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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

West St. Paul native leaves Marines to serve the poor in the Philippines

Susan Klemond
Jeremiah Kraker
After serving in the military, Jeremiah Kraker joined a ministry in the Philippines called Pure Heart. He helps form youth and young adults in Church teaching on love and sexuality. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

When Jeremiah Kraker was in the Marine Corps, he liked being pushed to his limit, even through sleep deprivation, cold and living in the mud.

But two years ago while he was serving in Force Reconnaissance, a special operations-capable force, the West St. Paul native heard an equally radical call from God: to give his life in service to the poor.

Kraker, 24, responded by ending his four-year military career last year and moving to the Philippines, where he ministers to youth, prostitutes and the poor.

“It doesn’t surprise me when Jeremiah Kraker does something,” said Gene Messing, a leader of Kraker’s high school youth group in the Community of Christ the Redeemer, a West St. Paul-based Catholic charismatic covenant community.

“He didn’t just join the military, he joined the Marines,” said Messing, who attends St. Charles Borromeo. “He didn’t just join the Marines, he went into special operations. He didn’t do one training, he did a lot of training.”

With his all-in determination, Kraker has intercepted passes for the St. Thomas Academy football team, led SWAT-like training for foreign military units and now prays and serves in Asia. After traveling the world and finding renewal in God, his next move might be the priesthood.

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The second of four children, Kraker attended the parish and school of St. Michael in West St. Paul and graduated from St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights in 2013.

Though involved in the youth group, Kraker said he was apathetic about his faith in high school. But he was excited about joining the Marine Corps.

“I really just wanted to fight against evil,” he said. “I wanted to protect the world against those people who are trying to harm others.”

He enlisted after graduation and trained intensely, completing among other courses the Army Ranger School, a rigorous 61-day program that develops combat and leadership skills by testing physical and mental stamina. Through training, Kraker formed his will and ability to handle adversity.

Kraker and his team members trained other soldiers and military units in other countries to fight drug cartels and terrorism, but he never lost his desire to serve in a combat zone. As a result, he considered switching to the Army, but decided against that change.

Kraker was restless — a sign God was working in him, he now believes.

At the same time, friends in the military challenged him about his faith, motivating him to do research and decide what he believed.

But even as Kraker learned more about Catholicism, he was frustrated that his abilities weren’t enough to help friends he was working with who were struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts.

“I was very knowledgeable about my faith, but I had absolutely no relationship with Jesus,” he said. “I knew I should. I did stuff that was dangerous like jumping out of planes and I would pray once in a while. I went to Mass every Sunday.”

While serving in the Marine Corps in Japan, Kraker decided to volunteer during his 2017 Christmas break. His sister connected him with a religious community in Cebu City, Philippines. As he prayed and served street children through the Community of St. John, he encountered God and the poor.

“For me to really give myself to the Lord, (he) had to humble me,” Kraker said, including his struggles to help his friends. “I had to see how unbelievably weak and sinful I am for me to turn to God in my weakness and in my sense of hopelessness and brokenness.”

Kraker’s experience convinced him to finish his military service and move into a household of men with the Community of St. John in the Philippines in 2018. His training helped him adapt to the country’s heat and humidity.

“I want to serve God and I want to serve these people who have nothing because God blessed me in so many ways,” he said.

Kraker now helps with retreats and other programs in the Philippines as part of Pure Heart, a ministry rooted in the Corazon Puro program founded in New York City by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. The ministry forms youth and young adults in Church teaching on love and sexuality.

A former linebacker with a booming voice, he sometimes intimidates the much shorter youth, but they quickly warm up to him, Kraker said.

One night a week Kraker joins another religious community, Servants of the Plan of God of Lima, Peru, to minister to local prostitutes.

“God has placed in my heart a special place for these women,” he said. “If I can give them hope, if I can give them just a little joy for a day, for me that’s enough.”

As Kraker considers a priestly or religious vocation, he hopes to continue serving the poor.

Kraker loves the poor, Filipinos and what’s radical, said Father Andrew Brinkman, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul, where Kraker attends Mass when he is in town, as he was in July, visiting family.

“He’s ready to do something bold,” said Father Brinkman, noting Kraker’s joy, gentleness and care for his family.

Kraker’s military career was bold but he’s not sure if it was God’s will. He does believe the Lord used his experiences to help him grow.

There may be more extreme assignments, but for now Kraker finds joy in faith and the poor.

God’s “love and mercy are so incomprehensible,” he said, “that through any personal or cultural struggle or sin, we can hope in the fact that Jesus has won already.”

 


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