Faith & Leadership: My Journey
What is Sacred Scripture? What does it mean? Is it the same as the Bible? And why is it so compelling? What does it mean to me? How does it speak to me today and every day? Where do I start? These are all really important questions. I hope that as you move through your faith journey, that we’ll all be able to work through these questions together to help us all better understand and appreciate how important the Word of God is in our lives.
My name is Colin May. Even as a cradle Catholic I didn't
really understand the Bible. I did not really see the connections. I didn’t
understand how it had been transmitted. I wasn’t attuned to the hows and whys.
But it always felt important to me. I always had a Bible in my house – that
didn’t mean I looked at it, but I had it, and I has a general notion that it
was important.
After college, I moved to Washington, DC and began a law enforcement career with the federal government. My wife and I met on a Catholic dating website in 2011 and became very serious, even after I had to be gone for weeks at a time. In fact, during one trip to South America, I visited a parish in Rio de Janeiro for Mass. I didn’t understand a word—but I felt the Holy Spirit.
But it was going through Christ Renews His Parish that really became the turning point for me. I found myself immersed in the Scripture. I really wanted to learn more about the readings, wondering what specific words or phrases meant, or what the heck a “tassel and phylacteries” were and why it mattered (Matt 23:5).
As one of my brothers was discerning about joining the Church, I too began praying. It occurred to me that not being confirmed was something that I needed to do—not just for myself, but for my children, too. How could I ask them to eventually go through with this Sacrament if I didn’t do it?
With the help of some amazing people I was able to journey through Confirmation. The Confirmation Mass with the Bishop was a breathtaking experience. I took the name of Saint Bonaventure, the Cardinal and Doctor of the Church who helped grow the Franciscan order during a time of significant change. His writings are spiritually rich and I feel he walks with me on my journey.
During this time, I also became very interested in leadership and began taking courses from DePaul University and the University of Southern Maine. I also graduated from the University of Notre Dame's STEP program with a focus on Scripture. For my final project, I wrote about Scripture-Based Leadership. Since then, I have written for The Catholic Moment and for the ND McGrath Center website, as well as being active on the Finance Council, Stewardship Committee, and RCIA.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will use this blog as a means to help evangelize, enlighten, and energize those who are interested in how Scripture, faith, and leadership all come together in the Church...and we as God's people have a responsibility to and for.
God bless you on your journey of faith and leadership.
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