Father Al: On Belief in Jesus

“If you truly believe in Jesus there will spring up from the depths of your heart a never-ending stream of living joy.” – Servant of God, Fr. Al Schwartz

Fr. Al: On Covetousness

"Covetousness is a vague word, but it means simply greed or desire for material possessions, goods and money. It is written in the Psalms, "Be still and you shall know your God." Desire, greed, and covetousness keep our hearts from being still. They agitate our hearts. They create this inner noise and we do not hear God, nor find Him, nor be one with Him. So, we must make our hearts still, silent and quiet by ridding them of all desire, greed and covetousness. If we do this, then we will hear the voice of God. " ~  Fr. Al's Homily to his Children, February 19, 1992

Fr. Al as an Author: His Books

1. The Starved and the Silent: The Dramatic Encounter of an American Priest With Christ’s Poor in Korea – Aloysius Schwartz; 1967, Doubleday & Co., Inc.

Although this book is autobiographical in form, the story of the author’s life is only the backdrop against which is played out the drama of “the starved and the silent” people of Korea – a drama of privation so complete and despair so intense as to be almost beyond the imagination of a member of “the affluent society.”  Father Schwartz explains first the circumstances which led him to become a parish priest in Busan, Korea, rather than a missionary; then he describes his parish activities as pastor, economist, social worker, and psychologist among a people incredibly different from us in their way of life, their needs, and their goals.

2. Poverty: Sign of Our Times – Aloysius Schwartz; 1970, Alba House, Society of St. Paul

Christ’s presence in the poor: that is the reality to which too many Christian eyes are dimmed. Yet all our talk of reform and renewal will come to naught unless the Church – and we are the Church – faces the challenge of poverty. Today the Church is, in the eyes of most of the world, almost a middle class phenomenon, the Comfortable Church.

This disturbing book should shake our complacency. There is urgency and holy anger in its pages. But time is running out, and there is need for the anger and anguish of concern. The work raises questions in stark perspective and tells us that unless the Church becomes the Church of the Poor, it cannot hope to speak to modern man.

3. Killing Me Softly: The Inspiring Story of a Champion of the Poor – Aloysius Schwartz; 1993.  Alba House,  Society of St. Paul.

This autobiographical account of the last years in the life of the internationally acclaimed founder of several Boystowns and Girlstowns – in Korea, the Philippines, and Mexico – is as moving as it is inspiring. In it the author recounts his ongoing battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) while trying to maintain and staff his growing number of homes for orphaned youngsters, a residential village for destitute, homeless, and handicapped men, two full service hospitals, a fledgling congregation of religious women, the Sisters of Mary and another of men, the Brothers of Christ.

4. To Live Is Christ--The Sisters of Mary Book of Spirituality – Aloysius Schwartz; 1991, Government Institutes, Inc.

* * *