Brendan McCauley
Hello everyone! My name is Brendan McCauley and I am the Director of Formation and Men’s Ministry at St. Thomas More Catholic Student Center at Washington State University. I am also a part-time speaker for the Theology of the Body Institute. I received my Business Marketing degree at Washington State University in 2018 and directly after that I received my Masters in Theology for Marriage and Family at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute in Washington D.C.
I was raised Catholic and have always wanted to do God’s will for my life. Throughout high school and early college, I was living a double life. I was going to mass on Sunday’s but partying in my fraternity on the weekends. When I was 17 years old, my older brother was hit in the head with a softball during intramural sports and underwent 4 brain surgeries. This experience opened my eyes to the reality that I am not invincible, and I began to contemplate for the first time what type of life I wanted to live and what type of man I wanted to be. Shortly after during my sophomore year in college, I encountered God’s love on a retreat and decided I wanted to live a fully Catholic life and not a double life. This meant I need to do my best to live it, learn it and share it with others. I’m still working on it…
I began to say “yes” to going on retreats, prayer, daily mass, mission trips and ultimately an internship in the summer of 2017 with the Theology of the Body Institute. All of my past “yes’s” led up to this summer, which changed the course of my life. Pope St. John Paul II’s teaching on the Theology of the Body helped soften my heart, and gave me a new freedom I did not think existed. It was as if God’s law was written upon my heart (Heb. 8:10). I learned the truth of what it means to be human, why we are male and female, and what we are made for. This truth set me free and I began to “leap” for joy. After experiencing this freedom, I felt like I had to share it with the world. Over the past 4 years I have been doing just that through speaking engagements, leading retreats, parish missions and making YouTube videos for the Theology of the Body Institute. Also, I have been writing a book for the past 2 years with a desire to spread the Catholic vision of our humanity.
What I have learned is that the journey of following Christ to the Father, is a paschal journey. We are constantly undergoing small deaths with Christ that lead to small resurrections, which prepare us for our final death and resurrection. Along the journey, there have been times when I want to “throw in the towel” because it can be hard to follow Christ and the cross feels too heavy. Sometimes it’s confusing and nothing makes sense just like Peter was confused about Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist. It didn’t make sense to him. Jesus asked Peter “are you going to leave me?”, but Peter responded “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (Jn. 6:67-68).” I have been through struggle, and suffering as we all have, but the solution is not to “throw in the towel,” but to keep your eyes on Jesus who never leaves nor forsakes you. He is Good who desires to give you abundant life. It's true! What I have learned is that when I say “yes” to the crosses that come my way, I begin to taste the glory that awaits. I have learned Christ is not afraid of the poor places in my heart. I must have the faith to trust Him, and the courage to open to Him bringing those poor places of my heart to His light so that He can transform them into glory.