Father Terry is the head priest at Saint Joseph High School in South Bend, IN. There is a chapel inside the high school that Father Terry has Mass in. He shows the students how to connect their lives to Christ and how to follow God’s commandments through his homilies. Father Terry always has a smile on his face everywhere he goes. His joyous energy is contagious to the staff and students at Saint Joseph High. 

Over quarantine staying productive and keeping our faith life alive was a constant struggle for many people. Catholics could not go to Mass in person during the time of being quarantined in their homes. Some members of the Church felt the relationship they had with God was not as strong as it was before and felt they were slacking off in their faith journey. The pandemic made it harder for individuals to stay fully engaged in the connection with God. Father Terry shared with the Saint Joseph how he has been keeping up his faith life during quarantine. He is an example for everyone to how we can stay close to God during these challenging and chaotic times. 

Father Terry discusses and tells us that he spent more time in the Chapel at Saint Joseph by using the back as his office. Since Jesus dwells in the Church, he felt he was always in the God presence. Even though Father Terry was working, he knew God was with him through it all and standing by his side everyday he was in there. 

Also, Father Terry joined a reading group online. During quarantine the group read a book every week and met up to discuss what the main topics of the book was about. They read a whole series of books together and had discussions about the meaning behind the individual books. This helped his faith life by connecting the books he read to events in the Bible. By making outside connections to God’s word, it helped him to see God lessons in earthly ways. 

Father Terry is a light that God sent to Saint Joseph High School. He is in the role of Jesus here on earth in this environment of learning. He helps the students and staff to see beyond the struggles of quarantine and focus on our faith life. Staying close to God is our goal on earth because our ultimate goal is one day being with God in Heaven.