{"id":204,"date":"2014-10-06T05:59:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T05:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/?p=204"},"modified":"2025-09-30T01:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T01:38:13","slug":"chris-bell-director-of-good-counsel-homes-reflection-on-fr-groeschel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/?p=204","title":{"rendered":"Chris Bell, of Good Counsel Homes, reflection on Fr. Groeschel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>Reminder:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/hvcljournal.typepad.com\/lifenet\/2014\/10\/schedule-of-services-for-fr-groeschel-more-.html\">Schedule of Services for Fr. Groeschel + more <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/hvcljournal.typepad.com\/lifenet\/2014\/10\/fr-benedict-groeschel-cfr.html\">Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, Rest in Peace<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From Chris: we received it Saturday morning, a few hours after Fr. died.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"asset-img-link\" href=\"http:\/\/hvcljournal.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341cc5fb53ef01bb07931576970d-pi\" style=\"display: inline;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Benedict groeschel 32607\" class=\"asset  asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341cc5fb53ef01bb07931576970d img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/hvcljournal.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d8341cc5fb53ef01bb07931576970d-200wi\" style=\"width: 190px;\" title=\"Benedict groeschel 32607\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., died yesterday on the same day as St. Francis of Assisi, after praying a rosary. He was a renowned retreat director, author, lecturer, teacher, counselor and guide to many, perhaps the most well-known priest in the United States. It was my privilege to call him co-founder of Good Counsel helping homeless mothers and babies, my spiritual director and friend.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Fr. Benedict and I met during the winter of 1980 while I was at a mission helping homeless and runaway kids in Times Square. He came during the most difficult day I was there, gave a homily filled with practical as well as spiritual insights which began a long personal collaboration in helping the poor and helping those who help others.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Considering the plight of homeless mothers and babies, whom I saw coming off the streets into this mid-town Manhattan shelter, I asked Fr. Benedict, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t someone do something to help homeless mothers go back to school, find a job (and as he would often say) \u2018take that next good step in life.\u2019 \u201c His final response was that he would help me if I wanted to start a home for mothers and babies.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Good Counsel homes is operating nearly 30 years now helping mothers return to school and find jobs. Fr. Benedict helped me every step of the way, was the founding chairman of the Board, was a personal and professional guide as we worked with difficult situations and he was a major reason Good Counsel was able to open our Daystar home for special needs mothers who are not only homeless, but have a mental health diagnosis and\/or an addiction.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For a while I worked with him at the home he began for young men, St. Francis Home in Brooklyn. I\u2019ve seen him calm the anger and rage of young men. He was sympathetic and inspiring to them as well as to Good Counsel\u2019s young women.&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">While traveling with him on pilgrimages in Italy, France, Ireland and England, he was often met by people who were familiar with his writing, his tapes or appearances on EWTN, the international television network. He always was himself, kind, friendly, helpful.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Many times I\u2019d meet with him late at night because he was counseling priests up until midnight.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">He\u2019d often sleep only four hours a night. When he once complained to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whom he was appointed as liaison by the then Cardinal of New York, Terrance Cooke, that he was always tired. He related that Mother asked him, \u201cHow long do you sleep?\u201d He responded, \u201cFour hours.\u201d She replied, \u201cThat\u2019s the problem.\u201d \u201cWhat?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou sleep too much.\u201d&#0160; Fr. Benedict enjoyed that kind of humor.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Fr. Benedict often said he was looking forward to going to \u201cPurgatory, because it was like Jersey City\u201d where he grew up.&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Many people believe Fr. Benedict to be a saint. While he was not perfect, his preaching and work with the poor touched millions of lives.&#0160; When he was going to speak to priests on a retreat in Florida on January 11, 2004, he was hit by a car and nearly died. Thousands of people wrote how he had personally changed their lives. Many were converted or strengthened in their faith. Some remained in their faith but listened to him because of his incredible spiritual insights and practical wisdom.&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">He will not be forgotten and of his 40 plus books all still in print, I believe many will be read for centuries to come.<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">May Fr. Benedict rest in Your Peace oh Lord. <br \/>&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#0160;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span lang=\"0\" style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">Peace,<br \/>christopher bell +<br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reminder: Schedule of Services for Fr. Groeschel + more Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, Rest in Peace From Chris: we received it Saturday morning, a few hours after Fr. died. Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., died yesterday on the same day as St. Francis of Assisi, after praying a rosary. He was a renowned retreat director, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fr-groeschel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":748,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}