Body of Christ
As the author of the Very Young Catholic book series, Emily Koczela has traveled all around the world, witnessing the Universal Church firsthand. “Meeting the brothers and sisters that we have around the world is the greatest thing for me to see in real life,” she said.
— She grew up outside of Washington, D.C., and studied law at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. As an attorney, she worked for the Public Policy Forum (now the Wisconsin Policy Forum) in downtown Milwaukee. She also served on the Shorewood School Board for 13 years.
— After living abroad for several years, she changed careers and worked as the chief financial officer for the Brown Deer School System and for Messmer Catholic Schools.
— She and husband Mark are the parents of six children and the grandparents of 15.
— A parishioner of St. Eugene in Fox Point, she divides her time between Glendale and New Hampshire.
— In 2016, she began working on the Very Young Catholic series, which depicts the lives of real Catholic children all over the world. The books are published by Holy Heroes.
You just returned home from Kazakhstan for your 18th book in the Very Young Catholic series. What gave you the idea to write these books?
I’ve always thought, ever since my own children were small, that it would be easier to fully grasp our faith if you as a child could know, in your gut, that God doesn’t live at your parish church — he lives everywhere. Many people, especially children, don’t fully have a grasp of what it means to be part of a Universal Church. I thought that children would have an easier time if they could see faces of other children in a completely different place than their own, who nevertheless went to Mass, had their First Eucharist and held all the same beliefs — even though their home looks different and they look different, and their culture and their clothes are different.
Was it a calling from God, do you think?
I have to say that only the work of the Holy Spirit would have gotten me up out of my chair to go tell that story myself, instead of just thinking someone else ought to do it. I was really inspired by the line in one of the Eucharistic prayers: “You never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting, a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.”
Do you speak different languages, or do you use an interpreter when you visit these families around the world?
I speak French, so I was fine in Togo, and I speak a little Spanish, so that helped in Argentina and Ecuador. Kazakhstan was the only place I took an interpreter because they primarily speak and have signage in Russian or Kazakh, and those do not use the same alphabet that we have, so it’s much harder to navigate. On the bright side, English is so widespread around the world that there is usually someone who can translate. One big help is that I have Google Translate on my phone. You can get a long way with Google Translate.
I’m sure you’ve tried all different sorts of cuisine. What was the most memorable food you ate during your travels?
Well, there’s a game that people play all over the world — sort of “stump the chump” except with food. I always recognize when I’m getting into it, because these families I’m visiting — and they’re wonderful, fun families — they get a glint in their eye and I think, “Oh, no. They’re going to say, ‘Emily, we have some food for you to try.’” Just as one example, in Taiwan, they gave me the thing that they called “hundred-year-old eggs.” They’re not actually 100 years old — they just look as though they are.
Did you eat them?
Of course! I’m a visitor, and I know this game. I know I’m supposed to be brave and tough. The eggs look awful and they smell terrible, but they don’t kill you or anything. Another unusual food, not as well-known, was in Iceland. They like chocolate studded with black licorice. This time, the family wasn’t trying to stump me, they were just sharing their favorite food — “It’s so good, Emily!” And you know, it was OK. It’s never going to be my favorite, but it was better than I thought it was going to be.
What have you learned about the Universal Church while writing these books?
There really are wonderful, spectacular, faithful families that you would love to know all over the world. Of course, it’s silly to say that’s a surprise because that’s what I was sure was there when I started this, but even theoretically expecting it did not prepare me for just how faithful and fun and marvelous these families and parishes are. I just got home from Kazakhstan in remote Central Asia — here was the nicest mom and dad, and this adorable bunch of kids all tearing around the place just like every other big family in the world, and we’re singing songs, they’re inviting me over for pizza, I go to the First Communion of their little boy — I felt as though I was in Kansas, except I wasn’t. Meeting the brothers and sisters that we have around the world is the greatest thing for me to see in real life.
When you aren’t writing, what do you like to do?
When I can do whatever I want and nobody needs me, then I go kayaking — just quiet kayaking on some little lake. I love that. That’s a real quiet to the heart. But most of the time, if I’m not researching, or writing or setting up the next book, I’m doing something with the family. A big family always has something going on.
