Every Thursday throughout the school year, dozens of men and boys gather at St. James Church in Elizabethtown, Ky., for an evening of fraternity, which always involves “four pillars” — eating, competing, learning and praying, said James Hobbs.
“We always share a meal. We compete — we play some variation of a physical game. We study — formation. And we close in prayer,” said Hobbs, who began the local chapter of “Fraternus” at the parish.
Fraternus, a national organization with more than 35 chapters, aims “to form boys into virtuous men, bring fathers together in virtue, and ensure mentoring for young men, including the fatherless,” according to its website, fraternus.org.
The local chapter — which welcomes participants from surrounding parishes — is in its third year and draws about 45 men and boys, ranging from fifth graders to men in their 70s, for weekly gatherings.
“When men grow in virtue, it makes better families, better workplaces, better communities. It makes better men.”
— James Hobbs, parishioner of St. James Church, Elizabethtown
They gather to study a curriculum focused on the virtues and the liturgical calendar, said Hobbs. The study focuses on a different virtue each week, and the upcoming Sunday Mass readings, he said.
“The virtues are often an overlooked area of our faith. Many of us would say, ‘I know what virtue is,’ but most of us could not explain the differences between fortitude, prudence, justice and temperance,” he said.
Focusing on the virtues makes “better men,” said Hobbs. “When men grow in virtue, it makes better families, better workplaces, better communities. It makes better men.”
Studying the virtues is “grounding,” said Dennis Williams, a parishioner at St. Christopher Church in Radcliff, Ky., who participates in the chapter with one of his sons.
“They bring you back to the fundamental things that are important” amid the “everyday distractions of life,” he said in a recent interview. Participants are reminded to “reorient ourselves towards the things that matter.”
During formation, the chapter breaks into smaller groups based on age, with some older men leading groups of younger men.
Men in similar phases of fatherhood have the opportunity to see each other’s strengths and share in common struggles, Williams noted.
“We get together and are committing to each other that we are going to follow this life of virtue, so we have to follow it up with some action. Men can look at each other in the eye and say when help is needed,” he said.
Hobbs noted that the group encourages accountability. One man can say to another, “I’m struggling with this, can you hold me accountable?” or “This is what we do at my house. What do you do at your house?”
“As we mentor one another, we are showing our young men how to do that, too,” he said.
Williams said, “For young men, it’s important to be able to see grown men who are actively pursuing virtue. Everyone recognizes that no one has ‘made it.’ We are all trying to grow in virtue.”
The Fraternus ministry is also influencing parish life, as men become more willing to participate and take on active leadership roles, Hobbs said.
“Men often take a backseat to being involved in their parishes,” he said. “When men start to hold each other accountable, we start to step into those roles. You see men who want to volunteer, who want to get involved in committees.”
Sometimes men can be hesitant to volunteer in parish life if they don’t know other parishioners well, said Williams. But men involved in Fraternus get to know each other, leading the men to feel like “a more integral part of that community” and respond to its needs, he said.
Father Michael Wimsatt, pastor of St. James, said Fraternus “directly benefits the family as a whole and the parish.”
“There’s a collective strengthening taking place, and giving fathers a constructive way and a lot of tools to speak about their faith,” which positively impacts the wives and daughters of the family, too, he said.
The local chapter developed momentum “really quickly,” he noted. “That speaks to there being a receptivity among the audience.”
Williams said the chapter has given him hope.
“It gives me a lot of optimism to see young men so fervent in their faith and committed to living a life of virtue. I’m optimistic that our Catholic faith will be strong with these young men growing up in Fraternus,” Williams said. “All my life, I’ve been trying to grow in my faith, but this has probably been the strongest accelerant in allowing me to do that.”
In addition to its weekly gatherings, the chapter also hosts occasional overnight or day-long outdoor experiences, such as camping trips and hog roasts.
To learn more about Fraternus, visit fraternus.org.
