Go West Young Man!
By Br. Martin Buganski
In pioneer days the west was a place of opportunity but also a testing ground. I believe the same holds true today. “Go west!” This was the American vision for initiation: young men venturing into vast spaces to struggle and survive. Even now taming the wild, living with danger, and honing your strength and skill on the open plain still fire the imaginations of many young men. It’s where you go to claim your manhood. Most men never get to live such a dream. This spring break trip, nine men from UCF did.
We lived it on an 850-acre ranch in the rolling hills of Southeast Oklahoma – just a dot on a map unknown even to Google. Most of us were city kids, unused to four-wheel drive on long stretches of gravel road. What called out to us was the adventure, hard work, and new challenges we knew we’d face. When I asked one student why he wanted to come on this trip, he simply said, “I need this.” I think we all needed it.
Our hosts were a Catholic couple in the process of building a retreat center on the property. They hope it will be a place for those seeking quiet; a desert oasis to connect with God through nature. They understand God’s vision for their land as restoring it to its natural beauty. In March, they welcomed several spring break groups over the course of the month, ours being the last. Like us, young men from universities across the country traveled great distances to spend time with God and in nature.
Upon our arrival, the couple laid out the work week ahead. Their land had been overrun by wild boar, invasive tree species, and agricultural practices that whittled down native prairie fauna to a minimum. We were invited to be part of a long process of rewilding the land.
Up early every morning, we prayed individually and corporately. Then we worked well into the afternoon heat. Most young men don’t get to do the things we did. We felled invasive trees, split firewood and built traps for wild boar.
Serving the church was also on the schedule. Small groups of men went around to local parishes all week to help with landscaping and maintenance. In the late afternoons we fished for bass, learned shotgun safety and took in the natural beauty around us. Evenings we gathered to hear talks on Christian manhood and each night ended (where else?) around a bonfire. Then we hit the sack and did it again.
How to measure the impact of our trip? Two stories come to mind.
At one point we helped with a controlled burn on a part of their property (don’t worry Mom the fire department and the county sheriff were there!). Our host called us together and offered a life lesson for the men. “There are a lot of enjoyable things in life that can be beneficial to us,” he said, “but if we’re not attentive to keep them within the bounds of what is right, just like fire, they can do a lot of damage – to us and others.” The day’s work was safe and successful. I believe the burn combined with the lesson is something the men will remember for years to come.
Another impactful part of the trip was the evening program – the talks and small group sessions. The honesty and inspiring faith of our hosts left a lasting impression on the men. Sharing about their life together as husband and wife, they were vulnerable, courageous and very open about their struggles.
Recently one of the guys from the trip told me that those talks still echo in his head. The same is true for me. Like St. Paul, they shared with us “not only the gospel of God, but [their] very selves as well” (1 Thes. 2:8).
This was more than just a spring break trip. It was a pivotal experience. As the week began, I saw a group of guys unknown to each other and timid about the unknown that lay ahead. They returned as men galvanized around a common experience and more mature in their Christian lives. One said the trip left him “the most empowered I've ever felt, both through my manhood and from the Lord.”
Why are there so few young men to be found in the pews on any given Sunday? We’ve learned they don’t lack desire. What they need is vision, and often that vision comes through a shared experience of adventure. This March we found that adventure out west. We came back as men who were changed; ready to live our manhood more fully in Christ.