Connections of hope: Gala highlights three ministries that touch people’s lives
By John Shaughnessy
The best parts of life are usually tied to the connections we make with other people—and the difference we make to each other.
These bonds often start with simple invitations and welcomes, in the hope they will lead to something more.
That’s the approach of Castle Nights at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis, experiences that bring together young men in high school and seminarians for prayer, a meal and fun activities like basketball and football.
“We find that, over the years, one of the most encouraging ways for a young man to think of himself as possibly being a seminarian or being a priest is getting to know other seminarians and priests,” says Father Eric Augenstein, the archdiocese’s director of seminarians and pastor of Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish in Indianapolis.
“And so, our vocations office has developed a number of opportunities for young men who are open to the possibility of the priesthood to meet seminarians. So that they can see that, ‘Yeah, I can do this. I can picture myself here.’ ”
Father Michael Keucher has seen the impact that these opportunities to pray, share a meal and have fun together in the seminary setting can make.
“Sacred things happen when people break bread together,” says Father Keucher, the archdiocese’s director of vocations and the pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Shelbyville and St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Shelby County.
“One of the seminarians usually gives a nice little talk on his vocation story and how the Lord worked in his life. But there is something beautiful too about the football and the basketball.”
The games let the youths learn that amid the prayer and the studies, “there’s also a lot of fun that’s had here,” he says.
All the interaction gives him hope.
“Knowing our seminarians and knowing our discerners, my heart is filled with hope,” Father Keucher says. “Maybe they’ll be priests. Maybe not. Maybe they’ll be seminarians. Maybe not. But they have a hunger for holiness. And they have a hunger to be saints in whatever way God is calling them to be.”
The two priests shared their insights about the seminary in a video that was shown at the archdiocese’s Legacy Gala in Indianapolis on Feb. 6.
Two more life-changing ministries in the archdiocese were also prominently featured in videos during the gala—Catholic Charities and Catholic schools.
‘I am so blessed’
With six agencies across the archdiocese in Bedford, Bloomington, Indianapolis, New Albany, Tell City and Terre Haute, Catholic Charities serves more than 400,000 people each year.
Among its many outreaches, the archdiocese’s Catholic Charities helps families enduring food insecurity and homelessness, people struggling with mental health concerns and women facing a crisis pregnancy.
As the agency director of Catholic Charities Terre Haute, John Etling sees both the needs of people and the generosity of people.
“There’s a lot of good people in Indiana,” Etling says. “The saying ‘Hoosier hospitality’ is not just a cliché, it actually exists. And for any of us who have experienced hunger, I think most of us can relate that [food], that’s the fuel that allows our kids to perform in the classroom. It’s the fuel that allows people to perform in the workplace.
“We can do better.”
As the assistant agency director of Catholic Charities Terre Haute, Jennifer Tames says, “There are soup kitchens and pantries in Indianapolis and New Albany and across the Archdiocese of Indianapolis that are working to help individuals in their communities.”
She knows the difference that the Terre Haute agency has made to the people who live in the seven-county area it serves.
“Annually, Catholic Charities food bank distributes about 4.5 million pounds of food, and that equals to about 3.7 million meals each year.”
She has also seen the impact that her work has had on her life and her faith.
“I am so blessed to be able to go home every night and know that I have made an impact in somebody’s life. And I truly do look at my position here at Catholic Charities as having been one that God created for me. And I hope that I have been able over the years to make him proud.”
‘A place that they can call home’
The 69 Catholic schools in the archdiocese help educate more than 23,000 students. Curt Gardner has seen the difference Catholic schools make as the principal of Father Michael Shawe Jr./Sr. High School in Madison.
“It’s really hard to put on paper, really—any Catholic school you’ve been in—what makes it special,” he says. “You really do have to kind of come and walk the halls and experience it for yourself to understand. You feel the spirit here. The Holy Spirit is definitely alive in these halls.”
Gardner shares the story of Shawe’s success through the perspective of the family of Dan and Leslie Hambrick. Dan first encountered the school when he became its girls’ varsity basketball coach in the early 1990s.
“He didn’t have any kids yet,” Gardner notes. “He himself didn’t go to the school. He wasn’t Catholic. But he enjoyed his time here as a coach. He saw how our kids behaved. He saw how the place supported each other.”
In the years since, the couple has sent their five children through Pope John XXIII Elementary School in Madison and onward to Shawe, with their youngest child set to graduate from the school of less than 200 students in 2029.
“Danny did convert and become Catholic,” Gardner says. “They’re just one of those families that are in the pew every weekend, and for them Shawe feels like home.”
He credits the school’s success to being a part of the archdiocese and the support it receives from the Office of Catholic Schools and other Catholic schools.
“We definitely feel the support of time, treasure, talent and, most importantly, prayer.
“If someone wants to feel a sense of a second home, and they’re willing to partner—like the Hambricks have partnered with us—they can go into any Catholic school in this archdiocese and find a place that they can call home.” †
If you would like to contribute to the work of Catholic Charities, Catholic Schools and Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary, visit
www.archindy.org/LegacyGala.
Want to nominate someone to be the 2027 Legacy Gala Honoree? Click here to do so!
Related story: Patricia Etling—mom of 10 and servant leader—earns archdiocese’s Legacy Award