Saint Gerard Bread

First, the recipe, and a picture, then story time!

Saint Gerard Bread
(White Sandwich Bread)

(using Kitchen-Aid mixer with dough hook)

2 cups warm milk
4 ½ tsp yeast (or 2 pkgs)
2 tbs sugar
8 cups flour
4 tsp salt
2 tbs butter at room temperature

1. Put the warm milk, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Then get all the rest of your ingredients together while the milk mixture and yeast hang out together for a few minutes.

2. Put flour in mixing bowl and stir in salt. Make well in the flour and place butter at bottom of well.

3. Pour the yeast mixture into the center and wait 30 seconds, giving butter a chance to soften. Gently lower the dough hook. Begin to knead, first on stir then move it up. As it is mixing add a little warm water, one tbs at a time with at least 30 sec in between additions, or more flour to get this texture just right. For fluffy, soft bread with a tight crumb, the dough should just hold together in a ball but feel dry to the touch and should not stick to your fingers. Requires some trial and error. You may need to knead it some at the end, adding a little water to your palms. Total kneading time about ten minutes.

4. Put in covered bowl to rise for an hour.

[If you need a warm, no-draft location, leave oven off and put a bowl of hot water on the bottom while dough rises. The oven stays at perfect temperature for rising. Anytime you use the oven for rising you must remove the dough before you preheat the oven for baking!]

5. After an hour, punch down dough, degassing it, and remove the dough from the bowl. Divide in half and cover. Let rest for 10 minutes.

6. Shape each ball into a loaf. [I like to pat into a rectangle, then roll it up, pinching the seam and tucking in the ends.] Put into well-greased loaf pans, seam-side down. Cover and let rise another hour or so. Loaves should rise well over the top of the pan. If not, let rise a bit more.

7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake approximately 45 minutes. When it is golden brown and hollow-sounding it is done.

8. Remove loaves from pans immediately and cool on wire rack. The crust will soften after it cools.

Saint Gerard Bread

Are You Willing to Do the Miraculous?

Coming to this bread started as a search for Saint Gerard. And the search for Saint Gerard started as a search for a patron saint of motherhood and for those trying to conceive.

See SaintGerard.com, Saints.SQPN.com, Saints and Angels.

My husband and I have a son, Nico, who is 21 months as of this writing, and we would like more. We are committed to "trying" yet not stressing over it. The last thing we need is for our intimacy to become a source of further stress in our lives when it should be a source of strength.

But sometimes this is easier said than done, particularly for a woman, whose body cycles give her nudges and reminders that prevent her from completely ignoring it. So I decided to look toward the saints for some extra comfort and peace of mind. I wound up praying for a miracle.

Sometimes my conversations with God or the saints are like that. I begin with one intention, but through the back and forth conversation, the barriers break down, the truth comes out. This time I had to admit that I really am hoping to get pregnant. We both would like Nico to have a sibling. At least one, preferable two. I hate feeling like the clock is ticking. All life is a miracle. Is that what I was asking for? A miracle?

And Saint Gerard said, "You want a miracle. If I help you, are willing to do the miraculous? You know what needs to be done. You need to take care of yourself. Eat right and exercise. This is the miraculous. I will help you if you are willing."

I knew what he meant. The miraculous is not necessarily something shocking and unexpected. Sometimes it is the very ordinary. I knew that his help came with no promises. All of Life is always only in God's hands. But I know that I need to be ready for whatever Life God brings to me, and the way to be ready is to take care of myself. And I knew that St. Gerard would help me, because sometimes it takes a real dedication to treat yourself with the same care and love and respect that you would give your own child without hesitation.

In my reading about Saint Gerard, some mention was made of Saint Gerard Bread, eating it as a sign of solidarity with all of those whom Gerard helped in his lifetime. I could find no recipe. So I decided to make one. What kind of bread should I use? The answer was simple- the bread of everyday, ordinary life. The bread of Motherhood - of Parenthood, really. Because my first desire for seeking Saint Gerard was more about becoming a better and better parent. As a new stay-at-home mom, there is still a lot that I have to learn about my craft. It is a calling that I have followed with enthusiasm, but it is not without challenges.

So I played around with this recipe until it was what I was looking for: simple, everyday bread that is yet delicious. The miraculous of the everyday. The way it is to be a parent.

Priest Shortage is a Myth

I can see your hair catching fire.
Some of you are probably outraged that I would say that the priest shortage is a myth. Scandalized. Marshalling your arguments and statistics that show fewer priests since the fifties, that rattle the cages of the all the parents out there who are somehow, mysteriously, squishing the call of God right out of the thousands of boys who would otherwise be clamouring to Enlist with good 'ole Uncle ____ (hmm, Uncle Sam is taken, and rather Jewish [God Bless the Jews and Samuel the Prophet!] - So Uncle What? Uncle "Yes, Father"?).
Never mind the whole story of Jonah which illustrates that you cannot hinder the call of God once given. Never mind that it is GOD who does the CALLING. Never mind that the Many priests in one parish is actually the anomaly, if hundreds upon hundreds of years mean anything, and that the current decline in numbers is more accurately described by the concept of "market correction."
But actually I do not really mean it is a myth. After all a myth is a story told to explain the inexplicable that, while fictional in content, demonstrates the shared wisdom, truth, and values of the community to which the myth belongs. In other words, myths have a positive purpose directed toward knowledge and community cohesivenss. In Catholic theology, using these terms, the story of Jonah is a myth. It does not mean it is not real, and does prevent it from having happened, but it does assert that whether or not it happened is in some ways irrelevent, for the truth contained, the lessons for the community, are true either way.
The implications of focusing on the current situation of the church as "priest shortage", however, is not a myth. It demonstrates neither wisdom, truth, or shared values.

How do I know?

Because I have been an associate with the Racine Dominicans for several years. Their numbers are also declining. It is difficult to understand why. Some sisters at times feel discouraged. The need for a change in focus of long-term planning and community goals must shift to match the changing demographics.

BUT not one complaint of there being a sister shortage. Not one single mention of the lack of responsibility of parents and families and communities. Not one solitary insisting that a church or a family "cough up" the girls that are their due. Instead, RD's and other women's communities, too, are approaching things from two fronts. They are looking WITHIN, cleaning house, and constantly verifying [constant vigilance!] that their lives, individually and communally, are promoting their chosen community mission. Secondly, they are going on with the business of being Servants of Christ. In short, they are having faith, they are lifting their eyes up to the hills, whilst keeping their feet busy on the ground, instead of pointing their fingers at others.

This Year of the Priesthood (which actually begins with Advent, right?) is the perfect opportunity to honor the blessings for all of us that our priests embody and also to honor the rights and responsibilies of our own priesthood which we are called to through Baptism. Let us spend less time berating God and one another for not giving us what we think we need and more time being thankful for what we have and doing some "house cleaning" of our own so that we may be prepared to accept the people that GOD calls.

The Lord is kind and merciful, y'all!