ARTICLES
January 2006 ARTICLES
Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Not Pushy, Not Preachy, But Catholic
Catholic Piety in the Work Place
BY LAUREL MARTIN
How do Catholics express their Catholicity in the workplace? And how do employees or customers react? I interviewed Catholics in five diverse business areas and found that the overall response to expressions of the Faith or piety in the workplace are mostly appreciative and supportive. Who would have thought? The results were refreshing and go against the politically correct grain of Catholic bashing we assume will happen.
David and Denise Naaden own Reverse Creek Lodge, A-frame cabins among pines along Reverse Creek, near June Lake and Mammoth. They are in their seventeenth year of home schooling their 13 children and have no employees outside of the family. According to David, fallen-away Catholics form the biggest congregation in pagan-riddled Mono County, a region of ten thousand people with possibly 250 practicing Catholics and one Jesuit priest.
David sees a great cross-section of Americans who come to undoubtedly one of the most beautiful spots in the country, and that alone has a positive effect. People seem to be naturally nicer in a beautiful environment. "I have met wonderful Catholics at the lodge and lapsed Catholics that I encouraged to come back." said David. "And I have spent many hours talking with non-Catholics, like Jehovah Witnesses."
Eighty percent of the Naaden's business is generated from its website. Walk-ins are rare. It's almost all by reservation, and so I was particu larly intrigued to hear more about a clearly spelled out policy on their website: "we honor the institution of Marriage. Our one-bedroom cabins are intended for use by a single adult or a married couple. Boyfriend-girlfriend relationships require separate cabins or at least separate sleeping quarters!"
I asked David how he could possibly know who's married and who's not. "We don't ask if they are married," says David. "There is not a need to ask anyone because they are point blank open about not being married! We have had to explain the entire moral order to some guests, and often get a comment, such as, 'oh ... let me go ask my boyfriend if it's okay [to sleep in separate cabins].'"
I asked if he thought that was legal. "I am not denying lodging on the basis of color or creed; I choose to run my business any way I see fit. I have a three-night minimum stay -- is that illegal?"
David said that he runs his businesses as his apostolate. "I had great teachers of the Faith on my way to becoming an adult," he said, "and I always understood that people would come to me to hear about the Church."
So how do guests react to his policy? Surprisingly, "a good number of comments, 90-95 percent, appreciate and are really supportive of our policy," said David. "Only one out of every 15 e-mails are in scathing opposition to it." One such e-mail said, "Imarried and would never support such a ridiculous policy."
The Naaden website (www.reversecreeklodge.com) is very "family friendly." They offer a family discount if any guest's family member names match any of the Naaden children's names, all of whom are named after saints. About 15 percent of guests use this discount. On their website are several full-size pictures of the Naaden family, where they state: "Our family welcomes your family," and "we believe 'In God we trust.'"
Jeff Talbot is the owner and president of St. Joseph Realty in San Gabriel. Jeff has been very involved with the San Gabriel Valley Pregnancy Help Center and is on the board of directors of St. Monica Academy, a Catholic elementary school in Pasadena. He and his wife, Erin, have seven children, some of whom they home school.
I checked out the St. Joseph Realty website (www.stjosephrealty.com). There's a little play on words for the mission statement page that has a photo caption of "Mission San Gabriel Archangel," (not, "San Gabriel Mission," as it's secularly referred to). The mission statement ends with, "God bless you and may St. Joseph watch over all your needs and concerns." The website features a picture of the Talbot family. And then I clicked on a yellow star, stating, "Free St. Joseph Home Selling Kit!"and there I found that the key to selling your home in less time, at the right price, with the perfect buyer is by burying a St. Joseph statue on your property.
"When you list your home with St. Joseph Realty, you get a blessed statue of St. Joseph suitable for burying, a special prayer petition designed to help you sell your home, and a short history of the custom, outlining the various techniques and practices of burying the statue," said Talbot.
He gets e-mail requests from all over the country and has even received e-mails from overseas from the desperate seeking the intercession of St. Joseph. Jeff told me he occasionally hears back from people who tell him that after doing the St. Joseph statue ritual they were amazed at how fast the house sells, and many times people write back to thank him. One woman from Texas sent Jeff a Beanie Baby as a gift (he got an Irish one).
Jeff said he has never had a problem with desecration or any concern related to misuse. "Everyone is really sincere," said Jeff. "There's a fair amount of non-Catholics who contact me, often by doing a Google search on the inter net, who are superstitious rather than believers, but I just tell them you shouldn't do it for reasons of superstition. Once I explain the prayers and ritual, they don't have any problem with it. The seller shouldn't be too greedy. St. Joseph is the patron of the home and protects both seller and buyer!"
Jeff told me he has received a one hundred percent positive response from clients. In fact, it's been almost too good. Based on client feedback he has had to include the correct "use" of the statue. "Even well-meaning people sometimes use a statue of St. Joseph in a superstitious way, which makes it less likely that they'll find the right buyer," said Jeff. And so he has had to stress information on how not to practice the custom in order to avoid damaging the seller's chances.
The realty website explains that, "for centuries people have sought the intercession of St. Joseph because God evidently grants favors sought through him if the favors are sought in the right way. Just as St. Joseph honored God by fidelity and obedience, so God honors St. Joseph by answering the prayers of those devoted to him."
Jerry Hackbarth's father was the founder of Del Taco, but only nine Del Tacos remain in the family, along with several restaurants which Jerry operates. Jerry believes that the success of the business has always been a gift from God. He told me that commercials for Del Taco portray something that's not family-oriented but that this is coming from the corporation, not from him. Jerry is an Opus Dei member and has a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe framed in the main office as well as in his other stores.
He decided to have all the stores the family still owns blessed by a priest and told me of one instance when at 10 a.m. a priest walked into Roses Café and Tortilla Factory, that Hackbarth recently opened in Temecula, with holy water to bless the restaurant. The employees, who were not all Catholic, were very excited when they saw the priest. "The customers were unaware of what was happening, but the crew came alive." said Hackbarth. "They all wanted to meet and shake hands with the priest afterward to thank him."
Dr. Richard Wetzel has been in a Westminster family practice and urgent care center called Prompt Care for 18 years. He talks to patients on morality and gives literature out. If patients are homosexual, he refers them to NARTH or Courage.
There are a few Catholics in the office, but Wetzel's faith sharing is with the patient population. He has never gotten any complaints from patients (only doctors!) He asks patients if they are Christian, "and a lot of the time you hit the nail on the head when talking about marriage or chastity with them," he said.
Dr. Wetzel wrote a book, Sexual Wisdom: A Guide for Parents, Young Adults, Educators, and Physicians, published in 1998. He used to sell it in his office and advertise it in the practice, but the doctors voted to censor this, even though Wetzel's Jewish boss supported him and disagreed with the doctors' veto. Although he can no longer adver tise the book, even in his own private office at the center, he gives the book away and occasionally sells it to those who ask for it. He gives it as a gift to his engaged-to-be-married patients.
The job limits the time Wetzel can spend with each patient, so he must 'shoot from hip' and get directly to the point, which he says the patients understand. Some women patients are very grateful when he discusses their boyfriend problems with them and when he calls them to virtue in the Church. He uses a novena of St. Francis de Sales and asks girls to do penance for the sake of the man that they are angry with and not to judge but accept the man was a failure because of (most commonly) drugs, gambling and alcoholic sins.
Overall Wetzel receives strong affirmation and appreciation from patients; but, he said, "the effort expends one emotionally, and I have to be careful about how I present things in the office." Wetzel finds that he can't push too much and only has the emotional energy to bring up these issues to one patient a day.
Dr. Wetzel is now working on an internet web based course on human sexuality for parents, soon to come on his website: www.sexualwisdom.com, and he is working with the American Academy of Family Physicians and AMA pediatricians to get films more appropriately rated.
Two sisters in their 20s, Christine and Teresa Brown, opened Zephyr Coffee House and Art Gallery a little over two and a half years ago in Pasadena (www.zephyrcoffeeandart.com). The coffee house is closed on Sundays because, said Christine, "my sister and I both work about 60 hours a week, and we need to go to church and to have family time on Sundays; so being open on Sundays is not going to happen.
"We seem to have a lot of Christian employees who appreciate this too and feel comfortable in asking us for time off for church related activities or services," Christine continued. "We've been closed for Good Friday because it's just easier for everybody."
The sisters have a crucifix over the front door of the establishment. Their father passed away ten years ago, and the crucifix hangs in his honor. And they told me they never had a negative response about the crucifix or about being Catholic. "We seem to get a lot of customers who are Christian because of Fuller Seminary, which is in town -- it could be because of the crucifix over the door, and Christians know about that and so come because they feel accepted. But also a lot of different faiths -- a Buddhist group meets here. We are open to all kinds of people and make a lot of friends and want a nice, relaxing atmosphere," said Christine.
One regular customer is a Christian from the South who was "amazed" to find that the Browns were Catholic; "but you are all so nice!" he said. "I was raised to believe that Catholics all drink and worship idols!" he told Christine.
The coffee house has a terracotta tile picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in its patio. "It's a Catholic presence, but we're not pushy, not preachy; we wanted these signs of our Faith to be an organic fit -- not 'in your face'."
But, Christine continued, "when customers say something completely off the wall about the Faith or really misunderstand the Faith, we just laugh and correct them. We also get a lot of 'politically correct' liberal comments because they just assume we are liberal. They just assume because it is a coffeehouse that we have the same liberal bent. They don't stop to think that we are not like them. Some customers are very 'PC' about eastern religions but not when it's the Faith.
"We've had Catholics come in and remark that they want to support this place because it is Catholic owned," said Christine. "We just didn't realize that showing some signs of being Catholic made a difference."