My first introduction to the art of dancing was not as a teenager attending a sock hop. It was on Wednesday evenings when my siblings and I, along with cousins and other kids from the parish, gathered at the church hall to learn Croatian folk dances.

I had to help my 16-year-old with tech support recently. That’s not a thing I have to do too much of anymore; my teenage and young adult kids are more likely to roll their eyes at me while they show me a shortcut to do something on my phone or ask why I actually call the customer service number.

My faith journey started early on, when I was growing up in a home I now live in with my family on the South Side of Chicago. My parents guided us with their faith, and my grandmother, who was from Northern Ireland, shared her grit and commitment to serving the community.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite stories in my children’s Bible was this Sunday’s Gospel, the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. What drew me then was not its spiritual profundity, but rather the vivid drawing of Jesus and his disciples sitting in a field, surrounded by what looked like a 20-foot-high pile of loaves of Wonder Bread, accompanied by thousands of fish flopping on the grass.

The Mundelein Seminary community recently lost one of its most beloved members, Father Gus Belauskas. For more than 50 years, Father Gus was directly involved with the formation of future priests as a professor, spiritual director, formation mentor and spiritual father.