Will you love the 'you' you hide if I but call your name ?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be
the same ?
Will you use the faith you've found to
reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me
( from a Scottish traditional hymn; text by John L. Bell, tune by
Kelvin Grove )
By
Robert R. Schwarz
He says he's retired but chances are it'll never happen . And he appears to have a love
affair with making good things happen .
It's all about change. "I like to be
where there is change, " he says in
a calm voice that belies the daily buzzing of his work agenda. "If something needs to happen,"
he says, "I make it happen , then
get out. " ( Like a baseball pinch
hitter ? )
Jim
Bannon refers to his mission as being a "change agent " , a sort of
consultant who often implements what he advises people to do. For
several years and while at his at the
St. James church in Arlington
Heights, Illinois , he used his skills
being a senior vice president of the
largest publicly held investment trust
in the U.S. , and later as director of a
real estate investment and service company, then as director of operations for
a large church parish in Inverness ,
Illinois.
Today , at 58, he's still on a fast track, but this time to bring about spiritual changes as deacon at his St. James parish. "I've made a career out of being good at analyzing situations and making connections and plans to get things done."
Today , at 58, he's still on a fast track, but this time to bring about spiritual changes as deacon at his St. James parish. "I've made a career out of being good at analyzing situations and making connections and plans to get things done."
Our conversation took place at a kitchen table in Bannon's modest and tidy suburban home with a backyard populated with
trees he himself planted years ago. Though
a mild-mannered man who speaks
softly and weighs words with the
same precision as with the occasional homily he delivers at St. James, you sense a man
committed to a plan whose goal he
will pursue aggressively if necessary ; there is no disconnect between
his spirit of change agent and the deacon's pin—the " fire of the
Holy Spirit "—
he wore on his shirt when we talked.
He daily looks forward to "encountering Christ through the people of God," he said. He explained: " A good way to see God is through the people of God in my work . It can be a rational or
emotional experience. " As an
example, he recalled a Sunday Mass when, during the communion , a girl approached him at the altar. "I looked at her face
and it was like a miraculous experience. "
At other times, he added, he may be
looking at how hard people work, like the
volunteers helping overnight with
the homeless in the church basement.
 |
| Jim in second grade |
While performing his deacon duties, Bannon said he feels
the Spirit of Christ when he "opens " his heart . "A
lot of times it’s being vulnerable…and putting down your guard and opening
yourself to humility. I think this is
where you see the Spirit at work. "
Did he mean not being fearful of
"showing one's warts" ? Yes,
he said. In a quiet moment of the day , he often asks "where was
God in my work today ?"
His favorite Bible verse is from James 2:18:
Indeed someone may say ' you have faith and I have works. '
Demonstrate your faith to me without works , and I will demonstrate my faith to
you from my works. As
for what he'd like as his tombstone's
epitaph, Bannon paused before replying
with another verse from Holy Scripture (Matthew 25:21 ) : Well
done , my good and faithful servant…Come
, share your Master's joy.
A Major Decision
Sparked by a " Shadow "
What moved him to leave the secularized
business world and undergo a year of discernment followed by careful screening —shared
with his wife Laura—and three years of training by the
archdiocese? " I say
it was a progression of moving deeper into the faith. " Perhaps the defining moment of his decision
( and that of his wife and church ) was
after he mother had died and Bannon , along with a former St. James priest and a current deacon
, went on a pilgrimage to Ireland seven
years ago. During his pilgrimage , he learned much about the diaconate from
these two men . Then at an old Irish graveyard, Bannon gazed upon a Celtic High Cross , which was casting a long shadow across the
ground. "
The shadow looked a lot like a human being , " he recalled , and that his own shadow
now appeared next to this other
shadow. " And I said to
myself, so what are you going to do with
the rest of your life ? "
He was officially ordained a deacon in May,
2013, when the late Cardinal Francis George laid hands upon him .
 |
| With wife Laura at Disney World circa 2005 |
Bannon's goals are
to grown in his spirituality and the depth of his relationship with God; to become a better minister for the people, to
be a better parent and grandparent; and "to help people experience more of
the divine in their life through the sacraments and my preaching."
Stumbling Blocks He Sees
for Christians
We talked about the stumbling blocks which sincere Christians
experience. " Well, everyone is looking for meaning and worth in
life , but we often spend lot of time looking in the wrong places. " He
listed some of those places as sex,
power, drugs, gambling , and possession of material things. Bannon said he also has observed a
"restlessness in everyone for God
" and then quoted St.
Augustine's reflection about our hearts remaining restless until they rest in God.
Many of the young
people who come to him in preparation for marriage are fairly un-churched, he said. " But I am always impressed on how they see God through each other. I
always learn something from them. I see their hunger for reaching beyond the
banal and the ordinary and the
secular , even if their families were not particularly religious or
church-going." Asked for his
opinion of the new pope, Bannon said: " He has set a very good
tone for people , and I think his
message about mercy and forgiveness has been
welcomed. "
As for recreation,
Bannon will watch sports events on television, " Duck Dynasty "
and "Pawn Stars " . He doesn't
see many movies. His favorite food is his wife's lasagna . For sheer fund and relaxation, this deacon fishes for bass on a small southern Wisconsin lake , where the Bannons have a
lake house they visit weekly—time permitting.
He's also made happy by being with people of "all types" ,
solving problems for them, and helping churches with financial problems "so they can better work on spiritual
problems. " Sadness comes to Bannon
at funeral Masses but, he
says, they can also be joyful occasions to know that the deceased
will " join Christ in heaven. "
He is also saddened by " God
being made irrelevant today in our
two-dimensional society , which has
moved far way from acknowledging or appreciating the spiritual or the
divine."
 |
| Those shadows in the Irish graveyard |
"Lay
people can do a lot in the church, " Bannon concluded. Part of his role as
deacon, he explained
, is " to live in that world between the laity and the
clerical."
THE
END
All
comments are welcome.
© 2015
Robert R. Schwarz
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