
GREENFIELD, INDIANA, July 13 — Every Saturday is a transition day for the Seton Route as there is normally the departure of a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the arrival of another.
As the Seton Route finished its eighth week on the road with Jesus, they needed to bid a grateful adieu to Brother Damien Joseph Novak, CFR, who has been with them since July 6. As the pilgrimage is just a few days from Indianapolis, he is not being replaced by another Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, but the pilgrimage is grateful that Father Giuseppe Siniscalchi, CFR, is remaining on the Route through its arrival in Indianapolis.
Brother Damien has been an anchor of the Route's music during the Eucharistic processions, during the periods of adoration and Eucharistic holy hours in various Churches, and also during the pilgrims' time alone, where he has regularly picked up a guitar and started singing praise and worship music. He has also led the pilgrims in lectio divina, gave a lecture on the how to of prayerful journaling, spent many hours listening to and encouraging pilgrims, and interacted with the many faithful along the Route.
His time with the Seton Route was his second participation in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. He had previously served the first week of the Pilgrimage with those on the Marian Route, starting at Lake Itasca in Bemidji, Minnesota, and traveling with the pilgrims toward Minneapolis and St. Paul.
A native of the Twin Cities, he entered the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in 2010 as a postulant and made his final vows in 2016. Before his departure for St. Crispin's Friary in Harlem, he spoke about the highlights of his time with the Seton Pilgrims.
“What I did not expect, and I'm very grateful for, was spending time in particular with the men on the Route, living with them," he said.
"When I was on the Marian route, I was usually with the clerics and the other friars. It was special just having time of discipleship and discussion, helping to unpack our hearts of what we've been experiencing during these days. They had a great sense of fraternity and vulnerability, openness and trust. It was a real treasure that I don't take for granted. It was exceptional."
He said that he noticed right away some differences between the Marian and Seton Routes.
"The Marian route was a very different thing," he declared, "because we were starting out and trying to form habits for the long haul. My time on the Seton Route was coming into a group that already had their habits down pat. So for me, it was less about being there to do something for someone, but to be somebody for someone. I don't think I needed to do a whole lot because the team here really had ownership and really knew what they were about. I simply had to trust that my presence, like anybody who has been on this pilgrimage, is exactly what the Lord desires. He doesn't so much choose us for what we are able to give him but he chooses us because we are His Beloved."
He said that he believes there is a Eucharistic dimension just in being truly present to others.
"To become Eucharist means to become the beloved son to the beloved of the Father, to become an offering, and in one sense to give that self-offering away, even if it's not appreciated. Sometimes it's just giving our presence and not expecting acknowledgement. It's been a joy just to be with the pilgrims and to give them the gift of my presence. To become Eucharist is to become presence. Before trying to do something on this pilgrimage, I wanted to become more Eucharistic. And if I did that, I'm really grateful."
He has been a well-known musician among the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and their various apostolates, playing and singing praise and worship music pretty much everywhere. He noted that it's different doing so on the road during Eucharistic processions.
"First off," he stated, "is that if you're not ready for the hills, the breathing and trying to stay on key are both really hard. I was blown away by Zoe Dongas on the Route," the Seton Pilgrim who has been doing the music, sometimes solo, sometimes with a musically-trained CFR, since the beginning of the pilgrimage.
"She is conditioned for sure. She has the ability to stay on key and keep this incredible tone in singing.
He said he was grateful that despite having to catch his breath from time to time, local clergy said the music had an impact.
"I came in not hiking as much and playing as I had before. Having it be affirmed by the Father Jonathan Meyer that the music was something that helped the parish enter into a different form of worship than they're used to, that they weren't opposed to but open to, was very good for me to hear."
He characterized "playing along the processions as generally like being in a parish mission on the move, and I've done many parish missions. But this one was very much characterized by the pilgrimage aspect of just walking with Jesus."
He said that his time on the Marian and Seton Routes has strengthened his vocation as a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal.
"For many years, I've been discerning the priesthood. In many different ways, it has been made clear that it is not the way forward for me, certainly not at this time," he said.
"My role is an adorer, being chosen by the Lord to adore him all the days in my life. I've professed final vows and this is what I've committed to. This has been really impacted by the Eucharistic Revival and Pilgrimage. I feel like my vocation has been greatly affirmed as someone who is meant to follow the Beloved, to follow the Bridegroom and to adore him continually until heaven into eternity. This pilgrimage has certainly brought that out of my heart."
Another way the Pilgrimage has strengthened is vocation as a CFR is because the CFRs have made a community-wide commitment to the Pilgrimage, something that has made him "very proud."
He has seen how much good has flowed from that commitment, without which the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage would never have been able to begin.
The impact of the community became more apparent, he said, "when, after my first week in Minnesota, going from Bemidji down to the Twin Cities, when I was on my home visit, I would dabble and dip back into the Marian route and see the joy that my brothers were giving the team that I was just with.
"When I started, I was the only Friar. But as I kept dipping back in and checking in with the team, I was seeing that they had just experienced the wealth of what our community has to offer. Every friar is different. Every friar has a different blessing to bestow, a different facet of the Father's face. The pilgrims have all been blessed by the various member of our community. One of the seminarians, Mason, said to me, 'You have such a beautiful community. You're all so different, but you all seem to say the same thing.' I'm really proud of that, that I belong to such a community full of extraordinary men."
After serving at St. Crispin's Friary in Harlem for the rest of the month, Brother Damien will be taking up a new assignment at St. Mary's Friary in Newburgh, New York.