Priest Gives Speech on Support at War

Father Matt Foley gave a speech at St. Mary Catholic Church on Thursday, July 12, about his efforts to provide spiritual support for US troops at war, and also anyone who may need it.

Throughout his speech, Foley went into great detail explaining his time spent overseas, but his main point remained the same regardless of where he was serving.

“When you celebrate mass and we eat up his body and drink of his blood, that gives us forgiveness of our sins, and it gives us the ability to go out and be people of justice in the world,” he said. “We are a Eucharist based church as Catholic Christians. That is the source and the summit of who we are. So everything I do, and everything I serve comes first and foremost from the power of this word and the beauty of the Eucharist.”

Foley went on to say that it is the Eucharist that can be used to bring justice to even the toughest places and situations.

“We cannot sustain justice if we do not have the Eucharist guiding us and leading us, and breaking open the word to other people,” he said.

Foley also went into great detail recollecting on his first assignment, in 1989, in West Chicago, specifically Lawndale. His first pastor while on the assignment was very energetic and full of fervor.

“His first and foremost thing that he told everybody was we are a social justice parish,” Foley said. “But it wasn’t just about social justice.”

Foley had a different approach.

“Many times when we go into communities that aren’t as developed as ours or as blessed as ours, the first thing we that we think we should have is a clothing drive, or a food pantry,” he said. “We look at the externals, thinking we need to do something. But in reality, if we are going to be true missionaries, and are going to be about our source and summit, the first thing we do is spiritualize, and do prayer.”

By the time Foley left Lawndale, he took a community where 4,300 people were going to seven masses, and transformed it by 2008 to where 6,100 people were attending nine masses.

“The reason was not because of me, but it was the power of the Eucharist,” he said.

Foley then began to speak about some of his military experiences.

“It [Afghanistan] is a violent place, there is evil in that place, there are people that will not stop until they either die or they’re killed,” he said. “There is a pervasive evil in some individuals.”

Yet, even though violence exists, Foley said that most people in Afghanistan are similar to us.

“For the most part in Afghanistan, I think most people want what we want,” he said. “They want a safe place to go and a better life for their children. So, to work in serving those places, the Eucharist is the element and the key source of the strength. And the word that guides us.”

There is a definite need for a priest to aid soldiers, Foley said.

“They [soldiers] enter into very difficult moral decisions,” he said. “[Its] not just out there when they are doing their duty. They also run into some difficult moral decisions in their families. We want to make sure they are keeping aware of what their commitments are before they got overseas, and why they are overseas.”

In the end, Foley repeated his main message.

“Whatever we do, it starts with the Eucharist,” he said.