As Religious Brothers Day is celebrated May 1, it might be helpful to note that many people misunderstand who religious brothers are, said Brother Larry Schatz, a member of the De La Salle Brothers, also known as Brothers of the Christian School, or Christian Brothers.
Brother Larry Schatz
“We are not ordained members of the Church,” he said. And “we’re not on the way to something. We are brothers and that is our vocation in the Church.”
Communities of brothers distinguish themselves in part by their charism, said Brother Logan Murray, a member of the Brotherhood of Hope serving in college campus ministry at St. Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center in Minneapolis. His community, for example, highlights the belief that Jesus is the only one who can meet and fulfill the deepest needs of the human heart. Each community has a particular anointing to express something to the body of Christ, he said, and “that life is not all meant to be staked in this life, but we’re living for something greater to come.”
Brother Larry, a director of vocations for the Christian Brothers, and Brother Logan recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to discuss religious brothers in light of Religious Brothers Day.
Both said they had not felt called to the priesthood.
Brother Logan said he sees the beauty of the priesthood but never felt drawn to it. “As I live the life of the brothers, I just experienced a lot of fulfillment in life. Every step I made toward deeper commitment in the brotherhood, my joy and peace increased.”
Brother Logan Murray
He said it’s living “that unique relationship that Jesus had to the Father, but in the context of a community of other men living that out as well.”
Brother Larry was teaching in southern Minnesota when he came across a brochure about the Christian Brothers. He was intrigued, as he was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in high school and appreciated their charism as a teaching order of sisters. “And I thought, this is kind of the male version, and they’re all brothers,” Brother Larry said. “So that started my interest.”
Once he got to know the brothers, Brother Larry said their spirituality fit what he thought about teaching and how he felt about his role as a teacher. “It was just kind of a natural fit,” he said.
Brother Logan’s community has been around since 1980 and is what he called “a post-Vatican II one.” Its brothers do not use a robe similar to those worn by a Franciscan brother nor something like a Dominican scapular. To hear the description of clothing worn by those in the Brotherhood of Hope — for one, it involves a symbol on a cross to indicate devotion to Mary — and to hear the full interview, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. April 22 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. April 23 and 2 p.m. April 24.
For more information on religious orders and religious life, visit 10000vocations.org.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Dominican Brother Joe Trout, a friar from Oak Park, Illinois, and Jesuit Brother Ken Homan, a doctoral student at Georgetown University, who discuss consecrated life, including what it’s like to serve as a brother among priests; and Allison Spies, archives manager at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Maria Wiering, editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, who describe the Federal Indian Boarding School initiative led by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at
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