Breaking Bread in the mountains
story + photo g raphs by john f ei st er
A garden-size statue of St. Francis of Assisi sets a welcome tone on the outside; inside the warm, delicious smell of banana-nut bread makes this small RV seem three times bigger. It’s early May in Unicoi, Tennessee: Brother Tom Sheehy is preparing to set up shop on the Appalachian Trail. The next morning, Brother Tom, an outreach worker, goes to the wash house that he built out back and loads his modest Chevy pickup truck with food and drink coolers, chairs, a shade umbrella, and his trademark sign for the tailgate: Glenmary Home Missioners. One more check to be sure his two canine companions, Moses and Job, are safe and comfortable in their home, then Brother Tom heads up the mountains to the Indian Grave Gap trailhead. The hikers call him a Trail Angel, one of hundreds along the 2,200 mile trek from Georgia to Maine who provide food and respite for those who make the journey each year. Brother Tom thinks of it more as a ministry of presence. “My diocese’s office, in Knox-
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GLENMARY CHALLENGE
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ville, calls it ‘threshold conversations,’” Brother Tom explains. He meets people both on the physical threshold between Tennessee and North Carolina, and, more important, on the moral threshold of life’s journey, for many, a threshold of faith. He nourishes them with food and drink, and lends a listening ear. “What do they call it?” he scratches his ahead as if trying to recall—he clearly avoids technical terms for his simple witness. “Pre-evangelization,” he says after a pause. “A lot of it is just dealing with some of the hurts that are out there. Many hikers are disenfranchised from organized religion for significant reasons. So in a short period of time, if alone, we can talk about this. I say ‘You know, we are very imperfect people. You know, there's only one perfect person. He was hung on a tree.’” Whether it’s disaffection with the Church in the wake of scandal, or family, or relationship pain, or a struggle with faith, Brother Tom listens, and might even talk. “What's the line attributed to St. Francis?”
