WYD, Father Stan and Suffering

Fr. Stan Fortuna - Everybody Got 2 Suffer

While watching the World Youth Day 2008 specials I came across Father Stan Fortuna. No surprise there. If there are young people, if there are Catholics, if there is praise and worship than this Franciscan will be there.

For me he is a most unlikely priest. I don’t expect to see brothers playing jazz, I don’t expect to hear Fathers rapping. But there he is over and over again being cooler than cool. But it is not an act and the rap is not the message, it is simply one of many mediums of expressing the message of Love.

I am excited to see him. He will be performing at the University of Saint Francis at the end of September. I especially like hearing his, “Everybody Got 2 Suffer”. The topic of suffering came up over and over again in my Pastoral Counseling classes. It is a focus of Disaster Mental Health. My Buddhist Monk friends in Fort Wayne talk about suffering constantly. All faiths struggle to make sense out of suffering. Why does a loving God allow it? What function does it serve? How can we endure it? For the Christian, how can I offer it up?

So, I love the video even if usually prefer listening to Sinatra to listening to rap.