By Mary Hance

When Father Charlie Strobel, the founder of Room in the Inn and humanitarian extraordinaire, died last year, I wrote a column about him, lauding his work with the homeless and saying that his example of humility, selflessness and compassion should be a good barometer for what we should be doing.

I described him as the “original good guy” and suggested that when we are faced with uncertain situations, we could just ask:  “What would Charlie do?”

So now, a year later I was thrilled to get my hands on a review copy of Strobel’s soon to be released memoir, “My Journey Home, The Kingdom of the Poor” and learn more about how he came to be such a “good guy.”

I can’t remember the last time I read an entire book in two days, but I could not put this one down.

The book is divided into short chapters that address his childhood in North Nashville, his relationships with his service-oriented mother, his siblings and his priests, his college and seminary years in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, his passionate love of baseball and his years founding and developing Room in the Inn.

The stories are not only inspirational, but also provide insight into what made Strobel the remarkable person he was.

He quoted Mark Twain as saying that the “two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you found out why.” This book, Strobel says, “helps explain why I was born.”

The book, published by Vanderbilt University Press, is a collection of Strobel’s stories and remembrances, many which were dictated in his final days to his niece Katie Seigenthaler and colleague Amy Frogge, who lovingly edited and organized the stories, and added lots of photographs of him at various stages of his life.

There are stories about the death of his father when he was only 4, the selfless giving of his two great-aunts who stepped in to help with the children so his widowed mother could work, the murder of his mother in 1986  and the remarkable fact that he and his siblings were able to forgive her killer.

And there are poignant stories that capture his hands-on relationships with some of the homeless men and women he and his organization served.

Can you tell that I love this book!

Father Strobel, who was 80 when he died in August of 2023, definitely walked the walk, opening his arms to ALL through his passionate belief that “we are all poor and we are all worthy of love.”

The inspirational power is not just his tireless work with the homeless (which he started by handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to hungry homeless folks in his church parking lot at Holy Name Catholic Church) but more his foundational kindness, his broad  sense of community and his dogged determination to act to improve the lot of others.

Strobel loved the Sermon on the Mount and saw the Beatitudes as a meaningful framework for a good life. The stories in his book are punctuated with his own set of “Modern Day Beatitudes” such as:

“Blessed are those who try to do something even when they can’t do anything. They shall keep marching on.”

“Blessed are those who learn the way to serve, for they shall know the true meaning of worth.”

“Blessed are they who choose to live humbly for they shall lead by example.”

“Blessed are they who lovingly care for others. They shall be lovingly cared for.’’

“Blessed are they who provide hospitality for they shall know God’s love.

The book is not preachy in any sense, but it does have a message that bears repeating – “We are all poor and we are all worthy  of love.”  Strobel felt strongly that a sense of community is crucial to all of our wellbeing and that we desperately need to be able to see Christ in our fellow human beings, and that we need to act to make life better for all.

Strobel’s ordination memorial card in 1970 carried a quote from Robert F. Kennedy Sr.: ”Few of us will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

With the release of this book, it is wonderful to see Father Strobel’s power and example marching on!

As Ann Patchett said in her foreword, the book is “a manual for decency and kindness.”

One reviewer, Kate Bowler, said the book is “bursting with compassion and insight. But I’d be careful if I were you. This little book might change your life.”

The book is set to be released later this month and as you might expect, royalty proceeds go to support Room in the Inn. The official book launch is Sept. 14 at the Tennessee State Museum. Room in the Inn will also host a book launch and open house from 2-6 p.m. on Sept. 19.

Books can be purchased at Parnassus (which is Room in the Inn’s book partner locally) and at other bookstores and on Amazon. The price is expected to be $29.95. And there is an audio book in the works too.

Room in the Inn, which was founded in 1986 (Strobel sheltered the homeless in 1985 and other congregations joined him in 1986) has programs that focus on health, education, employment, and housing for people experiencing homelessness.

The winter shelter program involves more than 100 Middle Tennessee congregations (representing many faiths). The congregations provide shelter, warm meals and fellowship. Last year the congregations provided more than 15,000 beds.

The Room in the Inn concept has become a model for programs in 36 other cities.

As an aside, Strobel was an avid baseball fan and found there to be meaningful analogies between baseball and life.  

“Charlie loved baseball more than any other sport,” said Rachel Hester, executive director of Room in the Inn. “He loved the fact that the game isn’t run on a clock. There are 27 outs, no matter how long it takes and you’re always safe at home. He saw it as a great metaphor for our work at Room in the Inn too. In the end it was a great metaphor for his own life,”  she said.

See full coverage here.