Russellville High School graduate Matthew Brown is the Food Director for MEALS Inc., curator of the Wandering Kentucky Facebook page and host of the Wandering Kentucky podcast. He is the son of Ken and Karen Brown of Russellville.
This church in Russellville will always be a part of me. The lessons I learned there have served me well over 45 years.
It was interesting growing up Catholic in a Southern town. Most folks didn't make a big fuss about it, but there were definitely misconceptions. It was something different, and I didn't really understand how different until I was a little older.
But this isn't meant to delve into a comparison of religions. I've just been thinking about it on a day that maybe some people who never really think about the Catholic Church might have it on their mind. There's a new Pope, only the fourth of my lifetime, a new man to lead 1.4 billion people around the world.
And he's from the United States.
I've said for a while that I think we'll have safe, dependable fusion power in my lifetime. I think that we might see anti-gravity technology change the way we travel. Heck, I lived long enough to see the Chicago Cubs win a World Series.
I never thought I'd see a Pope from the United States.
In some ways, it doesn't really matter. He's literally a man of the world, having lived and served across the globe. But his roots are in Chicago - that's a place I can say I'm familiar with!
The older I get, the more the world seems to shrink. Maybe it's technology, or wisdom, or just getting to know more people with all of their experiences. It's not a bad thing, just something I've noticed.
Twenty or so years ago, I stood in St. Peter's Square, listening to Pope Benedict speak. It was surreal. I had only been in Rome a couple of hours, barely had my wits about me after an overnight flight. I was just taking it all in, until he began to pray. The language was different, but the cadence was familiar. Everyone around me picked it up, praying in their own tongue - ten thousand voices, hundreds of languages, one voice. It was a connection I had never felt before.
I don't dare claim this is the same. That was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, something that I could never repeat. I do feel connected though, to a Pope who stood who just hours ago stood on that same balcony as Pope Benedict, to a man who is now known as Pope Leo XIV. A man who shares my roots in America. A man who, they say, was just as excited as me about that Cubs' World Series.
Tomorrow, I'll wake up and hit the road and it'll probably feel like a typical day. For now, I'll take this excitement, and I'll be grateful for this little church in Russellville that nourished a seed into the great joy I feel today.