IMAGE: CNS photo/Jerry Mennenga
By Joanne Fox
WEST BEND, Iowa (CNS) — With apologies to Fats Domino,
Father Lawrence Carney is “walkin’ and talkin’ about
you and me,” and hoping that listeners will come back to — not “me”
— but God.
Known as the “walking priest,”
Father Carney brought his message of street evangelization to Sts. Peter and
Paul Church in the north central Iowa town of West Bend in early July.
The event was sponsored by the Shrine of the Grotto of the
Redemption in collaboration with the Office of Discipleship and Evangelization for the
Diocese of Sioux City.
Ordained for the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, Father
Carney is on loan to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, where he serves as chaplain
to the Benedictines of Mary,
Queen of Apostles, in Gower. He visits the nuns daily to celebrate the Tridentine Mass, offers the
sacrament of reconciliation and provides spiritual direction.
Once his duties are complete, Father Carney, 42, takes to
the streets of St. Joseph. Armed with a rosary in one hand and a large crucifix
in the other, the tall priest in a black cassock and wide-brimmed clerical hat known as a “saturno” shares the Gospel with
anyone who approaches.
The oldest of three boys in his family, Father Carney
recalled his first inkling of a vocation surfaced in kindergarten.
“A Redemptorist priest visited
and held up a card of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and it seemed like the eyes of
Our Lady would follow me,” he said.
“I thought, ‘If a priest can do
that with a holy card, then I want to be a priest,'” he said, smiling.
Father Carney confessed he “fought”
the idea of the priesthood in high school.
“I was convinced I was to marry
a beautiful young woman and have 12 children,” he said. “God
ultimately won that battle.”
Following his 2007 ordination, Father
Carney served as a parish priest in the Wichita Diocese. His life changed when
he chose to walk the Camino de Santiago
pilgrimage route in Spain — opting to wear a cassock — talking to about 1,000
people during his 32 days on the trail.
The
experience led to his decision to walk the streets.
Father Carney’s ministry led him to pen “Walking the
Road to God,” published in 2017 by Caritas Press. The book is subtitled,
“Why I left everything behind and took to the streets to save souls.”
“I’m a horrible author,” the priest said.
“Isn’t is something how God chooses the worst people to do his will?”
But save souls, he has, in his travels in Missouri and
elsewhere.
“Three
years ago, I was approached by a non-Catholic family who insisted their home
was possessed by demons; the children were saying they saw red eyes in the
house,” he said. “They asked me to pray for them and I did.”
When
he later saw the family, Father Carney asked about the house.
“‘Oh,
Father, after you prayed and left, the devils left,’ the mother reported,”
he said. “After one year of instruction, they were received into the
church and one of the sons is discerning a vocation to the priesthood.”
The
story was one of several the priest shared with the 125 people who attended his
talk.
In
his book, Father Carney expressed his dream of a new order of priests, clerics
and brothers, who walk and pray in cities around the U.S. to reach out to lukewarm
and fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.
The Vatican approved his request for
the new order Dec. 8 — to accept men into the Canons Regular of St. Martin of Tours. The new
community will be based in St. Joseph. About a dozen men have indicated an
interest in joining, Father Carney said.
“I
am in the process of discernment myself for this new community,” he said.
“God willing, I will profess my first vows on Nov. 11, 2019.”
Meanwhile,
Father Carney “walks the walk and talks the talk” to about 10 people
a day, about 2,000 to 5,000 folks in the last four years.
“The
best part of the walking is I get to contemplate God,” he said. “I
pray the rosary, get some exercise, look at nature and someone might talk to me
and then, I share my contemplation with them.”
After
his presentation, Father Carney took questions, with one person asking if he
walked the 245 miles from St. Joseph to West Bend.
With
a grin, Father Carney shook his head in response. However, he did admit to
being somewhat of an expert on shoes.
“I
have discovered ‘shandals’ work well,” he said, referring to a part-shoe, part-sandal,
which he had on his feet.
Father
Carney reported the Canons Regular are looking into creating the hybrid and
marketing them.
“We
will be calling them, Father Martens,” he said, chuckling repeatedly at
the reference to the popular Doc Martens footwear.
– – –
Fox is managing editor of The Catholic Globe,
newspaper of the Diocese of Sioux City.
– – –
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