Wrestling calves and winning trust: how a Jesuit priest found his calling

Father Christopher Collins will serve as vice president for mission at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul beginning July 1. The 49-year-old Jesuit priest, who attended UST in the early ’90s, replaces Father Larry Snyder, who is retiring from the position after assuming it in 2015.

Q) Tell me about your time as a UST student.

A) My faith really came alive at St. Thomas in a much more profound way, partly because of the intellectual life and partly because of the service work I was drawn into, which I found really moving, being with the poor, simple living. The third big factor was the prayer life and going to daily Mass. The vocation snuck up on me.

Q) What attracted you to the Jesuits?

A) The breadth of it! They did a lot of different things in addition to being priests, and that was appealing to me. The humanism was a part of that vocation. I’ve ended up getting involved in all sorts of areas I knew little about: prison re-entry programs, workforce development, all kinds of random stuff where people are in need. That all culminates in the sacramental life, but it’s the broader engagement with humanity.

Q) And being at a university exposes you to a lot of different things.

A) That’s why a university is such a great place to work. There are people who know about everything, totally different areas of expertise. It’s an opportunity for me to learn from them, and also it’s an opportunity for the Church, through a priest, to have a presence in all those different places. It’s infinitely interesting.

Q) In some ways do you feel like you’re just beginning?

A) Yeah, exactly. I can’t believe I’m almost 50, because it feels like I’m just getting going. It’s really stimulating, intellectually and for the heart. The more you learn about the needs of the world and different populations, how can we not be affected and come up with smart solutions?

Q) What’s the key to being able to learn?

A) Humility and curiosity. Enjoying meeting different kinds of people. Jesuit formation prepared me well. It exposes you to all different stuff where you constantly feel out of your element. I got used to that early on. It’s OK to not be an expert. I don’t have to know hardly anything; I don’t need to have answers. I just need to show up and be presence. I don’t have to fix anything. In fact, there’s very little I can fix. You just want to cooperate with grace, with the Lord, and show up.

Q) Before assuming this position, you were at St. Louis University, leading that campus in prayer. What helps draw college students into prayer?

A) Some people feel skittish about prayer, especially real rote prayers. It feels like: “Well, I don’t belong here. I’m not that kind of person.” But even at big events like a graduation when, who knows where everyone’s coming from, at a Catholic university, we take a moment to create space to remember where we’ve been. That’s a powerful part of prayer: memory. You can’t help but be grateful when you use your memory. It’s a gentle recognition: “Maybe God is the source of everything good.” It’s a human way to enter into that experience: Prayer is just paying attention to God.

Q) What does it look like when St. Thomas is holding close to its mission?

A) There’s a sense of community that has a purpose in the world. God needs us to serve and love in the world. We have a different motivation for looking at the needs in the world and try to be present. In a way, it’s like the ministry of Jesus. By and large, he mostly just roams around, and whoever he meets, what needs to happen, happens. There’s an apparent randomness to Jesus’ ministry. It’s not like, “I have 12 days and I gotta cover these four cities and cure 12 percent of the lepers.” He just moves around with his disciplines and what he has to bring is what the world needs.”

Q) Many of us feel too busy to be that random. What can we learn from Jesus’ availability to be so random?

A) We can learn a lot. Before he begins his mission, he goes for his baptism, and what happens there: He humbles himself and hears his father say, “You are my beloved son, and in you I am well pleased.” If I feel beloved, I’m going to go out and try to draw other people into that experience. The Father doesn’t say, “Go, do this and that.” He says, “You are my beloved,” and what naturally flows out of this is to offer that love to others.

Q) When the St. Thomas president announced your hiring, she noted that you’re “eager to engage in relationship-building” within the community and Twin Cities metro. What are your hopes for that relationship building?

A) That’s where the randomness comes in. I’ll just get out there and see what happens. I don’t have any master plan.

Q) In 15 years as a priest, you’ve served many people and cultures, including being pastor for the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

A) I had four little country parishes on the reservation. At first, I tried to set up programs — “OK, let’s have an adult faith formation” or “let’s have a parish council” — and nobody wanted to do that. So instead, I mostly just drove around and visited people at the hospital or the convenience store or basketball games or rodeos.

Brandings are a big social event. It’s a little gruesome, when they’re castrating these calves. They had a schedule, and they all have to help each other — and then put on a big feed after.

Q) Were there spiritual discussions during the brandings?

A) Not a whole lot right on the scene. But it sure made a difference if I showed up or if I tried to wrestle down some of those calves.

You had to dig your own grave at the funerals. They didn’t have backhoes. After the prayers, all the men took turns shoveling the hole. I would take my turn till I got worn out. That went further than almost anything I could do.

Showing up at the basketball games also helped. People trust you more when you’re doing normal stuff, and then they’ll let you in on the more important parts of life.