PROFILE OF A FRIAR

Entering into his tenth year as a chaplain at the University of St. Francis (USF), Fr. Terry Deffenbaugh, O.S.A. is a well-known presence around the Joliet campus.

“I do not wear clerical attire, so people may not realize that I am a priest, but everyone knows me as the friendly face who is asking them ‘How are you doing?’” says, Fr. Terry.

No less that once a week, the 75-year-old priest makes the rounds on campus, stopping by every office on campus and checking in on the well-being of faculty, staff, and students. When not making visits, Fr. Terry keeps an open door at his office by St. Joseph Chapel, where he celebrates daily noon mass for the USF community.

In addition to his chaplain ministry, Fr. Terry has begun teaching sections of Introduction to Theology—a new vocation, but one for which he can rely on his 40 years of experience leading spiritual retreats.

Before coming to USF, Fr. Terry spent the entirety of his priesthood crafting popular, life-changing retreats for teens. For the majority of those years, his retreats were led out of the Province’s Tolentine Center in Olympia Fields, IL, where Fr. Terry was part of a team of friars who worked full-time as retreat leaders.

Over the years, though, the clientele for spiritual retreats dried up—a trend seen across the U.S. Catholic Church. Following the closure of Tolentine in 2014, Fr. Terry took his retreats on the road to many parishes and retreat centers. It became clear to him, however, that he would need to transition on from his career, and he pondered what could be next.

“I met with the Prior Provincial at the time,” recalls Fr. Terry. “I mentioned that a college campus might be the next logical step for me.”

Thankfully Fr. John Merkelis, O.S.A, then Personnel Director, was able to arrange a meeting for Fr. Terry with Sr. Mary Elizabeth Imler, O.S.F., a Vice President at the SFU, who welcomed him to the ministry team.

As a teacher, Fr. Terry has found that a university classroom can become a retreat-like space as long as students remain centered on open dialogue and discussion. “Each of my classes has 30 people, many of whom are in the health care field. I find that this is a great number and demographic to create student-led discussions about spiritual life and the teachings of Christ.”

For course material, Fr. Terry prefers to discuss St. Augustine and St. Francis due to their relatability to young students. “I tell the class that these are two very different men who both had a very strained relationship with their parents. This opens the saints up for us.”

Creating down-to-earth and relatable entryways to Christ’s message has been an abiding concern for Fr. Terry, one that inspired him to author six books of popular spirituality. His most popular book, No Longer a Stray: The Gospel According to PupPup, is narrated by a stray dog who is taken in by the child Jesus and accompanies him on his ministry.

In the preface to the book, Fr. Terry writes: “I am not a Scripture scholar, nor a theologian with a doctoral degree. I am an Augustinian priest, a youth minister, and a storyteller[…] I’ve written No Longer a Stray so that the reader might experience what it might have been like to be right there with Jesus.”

Looking back at 40 years of teen ministry and 10 years of chaplaincy, Fr. Terry acknowledges the care his superiors took in choosing his assignments. “Following my ordination in 1975, the Prior Provincial at that time, Fr. Ray Ryan, O.S.A. told me how he recognized my passion for retreat ministry with teens, and I am grateful for his discernment,” said Fr. Terry.

“I also told him that if I was going to do youth ministry, I better start it right away because it takes a lot of energy!”

After 47 years, Fr. Terry still has not lost the energy to bring Christ to young people, and our Province is blessed with his example.