Body of Christ

  • Michael Wiebersch, Delafield, holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, California, and is pursuing his master’s in counseling online with Divine Mercy University, Sterling, Virginia.
  • Wiebersch’s family includes his parents, Mark and Elaine, and siblings Josh, Samantha, Mary Rose and Joseph.
  • For the past two years, he worked as a Brew City Catholic campus missionary at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
  • Wiebersch has just moved into a staff role for Brew City Catholic where he will focus on missionary recruitment, ministry in Waukesha, and men’s ministry.

What is something that inspires you?

People’s stories. I think there are few things that are more beautiful than knowing somebody in their story. Especially having friends that you know well, and then you learn more of their story — you instinctually love them so much more.

Who is someone you aspire to be like and why?

Margaret Rhody. (Margaret Rhody works for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as Associate Director for Parish Renewal.) I think she has such a good understanding of the human person and of the Lord’s heart that she just seems to know everything or at least always knows where to go.

What is a place you’ve been to that was particularly impactful and why?

Catholic Youth Expeditions (a retreat center in Door County). I learned about freedom there: what it’s like to give your life away for a short time and receive more because of it.

If you had an unlimited travel budget, where is the first place you would go?

The Grecian beaches, but if people aren’t singing and dancing “Mamma Mia” style, I want a refund.

Who are your favorite saints? Why?

John the Beloved. Love that man. I think he’s just objectively the coolest. He’s Jesus’ favorite and he’s the one closest to the heart.

What is the overlap between being a missionary and being a counselor?

I think the most primary parallel is between discipleship and counseling. Discipleship is the practice of walking with an individual in their spiritual life on an intimate level, getting to know their views of God, their belief system, their methods of prayer, the fruit of their prayer, and hoping to guide them in a way that brings them closer to the Lord. Counseling is basically exactly that. It might not be explicitly bringing them to the Lord but bringing them to healing. That might look like bringing them to Jesus if that’s where they are in their spiritual life. But if not, you trust that in a true, authentic encounter with love and healing they are seeing God.

Did you always have this draw to mentorship or did being a missionary help you to realize those gifts you have?

I would say I’ve always been very aware of my sense of empathy being very, very strong. So throughout high school and college I wanted to be a person worthy of counsel, wanted to be a person worthy of confiding in. So, I would say, it’s always been there, it’s just taken different forms.

Could you describe one or more moments that changed your relationship with God and/or made you the person you are today?

On Eight Day Silent Retreat last year, I had very real encounters with God that taught me, “He doesn’t need anything from me,” “I can’t muscle my way into holiness” and “I can’t just get holier by purely trying harder.” Catholics are oftentimes taught that the more perfect they are on the outside, the holier they are. Or that if you just follow the rules well enough, that’s what holiness is asking of you. Part of that is just that in life you’re generally taught conditional love. But there’s a reason that the Scripture keeps calling us to a different kind of love. The love of the heart of Jesus is to love differently than you would otherwise love.

How does your Catholic faith inform your daily life?

The past couple of years as a missionary I have had some daily prayer practices: daily Holy Hour, daily Mass, ideally night prayer and morning prayer as well. I’d like to also implement daily renunciation of lies — prayers like, “I renounce self-sufficiency, and I’m going to cling to relying on Jesus today, and I want to love with his heart and see with his eyes and hear with his ears.” That’s been a big thing in my prayer the past couple of years. I want less of me and more of him. And that can even be in a selfish way because I know that by giving him more of myself, I will receive more of myself. I pray a prayer every time after I receive the Eucharist that has been formed over the years. Part of it is, “Help me to love you above all things today, and help me to order and discern all other loves after you.”