Jack Figge: Thank you, the trenches, and see-you-later
"Please pray for me"
Hey everybody,
Apologies for burdening your inbox with a non- Pillar Post email, but lucky for you this is not a money pitch either.
This is Jack, the former intern, freelancer, and, according to Ed, The Pillar’s “resident young and cool person” and , I write to share a simple message with The Pillar community — Thank you.
This “thank you” comes as a bittersweet goodbye to The Pillar community — I am stepping away from newswriting, for at least a year, to begin the propadeutic year of seminary formation. (Please pray for me!)
As I prayed about what I wanted to write, the Lord kept drawing me back to gratitude and to share the defining lesson I learned from my time as a journalist. But mostly to gratitude.
For three years, as a college student, I’ve been writing feature and news stories for The Pillar. Often, it still seems crazy that I was able to travel the world, granted access to bishops, priests, and lay leaders, and have my work published by such a fine online publication.
Yet here I am, and none of it would have been possible without you, our readers.
So, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for reading my articles. Thank you to those who sent me messages and pitches. Thank you for the uplifting, encouraging comments, and even for the critical comments that highlighted weaknesses and helped me strengthen my craft.
Thank you to all the people that I have met and interviewed through reporting out the many stories, and to all the Pillar readers that have approached me in the field and the wonderful conversations that have followed.
Thank you to the paying subscribers, who fund the reporting trips I’ve made, the ones that made for the most exciting, formative college career imaginable and delivered high quality (hopefully) journalism.
But most of all, thank you for supporting me in a mission that taught me so much about the Church, the Christian life, one that provided lasting friendships, and helped me grow in my own spiritual life immensely.
—
Four years ago, as I was trying to enter the journalism business — a future boss offered me the chance to become famous, to become “somebody,” promising that if I worked for that news outlet, then by the time I graduated college, I would be an editor, and the entire Catholic world would know who I am.
To any naïve college freshman, raised in the social media era, that sounded like a sweet deal.
So I signed on.
(No, it was not for The Pillar.)
Growing up within the social media landscape, AI revolution, and the COVID years where everything happened on your phone; becoming internet famous appeared to be the pinnacle of success.
Even for a Catholic kid such as myself, the lure of internet stardom was tempting — especially Catholic internet stardom.
Everywhere I looked, I saw young Catholic celebrities popping up, with their massive online followings, throngs of kids attending their talks, or hounding their booths at conferences.
That’s the life, I thought.
If I want to become a great evangelist and have an impact on the Church, then I MUST become a Catholic celebrity, I reasoned.
Only then, will I prove myself to God and to the Church.
Oh, and that stardom will make me feel important and good about myself — that’s a nice benefit, I thought.
That early job, and the pursuit of that stardom, turned unsurprisingly into a disappointment, as my editors wanted quick write-up stories, effectively copied from other outlets, they emphasized that stories were to first have a “conservative” angle, then a “Catholic” one, with clickbaity headlines, and offered limited opportunities for on the ground reporting.
Months after joining, I began to dislike that job. So, I quit.
Freelancing opportunities began popping up with the National Catholic Register, OSV News, America Magazine, and The Pillar, which I eagerly took, and through which the Lord opened a plethora of incredible doors to travel and interview faith-filled Catholics from all walks of life — from Cardinals of the Catholic Church to Rose, an old Filipino lady in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Quickly, my naïve view of the Church began to broaden, and I realized there’s a lot more to the Church than the latest celebrity priest talk, Matt Fradd podcast, or whatever trends the hip Catholic influencers were pushing.
There are people in the trenches sharing the love of Christ, who want to share that love with everybody they meet — in person.
Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Tim Glemkowski, and Jason Shanks taught me that “if you hold up Jesus, people will come.”
Speaking of the Eucharistic Revival, The Airstream Sisters (Daughters of Divine Love) showed that what you experience at a national level, becomes very effective if shared locally.
A 24-hour pilgrimage to the March for Life taught me that life done in community is so much better than any post could capture.
Jim, Bill, and Harold, from Fairbanks Alaska, taught me the importance of the coffee social hour (or three) after daily Mass, even when it is -30 Fahrenheit outside.
Their vicar general — Father Robert Fath — and other Alaskan priests spoke openly and shared the joy and hardship of being a priest on America’s last frontier, from riding snowmobiles from parish to parish, to bringing the sacraments to the most remote regions.
Last, there is Eddie Cotter, the 65 -year old youth minister in central, Ohio, taught me that the most impactful work in the Church doesn’t happen on social media or on a huge stage, it’s in the trenches of parish life, making soup for 30 kids every Wednesday night, inviting them to go deeper with the Lord.
Now, Eddie’s a charismatic, friendly guy with lots of wisdom, fit for the internet. So naturally, I asked why he hasn’t tried to start a podcast or be a professional speaker.
His reply meant a lot: “I’m not leaving the trenches anytime soon, I love it too much.”
That quote, and the image of being in the trenches for Christ, has stuck with me ever since.
Traveling to Alaska in December and then meeting Eddie this past March proved to be capstone moments for my reporting experience.
There’s nothing sexy or flashy about Fairbanks, Alaska or central Ohio — definitely nothing social media worthy. But in the frontier and heartland of America, I met men and women committed to evangelization, dedicated to working hard for the salvation of souls in unglamorous climates, far from cameras and influencers.
These people love Jesus and want to share that love with others — they are not doing it for the likes or views.
My Pillar reporting trips clearly defined many of the themes that have been percolating in the background of stories that I have been seeking to tell over the past four years.
The lesson — albeit a seemingly simple one — is one that a freshman me, and now a college graduate me, could stand to hear time and time again: the Church is not lived online, rather it is a physical tangible Church, at the service of man, for the salvation of man.
In other words, I need to remind myself that being a Catholic influencer ain’t what life is about.
Do many of them do great work? Yes, absolutely and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and interviewing many of them, like Fr. Mike Schmitz.
But there are already plenty of content and creators out there flooding social media and plenty of journalists are writing about it.
Instead, the Lord introduced me to the folks in the trenches, the people getting their hands dirty, the folks committed day in and day out to introducing people to Jesus Christ through offering the sacraments in small Alaskan villages, organizing diocesean wide Eucharistic congresses in West Texas, or cooking soup for a bunch of teenagers at 65 years old.
Those are the stories and interviews that motivated me and inspired me to fall more deeply in love with Christ and to go into the trenches at my own parish and in my own dioceses. Those are the stories that will stick with me wherever the Lord will lead me.
So, thank you for allowing me to meet those people, hear their stories and share them with you. It has been an incredible gift, one that continues to bear much fruit in my life. A gift that I am incredibly grateful for.
Please pray for me as I make my way to seminary, and know of my prayers for you!
Yours in Christ,
Jack Figge
Editors note:
Jack has been an extroardinary gift to The Pillar, and we’ll be praying for him as he enters seminary formation. We hope to work with more young people like Jack — to give them the opportunity to learn serious and faithful Catholic journalism, to travel the Church, and to encounter Christ in his people.
Here’s a simple truth: Paying Pillar subscribers help make that happen. If you’re willing to pitch in, we can do more of that work — work we can all be proud of. We appreciate you. And most of all, we ask you to join us in praying for Jack.
In Christ,
Ed and JD
Congratulations, Jack! This is great news! We'll be joyfully praying for your discernment.