Many allies look like enemies

18th July 2011 · 1 Comment

By Fr. Jerome LeDoux
Contributing Columnist

Seven years ago, I felt driven to write a personal account of the origins, birth and development of St. Augustine Church in Faubourg Tremé of New Orleans. After dashing off several pages, it seemed that I was on the right track. I even showed the pages to someone to get some feedback that told me little. I saw that “quick” was not my friend.

Undaunted, I kept pecking away off and on until I actually had a chapter, then two and several over the course of a year. Being my own most biased readership in the world, I thought it was becoming a pretty good piece of literature. But “easy” was not my friend. After viewing the first two completed chapters, Faubourg Tremé resident Victor Davis urged me to move quickly to complete this work on St. Augustine Church and to get it published. “This work must be published as soon as possible!” he said.

This buoyed me on to pursue the narrative of St. Augustine Church. However, it also lulled me into thinking I could finish the work in a relatively short time. At the end of three years — which seemed to be a long time — I spoke to Victor about the possibility of publication. He contacted a couple of friends connected to the publishing industry.

To my disappointment, one contact did not grasp the concept of a predominantly colored congregation and therefore disputed the claim of St. Augustine Church members that theirs is the oldest Black Catholic parish in the country. Needless to say, that source of publishing the book turned out to be totally unacceptable. “Quick” was not my friend.

A year later, I thanked God that no one had yet offered to publish the book, for after a year it was clear that the book was very incomplete. I understood in a much more personal way that obstacles in our life are often desirable. “Easy” was not my friend.

Another year passed before I made a second attempt, writing to a lady who had roots and contacts with the Creole culture of New Orleans. Figuring she had a lot to gain by helping me publish a book that touched on said culture, I was greeted instead by complete silence, the most eloquent manner of refusal. “Quick” was not my friend.

Two years later, it dawned on me how incomplete and imperfect the manuscript was up to that point and what a great favor the lady had done for me by ignoring my letter. Still, I needed two more years of schooling. “Easy” was not my friend.

Dr. Ina Fandrich, a longtime friend in New Orleans, advised me to talk to publisher Mary Gehman, a friend of hers who is partial to books written about New Orleans and its environs. When the publisher showed initial interest in the manuscript, Ina even led me to Mary’s home in Donaldsonville up the Mississippi about 25 minutes before Baton Rouge.

Her attraction to local history and culture is reflected in Mary’s circa 1890 raised house that stands six feet off the ground on pillars and sports a lot of beautiful, seasoned cypress. Taking a tour of her house is to step back into the elegance of early last century.

Before I knew it, Mary and Ina were suggesting that I take the last two chapters of my manuscript and make them chapters 1 and 2, because the first things people want to hear about are Hurricane Katrina and St. Augustine Church’s struggle to remain open.

I blinked, realizing that Mary and Ina were presenting me with an epiphany that showed me why I had been wandering in a manuscript desert for six years. Grabbing my pen, I began to re-sketch my chapters according to the new scheme of Mary and Ina.

Sharply seeing the imperfection and incompleteness of the book for the first time, I now had a comprehensive view of the whole narrative and of why so many obstacles and challenges slowed me down until this seminal moment when I finally got it right. It would take another year of toil to bring the manuscript to the brink of publication.

Beware if you are bored at this point, because, with a different wrinkle or two, the same kind of process is taking place in one or more areas of your life. What happened to me is happening to you in your unique way. It is the way the Word of God works in you.

Jesus explains each episode in our life as the journey of a seed having its source in the Word of God and duplicating its planting, sprouting, growing, blooming and bearing fruit and grain. I muddled through my manuscript during seven years of this process.

Not unlike me, whatever you put your mind to and lay your hands on will take longer than you think to be planted, to germinate, to grow, to blossom and finally to bear fruit. Be patient. Remember the paradigm of the Word of God working in you. Keep in mind that “quick” is not your friend and “easy” is likewise not your ally. If you are very young and pursuing the tools of education, expect nothing to be easy and quick. Rather, be suspicious of anything that appears to be an easy and quick fix. That happens mostly with drugs and portends nothing but troublesome outcomes. “Quick” and “easy” appear to be your friends, but in most cases they are your enemies. Select your seeds of knowledge carefully and plant them securely so that wanton predators will not consume them. Water them, cultivate and weed them with patience, remembering that “slow” may be your friend and “difficult” may be your ally.

Choose your vocation/profession with prayer and discernment after consultation with wise counselors. Plant it with care, allowing it to germinate in its own time. Help it to grow as you age and nurture and improve it each day for the rest of your life.

Especially in your spousal relationship, “quick” and “easy” are not your friends, but “slow” and “difficult” will serve you well. It takes the better part of a lifetime to get it right and you will either never stop growing as a spouse or you will fall short and fail.

If you remain single, you still have relatives and friendship relationships to cultivate and grow, plus you have your job or retirement to complete your bearing fruit.

Learn from them, and your real allies in life will be rejection, refusal, criticism, reverses, neglect, physical and mental trials, sufferings and spiritual ordeals.

This article was originally published in the July 18, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper