Walking with Pope Leo during Easter, Episode 7

The Inseparable Bond Podcast: You Are Not Forgotten

With Fr. Ron Will, CPPS

“We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor.”

—”I Have Love You,” the apostolic letter of Pope Leo XIV

In Episode 7, the last episode, Fr. Ron talks with Jean Salchert, a sister of St. Agnes, in an episode titled “You Are Not Forgotten.” Sr. Jean now lives in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, but she ministered with Catholic Social Services in Mobile, Alabama for 27 years.

Watch the video to hear the full interview. Here are excerpts from Episode 6. They have been edited for lengthen and clarity.

Fr. Ron Will: During the seven weeks of the Easter season, we have been preparing for a new experience of the Holy Spirit in our lives this year. Not just remembering what happened to the apostles a long time ago, but trying to open ourselves up to the penetration, the influence, of the Holy Spirit into our personal lives.

During the season of Lent, we did a group study at Precious Blood Renewal Center of Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic letter Dilex Te, which means “I have loved you” and you refers to the poor. God says, I have loved and continue to love the poor. If you have viewed any of our first six episodes in this series, you know, well by now that the Bible, the lives of the Saints, documents of the church over the centuries, all teach us how God’s heart goes out in a special way to the poor, and how God calls us his people to pay special attention to the widow, the orphan, the alien, the poor, the underserved.

God hears the cry of the poor, and God responds to that cry through you and me. We are members of the body of Christ. Christ acts through us, his members. Pope Leo reminds us that to be Catholic means to love the poor. It is part of our Catholic teaching. This is not a new teaching by Pope Leo. Love for the poor is not an option. It’s not something that I’ll get around to or after I retire, I’ll start doing something to love the poor. No, it’s an expectation by our God for all of us, no matter what our age.

During this Easter season, I have been meeting with individuals who are trying to take that command of God to love the poor more seriously and apply it to their personal lives and in their parish lives. We have learned ideas about how we ourselves might do something similar in our own circles of influence. If you haven’t already done so, I invite you to go back and view my first six episodes.

Today I am visiting with Sr. Jean Salchert from Fond du Lac Wisconsin. Welcome Sr. Jean. Thank you for taking time to share with us today.

Sr. Jean Salchert: Thank you.

Fr. Ron Will: You read Pope Leo Leo’s apostolic letter along with several of us during the season of Lent. You have had a longstanding involvement with the poor. So I’m wondering if you can share how you first got inspired to do that. And I’m also wondering if there is anything that stood out in Pope Leo’s apostolic letter that really affirmed what you have been doing. Is there anything in the letter that brought a new awareness to you? Something that nudged you to desire to do something new for the poor?

Sr. Jean Salchert: Okay, let’s go back to the first part of that question. Basically, it was when I was a child, with my parents. My dad was a union person. He was in the typographical union. But he worked with all the unions and through him I could see what that meant to him, for the workers to have a share in what they’re doing, to be able to say what needed to be said.

Fr. Ron Will: So, you had good role models at the beginning of early life.

Sr. Jean Salchert: That’s true. And I always had this other thing within me — [a desire] for justice. When I see things that I don’t think are just, I can get really worked up about it, but I have to be careful what I do. But that always has come through my life too.

One thing in the pope’s letter that surprised me — I knew about the Old Testament things, but I was more surprised about how many different saints had were dealing with the poor. Some of them I didn’t know. I mean, I have heard about the saints, but I didn’t know that [direct service to the poor] was part of what they were doing. Right? We were not taught that at all. So, I think that was one of the big things that I learned from Pope Leo’s letter. I enjoyed reading about all those saints and what they did.

Fr. Ron Will: That also struck me as I read the letter, how many saints — we hear of the big names like Francis Assisi who really loved the poor and went out to be with them. But this apostolic letter refers to so many different saints over the history of the church that was just part of their lifestyle to love, to serve the poor. And I guess they were taking God’s commandment seriously. So seriously that that eventually they were declared saints.

Sr. Jean Salchert: Yes. And when you go back to Paul’s epistles, one of the things that he asked some of the places he wrote to was to take care of the widows and the orphans. Oh, yes. He had that in there. Make sure you have money for them and make sure they have what they need. … It’s interesting that, and I don’t know why, it never dawned on me that that was built into our religion. It was built into being a Catholic to do these things. I just knew that they did it and that was a good thing to do. But it is really built into [being Catholic] and it’s our responsibility to continue that.

Fr. Ron Will: The letter helped the light go on for you. And I’m hoping the light will go on for many other readers and listeners to this series.

Sr. Jean Salchert: Yes, I do too, because it’s so important. I often wonder how do we not know this? How did we not know? …

Fr. Ron Will: One thing that you shared [with our Lent study group] is that through prayer you hold those who are in detention centers and refugee camps in your heart. And sometimes in your prayer, you picture them surrounded by the saints and angels. I think that’s an important reminder. Maybe we can’t physically go out and serve the poor, maybe because of our own physical health or age, but we can pray for the poor. Can you say a little bit more about how you approach that praying for those in detention centers and refugee camps.

Sr. Jean Salchert: Well, I’ve learned a lot about those in refugee camps through Fortified Rights, which is an organization that with refugees and displaced people. I get news [from Fortified Rights] about what’s happening [in refugee camps around the world] and terrible things that are happening. So, I hold them in my heart and pray for them. It’s hard for me to picture so many people. I mean, millions of them chased out their country. And they can’t find refuge in the next country because maybe they aren’t accepted there. So, they end up in this camp somewhere, and then it’s all not so rosy there either. They keep me informed.

[Sr. Jean says that she knows one of the founders of Fortified Rights and then talks about following protests and prayer vigils about outside the notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention camp in Florida, news she gets from an organization called Workers Cricles.]

Sr. Jean Salchert: The Workers Circle [organize vigils outside Alligator Alcatraz] every weekend on Sundays they go there. They started out as a little group back in October, and there’s hundreds of them now. Other people have heard about it and they want to be there too. And they just stand outside the detention center. They pray and they probably sing. I don’t remember what all they do, but it’s to let the people inside know “you’re not forgotten.”

Learning what’s going on there, I picture that and that’s why I was praying for them and picturing the angels and the saints being with them. And I’m thinking those people who are outside are the angels and the saints.

Fr. Ron Will: We are the people on the outside that you’re describing, we are the body of Christ. Walking with them, accompanying them.

Sr. Jean Salchert: Right. So, we’re all part of the communion of saints. Whether we’re in heaven or not, we’re all part of that.

[Sr. Jean returns to something from Dilex Te that inspired her.]

Sr. Jean Salchert: Along with the poor, in the Old Testament, God always chose the little guy. He always chose the little guy, the weak person. The one nobody thought could do anything. He chose them. It’s like the women who were barren, and their sons became mighty people. The little guy who thought he couldn’t do this, Jeremiah thought he couldn’t be a prophet. And I think Isaiah thought the same thing, at first. It was like they were taken out of what they were doing. Like Amos taken out of what he was doing. He was just a plain farmer taking care of trees and be made a prophet. You know, it’s like God is saying, “I can do anything if you let me.”

Following is an excerpt of a short reflection that Sr. Jean reads near the end of the video. It is taken from the May 9 Reflection found in Give Us This Day, a daily guide to scripture and prayer published monthly by Liturgical Press.

A Christian’s authenticity is shown in difficult hours. … I call it a difficult hour because it is very hard to live in it as a genuine follower of the only Lord. It is much easier to keep on following the many easy lords set up as idols of the moment: money, power, prestige, and so on. … In this difficult hour more than ever is there need for prayer united with a genuine will to be converted, prayer that out of intimacy with God cuts one off from the confused clamor of life’s shallow expediencies, a will to be converted that is not afraid to lose prestige or privilege, or to change a way of thinking when it is seen that Christ insists on a new way of thinking more in keeping with his gospel. It is in difficult hours that our church grows in authenticity.

St. Oscar Romero, adapted from The Violence of Love. Oscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador 1977-1980, was prophetic voice-of the poor, martyred at the altar while saying Mass. He was canonized in 2018.

Some Background

This series grew out of a study group Fr. Ron led during Lent reading Leo’s apostolic letter. Inspired by discussion during these study sessions, Fr. Ron wanted to have deeper conversations on themes and ideas the group brought up.

Pope Leo’s letter is itself a response to Pope Francis’ last encyclical letter, “Dilexit Nos” (I Have Loved You), which was a moving mystical mediation on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and God’s immeasurable, inexhaustible love of all creation, especially the least among us.

During this Easter Season, let’s pray together for the coming of the Holy Spirit to inspire and energize us to love those whom God loves.

Listen in every Tuesday during the Easter Season, leading up to the celebration of Pentecost.

All of the videos in this series can be found here: The Inseparable Bond Podcast

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[Fr. Ron Will, a Precious Blood priest and spiritual director, is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union and Creighton University’s School of Christian Spirituality. He has a special interest in helping form intentional disciples of Jesus, encouraging others to go spiritually deep-sea diving to explore a deeper relationship with God, and walking with people as they dive into the ocean of God’s mystery experiencing God rather than simply dipping one’s toe into the water.]

We encouraged you to read the apostolic letter. You can download a copy for free from the Vatican’s website or buy a copy at your favorite bookstore.

Learn more about “Dilexi Te” (I Have Loved You)

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