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For Boston College Law School Chaplain Fred Enman, SJ, the goal is simple: Make the Gospel concrete. And that’s what Fr. Enman has done since 1988, when he co-founded Matthew 25, a non-profit organization that provides housing to people in need. Matthew 25, of which Fr. Enman is executive director, purchases abandoned, dilapidated properties and oversees their rehabilitation into affordable rental housing for low-income people.
The name of the organization comes from the New Testament’s Gospel of Matthew where Jesus says: “For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you covered me; sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these, my least brethren, you did it to me.”
Matthew 25 has opened nine houses in Worcester and one in Boston, providing housing for 19 families. Another house in Worcester is slated to open this spring with space for two more families.
Fr. Enman has a steady team of volunteers who help with the demolition and restoration work of each house. Students from the College of the Holy Cross, where Fr. Enman was teaching when work on Matthew 25’s first house began, have done demolition work on every Matthew 25 house in Worcester.
In 1994, Worcester Technical High School “adopted” Matthew 25 as their shop project and supervised students have done the skilled carpentry, electrical, plumbing and heating work on all the Worcester houses. The 21-year-old partnership has provided the students with unparalleled hands-on experience and Matthew 25 with immense financial savings.
Fr. Enman cites The True Church and the Poor by Jon Sobrino, SJ, as the inspiration for Matthew 25. In the book, Fr. Sobrino wrote that Christians must make Gospel values real in the lives of the poor and singled out Matthew 25. When selecting his pastoral project for his final year as a theology graduate student, Fr. Enman forged ahead with the idea of Matthew 25.
“I like to say it’s my longest incomplete ever. I still haven’t finished,” joked Fr. Enman, who credits BC friends Tim Healey ’87 and Jim MacGillivray ’87 as Matthew 25 co-founders.
The Matthew 25 properties all seem to have a special story attached to them. The first, a duplex built in 1863, was listed on both the Massachusetts Historical Register and the City of Worcester’s demolition list. “It is a gorgeous house and we got to it just in time,” said Fr. Enman. After paying $32,000 in back taxes, the house was renovated and is now home to four families.
A second Matthew 25 property on the Historical Register is a 1840s Greek Revival. “We got that house around the time of the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse fire where six firefighters were killed,” said Fr. Enman, a Worcester native. “We wanted to do something to honor those men, so that house is called Firefighter House and we have the name of each of those firefighters on the front porch.
“It seemed like everyone I knew had a connection to one of the firefighters. Everyone was deeply affected by the loss.”
The purchase of another property, named The Louise and Fred Enman House after Fr. Enman’s parents, was financed in part by gifts bestowed by couples Fr. Enman had married. Boston College undergraduates and graduate students did the interior demolition for the first Matthew 25 house in Boston, which was dedicated in 2010.
A legal aid lawyer by training, Fr. Enman graduated from Wesleyan University and earned a juris doctor from BC Law, a master of arts degree in philosophy from BC, a master of divinity and a master of theology from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology (now the School of Theology and Ministry) and a diploma of legal studies from Oxford University.
When he is not at a Matthew 25 work site, Fr. Enman can be found at BC Law, where he serves as chaplain and special assistant to the associate dean of students. His duties include coordinating academic advising and working with student organizations. He also celebrates noon Mass at Trinity Chapel every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
In March, Fr. Enman will travel with about a dozen BC Law students to New Orleans, where they will provide free legal work for non-profits and government agencies aiding those still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. It is a trip he has taken annually since 2007 and something he calls “one of my favorite activities” in his role at BC Law.
Fr. Enman’s work on behalf of those in need has been recognized by the Ignatian Volunteer Corps New England, which presented him with a Madonna Della Strada Award in 2013. He also has received the John W. Spillane Award for Distinguished Christian Leadership from the Knights of Columbus, Crusader Council 2706 and the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice from the Paulist Center in Boston.
"In many respects I have been a coordinator of generosity through my work with Matthew 25. I have seen the generosity of over a thousand benefactors who have donated on a regular basis. I have witnessed the generosity of thousands of volunteers who have given of their time by laboring on our work sites. I have been blessed to see many families successfully struggle to make a better life for themselves and for their children and grandchildren. In the early years of Matthew 25, during one of my annual retreats, I thanked God for sending me so many wonderful people through Matthew 25. I heard this little voice say 'And I am going to send you many more.' God has not disappointed me!"
For more information on Matthew 25 or to make a donation, see www.Matt25.org