It is with great honor and an abundance of joy that we are to announce our new chaplains to Red Bird Ministries. Our two chaplains will be guiding our ministry through the journey of supporting families of child loss. Fr. Rusty Bruce will be spiritually guiding the mothers of loss and directing our annual grieving mother’s retreat. Fr. Stephen Castille will be spiritually guiding the fathers of loss and directing our annual grieving father’s retreat. Together they will shepherd our flock towards our Divine Shepherd, allowing those who feel so alone, lost, and abandoned direction toward the healing balm of Christ. In doing so, families will encounter the Father’s heart through these incredible shepherds whose only desire is to do the Lord’s work. We are so honored and humbled to call you our Chaplains. May the Lord and Our Lady protect your beautiful Father's hearts, and mantle you both with Our Lady’s Love.

Early into my priesthood, I discovered that there was a great need for a ministry like Red Bird that helped grieving parents. Many were coming to me with unimaginable suffering and grief from their child's loss. I felt there was nothing that had prepared me for what was waiting for me in the parish until some parishioners introduced me to Red Bird Ministries. I wanted to be more supportive of their needs, so I volunteered to work at one of the women's retreats which changed how I viewed this ministry. There, I was abundantly blessed by the encounters, stories shared, and the courage that I experienced that weekend from the women that I wanted to continue to be a part of this extraordinary ministry. The whole time I was working the retreat, the Lord kept tugging at my heart, and once again, I felt his call to answer.

After learning about this ministry recently, I felt drawn to be a part of it so that I could draw on my experience of being married and having gone through the loss of two children before birth. I feel the Lord leading me to minister to those going through this loss. I believe I can also help them work through this difficult loss with the view of keeping the marriage intact, which I was not able to do. My work with Retrouvaille has given me tools that can help couples learn to continue to dialogue through this difficult challenge in their lives and, through the Grace of God, learn to live with the loss together.