Kyle Walsh
I am a husband and father of 3. I started the Instagram page @catholicfitfatherhood to promote physical fitness as (one of many) part(s) of a virtuous life; this is in contrast to how fitness is often portrayed in a narcissistic way, as an end in itself, and without appropriate modesty. I also aim to encourage authentic Catholic masculinity, including the role of men as spiritual fathers, fathers of families, brothers of one another, and, most importantly, sons of God Our Father.
I grew up on a farm in Michigan that has been in my family since 1866. From a young age, I wanted to be a physician, and I never really changed my mind. Growing up, my family attended a small rural Catholic church that was on a gravel road about a mile from our farm. There was a strong sense of cultural Catholicism and commitment to attendance and service to the local church, but little in Catechesis, intentional formation, or understanding the larger Church. Throughout my college and medical school years, I became more intellectually interested in the Church, and I read a number of books and visited Rome several times. Overall, though, I was fairly superficially engaged in the Faith; I continued to attend Mass every week, but I did not pray on a regular basis, I attended no Catholic groups, and I did not go to confession for (many) years.
After medical school, I moved to a new city for residency, and I met my wife about a year after the move. We were married when I was 29 and had our first son just before I turned 31. It was that year, when I was 31, that I suddenly realized the lack of fraternity in my life. From a secular perspective, I started to research this topic (i.e., the lack of male friendships today- if you haven't looked, there's a lot out there about it), and in informal ways, I tried to “fix” this in my life with little success.
Finally, when I was 33, I received an email, forwarded through a Catholic listserv, about an opportunity to join an Exodus 90 group. I joined it, and for the first time, I experienced authentic Catholic fraternity. That started a new chapter for me, leading me to seek additional opportunities for fraternity; regionally as a new member of Regnum Christi and, later, locally at my Parish. I’m now 36, and in the past 2 years, I have been the one sometimes inviting other men to these opportunities. This is incredible considering where I was myself just a few years ago. It is a concrete personal example of how God can take an area of weakness/disappointment/sadness and to turn it into a strength and a source of joy. It is humbling how Christ used my search for fraternity to draw me closer to Himself and His Church.