“We Burned the Boats!”

Dear Friends in Christ,

By now, most of you are aware that we are in a critical time of restructuring at the institute. You can read the initial announcement and some of the details from our Executive Director here.

“What’s happened?”

Here’s the tl;dr version, as the kids like to say (“too long, didn’t read”), in four quick points:

1. Since we’re a nonprofit, the lion’s share of funding that makes it possible to offer classes and book clubs and conversation study groups and parish missions doesn’t come from sales or shareholder investments aimed to turn a profit. It comes instead from the generosity of folks like yourselves—whether in the form of direct donations, or indirect ones like grants and endowments.
   
   
2. In addition to applying for grants, we host two major fundraising initiatives each year—one in the spring and one in the fall. We call the fall fundraiser our “Bellarmine Banquet,” after our patron saint, Robert Bellarmine.
   
   
3. Last month, we missed our goal for the Bellarmine Banquet by a large margin. It’s a tough time for everyone, and we feel you feeling it. We’re all in this together.
   
   
4. Then we learned we did not receive a grant that we have received in five of the six years we’ve applied for it. And that really hurt.

Sitting around the table as a team of faculty and staff who all love each other and enjoy working together, we were quite blue. With the money projected to come in for December, we realized we’ll have barely enough to make payroll at the end of the month. Each of us had half-thoughts about how we might approach things, but they were hard to formulate. There were some very quiet moments.

As the one whose request initiated the development of the Emmaus Institute, His Excellency, Bishop James Conley, graciously rearranged his schedule to attend an emergency meeting with the Board of Directors the following day. Looking around at each of us, he voiced what we all knew—that it was clear that Emmaus cannot continue in its present configuration.

Then he asked whether we thought it should continue in some configuration.

And then he expressed that he wanted it to continue; that he regards it to be as important now as it was six years ago to have what Emmaus provides for the faithful in Lincoln and throughout our fair state.

Why is Emmaus so important, and how important is ‘important’?

Too few of us Catholics are aware of the three points I’m about to share, so please follow this train of thoughts carefully:

1. According to St. Luke, whoever hears those whom Jesus has authorized hears Jesus himself (Luke 10:16).
   
   
2. Thus, when the Church Jesus founded on the apostles speaks today with its full apostolic authority, we are in the presence of a cosmic event: the Divine is breaking through the veil from the other side. Although he is ascended and now hidden from view, it is Jesus’ voice from another realm reaching into our human experience.
   
   
3. For example, whenever the Church delivers an “apostolic exhortation” on a matter of faith or morals, we rightly regard ourselves to have received “marching orders” by our Lord. Jesus himself is delivering a mandate—a kind but resolute command for us to listen carefully, so that we may follow his decree, which he always gives in love and for our benefit.

The Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini (‘The Word of the Lord’—where Word refers expressly to the Bible) provides such an instance. Note especially the bits I’ve boldfaced and/or italicized:

§73. [T]he Synod called for a particular pastoral commitment to emphasizing the centrality of the word of God in the Church’s life, and recommended a greater “biblical apostolate,” not alongside other forms of pastoral work, but as a means of letting the Bible inspire all pastoral work.” This does not mean adding a meeting here or there in parishes or dioceses, but rather of examining the ordinary activities of Christian communities, in parishes, associations and movements, to see if they are truly concerned with fostering a personal encounter with Christ, who gives himself to us in his word [emphasis added].

The “Word of God” (i.e., the Bible) is to have a “centrality” that is not had by (“not alongside”) “other forms of pastoral work.” Instead, the Bible performs a more fundamental role than they do by giving order to those other forms—here inspiring them, there constraining them—so that they work as they should: as secondary contexts of formation, coordinated with the centrality of the Bible, in which “Christ . . . gives himself to us.”

Two paragraphs later:

§75. In order to achieve the goal set by the Synod . . . all Christians, and catechists in particular, need to receive suitable training. Attention needs to be paid to the biblical apostolate [italics original] . . . . The Synod Fathers also recommended that . . . centres of formation should be established where laity and missionaries can be trained to understand, live and proclaim the word of God. Also, where needed, specialized institutes for biblical studies should be established to ensure that exegetes [i.e., interpreters] possess a solid understanding of theology and an appropriate appreciation for the contexts in which they carry out their mission [emphasis added].

“All Christians . . . need” the sort of training our Bishop is calling on Emmaus to provide, in concert with Jesus’ own voice resonating through the Apostolic Exhortation. Therefore, there need to be “centres of formation”; “specialized institutes for biblical studies”; a “biblical apostolate.”

As far as we’re aware, we are the only ‘institute’/‘centre’/‘biblical apostolate’ in Nebraska that approaches formation in Bible reading and study according to the specifics laid out in apostolic exhortations like Verbum Domini. If Emmaus doesn’t continue to answer Jesus’ call through the Church he established, who will?

Back to our Bishop’s question:

“Do you think there is some way forward for something to continue, so that formation in the Bible can remain available?”

He looked around the table, as did the various members of our Board.

“We burned the boats!” I blurted into the quiet. The reference is to Cortés, who destroyed his ships upon reaching Mexico in 1519, so that his crew had no other option but to move forward. No mutiny. No surrender.

Then I explained that this is why I had resumed my doctoral research—which I had put on hold years ago to raise a growing family after we were confirmed in the Catholic Church. And why this summer we blasted through our savings to put my wife—whose urgency to be more fully formed for this same kind of work has intensified over the past two years—into a Master’s program, also in Biblical Studies.

But the situation is desperate. In the absence of financial surety, it’s not feasible for all of us to double down to continue this work.

Yet Jesus continues to call.

We need your help moving into 2026 to continue providing what Jesus is mandating through the apostolic exhortation of those he has authorized to speak with his voice.

Please team up with us as generously as you are able, either by clicking Support Emmaus to make a tax-deductible donation through our website, or by mailing it to:

Emmaus Institute
3700 Sheridan Blvd., Ste. 3,
Lincoln, NE 68506

Always with gratitude, I am
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Chad Steiner
Director of Formation