He Leads Me

by Anne Simoneau

I was an awkward, introverted kid who God gifted with good parents. They made great sacrifices of time and finances to support not only our family of six, but our neighboring Catholic church and school as well. Although I didn’t appreciate it fully as a child, it was this foundation of stability that I drew upon as I launched out into unknown waters.

The world was spinning out of control culturally as I moved from my comfortable Catholic school of nine years. My parents had agonized over their decision to send me to Cass Tech, a public high school in downtown Detroit. They had spent many a sleepless night weighing the pros and cons of their decision. I was artistic by nature, and the Catholic school I attended had nothing to offer me by way of art instruction.

The bus ride to my new school was an hour long with several transfers in questionable neighborhoods. I took my Catholic training with me, although I must admit I appeared to be a bit of what was then called a “square.” It was the ’60s!

I thrived in this strange new atmosphere because of my love of art. I was so busy trying to rise to the high expectations that there was no time for monkey business. Three years later, I was awarded an art scholarship to the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio. This was a great financial blessing to my middle-class family.

There my values were severely tested. I roomed in a dorm of young women from varied backgrounds. I’m sure it was my mother’s prayers that placed me in a room situated next to a couple of good Catholic girls and directly above the house mother. There were no shenanigans in my room!

Again the love of art saved me from many a questionable party. I had 10 art classes with two academics each semester. I wanted an A in all of them! That took a good dose of diligence to arrive at, much less maintain.

However, my spiritual life was left unattended as I directed my energies toward entering the art world. Soon I gave ear to a rumor that was passing throughout the dorm: “Haven’t you heard? You don’t have to go to church only on Sundays for your obligation—just once a week.”

With my load of classes, class preparation was all-consuming. I began to let my Sunday Mass obligation slide as I tried to climb to the top of my class.

My social life included a few dates that might have ended in disaster, but because of my naïveté, and most assuredly, my mother’s prayers, I was spared from disastrous results. God removed me from the college completely when I began toying with dangerous relationships.

Preparing the Canvas

I was devastated when I was completely overlooked for a second-year scholarship. My mark placement was second highest in a school of 350, but for whatever reason, God said “no”!

I packed my bags and left for home. Two weeks later I secured a job designing billboards, and shortly after I landed a job that gave me complete artistic license: I was the only artist in a firm that handled advertising for 10 accounts. I was 19 years old and on cloud nine!

I met my husband, Jerry, in 1968. A year later my cousin, a priest, married us, and two years later we pooled our combined “fortune” and put a deposit on a cozy house close to my parents. Life was wonderful . . . or so I thought.

The silence of a peaceful Saturday morning was broken by the Angelus bells of the neighboring Catholic Church. They struck a discordant note in my conscience as images of my mother walking to daily Mass flooded my memory. They grabbed my thoughts and forced me take a personal inventory. I was now pregnant and responsible for the hidden life that lay beneath my breast.

Why am I here?

What am I doing?

What are my priorities?

Who do I love?

Our Lord said, “I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me,” (Jn. 17:9). Why am I acting as if I am a permanent resident on this planet?

I promptly quit my job and put away my desires of becoming a rich and famous commercial artist. My talents would be used to mold my children into God’s image. I would read and inform my conscience according to Holy Mother Church. I picked up a copy of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s book, Walk With God; it was my first baby step.

Painting the Background

Six kids blessed our homestead; three children in three years (two girls, then a boy) followed by several miscarriages, then three more children (two girls and a boy). Needless to say, we received plenty of advice on the glories of birth control! But how can one express the intense joy at the birth of each new baby? Living in God’s sight is exhilarating! He never lets you down. Quite the opposite, He lifts you up!

I didn’t feel the loss of my art job as I kept up with my skills in domestic ways, sewing for the kids or just plain doodling. I even developed a moral cartoon called “Rosebuds” that was placed in 11 newspapers, as varied as the Sunday Visitor to the diverse Detroit News. I slipped this in while juggling kids, laundry, meals, and homework.

As our family grew, it was hard to hide from public scrutiny. We constantly had to defend our beliefs to people who felt free to voice their opinions: “How can you, in your humble circumstance, provide for your children in an intelligent manner? What about their college education?”

And indeed the education of our children was paramount. Public school was out of the question; we wanted the true Catholic faith to be imparted to our children in all its pristine integrity. As a mom, I thought that God would not give me these noble desires without the means to accomplish them. My deepest desire was, “Please, God, make us saints—all of us!”

We purchased and perused good Catholic periodicals so as to know what to be aware of when choosing an ideal Catholic school. Then we hit the pavement. We screened schools through articles written in church bulletins, went to principals’ offices to inquire about school books, asked other parents from orthodox groups about their success with their children’s education, and listened attentively to sermons to see if the truth was being expounded upon in adjoining churches. We did all of these things after prayer and personal spiritual direction.

A Landscape of Sacrifices

In the end, we made many sacrifices. The expenses of time, tuition, and books were added to the inevitable car payments, gas, and repairs. Our family Chevette carried not only hubby and me, but also six bouncing children, all of us rattling our rosary beads! It carried us through hectic rush-hour traffic eight miles to daily Mass, then to school, back home, back out to school, and then home again. After that it escorted my husband 25 miles to work, second shift, and back home. We didn’t have a second car, but we had each other!

We lived in a small two-bedroom house. The children’s room had wall-to-wall bunk beds. Our neighborhood had abandoned us; four of the houses around us were boarded up, and drug dealers lived directly across the street. Once school started, Jerry only saw the kids on weekends as we were gone to school before he woke, and when I came home with the kids, he left for work! This was truly a family sacrifice! God was the center of our life; He was in the driver’s seat!

We lived out the virtues as perfectly as we could; prayer and good Catholic books buoyed us up. We had few but carefully chosen good and holy friends. Most people who knew of our family rituals thought we were downright crazy, and our relatives wondered at our reasoning. But despite it all, we were happy.
At this time our family life took a drastic turn. Our 14-year-old son, John, decided to join the Legionaries of Christ minor seminary in New Hampshire, and our two oldest daughters decided to go to Christendom College in Virginia. Therese was graduating from high school and, miraculously, Marie was also accepted to Christendom even though she had just completed the eleventh grade.

Our friends, meanwhile, were building homes up north to send their children to a new parent-run Catholic school. Because of our financial circumstances, my husband and I could only dream of sending our three youngest children there.

Dark thoughts of envy clouded my vision. This plaintive plea entered my prayers: “Oh God, You came naked into this world. You showed us how to live out the truth in poverty. The faith isn’t for people of monetary means alone! Help!”

We began to wonder at the bleak prospect before us. What would Jesus want us to do?

Brightening the Mood

Exhausted from the day’s activities, I answered the phone one evening. It was my friend Donna. She blurted out her words: “Dorothy’s brother, John, has a vacant four-bedroom house up north. He wants to let you and your family lease it for $1 a month; all bills but food and phone will be paid for you! He’s the principal of St. Thomas More Academy. Your kids can now go to our Catholic parent-run school!”

Indeed this was startling news! An answer to my prayer—thank you, God!

Jerry came home that night unaware of the day’s events. I woke him up before our morning prayers and whispered in his ear, “We can go up north and be part of a St. Thomas More Catholic Academy! Someone offered us a house, virtually free of charge!”

A series of “God-incidences” followed: A neighbor walked up to our home and asked us if we were selling our house. He bought it!

Our car died and we were able to buy a dependable one. We now had enough money to send our older children to the schools of their choice.

Even with this windfall, we didn’t have the means to pay for all the corresponding travel expenses involved with out-of-state education. However, God inspired a businessman adjacent to our new home to offer us a cleaning job in his suite of offices. We now had a family job and participated in it each night before prayers.

A Texture Adjustment

Don’t think that every thing fell into place without some jagged edges; we had our share of challenges that kept us grounded. Along with the daily grind of housework and helping the kids with their homework, I helped my mom deal with my dad’s Alzheimer’s. We also had partial care of Jerry’s mom, who also had Alzheimer’s. Plus we assisted in the care of an elderly friend with diabetes and blindness. Our cross didn’t disappear; it just changed its texture.

Looking back, God knew we needed those extra bedrooms. You might say we had a full house!

Our respective families tolerated us, thinking we were a bit eccentric and definitely too Catholic! Needless to say, these events quieted mocking members of our families. We could hardly believe how solicitous our dearest Lord was to us. It is true that He knows every hair on our heads and He cares! As Christ Himself said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Mt. 5:5).

From the very start we actively supported St. Thomas More Academy and volunteered to clean the school each Saturday. With plenty of elbow grease, Jerry, our kids, and I systematically divided the school and conquered the dirt.

Volunteering my artistic talent, I designed the school logo, repaired religious statues, painted the school’s outdoor billboard, and did any other odd art job that came along. We were proud to be part of this magnificent endeavor! What could be nobler than to form fertile young minds on their way toward eternity?

If we thought we could rest on our laurels, we were mistaken. You might say we just refueled and changed directions. We started to make frequent trips to the minor seminary in New Hampshire, and later to the major seminary in Connecticut. We traveled to Christendom College in Virginia and later to Rhode Island, where the younger girls attended Mater Ecclesiae, an apostolic school. The children were involved in many good, exciting activities and went on many retreats.

Our Family: A Work of Art

One by one, each gave religious life a try. Our daughters at Christendom College graduated together. The eldest, Therese, taught pro bono for the Legionaries of Christ for a year in Texas, then as a second grade teacher at Holy Family Academy in Virginia. She met her husband there and is now home schooling their six children, with number seven on the way. She has just written her first book on The Life of St. Dominic Savio, a small saint book for kids.

Marie paid off her college loan by teaching fifth graders at a Catholic grade school for a year. After a retreat to seek God’s will, she consecrated herself to God and was sent as a lay missionary by the Legionaries of Christ to Slovakia to work with young girls. She came home after five years and secured a position as a second grade teacher at Everest Academy. In the summer of 2000 she was introduced to and later married John Kruse of Michigan Catholic Radio in the Detroit area. They are both catechists; one on the airwaves, and the other for second graders in their parish. She and her husband now have four children. My husband and I are godparents for the last bundle!

Our oldest son, John, is a Legionary priest in Budapest, Hungary, and is chaplain and director of a Catholic school there. He has also opened two Catholic chapels and two youth centers, places where the kids can go after school to learn the truths of the faith and engage in good, wholesome activities. He has been with the Legionaries of Christ for 17 years and was ordained in December 2004.

Margaret went to apostolic school in Rhode Island in the ninth and tenth grades. Due to a stomach ailment she had to return home and graduated after being home schooled. She met and married her husband Joe, and they are both are active in Regnum Christi, a religious lay order of the Legionaries of Christ. They have two boys and a girl. Margaret runs a group of 200 children in Catholic formation through Kids for Jesus.

Katie followed in her sister’s footsteps a year later and also went to Mater Ecclesia in Rhode Island. She was sent home with chronic bronchitis and then was home schooled. She married Anthony in October of 2000. Tony is from a strong Catholic family. I have become friends with his mother; together we have become “Catholic detectives.” We do research on various articles of our faith. A reprint of a French book on the scapular has come about because of our studies.

Our youngest child, Joe, graduated from the Legionaries’ minor seminary in New Hampshire. After coming home, he volunteered to work for the Legionaries, who sent him to Eastern Europe to work with his brother, John. Later he was assigned to be dean of discipline at the Legionaries’ Catholic boarding school for boys in Edgerton, Wisconsin. While there, he has learned many a valuable lesson in the art of discipline himself. In 2001 he went to Ave Maria College. When it moved to Florida, he transferred to Eastern Michigan University in Ann Arbor for studies to become a doctor. He joined the Marines to help pay for his tuition and is now on a detour to Iraq to serve his country before pursuing further studies at the University of Michigan.

Thy Will Be Done

When I got married, I was a self-centered young woman who wanted only the best that life had to offer. God was secondary at best.

The world bowed down before me with all its empty promises.

I cried out in my loneliness, “Here I am, look at me!”

No one answered.

To get my attention, God planted tiny seeds within me; it took nine months for me to hear their cry. I listened and I said, “Hear I am, Lord; I have come to do Your Will.”

May the will of God be honored in me and my family!

Prayer

O Sweet Jesus! Pierce my heart so that my tears of penitence and love will be my bread day and night; may I be converted entirely to Thee, may my heart be Thy perpetual habitation, may my conversion be pleasing to Thee, and may the end of my life be so praiseworthy that I may merit heaven and there with Thy saints, praise Thee forever. Amen

—Prayer of St. Brigid of Sweden

Anne Simoneau is a freelance artist whose work has included the cartoon “Rosebuds,” numerous forms of religious art, book illustrations, and the paintings for the 2007 Eternal Life calendar. She is the mother of six grown children.

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