Brother Jack

by Mélida Arredondo

I had the honor of meeting Brother Jack Rathschmidt, O.F.M. through the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (the “GBIO”). Msgr. Kelley had asked me to represent Sacred Heart at various GBIO meetings and to assist in collecting signatures for petitions after the Masses. Brother Jack, an ordained priest, came to Sacred Heart to provide and also collect petitions requesting guaranteed healthcare for the more than 500,000 residents of the Commonwealth who were uninsured.

Brother Jack sometimes fills in at Masses at Sacred Heart. Fluent in Spanish, he is an excellent substitute for Father John Mendicoa when Father John is unable to be with us.

Like Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Brother Jack is a Capuchin, a member of the Order of Friars Minor (“O.F.M.”) usually simply referred to as the Franciscans. The Order had its roots in the early thirteenth century when it was founded by St. Francis of Assisi. Brother Jack holds an important role as the director of initial formation for the Franciscans in the Boston area.

He lives at San Lorenzo Friary in Jamaica Plain and ministers to student friars at both San Lorenzo and St. Benedict the Moor in Roxbury. A teacher of theology and religious education for most of his life, Brother Jack has ministered in the initial formation programs for the Province over the past twenty years.

A writer, he has published four books, has authored more than a hundred columns for faith formation and religious education, and has produced more than fifty videos for children’s faith formation. The following is a list of some of the books and DVDs that Brother Jack has created with Gaynell Cronin: “Doorways to Holiness: Stories of Faith”; “The Blessing Candles: 58 Simple Mealtime Prayer-Celebrations”;”Nurturing Today’s Children: Cultivating the Family of Faith”; and “Doorway People-Spirituality of the Catechist.” He also produced “Catholic Basics for Kids Featuring Brother Jack Rathschmidt, O.F.M. Capuchin.”

All this work makes for quite a hectic schedule, yet, in addition to these other activities, in recent years, Brother Jack has been very involved in community organizing with the GBIO.

In the fall of 2006, I had the opportunity to attend a conference for religious education teachers that was put on by the Archdiocese. It was one of several times when I had opportunity to hear Brother Jack relate stories of his childhood, the most recent being for this interview.

Q. When did you feel that moment when you were “called” to serve as a priest?
A: I was very young when I first felt “called.” By the eighth or ninth grade, I felt drawn to service in the Church. By the time I was nineteen, I was prepared to profess my first vows as a Capuchin friar.
Q. You are a New Yorker by birth. What section of the City did you grow up in? What was the economic situation of your family?
A: I grew up in Yonkers, New York, right on the border of the Bronx. My family was lower middle class. We lived on the edge of poverty. We were superintendents of an apartment building which meant we only paid $25 a month in rent, as long as we kept the stairs and hallways clean and the hot water (heated by coal) flowing. My dad never made $100 a week until 1968.
Q. You told a wonderful story regarding your uncle who had no children, yet he would always pay a great deal of attention to you. What was his name and would you paraphrase your story?
A: My mother was born in England. My dad was born in New York City, but his parents came from Alsace Lorraine, which then was part of Germany. Having all my aunts and uncles on my mother’s side emigrate from England influenced me a lot. All my uncles played soccer (football) on weekends, not baseball. Family was very important. We all helped each other, and because my dad worked ten hours a day six days a week and traveled three hours each day back and forth to work, it was often an uncle or an aunt who mentored me. They came to my ballgames, school plays and that sort of thing. My uncle Joe was especially good at this. Every Wednesday, his day off from the horse stable where he worked, he came to our apartment in Yonkers. He would wait for the four of us kids to get home from school. Then we only had to shut off the radio for him to wake up and say: “Okay, what do you want to do?” He was like a second father to me, and I still think of him as a very holy man. He never seemed to think of himself, only others.
Q: What made you become a Capuchin friar? It is a part of the Church that emphasizes both humility and charity. Why did you feel this was a right choice for you?
A: I was raised in a parish served by Capuchin friars, and was drawn to their way of life. When I was a boy, they were always in the playgrounds, in school classrooms and on the streets. They were kind and always treated us with dignity. I never really thought of any other way of serving God and the Church.
Q. You speak Spanish. How and when did you learn it? How often do you use it?
A: I studied a bit of Spanish in high school, but never really used it. When I came back to Jamaica Plain, I realized the largest population in my neighborhood was comprised of Latinos from the Dominican Republic. I started studying almost immediately, using audio tapes. Then for six months, I had a tutor once a week. I celebrate the Eucharist in Spanish every week, and again when I go to New York once a month, I celebrate with a new Latino population in Croton, New York. I enjoy trying to speak in Spanish, but need to practice much more.
Q. What are your goals in your service to God in the future?
A. I am of an age where I say to God each day: “Show me what to do next.” I am content that God will help me know what it is that I should do and how I should live.

If you would like to contact Brother Jack, he can be reached at the following address: Br. Jack Rathschmidt; 15 Montebello Road; Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-2352 or by phone at (617) 983-1919 Extension 19.

We thank this holy man for his service to God’s Church and for his work among us.