Wise Missioner
interviews on glenmary spirituality
brother jack henn : it pays to listen
Jack Henn is a Glenmary Brother who, since 1974, has served in missions in Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina. His ministries in the field have always been outreach to local communities. He organized local ministers to start a youth center in one community—the only place in town where white and black students could hang out together. While he was serving in Bertie County, N.C., between 2007 and 2011, he was chosen as Citizen of the Year by the local Chamber of Commerce. He has served Glenmary in various administrative roles, and was once president of the national Religious Brothers Conference. Q: Being a religious brother, rather than a priest, has been important to you from the beginning. Why did you choose to be a brother? A: I wanted to work with the people, to walk with them. That’s been deep within me all along. It’s about
being in their struggles, whether it’s material poverty, or emotional struggles, like family issues. I try to listen to them and be nonjudgmental. I don’t necessarily give them advice; just listen and be with them. I don’t look on myself as a preacher or an overtly religious type person. I think I just convey a person who cares and is interested in them. Q: Why is listening important? A: I think the best way to minister is not to be a kind of fix-it man. It’s tempting to come in with all of the solutions and answers, but there’s always a lot of gray in life. I think the best way is for people to come to their own solutions, to identify their options. If I try to fix it for them, maybe a couple of months later they’ll be back with the same problem. Q: How does your spirituality feed your ministry? A: I think I’m more patient now than I was 40 years ago, for one thing! That’s come to me through my prayer life, I think. God gives me the energy, the focus to be present to people. I pray for patience, and for wisdom in working with people. Spring 2020
Q: How do you pray? A: Well, everybody has their unique style of prayer. Mine is reading scripture. Mine is a kind of quiet contemplative prayer where I just sit and try to be present to God. I also try to pray the rosary in a contemplative way. But my personality is always wanting to do, to be productive! I think things like, “is this a waste of time?” I could be doing something that could be helping people instead of sitting in a chair and just being present to God. So that’s a real task: to be faithful to prayer when there are so many other things that need attention. Q: Which is more important to you, personal prayer or community prayer? A: I pray in my room, and in the chapel. I try to devote an hour each day to prayer. I try to attend Mass daily. Then we have morning and evening community prayer. Both are equally valuable, I think. We don’t operate as individuals; all of us are a part of some sort of community. If you’re married, you have a family that gives you support. If you’re part of a religious community, you have other members who give you the support, the energy, the encouragement to do what you’re doing. We all need each other. —John Feister GLENMARY CHALLENGE
17
