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| John Kroschel (in yellow) laughing as a we played a game with the seminarians one evening. |
A few, unique people touch our lives in ways that forever
change us. Those of you who have followed my journeys either from the beginning
or more recently know that my friends in Egypt are people who have changed how
I look at the world. But before I could know them, I had to travel to Egypt,
and the Rev. John Kroschel was the person responsible for my first journey in
2007.
John, his wife, Chris, their children, Nathan and Sari, first
traveled to Egypt in 2005 at the invitation of Fr. Doug May. When John came
home from that first trip he eagerly shared stories with Hans and I about all
they had seen, experienced and learned. Almost immediately after his return he
said to me, “you have to do this.” It has never occurred to me that perhaps
John said those words to everyone he told about Egypt. But for me, those words resonated
in a special way. Egypt was the first country I ever dreamed of visiting as a
child, and John’s words invited me to this opportunity and I readily accepted.
When John and his family scheduled a return trip in 2007,
Hans and I made plans to accompany them. The morning after our arrival, John
began acquainting me with our neighborhood in Ma’adi, introducing me to this
land, and through John’s eyes I began to know the Egypt that he had already
come to love. Through John’s quiet but studied observance, I learned to notice
every woman selling tissues (in lieu of begging) on street corners and Metro
exits. I began to take in the devotion of those around us – Christians and
Muslims. I learned to observe the lives of ordinary Egyptians as they struggled
with the challenges of daily life – like walking down overcrowded, uneven and
treacherous streets to simply get to work. By his example I began to ask
questions of my students, listen to their stories and try to understand their
journeys. I took in the ancient history that emerged out of the desert and beloved
Egypt began to take hold of me.
Even in a foreign culture, John gently but firmly pushed at societal
norms and fought for a more just world. He encouraged me to practice my
pastoral leadership as a woman within the walls of this Coptic Catholic
Seminary and invited me to pray publicly and to preach in the daily mass. When
I nervously preached for the first time, “Fazher John”, as our students called
him, ever the pastor, sat with his students that morning after Mass and helped
them process what they had just seen and heard. Later he told me his opening
question had been, “well, do we need to go check the foundations of the
building and make sure there aren’t any cracks?”
I don’t know why John came home from Egypt that
first time and said, “you have to do this.” What I do know is that by saying
those words and extending an invitation, John changed my life.
Thanks be to God for the life of John Kroschel, my mentor
and friend. I will continue to carry his presence with me in my life and
ministry . . . most especially in Egypt.
In Praise to God and in Memory of
Pastor John Kroschel
December 10, 1963 – May 17, 2012
