Take a brief look into the life of a SJH child...
Have you ever wondered about the backgrounds and lives of the kids that call Saint Joseph's House "home"? Well, take a look below and you will find out just a little bit about the lives of the SJH children and how SJH has blessed them and helped them to find Jesus in their lives.
How St. Joseph’s House Changed My Life
By Ernest Garcia (Note: Ernie is currently attending seminary...please remember him in your prayers!)
Sometimes, when we try to run from God or stubbornly stay opposed to Him, He chases after us and finds a way to bring us close to Him. In my case, He used St. Joseph’s House to break through the huge barriers that were keeping me from Him, even if it meant completely transforming my mind and heart. Because of the love the Kurtz family has given me, my whole life has changed, and, for the past year and a half, I have experienced true happiness for the first time.
I clearly remember my life before I came here, when I was anything but happy. My parents lived a very disunited marriage, and I later found out that, at some point, they were divorced. Since early childhood, I had to see and hear their intense verbal and, sometimes, physical quarrels. Growing up, I saw my dad about three times a week and, eventually, only once a week. He wasn’t always there when I needed him and he never used his authority to set things right when things went wrong. My mother tried hard to take care of me, but, although she was very religious, she was an extremely over-protective parent, who made many irrational decisions out of pride and fear. No matter what house I lived in, I never felt at home. I always longed for a normal, peaceful, stable family life, with parents who would always be there, who would always be reasonable, and who would always love each other. Because of the bitter discontent I had over my life, especially from the decisions my mother was making for me and the way she was raising me, anger was instigated within me even before my teenage years. In eighth grade, I began doing poorly in school and failing classes, for my grades were the one significant thing that I had control over to oppose my mother’s will. By the time I turned 14, my intensified anger turned me into a rebellious, anti-Christian, Satanist. Everything I stood for and everything I believed revolved around my impassioned hatred for my mother and the God she worshipped and tried to make me bow down to. I was a slave of Satan, and I explicitly showed it with my dress, drawings, words, and actions. My “religion” consisted of Diabolic Heavy Metal music, pornography, and the electric guitar. My ambition in life was to be everything my mother and God did not want me to be. I swore to never worship God and to never forgive my mother for the way she used her legal authority over me.
` After sending me to two different places to live without any positive change in my character, my mother desperately asked Mr. And Mrs. Kurtz to take me into their household of 18 children. In Christian charity and acceptance to God’s will, they welcomed me into their home. Because I had to do without any like-minded peers and I had to take part (at least physically) in their devotedly Catholic Faith- centered life, detached from the world and all of its evil aspects that I valued most, I despised everything about my new environment. Even though I felt alone and depressed, I refused to be one of them and to allow myself to become “brainwashed.” I just closed myself inside my little world of anger, while living what seemed to be a pointless life with no meaning.
From the very beginning, Mr. And Mrs. Kurtz always showed loving kindness and care for me, even with my negative attitude and the things I did behind their backs. They definitely saw me as a child of God who was sent to them to be another addition to their large family. No matter what I did that hurt the family, whether it was being a terrible example to the younger boys or degrading St. Joseph’s House’s and their reputation with my twisting negative words, they always forgave me and did not cease to show kindness and love toward me as a member of the family. Their individual attention and concern for all of their children, including me, not only provided for all my physical needs, but also prevented me from further doing poorly in school. What really began the change in my life was when I began to see that they were starting to have real parental affection for me as a spiritually adopted son. When I gave them fake apologies for my actions and fake signs of affection, in return, they gave me true forgiveness and such great love and affection that I could not deny was true. They actually wanted to hear what I had to say and understood how I felt, and I could not help but be emotionally touched by how they saw my ingratitude for all the things they were doing for me and my contempt toward their faith, and still loved me. Every sign of affection they gave me sparked within me a new strange emotion, which I fought off for as long as I could, for I realized it was making me think and act in a different way and was turning me against everything I stood for. But eventually, as they kept showing their love and as the emotion kept getting stronger, it was too hard and pointless to hold on to my anger, and I had to let go of it. I acknowledged the fact that I loved them as my parents, that I did not have much reason to be angry anymore, and that I was finally “brainwashed.”
Once I let go of my anger and surrendered to their love, I was free to forgive, to open up to new relationships, to admit that I was wrong, and realize the truth about God and His infinite goodness and love. In my heart, I allowed Mr. And Mrs. Kurtz to become my new father and mother and their eighteen children to become my ten brothers and eight sisters. For the first time, I willingly did small tasks to serve to the family and began thinking more of others. I decided to call my birth mother to apologize for the way I treated her and to forgive her for everything I held against her, which was probably the most difficult and the most liberating moment of my life. I actually repented to God of all my sins and made my first genuine confession. I began praying to God, receiving Him at Holy Communion and spending time with Him in the Blessed Sacrament. I finally found what I was always looking for: a healthy, well-ordered family life, parents who love each other, an authoritative and dependable father figure who is always here, a very rational and prudent mother who understands and listens to her children, and, most of all, a relationship with God. For the first time, I felt true happiness and I was where I wanted to be. It was here, in St. Joseph’s House, where I finally felt at home.
Not only has St. Joseph’s House benefited me spiritually and emotionally, but also academically. I was never fully aware of my intellectual abilities until I came here, where they made sure I wasn’t doing worse than I was capable of. Attending St. Philomena’s Academy, the school my guardians started and manage, has been a great blessing. In SPA, the students follow an excellent curriculum that teaches them to know the Catholic faith in depth and to become critical thinkers. We are taught by volunteer teachers who teach well and really care about what their students learn. School days are only twice a week, so we also learn how to study independently. Through SPA, St. Joseph’s House is giving me an education that will greatly benefit me for this life and the next.
I am now 17 years old and, although I still have many vices and inclinations to sin, now I am at least acknowledging my faults and fighting against my sinful inclinations. Unlike before, I am trying use the graces made available to me at daily mass and rosary, with spiritual reading, and Eucharistic adoration. I am trying live in the light of truth, to do God’s will and to know His will for my life, and to develop a strong love for Christ. Maintaining good grades is still a struggle, since I am now a senior in high school and I am still making up for my past academic performance, but I know it is what God wants me to do now. Although most young people would consider my life to be a boring “low life”, never going out with friends, not aloud to watch TV or listen to secular music, not seeing any new movies, not being in any sports team, being schooled at home, or not having things like an I-pod or an X-Box, I feel as if I was more privileged than almost any other teenager in America. I have 18 brothers and sisters, I have the full truth of the Catholic faith, I have all the means available to me to grow in holiness and virtue, I have many opportunities to do good for others in my own home, I am given an outstanding education, I have the best parents in the world, and I live in a family life that is completely centered on God, Which is what this life should be all about.
It was God’s infinite love and mercy that brought me here to this blessed family. By sending me to St. Joseph’s House, God saved me from a life of misery and the eternal fire I was running into and brought me to close to Him. I owe everything to Him and my spiritual parents, John and Donna Kurtz. If it weren’t for them, I cannot even imagine where I would be now. I am so grateful for what they have done and what they are doing for me, for opening my eyes to the truth, for enabling me to be truly happy, and for giving me a home. It is their humble submission to God’s will, their selfless and compassionate love for others, and their strong faith and devotion to God that changed my life and the lives of so many others. It takes great charity to provide for the needs of 19 children, especially if many of them have special needs or some kind of disorder. Yet, their charity is so great that it reaches out even beyond their own children to other individuals in need and many other families through St. Philomena’s Academy. At St. Joseph’s House, one can clearly see the hand of God at work, and, in all honesty, there is no other place in the world I would rather live.
Ernie's Sister Aura Shares Her Story
By Aura Garcia
When I was 13, a spirit of rebellion and evil overtook me. I think that part of the reason this happened was because I was raised by an extremely protective and religious mother who always exerted her religion on me. At this time, I did many things I wasn’t supposed to do which caused my mom much grief. I became a destructive and angry person whose evil actions knew no boundaries. I had also lost all respect for God and myself.
After I was expelled from school, my mom was at a loss of what to do with me. However, she came to the conclusion that it would help me if I would be sent away from her for a while. She found out about SJH and decided to send me there. Of course, I didn’t want to go at first, but now I realize that I can never be grateful enough for her God-ordained decision.
In the summer of 2004, my mom took me to PA to live with the Kurtz family, managers of SJH. I’m still amazed at the generosity with which they accepted me into their home. They took me in, with all my bad habits and rebellious attitude and provided for all my needs asking for little or nothing in return. They did this despite the incredible inconvenience and burden to their already-large-enough family and despite the fact that they had never even met me or knew much about me. To do something like this takes a lot of love-driven determination and submission to God’s perfect will and I believe that they definitely possess these essential qualities.
Life at SJH was completely different from what I was used to and I was altogether overwhelmed. My family, friends, and my previously wild life were gone. I had never been dropped off, thousands of miles away from home, with a bunch of strangers (a family of 18 kids to be exact) and had to live with them for a while. I also had to live their kind of life too, completely cut off from everything that was familiar to me. So, for the first few months, I was in a state of shock. I hated being there and this reflected in everything I did and said.
Day after day went by, however, and I eventually got into the flow of daily life and the Kurtz’s. Having somehow become “part of the family”, I was given simple tasks such as washing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom; things that seemed like tremendous work to me because I wasn’t accustomed to doing anything contrary to my will. This though, I must say, greatly contributed to my healing process because occupation certainly gets one’s mind doing something other than feeling sorry for one ’s self.
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz and their children treated me very graciously and welcomingly, despite my rudeness. They became like family to me and I’ve grown to love them. When I came to live with them, I was automatically a big sister to the boys and had to be a good example and role model to them. I’m not saying that I did a good job at this, but I never had this kind of pressure before. Also, the girls became my older sisters who watched over me and made sure I was in line. So, the positive peer pressure definitely got me wanting to change.
All these things caused me to try to forget myself and start thinking of others. Because I had opportunities to serve others, even though it was against my will, I began to get more in touch with what was really inside me, namely the beauty of God and not just sin and vice alone.
Though God was pulling me closer to Him and my desire for Him grew, He was never really real to me since I was 12 and I just lost sight and sense of Him. At this time, I was in a stage where I experienced a great thirst for God. In my soul, there was a lacking which longed to be fulfilled.
By this time, I had already recognized my great selfishness which I didn’t pick up on before I came and I was working on diminishing it, being inspired by all the good example around me. The selfless love given out here convinced me that life wasn’t supposed to be all about one’s self. If it was, it would be miserable and I experienced that. So I was working on becoming more selfless. Though I never succeeded in this, I’ve experienced the effects of it by just trying. As I attempted to give of myself, I discovered the good which exists in me. I soon began to realize that I was made in the image and likeness of God, who revealed Himself to me be revealing myself to me.
The greatest factor of my conversion, I believe, is the influence of Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz. I think that a lot of the positive peer pressure at SJH is due to the fact that they, who are the best parents in the world, inspire all of us kids. Over the past three years that I’ve been here, they have truly become like real parents to me. I believe that God willed that they should be my second parents because they gave to me many things that my own mother and father could not. Among these things was love between each other. Growing up was hard for me because my mom and dad were separated when I was five. Being able to now have parents who love each other, it gives a sense of security and helped me to realize that marriage was possible if God was in the center of it. Also, though my real parents took good care of me, provided for all my needs, and gave me love and affection, they never really gave me role models, people I could admire or aspire to be like and did not reflect true Christianity. So I believe that God sent Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz into my life to fill in the par that was left void.
Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz have both made a huge impact on my life. Just to have been able to observe the things they do and listen to what they say, I was totally inspired to become like them. They had shown me how a true Christian is really supposed to live and exemplify every Christian virtue heroically. They reflected Jesus Christ to me so clearly that sometimes I feel like they are a link between me and Him.
First of all, their wisdom astounds me because they are so enlightened by the light of truth and so connected with the Holy Spirit. Every day that I’ve known them, which is not a very long time considering how long some of their older kids have lived with them, they have been tirelessly self-giving, devoting all their time and energy, day in and day out, to us and to others. They are completely committed to each of their children. Though they have a million things to do, they are never too busy to give individual attention to those who need it. Even when I don’t ask them for time to talk to them, they always make time to talk to me when they feel like I need to express myself to someone or to receive good advice. They have given me many good counsels and I’m sure that all my brothers and sisters have benefited the same way. Besides our emotional needs, they also take care of our spiritual needs, leading us towards heaven by talking to us as a group about God and about what we should to in order to get there. And they always encourage us to be sorry for the things we’ve done wrong and to start a new life. We all know that their goal is for us to get to heaven.
Though they have 19 kids of their own to take care of, it doesn’t stop them from thinking of others, which they consistently do. Another thing that impresses me about them is that they are always willing to fight for what is just and right, which is part of the reason why they adopted so many children. Though I mentioned all these great things about them, the greatest aspect about them that I especially admire is their humility. They accredit all their doings to God and know they are just instruments in His hand to fulfill His will.
Another one of the ways that they’ve greatly affected me personally is that they trusted me. Throughout my entire life, I have never really been trusted. Now, because I’m trusted, I just don’t ever want to let them down. And this is one of the reasons why I’m so hard on myself, among other reasons. They tell me not to be so, but I guess I can’t really help it. Being trusted has helped me to become more responsible and to grow in maturity. It makes me desire to live up to that trust by fulfilling my duties and by trying to be a contributing member of the community.
Also, an important gift I have received from SJH is my high school education. At SJH, there is a little school for homeschoolers called SPA. At SPA, I’ve had the opportunity to be classically educated using the MODG curriculum. I graduated in June 2007; something I never would have done without the help of SJH.
All of my experiences at SJH have also deepened my love, understanding, and appreciation of my Catholic faith, which is practiced consistently at the Kurtz’s. Living at SJH and having attended SPA, I’ve learned that faith and reason go hand in hand; something I’ve never been brought to realize before. I discovered that the Catholic Church was founded on truth and reflects this in all her teachings. Her glorious triumphant have become my heroes and role models, people whom I’ve been trying to imitate and from whom I ask for intercession and guidance.
