Chase Hilgenbrinck - Professional Player to Priest

"I couldn’t have dreamed this up for myself. I think that’s what’s truly divine about it." 1  

Even if we had an above average dedication and love for the game, most of us simply lack the natural talent to become a professional player. When someone does have that talent, it’s easy to think that it was meant to be, that it’s a gift from God; yet, this week’s Cool Cat serves to remind us that there are gifts greater than promising athletic careers.

In 2008, Chase Hilgenbrinck walked away from a career in the MLS to join the seminary. He didn’t walk away while he was near retirement, nor because he was injured. He had just spent four years playing professional soccer in Chile, becoming something of a celebrity, and had just signed up for a short stint with the Revolution. It was after only four games that Chase made the break, cutting off the Revolution’s offer of extending his contract. He instead switched to a career where heaven’s the limit.

Of course, God’s call did not become apparent to him overnight. After making his childhood faith his own during his college years, it became his cornerstone while he was in Chile. Separated from everyone he knew, Chase became terribly lonely, so he turned to the one thing he did know: the church. Not lacking for time, Chase would take advantage of the peaceful space to think about why professional soccer didn’t feel fulfilling, and why he felt lonely even with a girlfriend. It was tough eventually giving up the desire for a wife and kids, but through prayer Chase found himself moving naturally toward his new vocation.

And how did he celebrate the end of his discernment? With champagne! Such is the act of man who did not feel cheated in being called away from the pros. Though it was an act so counter-cultural as to make headlines, it did not surprise those who actually knew him.

Three years into his seminary education, how does he feel about his decision? “At the time I left soccer, I wanted to be obedient to my faith and to the call of God I heard in my life,” Hilgenbrinck said. “I never realized that I would be as happy as I am actually going through with everything.” (MSLsoccer.com)

If your interest has been piqued by this week’s kicking cool cat, be sure to check out the articles listed below, which each provide a more thorough and better written account of his life than this lowly blog post.

More on Chase Hilgenbrinck:

"Chase Hilgenbrinck, from the pitch to the priesthood" (ESPN)

"What Ever Happened To ... Chase Hilgenbrinck" (MLSsoccer.com)

1WBALT Interview

L'Angelus - Amazing Cajun Music

Once upon a time, sometime in the 90’s, a certain Linda Rees formed Linda Lou and the Lucky 4 with her four oldest children. They pleased their audiences with old country songs and old rock tunes, but as they were originally from Lafayette, Louisiana, they were fated to return to their Cajun roots. Those four siblings, Katie, Paige, Johnny, and Stephen, are now bringing the joie de vivre as L’Angelus, your premiere Catholic Cajun band.

It’s gotta be that we’re living our lives fully and not afraid of being right there in the middle of society and bringing Christ’s love and joy wherever we go. -Katie

Even if you aren’t Catholic, L’Angelus has the appeal of being a finalist in Billboard’s Independent Music World Series (2006), and has been featured in the PBS documentary, Washing Away. Not to mention, they’ve been interviewed on RTE (Ireland’s prominent radio station) and the BBC. But, if you are Catholic, their World Youth Day appearance just makes them that much cooler.

Being both Cajun and Catholic is not a combination in the sense of chocolate and ice cream, two great things that together make one great thing. Rather, their roots and faith are so intertwined, it’s more like a guitar (their faith) and its strings (their upbringing): together they work, separate they don’t.

We wanted to have that Cajun identity… it’s such an authentically Catholic culture that the faith is not separated from other things, other aspects in your life. It was a natural way to let…the faith influence everything. –Katie, the oldest, from Life on the Rock

Their name is the most obvious manifestation of this fusion of faith and culture. L’Angelus is the French name for the Angelus, a prayer that you hopefully know. At the sound of bells, the community would stop what they were doing to pray the Angelus together, a practice going back hundreds of years to the original French settlers.

Being named for a universal prayer, it makes sense that L’Angelus themselves have toured Europe in addition to the Unites States and Canada. What’s more, their songs range from the fun-loving “Rice and Gravy” to solemn hymns, and they try to only perform in family venues so everyone can come. Their typical performances could be classified as secular, but that does not dampen their perceived mission in serving Christ and facing the culture war:

We need to go right there into the middle of our culture, the middle of our society…to look at what’s good around us, the natural and the supernatural things, and say this is what we’re going to write songs about and how do we celebrate life and bring joy when often there is none. -Kate

Be sure to sample their albums (Ça C'est Bon, Sacred Hymns, O Night Divine) on Amazon. Or, sign up for their mailing list and get a free download!

More on L'Angelus:
Band website
Life on the Rock Interview (2012)

Tom Shadyac - Hollywood Director

"Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous."

Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor, Bruce Almighty…the guy is behind some of the biggest comedies of our generation. Yet, his most significant work is likely to be a documentary that seeks to answer two rather sober questions: What’s wrong with the world, and what can we do about it? I Am is the name of this work, and though Christian readers will recognize it as a Biblical reference, Shadyac claims it to be serendipitous, albeit one that was not an accident. (Dialog)

Several articles on the web state that 2011’s I Am is the product of a journey that began after Shadyac’s 2007 biking accident, an accident which left him with a concussion and lasting head trauma. Plagued with migraines and other symptoms, the director did not even know how long he had to live. It was a dark night of the soul, to be sure, but it was merely one more stage in the spiritual journey that has been Shadyac’s life, not the start of it.

Though Shadyac was raised Roman Catholic, he questioned its dogma and "exclusivity" for years. Questioning, however, is a good thing when done in the interest of pursuing truth, and it is at the very heart of our faith to seek out truth. As is clear from his having read Augustine and Thomas Merton, not to mention the rest of this LIST, Shadyac is very active in this pursuit. When asked about what he finds in common with all the spiritual authors he’s read, he answers:

“They all go within, where you have to remove yourself from the distractions of the world and find yourself within[…]But there's this intuition, that voice inside saying there's something to this. And that's what faith is. That's what I find in all the great religions--quiet down, be still and know that I am God. Go into that quiet place, Jesus said, and shut the door. And listen for me there. And then bring that out into the world.” (Beliefnet)

To listen to that voice, he attends silent retreats and practices Lectio Divina.

Though I Am took him to thinkers from all over the world, and through the depths of human existence, it was not his only film to ask hard hitting questions. Does the truth really set us free? See Liar Liar (1997). Is God ambivalent toward our suffering? See Patch Adams (1998). And, of course, how do you get someone to love you without affecting free will? 2003’s Bruce Almighty brings us God’s response via Morgan Freeman: “Welcome to my world, son.”

Yet, if Shadyac’s journey could only be evidenced by his portfolio, there’d be a superficialness to it.

God demands much more than our skin deep affections; He is known for demanding us in our entirety, and it should be noted that Shadyac’s extreme downsizing from an extravagant Hollywood lifestyle to a mobile home park, one that had made him grow rich in neighbors and happiness, was a gradual process that predated the bike crash. What the bike crash did was to compel him to open up about his journey, and in doing so invite others to see what connects humanity, the good and the lack thereof.

A cool cat caveat:

I found several articles that designate Tom Shadyac as a “professed” and a “devout” Catholic, and he may well be, but those words mean very little in a society where “Catholics” openly support abortion, same-sex marriage, and the infringement of Catholics’ liberties. This makes searching for cool cats difficult. Though my research didn’t turn up any mention of the sacraments, I’ll let Shadyac speak on his own behalf: “Do I support this or that? Am I pre-Vatican II or post-Vatican II? Jesus said, ‘You understand the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law,’” he said. “If Catholic means I have some exclusivity on the truth, I would say no, but (yes) if you say I’ve given my full life and my heart to God and given myself over to Jesus.” (Dialog)

In any case, I believe his spirituality is a Catholic one, even if I cannot vouch for what manifests in his practice of the religion.

More on Tom Shadyac:
I Am Official website
IMDB
"Crossing Over With Tom Shadyac" (Beliefnet)
"From Ace to the Almighty" (Christianity Today)
"I Am grew from Catholic director's spiritual journey" (The Dialog)
"Interviewing Tom Shadyac" (Indie Movies Online)

Etsuro Sotoo - Sculptor of La Sagrada Familia

So I really have to get to know each piece of rock because I can’t change the character of the rock… So I’m not going to change the rock; the rock is going to change me. I discovered a mystery.  

When Etsuro Sotoo left his home in Fukuoka, Japan to visit Spain in 1978, he had only meant to learn more about sculpting stone, but seeing Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia caused his jaw to drop and has anchored him there ever since. So fascinated was he that he tried to communicate with the disciples of the principal sculptor, the late great Gaudi, even though he didn’t speak Spanish or Catalan. He showed them some photos of his work, and this led to the wacky misunderstanding of hiring him to finish Gaudi’s work rather than to study under them. Incidentally, the job of trying to finish Gaudi’s vision would become the most all engrossing tutelage that Sotoo could have imagined.

Sotoo was obsessed for years in trying to understand Gaudi, and many nights went sleepless, to which Spanish wine became an aid. But finally, he made a breakthrough: looking at Gaudi was not enough, he had to look where Gaudi looked. That was, of course, at nature, and this revelation proved most fruitful.


                                                  

Every day the good words of Jesus are spoken. Gaudí had to express this very important work, and he also learned from nature and used nature… But in nature you find fruit and many leaves.…So the fruit is our soul, our heart. And this is why Gaudí wanted all this fruit. 

And at the top of everything there’s fresh, ripe, colorful fruit with no leaves because when our body gives up, our soul rises. When a person has heard a lot of good words and has read a lot of good books, his soul is ripe fruit, but up there there are no words; you don’t need any words. 

Indeed, it’s not enough to mimic someone by their actions, or to scrutinize the product they leave behind. You must look where they are looking, and it was through searching for the object of Gaudi’s gaze that Sotoo found God, the creator of nature, beauty, and mystery. “I invite everyone who wants to understand Gaudí to not pick the wrong door. If you really want to know him, find the the door of spirit and faith.” 1 It would be only a matter of time before he converted to Roman Catholicism.

Etsuro Sotoo has sculpted hundreds of pieces for the Sagrada Familia, has been a university professor, and is a recipient of the Ars Spiritis Prize of Lladro and the Fukuoka Prize for Culture. 

It’s the most important place, but it’s a pelican. It’s a symbol of the love of a mother, the symbol of the love of God. Because we can’t say that a physical object is the love of God. But the love of a parent to his or her children is the love of God.

The only way was you’d have to set two boards, and there was 16 meters, which is over 100 feet down; it was nothing. And why did Gaudí hide the love of God in such a difficult place? Because
the love of God, the love of your mother, if you’re near, you can’t see.

Italicized sections were taken from a transcript of Etsuro Sotoo's talk at Fordham University in New York (the year is obscured by a typo). I encourage you to read the entire thing to benefit from this incredibly thoughtful and reflective artist.

More on Etsuro Sotoo:

1 The Scultpor Who Became Catholic (Rome Reports)

Gaudi Calls the Future  (Crossroad Cultural Center transcript)

Gaudi Club 

Louise Summerhill - Founder of Birthright International

The idea was revolutionary: be there for women. To be there, to love, and to not judge. Welcome to Birthright International.

Birthright was founded in 1968 shortly after abortion became legal in Canada. Louise Summerhill, a mother of seven who had experienced unplanned pregnancy herself, felt that the best way to act against this unjust law was to act justly toward women in a way that did not include picketing and slinging insults at politicians. No, Birthright has always been non-political and it refuses the label of “anti-abortion.” They are pro-love and pro-having-babies-with-love.  “We can save millions of babies. We can get the laws of abortion changed, but if we have not love, we are nothing, we are just nothing." (Georgia Bulletin)

In addition to face to face counseling, Birthright offers a hotline, free pregnancy tests, diapers, and other assorted baby items. It is run entirely by donation and every Birthright member is a volunteer.

Many of the volunteers happen to be Catholic—as is, of course, Louise Summerhill—but the organization is interdenominational. The mission to tend to our sisters is not reserved for Catholics alone, but Birthright is no less universal, with over 600 offices around the world.

There isn’t much on the net on Summerhill’s personal life, but her vision speaks volumes about her character as a woman of Christ.

More on Louise Summerhill:

Birthright.org

Georgia Bulletin

The Story of Birthright (Google books)

By the way...

The Thirsting's new website is up! You know, The Thirsting!

Anyway, visit it and listen to some of the tracks from their newest album, Universal Youth.

And, I know, I didn't start the week off with a cool cat. I'm sorry. But if you're desperately in need of one, go hug the closest Catholic in your proximity and remind them that they're cool, too.

Lopez Lomong - Olympian and Lost Boy

"… animals could have killed us or people could have got us and killed us, but God was there to protect us."
(USA Today)

The Second Sudanese Civil War.

Lopez Lomong was abducted while attending mass at the age of six. After some weeks of wasting away in the rebel camp, he escaped with several older boys (his "angels") through a hole in the fence. And they ran.

As is clear from the post title, Lopez Lomong’s running ability is a God-given gift, but I get ahead of myself. The boys made it to a refugee camp, and there he subsisted on roughly one meal a day for ten years, all the while believing his parents to be dead. At sixteen, he wrote an essay for Catholic Charities detailing what he would do in America, given the chance. His story was so moving, the chance was given.

In 2001 Robert and Barbara Rodgers welcomed him into their home in Tully, New York. The transition was not without a hitch: Lopez was too shy to ask his adopted parents for help with the shower, lights, and other first world puzzles for the third world upbringing. Key to adjusting to his radically new setting was running. What was once comforting footfalls became high school cross-country, then a NCAA Division I education, the pros, and ultimately the Olympic 1500m. In 2008 he was voted by the U.S. team to bear the flag in the parade of athletes, and he is currently training for the London Olympics this summer.

Lomong is still very much attached to his roots. It was about a year after coming to the U.S. that he discovered his parents were alive. Now his monetary aid helps support the younger brothers he did not used to know he had. He is also a driving force of Team Darfur, an organization of elite athletes who are spreading awareness about the conflict, and pressure on the guilty powers. With 4 South Sudan he raises funds for clean drinking water, healthcare, and education.

Interestingly, some of the the mainstream media downplays his faith. However, USA Today was cool enough to share Lomong’s own faith-filled words with us: "(God) blessed me and gave me a lot of strength to be faithful and more determined with my life to overcome obstacles. He had a vision for me. He knew I would come to America and have family.”

More on Lopez Lomong:

Official page

The Rodgers' own miraculous journey

ESPN blog