Wilderness Outreach

Aldo Leopold Wilderness New Mexico

Seminarians of Lafayette Indiana

Get Holy and Die to Self

Kneeling in front: Clayton Thompson and David Nedvidek

Standing: Jason LaPaglia, Michael Bower, Stephen Duquaine, Joe Stanish, Chris Helle,

Kyle Neterer, Thomas Hann, Stephen Geer, and Fr. Brian Doerr.

On the log: Curtis Vernor, John Bradford and Daniel Shine.

______________________________________________________________________________

Carson National Forest 

Priests, semianrians and laymen

Faith, Quantum Physics and Trail Building 

Kneeling: John Bradford, Fr. Jonathan Wilson, Fr. William Hahn, Adam Pasternack.

Standing: Nick Weidenbenner, Andrew Maynard and Jim Hahn

 ______________________________________________________________________________

San Pedro Wilderness New Mexico

Masculine Confrontation and

Fraternal Correction

The Warrior, the Servant, The Open Learner

Ryan Anthony, Joel Stroot, Ryan Kiel, Terry Ackerly, Paul Bogan, Fr. Mathew Hoover,

John Bradford, James Dunham and Chris Muer

______________________________________________________________________________ 

Idaho 2009, Myrtle Lake, Selkirk Mountains 

Learning the Liturgy of the Hours,

Silence at Sunset,

Exceeding the Work Expectations of the

United States Forest Service.

The Old Dudes Got What it Takes!

Gary Anthony , Walt Knox, Dean Ashbrook, Fr. Livinus Uba, Greg Otterson, Chris Walsh, Andrew Jacobs, and John Bradford

The "Roman Nose" in the Idaho Selkirks

A Good Climb in Idaho

Looking down on Myrtle Lake in Idaho

Wilderness Outreach experienced phenomenal success duing the summer of 2009. 40 men participated in 4 expeditions that encompassed 40 days and accomplished 20 miles of trail work. 40 Masses were celebrated and during that time the Office of the Readings, Morning, Evening and Night Prayers were read and followed. I am particularly pleased that all of the “Old Dudes” on theIdaho trip purchased Christian Prayer and became quite adept at following the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours. In all cases the United States Forest Service told us that we exceeded their expectations and wanted us to return next year. Every man who participated this past summer progressed in some way, most of them quite far.

The stories that emerged in 2009 were:

1. A celebration of real men. Four categories were identified as areas where men distinguished themselves in Wilderness Outreach. These are:
   1. Warrior: the selfless man of courage you would want to go into battle with.
   2. Servant: the selfless man quick to jump into any task, again and again with counting the cost.
   3. Open Learner: Ready to do something new and learn. Possesses an authentic excitement about what is going on around him
   4. The Enduring: The man who experiences difficulties but refuses to quit.
2. Engaging and confronting culture as Catholic men.
   1. Understanding that God is both in everything and contains everything.

1. As a result it is our duty to “mine” the culture for the “One, True, Good and the Beautiful” and understand these better than our secular counterparts. For example: philosophy, math, science, business etc. This allows us to evangelize more effectively.
   1. Books: Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Senge’s the 5^th Discipline, Stapp’s “The Mindful Universe” etc.
2. That we and all of human kind is given life and continuation of life by the “Christ within” it is our further duty to expand the “Christ within” into all aspects of our being and the culture outside of us. This is a spiritual battle that requires us to be “Warriors of Christ” with our own ego and that of our brothers which brings us to the third WO theme…..

1. Fraternal Correction or Masculine Confrontation: It is our duty to confront ourselves and our brothers in the areas where we are falling short in our work to “become worthy of the promises of Christ”. In some ways the only way that we can correct ourselves is in an attempt to correct our brothers and as a result we discover that we have been “seeing through a glass darkly” So in moving forward with fraternal correction we risk finding out “what’s wrong with me?” But isn’t that the point? But since Truth is not relative, naturally some men are further along the trail than others and need to help their brothers move forward. This is an important practice field for our lives and our vocations.

Trail work in Idaho

Campsite in Idaho