Free to Be Nothing Rev Edward J Farrell St Agnes Church Detroil Michigan

Free to Be Nothing by Rev. Edward J. Farrell

Free to Be Nothing [biblical reflections on poor apostolate]
Edward Farrell
Michael Glazier, Inc., 1989
ISBN 0-89453-780-6

This blog post offered by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

Contents
Preface
Foreword
1  Free for Community
2  For for Conversion
3  Free to be a Disciple
4  Free for Evangelization
5  Free for Prayer that Leads to Action for Justice
6  Free to Be Embarrassed by the Poor
7  Free to Plunge into the Incarnation
8 Free to Live the Call of Holiness
9  Free for the Journey into Mature Faith
10 Free to Dream the Dream of Jesus
Postscript
 
The source of the title for Free to Be Nothing about the ministry of St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Detroit, Michigan is (I believe) a parishoner's comment related to to others at the end of the visit made by Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1979.
 

She is free to be nothing. Therefore God can use her for anything.

 
In his Foreward, Fr. Farrell widens the statement with a quote from Mother Teresa's own words.

You have said 'yes' to Jesus--and he has taken you at your word.  The Word of God became man, poor; your word to God became Jesus, poor.  And so this terrible emptiness--deep poverty--and your 'yes' is the beginning of being or becoming empty.  It is not how much we really 'have' to give, but how empty we are; so that we can receive fully in our life and let Him live His life in us.  In you today, He wants to relive His complete abandonment to His Father.  Allow Him to do so.  It does not matter what you feel, as long as He feels alright in you.  Take away your eyes from yourself and rejoice that you have nothing.  Give Jesus a big smile each time your nothingness frightens you.

St. Agnes Church celebrated its last mass in 1989, the year Free to Be Nothing was published, and merged with nearby St. Theresa of Avila Church, as part of a large restructuring project in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Detroit.  The unfortunate decay of the St. Agnes Church building was documented in a 2012 article titled 5 Pillars of the Abandoned World.

After the closing of St. Agnes Father Farrell continued teaching at Sacred Heart Seminary. He was the author of many books. From the small amount I have been able to find about his personal life and ministry, he was an extraordinarily faithful servant of Christ. His earthly ministry ended in 2006 at the age of 75 years, with an eternity of living still ahead.