Religion: The Good Shepherds

Brother Matthias had his 1,000th “customer” last week. The customers that come to Brother Matthias and his five fellow monks in Albuquerque, N. Mex. are down & outers in need of a meal, a bed and a change of clothes. No. 1,000 was a milestone on their steep road to official recognition as a new order of the Roman Catholic Church, the Brothers of the Good Shepherd.

Too Much Zeal? Irish-born Brother Matthias joined the Order of St. John of God when he was only 15, in Dublin. After completing his training, he ran a refuge in Montreal for 14 years. From Montreal he was sent to Los Angeles to set up a new refuge, then to Boston to start another. There he ran into strong objectors who insisted that “those poor people you talk about helping are nothing but bums, and they always will be bums.” Boston’s Archbishop Gushing approved him in a sermon, but Brother Matthias’ way of meeting opposition—head on—was not conducive to amiable compromise, and eventually his order transferred him back to Ireland. Says he: “I was politely advised that I had been working very hard and needed a rest.”

Last September, after much pestering by mail, Rome granted him permission to leave the order and join the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico. “I feel that St. John of God let me down badly,” says Brother Matthias. “All I wanted was to continue my work. I suppose I showed a little bit too much zeal … or perhaps they thought I was getting too worldly.”

Beds & Blankets. When he met New Mexico’s Archbishop Byrne, Brother Matthias said he would like to set up a new house for the poor in Albuquerque. The archbishop approved, and Brother Matthias and three other brothers moved into an old building given them by a local parish. They all slept on the floor at first, but Brother Matthias managed to beg 20 beds and blankets, cooking utensils and food. They called themselves the Brothers of the Good Shepherd and last January opened their doors to the poor. Last month Archbishop Byrne blessed their garb—white cassocks without cowls. After a year or two, if all goes well, a committee of investigation will report on the brotherhood to the archbishop, who will then recommend to the Vatican whether the brotherhood should be recognized as a new order.

“You can set up welfare agencies, whether private or government, all you want,” says Brother Matthias, “but you’ll still need the kind of refuge where a man can come 24 hours a day, seven days a week . . . This is work that the church needs to do. I think it’s one of the best ways to fight Communism . . . And don’t let anybody tell you people don’t change. I’ve seen them change almost in front of my eyes. And some of them I’ve watched for years, and the change has lasted a lifetime.”