upon our collective consciousness. I was taking a break at work that afternoon and logged onto Twitter only to see horrendous images of pro-Trump protestors violently storming the Capitol building. I saw them scuffling with Capitol police and chasing Congressmen and women out of the rotunda. And I saw video footage of Trump’s speech beforehand, where he told them to march down to the Capitol and help the so-called “weak Republicans” do what he wanted them to do. I immediately thought of my friends who live out that way, and worried about their safety. And I wondered how our country could let such a despicable act happen in the first place. People in third world countries living under oppressive regimes are willing to give their lives to be freed from their rulers. And we freely elected someone like Trump because we couldn’t say no to his disgusting personality and character. We looked the other way when we mocked the disabled. We looked the other way when he said misogynistic things about women, and called it “locker room talk”. We laughed when he said he could kill people in the streets and his followers wouldn’t bat an eyelash. Many of us twisted ourselves into pretzels these past four years to justify every awful thing he’s ever done in office. And we paid the price for all of it and then some on January 6^th.

Within living memory, our country has witnessed horrific events. My grandparents were kids when the Pearl Harbor attack happened. And I myself was in sixth grade as I watched the Twin Towers crumble on September 11^th. But January 6^th hit differently because it wasn’t an invasion from an outside source. This was an inside job. It was citizens of our country smashing the Capitol’s windows and chanting for the Vice President to be hung. It was citizens of our country who planted bombs and fought with senators and representatives. They did it under the guise of “patriotism.” And they did it with full encouragement from a sitting president who couldn’t handle the fact that he had lost our country’s most recent election. We should all be disgusted beyond words with what happened that day. And that disgust should extend across the political divide.

To give my readers an understanding of where I’m coming from personally, let it be said that I consider myself to be a political Independent because I don’t fit into the two-party mold. There are things that I like and dislike about both parties. I’ve criticized different politicians over the years for different reasons. And if there’s anything we should have learned from these past two election cycles, sometimes it’s better for two controversial mainstream presidential candidates to step aside and let have someone else have a shot at governing instead. I don’t entirely agree with Joe Biden’s agenda, but I voted for him because I didn’t want four more years of trouble from Donald Trump.

            As I’ve been reflecting on this tragic turn of events, Mark Twain’s words come to mind: “Patriotism is supporting your country always, and your government when it deserves it.” So to the extent that you love your country and want what is best for it, you speak out if you think the people in charge are doing a bad job. I think many people who are fed up with the Trump administration don’t hate America in and of itself. They just don’t like what it became with him being President. To the extent that they love America, they hate that we’re currently the laughingstock of the world. To the extent that they love America, they hate that our citizens elected someone who openly boasted about sexual assault on national television. To the extent that they love America, they hate that Trump went golfing on a day that other world leaders were at a global summit to discuss strategies for combatting Covid-19. To the extent that they love America, they hate that Trump called any negative media attention about him “Fake News” when the purpose of a free press is to hold the government accountable for its wrongdoings. To the extent that they love America, they hate the extreme division we’ve seen these past four years. And to the extent that they love America, they hate that a sitting president could tell the Proud Boys and other extremists to “stand by and stand down” in DC on January 6^th, and then have the gumption to tweet for everyone to remain calm when those chickens came home to roost. Like them, I wholeheartedly condemn the trouble Trump has brought to our country. I want him to be impeached, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and banned from public office for the rest of his days.

But at the same time, the real hard work begins after he leaves the White House. Because rebuilding America is more than just being the antithesis of everything that Trump stood for. Once he leaves, we can’t stew in misery and look to him as a scapegoat anymore. He could very well be in prison by that point, for all we know. So we can’t look back permanently in anger at him. We can only do that to the extent that it’s necessary. Because real patriotism demands more than that from all of us.

Once Trump receives the punishment that he justly deserves (provided that he is held accountable for his actions), and the dust settles afterward, all we’ll have left is the time that lies in front of us. It is our duty and obligation to make the most of it while we can. Eventually, we’ll have to look up and look ahead. Real patriotism is when we channel the anger and passion we’re feeling today into action towards building a better future for our country. Eventually, we need to take former president John Kennedy’s words to heart as well: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

To the extent that we love America and want it to succeed, shouldn’t we want something better than our current situation? Shouldn’t we strive to be the type of people who are worthy of something better than what Trump had to offer us? Making America Great Again cannot be reduced to a political slogan to be printed on T-shirts and red ball caps. It’s not only about pulling a lever at the ballot box every four years. And as much as we should appreciate the sacrifices our armed forces and their families make for us, it’s not entirely about military service either. It’s about the day to day business of making our country worth defending in the first place.  

If we want our leaders to be just and honest in their dealings, shouldn’t we be just and honest in ours? If we want them to be prudent and wise, shouldn’t we be prudent and wise ourselves? If we want sports fans and athletes to stand up for the national anthem at football games, shouldn’t we want to help create a country where they’d want to sing along in the first place, instead of being offended at them using their free speech rights to voice their concerns? Shouldn’t we want a criminal justice system where all are innocent until proven guilty, instead of having young kids like Tamir Rice gunned down in the street for no reason at all? Shouldn’t we want immigrants and the poor to be treated justly and fairly? Instead of getting angry at women who seek abortions, shouldn’t we support them to the extent that they’d never have to consider making that choice to begin with? Instead of complaining at the awful quality of our political discourse, shouldn’t we actively enter into dialogue with people whose worldviews are different from our own, and seek to understand where it is that they’re coming from?

Joe Biden and his cabinet will be running things over the next four years. And he’ll inevitably say and do things that not all of us will like. Not all of us voted for him, and some of us who did, myself included, don’t entirely agree with his political worldview. It’s perfectly fine to disagree with him as free citizens of this country. But to the extent that we want America to succeed, we should want to do it together, from the top to the bottom and everywhere in between. We need to work together to clear out the wreckage that Trump left behind and put something better in its place. It’ll doubtlessly be an overwhelming process. But we need to get to work if we want our country to have any type of hope for the future. Then, and only then, we can truly make America great again.

If you visit St. Philip Church in Franklin during the week, you occasionally might overhear snippets of friendly banter and music interspersed with lively discussions about faith. It’s where St. Philip staffers Greg Walton, John Angotti, and Julianne Staley, along with Holy Family parishioner Robert Feduccia, record their Living Real radio show. The show, which has been running on the Hippie Radio 94.5 channel since August 2018, seeks to provide a space where Catholics can share their everyday faith life with audiences who otherwise might not listen to religious radio programming. Hence the title “Living Real.”

            Living Real originally was not the hosts’ idea. This past summer, St. Philip parishioners Tony and Leann Didier, who own the Hippie Radio 94.5 network, a secular channel, approached St. Philip Music Director Angotti and asked him if he’d be interested in broadcasting an hour-long radio show on Sunday mornings. He agreed and in turn got Walton, Staley, and Feduccia involved. “John told me, ‘I’ve got something exciting for you and you’ll thank me,”’ said Greg Walton, Electronic Evangelization Coordinator at St. Philip. He and Angotti, both musicians, decided to bring St. Philip Youth Catechesis Coordinator Staley and renowned Catholic speaker Feduccia onboard to share their unique perspectives on faith. The first episode aired August 19, 2018.

Walton and Angotti were especially interested in the idea of sharing the Gospel message with a widespread audience. “For the most part, the only people listening to exclusively Catholic radio are Catholics,” Walton explained. “John and I often talk about ways to build a bridge between the Catholic Church and non-church people. The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes emphasizes that the mission of Jesus in the world belongs to the lay people and stresses the importance of having dialogue with the modern world. We saw this as a prime opportunity to bust out of the Catholic bubble and live that mission in a unique way.” To Walton’s knowledge, Living Real is the only Catholic-themed radio show that airs on a secular station.

The show, which airs 8-9 am every Sunday, features a guest and discussion topic, along with music, in a laid-back, conversational atmosphere. Past guests have included St. Philip pastors Frs. Gervan Menezes and Bala Marneni, Bishop Mark Spalding, and musicians Steve Angrisano, the Annie Moses Band, and Clay Walker. Sometimes the show covers hot-button issues in the Church, such as the sex abuse crisis and the loss of faith among young adults. But most often, Living Real showcases the guests’ personal experiences with faith and belief. The most popular episode so far, for example, was centered on the Annie Moses Band’s family conversion story from the Church of Christ to Catholicism. In the future, Living Real’s hosts hope to feature musician Matt Maher and Catholic author Matthew Kelly.

All the show’s guests are acquainted with the hosts in some way, shape or form. “We get most of our guests from our own encounters,” Walton explained. “Half our guests attend St. Philip. John, Robert and I all travel quite a bit doing itinerant ministry. We meet a lot of interesting people.”

The St. Philip parish community has been very supportive of the Living Real show. “People stop me regularly at St. Philip to thank us for doing the show and share what they enjoyed about it. I’ve never received any negative feedback,” Walton said. “Franklin is the central residence for a lot of musical artists, so the parish has been a great source for some our guests: Clay Walker, Jared Weeks of Saving Abel, Tyler Chiarelli of Florida Georgia Line and Cimorelli. I’ve rigged our system so remote guests can connect over Skype. It takes financial support as well. Airtime costs money. The show was initially underwritten by World Library Publications. Currently, St. Philip parishioner owned Closets by Design of Nashville is our sponsor.”

So far, Living Real has been promoted through radio, through word of mouth and on social media, with plans to expand that in the future. “Hippie Radio creates liners for each upcoming episode. They begin airing them on Thursday up to the broadcast on Sunday morning,” Walton said. “We have our own link on the St. Philip website that goes to the Living Real section of our Media Page, StPhilipFranklin.com/living/. The page features our SoundCloud playlist with the latest episode on top. We do weekly updates about the newest podcast and upcoming broadcast on the St. Philip Facebook Page, Twitter, the Living Real Facebook page and FlockNote. We run a regular cycling promotion through the St. Philip hall TV’s and do a weekend announcement and parish bulletin post when there is room. We plan to get the word out to our neighboring parishes in the diocese, including a weekly blurb for the Diocesan E Register.”

            Walton’s favorite part of co-hosting the show is getting to know guests and learning about their diverse backgrounds. “I’m inspired by the perspectives of our guests, most of whom are in our own backyard,” he said. “It reflects the variety in the Body of Christ: Tolkien experts, working musicians, seminarians, youth, former shock jocks. I’m amazed at how their progress in faith has shaped their lives in the mainstream.”

He strongly encourages all who are interested to listen the show on Sunday mornings. “To quote our parish’s patron saint, ‘Come and see!’” Walton said. “Join us on Living Real Radio as we focus on faith, real life and real issues, featuring special guests, thought provoking topics and inspiring music.”

Those wanting to listen can tune into 94.5 FM from 8-9 am on Sunday mornings. Those wanting to listen to past episodes can find them through Apple Podcasts, on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/stphilipfranklin/sets/living-real-radio, or St. Philip’s media website at  https://stphilipfranklin.com/media/.

In July 2018, just a few short months after moving to Hendersonville from San Diego, a cousin from Arizona sent Rosemary Geiger information about a special ministry she might want to start at Our Lady of the Lake Church. The ministry is called the Seven Sisters Apostolate, and its purpose is to gather groups of seven women to keep priests and bishops lifted up in prayer. “She knew I had a devotion and love of our Catholic priests and thought this would be a ministry I would be interested in,” Geiger said. She immediately set about starting an apostolate at the parish with incredible results.

Once Geiger began praying for priests in Adoration, she found it very easy to find other women to join her. “Whenever I visited the Adoration chapel, I would see other women there to pray. I explained the apostolate to them and invited them to join,” she explained. She also asked for help from Bible study friends and the parish’s Director of Hispanic Religious Education. Since then, Our Lady of the Lake has formed three apostolate groups with 30 members among them: one for the parish pastor Eric Fowlkes, one for its associate pastor Father Thomas Kalam, and one for a former priest from the parish who returned home to India.

Throughout the diocese, four other groups have also been established: one at St. Lawrence, one at St. Edward, one at St. Pius X, and one that’s specifically for Bishop Mark Spalding. Apostolates for bishops require even greater membership and commitment, Geiger said. “7 women in the morning, 7 women in the afternoon and 7 women in the evening.”

Each member commits to a Holy Hour every week, on a set day of the week. This is to ensure that the priest or bishop is consistently lifted up in prayer throughout the year. The members may make their Holy Hours at the same parish each time if they want to but are not required to do so. This allows for flexibility if members happen to be traveling and cannot pray at their home parish. They only need to find either the nearest adoration chapel or parish with a tabernacle. In the event of an emergency, if a member cannot make her Holy Hour, she must have a substitute fill in for her. Men may become substitutes if invited to do so, but the apostolate is specifically geared towards women. Members must commit to a full year to the apostolate, and after that period may discern if they wish to continue.

Each chapter has seven core members, with one serving as Anchoress, and at least one or two others acting as substitutes. The Anchoress is the chapter’s leader. She serves for at least two years and is responsible for communicating with the chapter’s parish priest, relaying monthly updates from the Seven Sisters General Coordinator, helping coordinate substitutes for members who need one, answering members’ questions, and ensuring that members stay faithful to the mission.

The apostolate is not necessarily aimed at praying for individual priests, but rather for the institutional priesthood. In practical terms, this means that apostolates pray for the priests who have been assigned to their parish until he has been moved elsewhere, in which case they pray for his replacement. This also means that contact with the priest is kept to a minimum. A group’s Anchoress may reach out with a letter to the priest to let him know that her apostolate is praying for him, but all other contact must be initiated by the priest as needed.  

The first Seven Sisters chapter was founded in 2011 by Janette Howe, a parishioner at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota. Howe felt moved to pray for her pastor, Father Joseph Johnson, upon witnessing his generous friendship with her family and all he did to care for their parish. She decided to do this on a regular basis in the form of a weekly Holy Hour. On one such occasion, the phrase “Seven Sisters” came to her mind. She sensed God calling her to invite six other women to join her. When she spoke about this to Father Johnson, he advised her to start the ministry with 7 other parishes in the diocese; 49 women all together. The apostolate has since grown to more than 900 chapters around the country and the world. Howe still serves as the ministry’s General Coordinator, helping to establish new chapters and keeping in touch with chapter Anchoresses to assist them as needed. In addition to being the Anchoress at Our Lady of the Lake, Geiger has also recently been appointed Coordinator for the Nashville diocese.

Geiger thinks it is very important to pray for priests. “`St. John Vianney, the patron of priests, once said, “When people want to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest.” He also stated “`Without priests there would be no Catholic Church,’” she said.

She also encourages all women who are interested to start a group at their parish. “Never has there been an easier ministry to commit to. Please call me and I will be happy to help all parishes begin a Seven Sisters Apostolate group.” Geiger can be reached by phone at 760-505-6625 or via email at mysrose@att.net.

The coronavirus crisis has been rough for Catholics around the world, with many churches and schools being temporarily closed, public Masses not being said, Holy Week and Easter services being suspended, and retreats and other events being postponed until further notice or cancelled altogether. But it has affected nuns in a unique way since they live in community with each other. The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia and the Sisters of Mercy, two congregations of nuns here in Nashville, have had to take extra precautions lately with the ways in which they interact with each other and how they live out their apostolates.

The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia have more than 300 members in their congregation, spread to roughly 50 different locations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Scotland. Those who live outside of Nashville are currently sheltering in place where they are.

            Fortunately for them, the Sisters are one of the youngest religious congregations in the country, with the average age of its members being 36 years old. Because of this, they are overall less likely to contract the disease or have severe symptoms if they do catch it. “Thanks be to God, we’re all still healthy,” Sr. Anne Catherine, O.P. said. “We don’t have too many elderly sisters among us, but we are taking extra care of the ones who are. We’ve been following all the CDC guidelines for social distancing: not going out unless it’s necessary, not traveling, keeping 6 feet apart from each other, keeping things extra clean around the convent, and washing our hands a lot more frequently than we used to.”

            Because the Dominicans are a teaching and preaching order, and the sisters teach in schools throughout the diocese at the elementary, high school, and college levels, their teaching life has changed dramatically in the recent weeks. “When it was announced that diocesan schools have all been temporarily shut down, our teaching operations all got moved to the main building of our motherhouse,” Sr. Anne Catherine said. “Since it was built in 1860, the wi-fi there was practically non-existent at the time. We all worked around the clock to get our internet updated there so we could make the transition to online lessons for our students.”

            Additionally, the sisters have been offering extra spiritual support to their students. “The sisters at Overbrook and St. Cecilia have both been compiling spiritual resources for students and their families,” Sr. Anne Catherine said. “They’ve been putting together pages on their schools’ websites with links to prayers, Masses that are streaming online, homilies from different churches, and much more.”

            The Sisters of Mercy are a much smaller community, with only 21 sisters in their convent. Their congregation in particular is classified as a retirement community, said Sr. Suzanne Stalm, RSM, with many of the sisters no longer involved in active ministry. Their convent does host retreats, though, and the last one it hosted was on March 7^th. “On March 11^th, we received a letter from the leadership of our order with guidelines for how to move forward, and all of our retreats planned through the end of May have been cancelled. Until June, we’re not allowed to have outside visitors.”

            Additionally, their community has been extra careful with how they’ve been interacting with each other and how often they go out. “For starters, we don’t touch each other at all, and we’ve been washing our hands a lot more often now. We didn’t go out much in the first place, but now people on our staff are the only ones who can go out to purchase necessities for us. And we’ve been keeping more space between each other during meal times.”

            Both congregations haven’t been able to go to Mass lately, but they still pray together in community and privately. After all, praying is the most important thing the sisters can do at the moment. “We’ve been praying more fervently than ever this past month,” Sr. Anne Catherine said. “We’ve been lifting up the coronavirus victims, victims from the recent tornadoes in Tennessee, healthcare workers, for our students and their families, and all who have been affected by this crisis. And we pray most especially that it will all come to an end soon.”

2011 Father Ryan graduate Ryan Dahlhauser wasn’t always a fan of the great outdoors when he was little, but it grew on him as he got older. His parents sent him and his brothers to Camp Marymount over the summers, and he didn’t take well to that for a while. But eventually he fell in love with it while attending Senior Camp at Marymount, which allows campers more freedom to choose their own activities and the opportunity to form close friendships with the counselors. Since then, Dahlhauser’s outdoor adventures have taken him around the country on many extended hiking and backpacking trips; including a 2,600 mile hike up the Pacific Coast Trail that he completed this in September 2018; his longest and most ambitious to date.

            After making a 110-mile hiking trip up the Appalachian Trail in summer 2015 with two of his friends, and several shorter excursions up the Trail over the next few years, Daulhauser became a seasoned veteran hiker, completing over 400 miles through Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. In summer 2016, his roommate was taking his own trip up the Appalachian Trail and called him to tell him how much he was enjoying it. During their conversation, he tried to convince Daulhauser to consider hiking the Pacific Coast Trail in its entirety in 2018. The trail, which begins at the Mexican border and runs all the way to the Canadian border, was unlike anything he’d ever done before.

He said no at first, but, as with many of his previous outdoor experiences, the idea grew on him. “I googled it and started watching videos, looking at pictures, reading books and listening to podcasts and eventually I fell in love with this idea of doing the trail,” Daulhauser explained. “I knew this would be one of the greatest accomplishments of my life, provide a great way to see our natural world and make memories and friends of a lifetime. I wanted to really test myself mentally and physically. As I went on more Appalachian hikes, it became clear to me that I could make it. Over time I did my research and gathered all my gear, dialed in my base weight (all gear minus food and water) to a lightweight level and decided that April 2018 I would begin. I researched countless vlogs, articles, talked to past hikers, read gear reviews, went on multi-day hikes to test gear out, and much more. It took about two years of planning, but I enjoyed every second of it.”

            Sharing his plans with his family and friends elicited mixed reactions at first, but his experienced hiking background helped soothe their fears. “Most of my friends were prepared for this,” Daulhauser said. “My friends I mentioned before had hiked the Appalachian Trail, so they knew what to expect. I slowly hinted at it starting in 2016 so everyone had time to know I was leaving. All in all, my friends and family were very supportive. I believe all my hikes on the Appalachian Trail and knowing that I had a friend who accomplished a big hike as well helped everyone know that I could do this. I’d say my parents were the most nervous and hesitant at first out of anyone, but over time they came around and truly were my biggest fans and support system. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

            Daulhauser’s family and friends, along with the many new friends he made along the way, were a huge source of support to him during his trip as he was struck by illnesses and injuries. Around mile 1200, as he reached Oregon, he had severe swelling in his left foot after wearing the same pair of shoes for several hundred miles and failing to replace the inserts in them. His parents and brothers came to his rescue, sending him a new pair of shoes to the nearest town, and visiting him as he recovered at an Air BNB. Over the following weeks, he also came down with the stomach flu and a fungal infection in his injured foot. He fell behind as he took more unplanned time off to recover, and an old college friend drove him 100 miles to reunite him with his trail buddies. But through it all, Daulhauser endured and never lost sight of his goal to finish the trail. “I never wanted to get off the trail early and regret it. I started this, and I wanted to finish it,” he said.

            Highlights of his trip include climbing Mt. Whitney in California and experiencing snow in Washington. He scaled Mt. Whitney’s 14,500 feet in near freezing weather wearing shorts with some of his trail friends and “got high fives the whole way up,” he said. “At the top you got a wonderful 360-degree view and could see towns and mountains we had passed already in the distance.” Towards the end of his trip, just 50 miles away from Canada, he and a trail friend got caught in freezing rain that turned into snow. Daulhauser had to keep moving to keep his blood flowing, and at one point was doing jumping jacks and running in place while his friend was hurrying to catch up to him.

            He’s already considering future trips; and to take any family and friends who want to go. “I hope to continue hiking sections of the AT over the course of my life. Only 1600 miles to go!” he said. “I’d also like to hike the entire Continental Divide Trail one day, 3100 miles, maybe when I retire. I’d like to do some smaller hikes, like the Arizona Trail (700 miles) or the Colorado Trail (500 miles). I’d also really like to revisit the John Muir Trail (200+ miles in the Sierras), one of the most beautiful stretches in the world, and re-hike the Washington section when it isn’t so cold and foggy. I’d love to bring and friends and family who wanted to come along for the ride.”

To an outsider, it would at first seem that Paul and Teresa Davis were hosting an ordinary party. Old friends greeted each other with hugs and hellos. Young parents held babies with one hand and cups of beer or iced tea in the other as they chatted with acquaintances. Small children gleefully scampered around the room, giggling and shrieking as they played. Guests piled their plates high with macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and hot chicken.

            But upon looking closer, certain details revealed that this was an altogether different type of gathering. A framed red and purple rugby jersey graced one wall near the door. Near another wall there hung a quilt, the patches representing a variety of sports teams and extracurricular school activities. And on every table, there sat pictures of a brown-haired young man whose bright-eyed smile never seemed to fade. This was Raise Your Glass, a memorial celebration for the Davises’ youngest son Kevin, who had died in March 2012.

            He was a junior at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, on spring break with his then-girlfriend Audrey. The pair took a cruise to Mexico and their ship stopped in Cozumel one day. They rented a moped to explore the city, with Kevin driving. Joyfully, they zipped and darted through the cobblestoned streets; until Kevin hit a pothole and the duo was thrown from the vehicle. Audrey survived, though she was badly injured. Kevin didn’t make it.

Paul was the first to hear of his son’s passing. He’s the principal of Father Ryan High School in Nashville, the Catholic school that was Kevin’s alma mater. School had just let out the afternoon of March 19^th, and he received a phone call from Norwegian Cruise Lines saying Kevin had been in an accident. The woman on the other end of the line gave him a phone number to the hospital, but they told him there was no patient by the name of Kevin Davis. Desperately, Paul contacted friends for help. Within an hour, one of them was able to put him in touch with a woman from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico. “Mr. Davis, I’ve got some bad news,” she said. “I know,” Paul replied. “He passed.” “Yes, I’m so sorry,” she said.

And with that short exchange, the Davis family’s life changed forever. Kevin, who, as a child would do his homework in the car so he could hang out with friends after school; who befriended almost everyone he met; whose smile lit up the hallways of Father Ryan High School; who was best known for his ability to live life to the fullest; was gone. “He was the type of guy who could take an ember and make a flame out of it,” his uncle Tucker Davis once told me. “Even if you were already having a good day, seeing him would make it 10 times better.” Paul rarely left home in the weeks to follow. It was devastating that the world felt so empty with just one person missing from it.

And yet, Kevin’s story doesn’t end there. His friends, his family, and countless people around Nashville’s Catholic community made sure of that. Father Ryan canceled classes the day after his passing, yet many students still gathered on the school’s football field to offer up a rosary for the Davises. In the weeks to come, countless rosaries, Masses, and spiritual bouquets would be offered up for them. More than 1000 people showed up at Kevin’s funeral and offered their love and support to his family. And many benefactors to Father Ryan donated generous sums of money to the school in his name. This is how the Kevin Paul Davis Memorial Scholarship came about. And it’s how I found myself in Father Ryan’s dining hall to honor Kevin at Raise Your Glass. In addition to being a memorial celebration for him, it’s also an annual fundraiser for the scholarship that bears his name.

Scholarship applicants must be rising seniors with at least a 3.0 grade average. They must be active participants in their school and local communities. They must need the money to help pay their tuition at Father Ryan. And, as a special nod to Kevin, they must write an essay briefly describing their personal definitions of what it means to live life to the fullest. Since May 2013, Paul and Teresa have awarded this scholarship at the end of the school year, at Father Ryan’s Academic Awards Night celebration. More than 28 students have benefitted from it since its inception.

The first Raise Your Glass fundraiser was not the Davises’ idea. Their friends Mike and Barbara Barrett hosted it at their home in 2013. “They were very supportive of us and made everything happen. They put it all together themselves,” Teresa said. She and Paul were so moved by the turnout and the tributes to Kevin that they decided to continue what the Barrett family had started. From 2014 until now, they’ve hosted it on the school’s campus.

            Teresa shared this with me as we sat together at Panera on a September afternoon in 2015. I’m a reporter for the Tennessee Register, the diocesan newspaper for the Catholic community in Nashville. I’ve known the Davis family for quite some time, having known Kevin and his older brother Philip since our middle school days together at Christ the King School in Nashville. Upon learning that I wrote for the paper, Teresa contacted me to ask if I would consider doing a Register piece about Raise Your Glass. “Of course,” I said.

            So there we were for about an hour, as she answered the questions I had jotted down on a notepad and expressed her gratitude for all our local Catholic community had done to support her and her family in their time of need. “There’s a lot of good that’s happened to us since Kevin’s passing,” she said. “We just wish it didn’t have to come at so high a cost.”

            A few weeks later, I went to Raise Your Glass for the first time and would return every year to honor Kevin’s memory. It was a night of joy mingled with grief; a celebration of life amidst the pain of death. It began with Mass offered in the school’s chapel. Father Joe McMahon, a priest friend of the Davis family, reminded the congregation that loss and suffering can only be fully understood in light of the Resurrection of Jesus; that from death comes new life, if we would but have the eyes to see it.

            After Mass, the crowd moved to the dining hall. More than 200 people packed the room; all of them there to pay tribute to the young man who had touched their lives in a special way. The space was filled with the aromas of food and the chatter of friendly conversation; punctuated by shouts of laughter and the occasional babies’ cries. Young and old, they showed up; from Kevin’s teachers from Christ the King and Father Ryan to his friends; many of whom were married and now parents themselves. Several alumni-owned restaurants and breweries were on hand to provide barbecue, hot chicken, and beer. The strains of an acoustic guitar rang out as Father Ryan English teacher Randy Lancaster sang and strummed a few ditties. Kevin, though he was no longer alive, was still bringing people together, just like he did on Earth.

            As the night drew near to its close, Paul got up to address the crowd. It was here that we were getting to the heart of Raise Your Glass; and why we gathered in the first place. After his speech, we would assemble outside in the school’s courtyard to launch sky lanterns; an ancient custom practiced during China’s Ghost Festival to honor the dead. Olivia Chan, a friend of the Davises whose father is from Hong Kong, introduced them to this tradition shortly after Kevin’s passing. Since then, Kevin’s loved ones launch them at every Raise Your Glass and every special occasion where they miss him the most. They also remember those within the Father Ryan community who died within the past year.

            But before we went outside, Paul had something to say. He recalled the many acts of kindness and generosity their family had experienced since Kevin’s passing, which he saw as signs of God’s providence. “As Kevin and Philip were growing up, Teresa always reminded them that they were never alone. They were never cut off from their friends, their family, or God, no matter how hard things got,” he said. “And yet, when Kevin died, we never felt so alone in our lives. When you go through dark times like that, it’s hard to see people’s acts of love and kindness.”

            Still, signs of God’s love showed up everywhere. “I believe there is a thin veil separating this life and the next,” he said, “and I am now convinced that God was with us through it all.” He related the stories of close friends and family doing everything in their power to bring Kevin’s body back to Nashville in time for his wake and funeral after airlines delayed his flight home. At one point, the plane containing Kevin’s remains stopped on a layover in Atlanta. Some of Kevin’s classmates just so happened to be at the same airport on a layover during their own travels. When the body finally did arrive, Kevin’s uncle and godfather helped deliver him to the funeral home and stayed with him overnight before the visitation. Still other close friends of Kevin were the pallbearers at his funeral. “It’s hard asking 20-year-old boys for their help in laying their friend to rest, and yet they did,” Paul continued.

            “There is a scene in Kevin’s favorite movie Gladiator, in which the character Maximus is speaking to fellow gladiator Juba. Maximus has lost his son and his wife at the hands of corrupt Roman officials, and he and Juba have both been kidnapped by slave traders and sold to a gladiator trainer. Maximus asks Juba if he’ll see his family again. ‘You’ll meet your wife and son again,’ Juba says to Maximus, ‘but not yet. Not yet.’ In the same way, we believe we’ll see Kevin again someday,” Paul said. “But not yet. Not yet.” He ended his speech by thanking everyone once more for their love and generosity and invited us to follow him outside for the lantern launch.

As we headed out into the school’s courtyard, Father Ryan graduate Julian Gomez played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes. Julian, who leads the Father Ryan football team onto the field during games, played at Kevin’s burial. When he ordered his traditional bagpiper’s garb from the House of Tartan in Scotland, the colors for his uniform were supposed to be blue, green, red, and white. He asked if instead the blue could be replaced with purple; as a tribute to Kevin since it’s one of Father Ryan’s official school colors. The manufacturer initially said no, but upon learning about Kevin and how he had touched the Father Ryan community so deeply, he made it purple just for him.

As Julian’s somber notes drifted into the air, seeming to carry the lanterns with them, a sense of longing washed over the crowd. Kevin’s presence, like the lanterns dotting the dusky sky, was so close, and yet so far away; just beyond our reach. And we don’t know the day or the hour when we will meet him once more. We will see him again; but not yet. Not yet. But for now, there is much unfinished business that lies ahead of us.

            The greatest tribute any of us can pay to Kevin is to live our lives to the fullest, as he did; and to take our cues from the Author of Life Himself, who was Kevin’s greatest inspiration. “I came that you might have life, and have it in abundance,” Jesus said in Saint John’s gospel.

            Our God is not a God of death, or of the sorrow, suffering, and other evils that come with it. Those characteristics don’t define Him in any way, shape or form. Indeed, His very essence is Being and Existence itself, and the love that sets Being and Existence into motion. He truly is “the love that moves the sun and other stars,” as the medieval poet Dante Alighieri put it. And to prove it, He contended with death and evil themselves on the cross and won. His disciples went to His tomb three days later looking to visit a corpse only to discover that it somehow was no longer there.

            Those of us who follow this Christ, this crucified God, know that every cross we face in this life is not the end of the story. We who share in the Lord’s life and Passion will also hopefully one day share in His Resurrection. We recall this every time we gather for Mass and profess the Nicene Creed together: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

            Our faith teaches us that the Body of Christ does not exist in its entirety only on this earth. Those whom the Davises remember at Raise Your Glass have joined what G.K. Chesterton called the Democracy of the Dead. “Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about,” he wrote in his book Orthodoxy. “All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom. Tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father.”

            Those within that democracy who are in heaven make up what the Church calls the Communion of Saints. They are those who, because of the holiness of their earthly lives, enjoy the beatific vision of God in all its fullness and splendor. Our greatest hope as Christians is to one day join them. But for now, our time on Earth is not complete until the Lord wills it.

            For now, our lives continue without Kevin and our other loved ones who have gone before us. They continue through our greatest joys and most agonizing pains; through friends and family members getting married; through their children being born; through birthday parties and holiday celebrations and graduations; through Friday night football games as a kilted bagpiper leads a team of young men onto the field to the roar of a purple-clad crowd; through funerals; through daily prayers and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; and through lanterns launched and glasses raised to Kevin, who can’t be here for any of it. But we hope that every step we take forward in this life, as unsteady or uncertain as they may be, will somehow lead us to our true home in Heaven; where we will one day be reunited with Kevin; with all of our loved ones who have entered eternity before us, and with the Lord, who has prepared a place for us there.

            Every fall, Kevin’s loved ones gather on Father Ryan’s campus to hear Mass together, to share food and fellowship, to shed a tear or two as memories of him are recalled, and to watch sky lanterns drift away into the fading evening light as a kilted bagpiper named Julian plays “Amazing Grace.” And in all their stories and recollections of Kevin they share; in every tribute, celebration, and glass raised to him; they look forward to that glorious day when they’ll finally reunite with him forever, when all grief and sorrow will be cast aside, and they will once more behold him face to face.