Photo of Fr. Steven Bell curtosy of the Church of Santa Susanna
Homilies
By LAUREN LEHTONEN
Steven Bell sat in the small bedroom of his apartment on The Drag, a prominent shopping and restaurant strip in downtown Austin, TX. It was the perfect location to live for someone of his stature. A 6 foot 2, 42-year-old African American man who looked as though he were built for the Dallas Cowboys, Bell put on his black cowboy boots and walked up to a full-length mirror. He was wearing black slacks and his cleric. He looked very suave. Bell needed one more finishing touch before he could take on the day. It was not cologne, but a white cotton collar to place in his cleric. Closing the door behind him, he went downstairs to meet the rest of the priests for Sunday brunch.
Bell is a Paulist priest at St. Austin Catholic Parish in Austin, TX whose official title is Reverend Steven Bell, C.S.P. He became an ordained priest on June 22, 2008. An article from a fall 2008 Paulist Today newsletter described Fr. Bell’s ordination. “Steven Bell, C.S.P., made his final Paulist promises in the chapel of St. Paul’s College in Washington, D.C., on September 7. With his eyes sparkling and a constant smile on his lips, he was called forth to make his lifetime pledge as a member of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle.” This picture would not be the first one painted in someone’s mind when thinking about a priest’s ordination.
Recently, priests have been given a bad name. The unfortunate stereotype given to priests due to sexual scandals has tarnished their names. “The majority of priests are innocent, good men. One of the many terrible consequences of the crimes of sexually incontinent clergy is that they cast a shadow over virtuous colleagues,” wrote Damian Thompson of Telegraph. Bell responded to Thompson with: “We are all only human and make mistakes because it is in our nature.” One might think the priesthood was Bell’s dream vocation, but he felt differently.
Bell was born in Washington DC, on April 22, 1968. He has four siblings: one blood sister and three adopted brothers. His family adopted Robert and Michael, who were already siblings, after their mother passed away from a tragic car accident. The other brother, also named Robert, was a close family friend who had to be taken away from a bad domestic situation. The family fit together perfectly as though all their circumstances happened for a reason. “My family is very extroverted. They used to have parties every Friday night, and our house was the popular one on the block,” Bell explained, as he smiled proudly behind his desk in his cramped office, which was packed full of letters, paperwork, books, and family photos. The air-conditioning in his church office wasn’t on, and it was beginning to feel as if we were sitting in a sauna. Thankfully moved to a medium-sized conference room where he continued his story.
In tenth grade, he was friends with Will Smith before Smith got his big break on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” They met through a mutual friend, Heavy D, who was a rapper in the eighties. Bell he helped Will move in Mount Vernon as a favor to Heavy D. Not long after Smith’s move, Bell moved out to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an events planner after graduating high school. He specifically worked in the music industry as a special events planner and met people like Tim Burton. Though he was living the life of a social butterfly, he still attended church services every week at a local Church of Christ.
For almost half of his life he belonged to the Church of Christ; spending the majority of each week attending services and Bible studies. His family was very devout and it was tradition to attend Church of Christ services. It wasn’t until Patrice Dickerson, his girlfriend at the time, took him to a Catholic mass in 1991 that he decided to leave the Church of Christ. Bell’s first impression of the Catholic mass helped him understand which denomination he truly belonged in: Catholicism. For a while, he attended both services during the day. After some time, he received many awful phone calls from the Church of Christ community. “My friend’s mother even called me one day to ask me if I needed counseling since I was going to hell,” Bell said. He was slowly creeping closer to his true calling, the priesthood.
Bell explained that he has had three mystical experiences in his life. The first experience occurred in 1994, when he decided to leave the Church of Christ. One day he was heading to the Church of Christ to attend a service and the elders, who were prominent community members in charge of allowing people to come in, closed the doors on him. He said he literally felt his feet hover off the ground as a bus stopped at the same moment. He got on the bus and made it to the Catholic mass, and never looked back. The second experience helped him realize that he was meant for bigger things in his life. Bell was in mass as his favorite psalm “The Lord is My Shepherd” started. He went deaf briefly as they were singing. He saw everyone around him moving their lips, but he could not hear a thing. Even through all of the chaos, Bell felt comfortable and serene, and that was when he realized that he was going to become a priest. The last experience occurred after he became a Seminarian in 2000. He still wasn’t sure which order of the priesthood he would become. He was at a camp retreat for Seminarians to learn the true meaning of the priesthood when a Paulist priest asked him if he was a Paulist. Bell replied that he wasn’t. The man said the moment Bell walked in the room he felt a Paulist presence in him. During the camp, each person chose out of two hats who would be their table buddy and their roommate. Bell and the Paulist priest were the only two men who chose each other for both. Later on, they attended a Paulist dinner. During the dinner, Bell went deaf for the second time. This time it was different because he smelled comfort food and heard sounds from home. He felt the same comfort and relaxation he had felt while sitting in mass listening to the choir, and that’s when he knew that he would become a Paulist priest. Paulist.org explains what it means to be a Paulist priest. “The Paulists seek to meet the contemporary culture on its own terms, to present the Gospel message in ways that are compelling but not diluted, so that the fullness of the Catholic faith may lead others to find Christ's deep peace and "unreachable quietness." Paulists do not condemn culture, nor do they try to conform the Gospel to it.” The Paulists use new media (the Internet, radio, printing press) to send out the Good Word.
After his ordination in 2008, Bell’s life has been hectic. His schedule is full every second of every day: meetings, funerals, weddings, radio shows, he does it all. He has become a public figure since joining the priesthood and doesn’t get any privacy, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He has kept his humble heart and genuineness through all of the publicity. “I tell myself that I can never get a big head” he says. He turns to his favorite therapy when the pressure of the priesthood weighs down his spirit: cooking. Bell’s cooking skills could rival those of any iron chef, and when he isn’t preaching homilies he is in the kitchen preparing gourmet meals. He has even been guest chef multiple times at Aquarelle, an upscale French restaurant in downtown Austin. He cooks away his worries in the other areas of his life. I have tasted his cuisine personally; his braised short ribs are heavenly. He cooked for Easter Sunday, and the ribs were so tender they fell off the bone. Tastes of the red wine marinade lingered on my taste buds. Bell makes an impact with whatever he decides to take on.
Karen Ranus, Director of Social Justice at St. Austin Catholic Parish, described how the parish has changed since Bell has been there. “Fr. Steven has always served as an important part of our social justice program. It is most evident when he assists us with our Thursday morning outreach program. All of the people who seek assistance are proud people, and many feel really humiliated having to ask for help. Fr. Steven’s gifts shine when working with these people. He is always kind and sympathetic to their situation and has a way of making them feel at ease and reassuring them that we all need help sometime.” The Thursday morning outreach program is dedicated to aiding those who need help with different problem areas: rent, utilities, bus passes and food. There is a raffle and about twenty people get called to receive their aid. Bell can make anyone who comes into the church feel comfortable. Ana Arista, Director of Religious Education at St. Austin, smiled as she watched Bell with the rambunctious children in St. Austin’s cafeteria. “The children all adore Fr. Steven. He never fails to bring laughter and joy to the classroom or the playground. He relates to them on a very basic level because he is really just a big kid himself. The world could use more role models like Fr. Steven.” Fr. Steven has been able to accomplish amazing things like singing personally for Pope Benedict XVI. Paulist Today wrote in a spring 2008 newsletter, “He was one of only a handful of cantors to lead the congregation in song or sing solo at the Holy Father’s first public Mass in the U.S.”
Bell has lived a full life thus far, and it is only going to get fuller. He has achieved so much and has plenty to be thankful for. He has changed many people’s lives, including Sharon Lehtonen, Administrative Assistant at St. Austin. “Working for Fr. Steven has been a blessing in my life. To see the effect that he has had in so many people’s lives has made me realize that one person really can make a difference in the world.” He gives priests back their good name. Bell is a man to look up to in a world full of chaos, sin, and stereotypes. A role model for all, Bell is a man with a pure and beautiful spirit. I admire him as he runs around playing tag with children on the playground, always smiling and laughing heartily.