Gerry Faust 2006

Jerry Faust is a speaker at a conference and has been a strong supporter for many years. He talks about his life and experiences, including his passion for football and his faith. He mentions his family and asks for prayers for his brother who is having surgery. He shares stories about his devotion to the Blessed Mother and how his prayers were answered. He also mentions his connection to Notre Dame and the grotto there. Overall, he expresses gratitude for the conference and the opportunity to share his story. Jerry is our next speaker, and Jerry has made numerous contributions to the success of our Answer the Call conferences. He has been with us from the beginning. Jerry spoke at our first conference 11 years ago when we had 500 men at St. Gertrude's grade school gym. It was a bare-bones operation, and as I recall, we did not even have a microphone. But then with Jerry, we didn't need one. Indeed, when we moved to UC's vast Shoemaker Center, Jerry didn't need a mic there either. But now, as you will soon experience, and to paraphrase a certain car commercial, this is not your father's Jerry Faust. Jerry has a passion that made him at Moeller one of the most successful high school coaches ever. It propelled him to a stint as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame and later Akron University. That passion is now channeled differently. Jerry will tell you about his life-changing experiences. He will tell you that his faith has supported him through the challenges he faced. And he will express these ideas in a changed way from the way he presented his thoughts years ago. I can assure you, though, that the new Jerry Faust is just as powerful a presenter as the earlier Jerry Faust. Gentlemen, please welcome once again one of our strongest supporters and a true man of faith, Jerry Faust. Thanks, Gus. Thank you. Thanks, Gus. Thank you. I only got 20 minutes, so okay. It's a pleasure to be here once again. The 12th Conference in 11 years, it's amazing. I remember the first one at St. Gertz's Gus was talking about. And I think it was formed by Father Ken, Kevin Lynch, Tom Young, and Declan Sullivan. And they are the ones that got the idea together. And Father was just telling me there's over 300 men involved in putting this on this afternoon and this morning. So it's great to be here for the 12th Conference in 11 years. I remember when Father Ken called me and asked me if I'd do it. And I told him I didn't want to do it. And he said, well, he says, I had your mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary. I said, yes, thanks, Father. He said, I buried your dad. Yes, Father, thanks. I buried your mother. Father, I'll do it. So I got more out of it than I've given. And I came down late last night. My son, Jerry, lives down here. And he sells athletic equipment for Capital Varsity. So he's up in Akron for a day with us picking up helmets and things like that for reconditioning. And so I drove down with him at midnight last night. We were supposed to come down earlier. But my brother Fred, they had to take him in an ambulance up to Cleveland Clinic. And he's going to be operated on. My father, Ken, married my brother and his wife, Lori, about 12, 15 years ago. And so my brother's up there. He's got two 90% arteries closed. And so he's just waiting to be operated on. So I have to leave right after I speak today because I've got to get up to Cleveland to see him. He was supposed to be up there Thursday night. They couldn't get him to bed until Friday or last night. And so I drove down last night. And I have to get back up there to get to see him. So it's afternoon. But when I told him, he told me to come anyhow. And he says, this is more important than being with me. And he says, just ask the men to say a prayer for me. And I'm asking all of you to say a prayer for him at some time during the day today to help him get through this surgery that he's facing in the next day. Maybe it's being done right now. I don't even know. And last year was the first conference I missed. And I couldn't make it because of some problems that I just couldn't put it together. And it's the only one I've ever missed. And I get back today. And I've been here this morning, the whole morning. And I said, boy, I wish I wouldn't have missed last year because the day has just been great. I've laughed and I've cried, you know, just listening to the speakers and Father Berger and Father Ken and everyone else and all you being here today. Just to be with Christ and his mother, the Blessed Mother, it's just great. I get to two or three of these conferences a year around the country. And they're just growing. There's 40 of them now this year. And I was up in Kalamazoo two weeks ago. And I spoke up there. And what a great conference they had. Small. It's a small diocese. And they had over four or five. I think they said they had about 500 men there. And it was just really tremendous. But it's great. The funny thing about it, I won't be able to go to Mass this afternoon. So I drove in earlier. My boy lives out in Lake Winoka. And so I drove in. It takes an hour to get in. I went to St. Gertz at 8 a.m. this morning. And I knew some of the Dominicans weren't there because they only had four in the altar this morning there. And I knew they were down here today. But it's sort of funny. The first conference was held. And the one I come back to, the 12th conference, I end up going to church there in the morning where I went to church that afternoon at the conference. So it's sort of neat how these things occur. I'm going to talk to you today briefly on three incidents in my life that have helped formulate my life for the better. And it started in 1989. And after I'd left Notre Dame, I was at Akron U. And the thing is that ever since I've been a small kid, I've had great devotion to the Blessed Mother. And I think that comes through my mom and dad. My dad, Fuzzy, who was a great coach and a great person. My mom, Elma, who was a great person in all. And I know right now they're both in heaven. And the one thing I always have peace with, because they were good people, I know they're in heaven. But I also know they know I loved them because I told them that every day of my life. But anyhow, in the sixth grade, we were playing for the CYO championship. And so before we played the game against St. Joe's Orphanage at University of Dayton Stadium for the championship of the CYO of Dayton. I was the center at that time. And I played center in the eighth grade team. And we went in and got to this altar. And we all in our uniforms knelt at the altar. And we said the Memorare. And we won that day. We were underdogs. From that day on, I've said the Memorare. Every day I say it. And then when I went to Moeller High School, there's a statue on the back of Moeller called Our Lady of Moeller. There's no such thing as Our Lady of Moeller. But it's Moeller, and it's Our Lady at Moeller. All right? I just don't want to present any heresy. All right? But anyhow, underneath it, it says the true secret of success is the interest of the Blessed Virgin in it. It was said by Fr. Chaminade, who's the founder of the Society of Mary, where Fr. Ken is a member of the Society of Mary. In fact, Fr. Ken played for my father. And he'll tell you how tough he was. And he was all-state center on my dad's 1945 undefeated football team. So Fr. Ken and I go way back. And I was just a little guy at that time. And I used to follow a team that played Pickway and beat them in 1918 to go undefeated. And Pickway was undefeated that time, too. But anyhow, so I prayed for three things. I prayed for three things at Our Lady of Moeller. I prayed that we'd win football games at Moeller. I prayed that I'd meet a good Catholic girl, which I did. I've been married 41 years now. And that third one, I prayed that someday I'd be the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame. And all three were answered. All three of them were answered out there. Thank you. But anyhow, in 1980, my wife said, let's go to Notre Dame to the spring game. And I said, Mar, I don't have time. I'm too busy as AD and football coach at Moeller. And I said, I don't have time. She said, we owe it to our kids. I said, Marlene, we do quality things with our kids and spend quality time with our kids. She said, no, our kids are at Notre Dame. We had six young men from Moeller playing at Notre Dame at that time. And I said to her, you know what, Marlene, you're right. So we left that morning, Saturday morning for the spring game. We took the kids up there, all three of our children. The first place we went to, and I'd only been to Notre Dame twice before in my life. Once when I was recruited as a senior in high school. No reason I was recruited late. He knew my dad had great football players, so to appease my dad, he had me come up for a visit. And that's about as far as it went. And secondly, I took our staff up there. Coach Eric Parsegian was up there at that time. I took our coaching staff at Moeller. Went up there to learn some football from he and his staff. And so I found the grotto up there both times. When I was a senior in high school and then when I was coaching at Moeller. So I told my wife, they came on the campus and said, the first place we're going to with the kids is to the grotto of the Blessed Mother. And it's down behind the Basilica. And there's Notre Dame grads, they know where it is. And people go up to watch Notre Dame. And it was packed, even in the spring. But we got a place at the rail, all my kids got there. And they were in the sixth grade, fifth grade, and seventh grade at that time. At the All Saints next door to Moeller. And so anyhow, we were all praying there, my wife and I. And I got up and I went to lit some candles. I walked up to light the candles. I looked back and I saw my three kids looking up at the Blessed Mother. And I saw my wife. And it brought tears to my eyes because they were with God. With the Mother of God. And it was so neat. And I lit eight candles. And I lit one for each one of my children that God would protect them. One for my wife to protect her. One for my dad that's living, my mom was living. One for each one of them. My mother-in-law was living with us. The eighth one I lit was that if I ever became the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame, I'd come to this grotto every day. One evening, two weeks, I got a call from Father Joyce. And to make a long story short, the next November I was named the 24th head football coach at the University of Notre Dame. On November 24th. So in 1989, I'd been talking to Howie Fagan, who sold athletic equipment around the country. And a guy named Dale Brown, who was the basketball coach at LSU. Both are very close friends of mine to this day. And they had gone to Medjugorje in Yugoslavia. And they kept telling me about it and everything. And I wanted to find more about it. So finally, they set up for me to visit with one of the visionaries in Medjugorje. So I said, Marlene, we're going to Europe. We're going to go to Fatima. We're going to Lourdes. And we're going to Medjugorje. It's Portugal, France, and Yugoslavia. She says, I don't want to go to Europe. I've been there. I don't like it. I want to stay home. I want to be with the kids. I said, OK. She said, call Ken Snyder. He'll travel. Ken's one of my best friends, and he's a lawyer here in Cincinnati. So I called Ken. He says, yep. I'd love to go. He says, as long as we travel to Germany, and Austria, and a couple other places after. I said, as long as we go to Fatima, Lourdes, and Medjugorje first. So we set it up, and we went to those three places. Fatima was unbelievable. We go to Lourdes. I get to Lourdes. The first incident occurred from 1989. I told you I had three incidents. The first one occurred at Lourdes in France. When I got there, our plane was three hours late. It's the only airplane we had late on the whole trip. We took eight plane rides on that whole trip. It's the only one that was late. We rented a car, and we're driving down the highway. We were getting there late, and we wanted to go to Mass. It was awful late. I said, Ken, the first place you've got to go to is the Grotto. We run down to the Grotto. I was a lot younger then. I could run. I ran down to the Grotto, and I got down, and I knelt down, and I looked up, and I saw the Blessed Mother up there in the corner, the same as Notre Dame. And the tears started coming down my face, because now I was at the place where the Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette, the real Grotto. And a creek was right flowing behind her and everything. And I just prayed Thanksgiving for giving me the Notre Dame job four years before, or nine years before, and thanking Him for my family, my friends, and even my enemies. And anyhow, so we went up on the main part of the thing, and we saw two priests, and I yelled out, Father, you speak English? And one priest said, yes, I do, and they're from Ireland. And we said, you know where there's Mass? He said, yes, we're saying Mass for the sick. So I said, can we go? And he said, sure. So one priest went with the women and the women's warden. We went with the priest and the men's warden. And we got there, and it was about 80 men and kids in wheelchairs and in beds. And there was another 100 people taking care of them, and Father was setting up a table for the altar. So we sat behind there on a bench. So Ken sat there, I was in the middle, and there was a guy sitting there, and I started talking to him, and he was an Irishman. And I love the Irish sproke. So I started to just make conversation with him, because I wanted to hear him talk. And so I said, where are you from? He said, Dublin and everything. And I said, well, you've had prophecies? He said, yeah, and everything like that. And we talked about that, make a long story short. He asked me where I was from. I said, Akron, Ohio. He said, where's that? I said, well, that's in the middle of the five Great Lakes. He said, oh, I know where that is in America. So we were talking. He says, are you sick? And I said, no. I said, I just came over because this is a place I always wanted to visit. I used to work at a place that has a grotto that's a replica of this one. And so I always wanted to come to the true grotto. So I came here, and Ken turns to him and says, he used to be the football coach at Notre Dame. And the Irishman turns, and his Irish sproke. He says, what's Notre Dame? And I started laughing. I started laughing. I said, it isn't that important. And it isn't. It isn't. Me being there, Notre Dame's important, but me being at Notre Dame wasn't that important. So anyhow, I said, are you here helping the sick? And he says, no. He says, I got lymphoma cancer, and I got four months to live. And I looked at him, and he looked great. And I said to him, you look great. I said, have you dipped in the water yet? He says, tomorrow I dip. And I said, you know, there's over 100 proven miracles that people have been cured by dipping in the water. And that may happen to you tomorrow. And he turned to me, and his Irish spoke. And he said this, and I'll never forget this as long as I live. Jerry, and his spoke, I'm 48 years old. I have four months to live. I have four sons. Two are out of high school. Two are almost out of high school. I live my life. If a miracle's going to happen, let it happen to one of those six little kids. There were six little kids in wheelchairs. They have not lived their life. I turned, and I started to cry. Because I knew I couldn't give my life up for someone else. Because I love life. And I can't give it up for someone else. And I felt so bad about that. And the second thing, I was sitting next to a saint. Because he was full of enthusiasm, sincerity. And he was willing to give his life up for one of those six little kids. And I was down in the dumps about that. And I was there for three days. And I prayed hard on it. Then it came, I came to realize that God wants us all to give. But we all give in different ways. And it's how you give with your talents is what he wants you to do. And my talent's not to give my life up for someone else. But my talent is maybe to help someone that's in need or in distress. And I try to do that now. You know, I was out in the hall talking to a couple of buddies of mine. Dan gives a couple others. A guy named Dave Voice, not Dave Voice, but Dave Vowles, came up to me. And he's from Flaherty, Kentucky, three miles outside of Fort Knox where I was stationed in the Army. And he says, Coach, I've been to a lot of these conferences and I wanted to meet you. And I said, great, great meeting you. And he says, I want to give you this. He made this cross. And he makes them. And it's got Jesus right through here. It's one of the most unique things I've ever seen in my life. It's beautiful. That's God's gift to him to give to others. And I told him, I'm going to put it on my car right where my visor is. And I'm going to let it hang there for as long as I drive. But if you could see this thing up close, it's marksmanship. I couldn't even make the cross cut out just the cross. And yet he put Jesus inscribed in there. And it is beautiful. That's his gift to God. He said he's given thousands of these away. And he makes them in his spare time. See, we all have talent in a different way. And that's how we praise God, by using the talent we've got and giving it to others. So that's the first of the three things that I learned. We went on to Medjugorje. I had an appointment with Viska set up, Dale Brown and Howie Fagan set it up for me for Sunday morning at noon. I went to 10 o'clock, I was going to 10 o'clock mass on Sunday over at the church, St. John's or St. John's. I can't remember the name of the church. But anyhow, I had to call her. So I go to the pay booth and I call her. And she can't speak English. So there was a woman that spoke broken English answered the phone. I said, my name's Jerry Foust and I'm supposed to meet with Viska at noon today. And I was just calling to reaffirm the appointment. She said, sir, I want to apologize, but Viska burnt herself last night cooking. And she's in a lot of pain and she's canceling all her visits today but one. And I'm sorry that she can't see you. And I said, just tell Viska I hope she gets better. And I walked away and I walked over to church and I was mad. It was Pentecost Sunday, May 21st, 1989. And that's my birthday. And I looked up at God and I said, God, on my birthday, this is supposed to be my birthday gift. And I don't get to meet a visionary Viska. So anyhow, I go to church. And I had to stand because the church was packed. I counted the priests. There were 37 English-speaking priests on the altar. It was English mass. And I stood there in the middle of the aisle. At the gospel, this guy tapped me on the shoulder. And I turned around and he says, are you Jerry Foust, the former coach at Notre Dame? I said, yes, sir, I am. He says, we're doing a documentary in America and we'd like to have you witness about Medjugorje. Would you do it? I said, I'd be glad to. So I said, I'll meet you after mass. So anyhow, after mass, I get Kenny. I said, come on, Kenny, you're going to witness with me. And so we go over and it started to rain. So we met with the guys, the people, and they couldn't do it then because of the rain. And they wanted to do it outside. So I said, we can come back this afternoon. We don't have anything to do. And they said, no, we've got to meet Father Joseph up in the mountains. I said, hey, we've got a big car. Can we go up and meet Father Joseph with you? They said, sure. I said, okay, what time do you want to meet? They said, one o'clock or something like that. I said, okay, I'll be there. So Ken and I go and we drive up the mountainside about 30, 40 kilometers from Medjugorje. Now this priest was a priest that was in prison and was supposed to be executed. And an hour before he was supposed to be executed, the communists let him out of jail. An hour. I don't know why. I haven't read that much on it. Maybe there's a reason for it, but I didn't know. I don't know. But anyhow, an hour before he was to be executed, he was let go. They told him he could say mass, hear confessions, but he couldn't preach in Medjugorje. So the Franciscans put him up in the mountains in a parish where he could preach. He was allowed to preach up there. So anyway, we go up there and we go in there and we go into the rectory. And there's a beautiful chaplain and we sat there. And he couldn't speak a word of English. And the interpreter was there with him, the cameraman, the director, and the announcer. They were all talking. It was just unbelievable. After it was all over with, I got to tell you this part. Some of you guys know Kenny Snyder. When you see him, don't bring this up to him. We're driving back down. Anyhow, we walk out. So the interpreter introduces us. She didn't know us from Adam. She asked our name. We told him our name. Kenny Snyder, first, he shakes his hand. It's real nice to him and everything. And then Jerry Foust shakes his hand. And he goes, oh, I like this. He comes out and gives me a big hug. Walks out the door with his arm around me, talking to me in Slavic, I guess, a language. I don't know, Slovenian or whatever it is. But anyhow, I didn't understand a word he was saying. But he was so great to me, you know. So we get in the car and I'm driving down the mountainside there. And the interpreter's in the back seat and the cameraman and everybody. Kenny's next to me. Boy, that priest was nice to you, but he sure wasn't nice to me. And I said, Kenny, he may watch television, saw some football games on. Maybe he follows sports. I don't know. Then the interpreter turns to Kenny from the back seat and says, Ken, are you a lawyer? He says, yes, I am. He said, the priest told us that. And I turned to Kenny. I said, Kenny, you better straighten your act out real quick. So anyhow, we go down. We go down and back into Medjugorje. We go back into the city there. And we're going. They said, hey, you guys want to go with us? Because we were having a great time with these people. And I said, where are you going? He said, we're going to meet with a visionary. I said, I'm going. Kenny says, we've got to meet the nun. We're going to do the Stations of the Cross. I said, you're going to meet the nun and the Stations of the Cross. I'm going to meet the visionary. So anyhow, so Ken went with the nun. They went to the Stations of the Cross. So I go with these guys. And we drive to their little town. And we get to the house of the visionary. And there's all kinds of people outside. So we walk in. I'm the last one to walk in. I'm out carrying equipment and stuff like that. We walk in there. And so we go to the bedroom. And there's a statue of the Blessed Mother that tall off the ground in the bedroom. And I went in there. And I says, which visionary is this? And the interpreter says, this is Viska. The only time, meeting she was going to keep was with the television people. And I got to meet Viska on my birthday. But then, after it was all over with, she couldn't speak a word of English. And I watched and listened as the interpreter talked to her. And they talked back and forth. What a saintly woman she is and was. So when it was all over with, we started to walk out. So I went to the interpreter. I says, can I ask Viska a question? And so she asked Viska. And Viska said, yes. So I said, would you ask Viska, what do you do when you're tempted? Because I'm always tempted. So she asked Viska. And Viska responded. And the response that came from the interpreter, I'll never forget. Pray, pray, pray. The power of prayer is the only answer. Pray, pray, pray. Pray, pray, pray. The power of prayer is the only answer. And when I'm tempted, I pray. I'll say a rosary. I'll say a Hail Mary, a Memorare, but I'll pray. Prayer is powerful. How you pray is up to you. God accepts any kind. I go on Wednesdays at our parish back in Akron. We have Eucharist adoration. And I go in there and I say a couple of rosaries for my family, for my friends, and for my enemies. And I pray for another time. And I went in there one day and just, there was a woman in there. And she was singing to the Eucharist. And I sat down and she stopped. And I says, no, keep singing. It's beautiful. She says, no, I don't want to bother you. You're not bothering me. I says, you keep praying to God. I says, it's beautiful. And it was. And I was saying my rosaries. When she left, I grabbed her by the arm. And I said, God has given you a great gift with a voice. And you're giving it back to God. See, there's so many ways to pray. You know, one of my favorite prayers is a prayer to St. Francis. Listen to this. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there's hatred, let me sow love. Where there's injury, pardon. Where there's doubt, faith. Where there's despair, hope. Where there's darkness, light. And where there's sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that they may not so much seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand. To be loved as to love. For it's in giving that we receive. It's imparting that we are pardoned. And it's dying that we are born of eternal life. It's a great prayer. I say it every day. And it makes you really think of what life and the world's all about. You know, I get great devotion to the Blessed Mother because my dad was tougher than nails on me when I played for him. And every time I asked him something, he'd always say no. And so, I went to my mom one time. I said, Mom, would you ask Dad if I could do this? And she did. And he said yes. So I always went to my mom, to my dad, for something. And 50% of the time it came back yes. And I figured if it works from my mom to my dad, why wouldn't it work to Christ from his mother? You're really praying to Christ, but you're going to his mother. And I have great devotion to the Blessed Mother. You know, the last thing happened last year. The third incident. On July 19, 2005, I was to be operated on for a hernia that I've been told for many years to get operated on. And you know, I had no problems with operations. But for some reason, I was concerned and I was worried that I wasn't going to get through this operation. I don't know why. I don't know why. But it came upon me. And I harbored it for a long time. Never told my wife. Never told my children. Never told anybody. I just prayed. I called my brother-in-law, who's an open heart surgeon, Kenny. And I asked him, how about me getting a spinal rather than going under? He says, you could do that. He says, but it takes you longer to recover from that. And he says, I think your heart's good enough that you can go ahead and go under. I still had not made my mind up. So that morning I met with the anesthesiologist before they were giving me the stuff to be operated. My wife went in there with me. And I went in there and I talked to him about, how about a spinal? And he says, well, we can give you a spinal. He says, it'd be a lot easier if we put you under. And I says, that's what my brother said. And I still in my heart had that feeling that you don't want to do it. I says, okay, I'll do it. I says, you can put me under. As soon as I said that, my wife was next to me. In walks in the room where he was about to do that. My daughter walks in with two of our granddaughters, Megan Marie and Natalie Marie. And they're five and eight years old. And you could see on my daughter's face and my children's face, they were worried. And that really concerned me. And I thought to myself, this might be the last time I ever see my kids or my grandkids or one of my kids. You know, but I prayed hard on it. And I'm going to have it done that way. But I told him, laughed with him and everything, told him I'd be fine and everything so that they were at ease. And then they left and I gave him a hug and a kiss and told him I loved him. Each one of my grandkids that were there and my daughter. And I gave my wife a hug and told her I loved her. That's the last thing I remember. And I woke up a couple hours later and I was alive. And I started praying the rosary because God got me through the operation. We don't know when we're going to go. None of us do. That's why we always got to pray and ask God for help. And that's why we always got to tell our family, our friends and our enemies that we love them. Life's too short to harbor things against anybody. And life's too short not to spend time or tell your family or your friends that you love them. And those three things changed my life. And hopefully for the better. You know, family's great. And the thing about family I always found that diocesan priests that have buddies that are priests and they get together and have supper and they play cards together that's a family. The Dominicans, that's a family. The nuns, that's a family. So there's families any order you belong to or any religious group you belong to if you associate with others it's a family. Diocesan priests take them out to breakfast on Sunday once in a while. My wife and I, Father, we honor our pastor he likes to go out with us every second or third Sunday he's got 7.30 a.m. mass on Sunday we go out to breakfast after have more fun just sitting and talking but this is a way we can say thanks to him for giving us the sacraments that Christ gave us all. You know, another family is here today. You're together as one big family but you also have small group families. And small group families are important. They are so important. Some of them are small group family over here and I have got to learn more from them than they'll ever learn from me. And it's great to get together once a month pray together, have mass together talk on scripture and things like that and just learn about how other people what their strengths and weaknesses are. And I sure have a lot of my strengths. A lot of weaknesses. So that's another kind of family. And I want to end with this. And it's very short. Every one of us in this room we are blessed people. We are blessed. We live in the greatest country in the world America. Think about that. And we have our Catholic faith. When Doug got up there or Dow got up there he said Dow got up there the speaker before lunch and is going to be receive his first Holy Communion on Easter Sunday and told that to everybody here that tears were coming down my face because he is blessed and he has the Catholic faith. Most of us in this room were born with it and we don't appreciate it as much as a convert does but we should because God has given that to us. I want to thank all of you the men that run this conference all of you that showed up bring two more next year because it's a great day. God bless you all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.