In Memory

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