by Marc and Julie Anderson
mjanderson@theleaven.org
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — “I think he has a lot to offer the church right now as an Augustinian.”
That’s what Father Joseph Arsenault, SSA, said of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost’s May 8 election to the papacy.
An archdiocesan canon lawyer, the priest belongs to the Society of St. Augustine, as does Father Peter Jaramillo, SSA, pastor of All Saints Parish in Kansas City, Kansas. Both priests have met the man now known as Pope Leo XIV.
In 2013, Father Jaramillo, then national director of the Cursillo movement, took time from Cursillo activities at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, to walk and pray in the garden when he encountered the future pope doing the same.
“I had my habit on, and he knew I wasn’t one of theirs, but he knew I was an Augustinian. He asked my name. I told him who I was, and we shook hands. He said, ‘Welcome to Villanova. I’m glad you’re here. I wish you blessings on your Cursillo movement and Cursillo activities. Keep up the good work!’”
It was just last November when Father Arsenault met Pope Leo XIV when the two priests were in Rome for an Augustinian gathering.
“I was actually at St. Peter’s Basilica, getting ready for Mass and he walked by,” said Father Arsenault. “So, I said hello to him and shook his hand.”
In sharing thoughts about the pope’s election, both priests emphasized the Augustinian charism is all about community.
“We share the common life together. We share our time as we pray together,” Father Jaramillo said. “We share our meals together in common. We work together in ministry. We share fraternity. We share recreation. We share our studies. We share our friendship. So, the significance of sharing the common life, that’s the charism of the Augustinian.”
Father Arsenault agreed.
“The first part of the Rule of St. Augustine says, ‘We are to be of one mind and one heart intent upon God. That’s our reason for coming together.’”
“It’s more than just people living together,” Father Arsenault said. “There is to be that friendship that develops in common life. As we find God together, we’re empowered to go out and to be of service to the church. But our common life is first and foremost. That takes primary focus in our daily lives.”
It wasn’t a surprise to either priest that during Pope Leo XIV’s first public remarks, he shared a thought from St. Augustine saying, “With you, I am a Christian; for you, I am your bishop.”
Its meaning, Father Jaramillo said, is simple.
“The Augustinian knows how to walk. That’s the accompaniment that [Pope] Francis would be talking about,” he said. “We walk together on this journey to eternal life. That’s Augustine’s famous line. He speaks about the restlessness of the heart, that our hearts are restless until we rest in you, O Lord. So, we walk together until we come to find the joy of being one with God in eternity.
“But in Christian life, we don’t walk by ourselves. We walk with another brother or sister in that journey.”
So, what does the pope’s election mean for Augustinians?
“It’s not so much what it means for us as Augustinians,” said Father Arsenault. “It’s what it means for the church.
“Because I think we all recognize that we’re in a divided world, we’re in a divided church at times. There’s hurting and there’s pain, yet there’s still that deep desire for God.
“I think the gift that an Augustinian pope can give to the church is calling us — challenging us — to be of that one mind, one heart, intent upon God.”
