"Burke's efforts lead to biggest Catholic ordination class in decades"

From ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
By Tim Townsend

Sunday, May. 18 2008

Once or twice a year, each student at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary will drop by Archbishop Raymond Burke's residence in the Central West End at 4:30 p.m. From
there, they set off down Lindell Avenue and into Forest Park..

"The walks," as the seminarians call them, are opportunities for young men to have heart-to-hearts with a man who regularly meets with the pope, a heady
prospect for a young priest-in-training. The conversations are usually casual, and the seminarians get to see a more personal, human side of Burke — like when he gets a little skittish around off-leash dogs.

Kenrick officials organize the walks using time sheets. When the sheets are
posted, there's a rush to sign on.

"It's like when you throw pellets at the Japanese fish at the Botanical
Gardens," said seminarian Edward Nemeth, 26. "Guys falling over each other to
get their names on the list."

On Saturday, Nemeth and eight of his colleagues at Kenrick will be ordained as
priests in the St. Louis Archdiocese — the largest St. Louis ordination class
in 25 years and one of the largest in the U.S. It's also the same number of
ordinations in St. Louis as the last three years combined.

Since the 1980s, declining interest in the priesthood has been a growing crisis
for the Roman Catholic church in the U.S., a situation that was compounded by
the clergy sex-abuse scandal earlier this decade. One church study suggested
that 80 percent of parents whose sons are considering the priesthood try to
dissuade them, fearing their child is entering a life of loneliness and
unhappiness.

Burke is credited for helping to address such concerns at Kenrick. He is active
in recruiting priests and knows the seminarians — their names, their life
stories, their joys and their fears. He's also a frequent visitor to the
seminary, sometimes dropping by unannounced for lunch with the students.

"He's the center and the core of this whole thing," said the Rev. Michael
Butler, the vocations director for the archdiocese.

The student body at Kenrick-Glennon, which includes the undergraduate Cardinal Glennon College and graduate-level Kenrick Theological Seminary, is 112 students, the largest enrollment in two decades and a 50 percent increase over last year.

Monsignor Ted Wojcicki, Kenrick-Glennon's president, said he hopes to enroll
120 students next year, which would double the size of the seminary population
from a decade ago. Last year, the archdiocese announced plans to expand the
seminary.

The archdiocese officially attributes its recent success with vocations — Latin
for vocare, which means, to call — to a higher power. More men are hearing
God's call to the priesthood, they say. But God has had a hand from Burke, who
decided vocations would be a high priority since he arrived in St. Louis in
2004.

"A bishop's principal responsibility is to provide priests for the people in
his pastoral care," Burke said in an interview last week from Rome.
"Ordinations have to be absolutely right at the top of my priorities."

During a Vatican meeting just months before his death in 2004, Pope John Paul
II told Burke and other Midwest bishops to do more to increase the number of
men training for the priesthood.

"No one can deny that the decline in priestly vocations represents a stark
challenge for the church in the United States," the pope told the bishops.

John Paul was not exaggerating. The number of diocesan priests in the U.S. has
declined 22 percent since 1965, according to the Center for Applied Research in
the Apostolate at Georgetown University. In the same period, the number of
graduate level seminarians has fallen 60 percent.

In 2005, the St. Louis Archdiocese estimated that by the end of 2008 it would
have only 230 active diocesan priests, down from 313. The number has decreased,
but not as precipitously as predicted three years ago and stands at 286.

At Kenrick, it's not just Burke's involvement that is cited for the turnaround
in enrollment. The archbishop's conservatism, too, is an appealing aspect to
young seminarians.

"The people who are attracted to the priesthood today tend to be much more
conservative than their peers," said the Rev. Thomas Reese of the Woodstock
Theological Center in Washington. "Even in the 1950s, the people attracted to
seminaries were more conservative than their peers, but not to the degree they
are today."

Seminarians say Burke's conservatism helps him connect with them. The
seminarians openly discuss how they see Burke as a spiritual father and embrace
the traditional atmosphere Burke has championed in the archdiocese and the
seminary.

Burke, for example, is considered one of the most devoted supporters of the old
Latin Mass among U.S. bishops, and last year, Kenrick began celebrating the
traditional liturgy on Fridays. More formal vestments are now required at
morning and evening prayers. Burke said such "little things" help him
"encourage a strong identity among the seminarians, especially with the
celebration of the sacred liturgy."

Noah Waldman, 39, a former architect, was studying with a traditionalist group
of priests a number of years ago. Eventually, he felt called to be a diocesan
priest rather than part of an order. The problem, he thought, was that most
bishops would think he was too conservative.

"I was told there were two bishops in the U.S. who would be interested in me,"
he said.

Burke, at that time the bishop of La Crosse, Wis., took Waldman in. The
architect entered the seminary but decided Wisconsin was not a good fit and
applied to a philosophy program in England. Burke "told me I was making a big
mistake," Waldman recalled.

After the death of Pope John Paul II, Waldman decided the priesthood was indeed
his calling, and Burke, since installed in St. Louis, invited Waldman to
Kenrick. "Because of his support, I was able to make it through," said Waldman,
who will be ordained on Saturday.

Burke, however, plays down the notion that he's the main attraction. "More
traditionalist men have come on their own; it's not that I've gone out to look
for them," he said. "When men say they feel very confident in my leadership, I
tell them that they have to come to the archdiocese of St. Louis because
they're devoted to the archdiocese, not me."

Michael Houser, 26, began considering the priesthood when he was 13. He is the
oldest of 10 children born to parents in Chesterfield who took their children
to Mass every Sunday and prayed the rosary together as a family every night.

The Housers were part of a lay group tied to the conservative Legion of Christ
congregation of priests. Houser attended elementary school at Gateway Academy,
run by the Legion of Christ in Chesterfield, then attended the Legion's
seminary high school in New Hampshire.

Houser decided the life of a diocesan priest fit him best. "It appealed to me a
lot to be able to have a connection to a particular diocese — there's more
stability in diocesan priesthood," Houser said. "When Archbishop Burke came to
St. Louis, I was in my first year (at seminary), and he was a real godsend to
me."

Butler, the head of the archdiocese's vocations office, said he doesn't like to
think of the call to the priesthood in terms of numbers, but the future of the
archdiocese necessitates it. Based on priests' rate of retiring and advancing
age, the archdiocese needs to ordain about 10 to 12 men each year, Butler said.

To reach that goal, Butler said, the archdiocese needs to bring in 20 to 24 men
each year. That's about double the current level. Next year, the seminary
expects a more typical ordination class of five, though with larger entering
classes, the days of five-member ordination ceremonies might be a thing of the
past.

Nemeth remembered when Burke first got to St. Louis, the archbishop promised to
make the seminary the heart of the diocese. Nemeth believes Burke has made good
on that promise, and in doing so, has become "like a father" to the seminarians.

Nemeth said his most difficult moment at Kenrick-Glennon was when he was a
college sophomore during the clergy sexual abuse crisis that emerged in 2002.
"I remember being so angry at priests," Nemeth said. "Anywhere I went I felt
like I was under a microscope with people thinking, 'Is he one of them?'"

Strength, Nemeth said, came from watching Burke deal with controversy in the
succeeding years, an example the archbishop continues to set for future
seminarians.

"He stands for truth when he knows that's not going to be easy," Nemeth said,
"so we know he'll support us when we have to do the same."

"Soon-to-be priests couldn't ignore call"

From Connecticut Post
by Amanda Cuda

When he was a child, Sam Kachuba made a serious decision. Kachuba, now 24, of Stratford, was an altar boy at St. Mark Church in that town. During services, there was one priest who constantly sang off-key. Even as a kid, Kachuba was sort of embarrassed for him. This led to an epiphany.

"I remember thinking 'Wow, I will never be a priest — you have to sing in front of people,'" Kachuba said.

Eventually, Kachuba became more comfortable with the idea of singing in public. He became a cantor and joined the church choir. But he still thought he couldn't join the priesthood, despite numerous hints to the contrary.

His classmates at St. James Elementary School even voted him "Most Likely to Become a Priest."

"I thought they were making fun of me," Kachuba said.

Now that he's an adult, Kachuba's no longer laughing. He's one of two men who will be ordained this week as priests for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport. The other new recruit is Ian Jeremiah, 44, a native of Malaysia.

Bishop William E. Lori will ordain both men in a ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport. The Archdiocese of Hartford also will ordain a new priest Saturday morning. Collins Anaeche, 28, of Nigeria, will join the priesthood during a ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford.

The three men are among nearly 400 expected to be ordained nationwide this year. Though the media has reported for some time that there is a shortage of men looking

to join the priesthood, there's still an interest in this way of life, said the Rev. Peter Lynch, director of vocations for the Diocese of Bridgeport.

"God has not stopped calling," said Lynch, who works out of St. John Fisher Seminary Residence in Stamford. "Men are still being called — they're probably just not hearing it."

Both Jeremiah and Kachuba said they resisted the call at first, though Jeremiah resisted it longer.

He first sensed he was being called when he was a teenager in Ipoh, Malaysia. "I had a friend who was a priest," he said. "I saw what he did, and decided I could do that."

But, while a student at the National University of Malaysia, he questioned his call, and decided to pursue a more traditional career instead. He received a degree in accounting, then, at the age of 25, he came to New York, where he worked as an accountant at the nonprofit organization Daytop Inc.

Jeremiah's new life didn't feel right, so he decided to become a financial analyst. He went to Columbia University and received an MBA, but then decided the world of finance wasn't for him either.

"Everything I was pursuing I thought would make me happy, but I felt something missing," he said.

Acknowledging that "God is persistent," Jeremiah finally gave in to his teenage yearnings to join the priesthood. At age 38, he entered the St. John Fisher Seminary Residence, and began studying at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland. During his training, Jeremiah held positions at several churches in the state, including St. Joseph Parish in Shelton and St. Joseph Parish in Danbury.

Jeremiah said he's looking forward to his new life, and has numerous relatives traveling here from Malaysia for the ordination ceremony. His goals for the future are somewhat simple, he said: "Serve God. Serve his people."

Lynch said a lot of men, like Jeremiah, wait to heed God's call. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the average age of men slated for ordination this year is 36 for diocesan priests and 39 for ordained men in religious orders such as the Jesuits or Dominicans.

But there are indications that the tide is turning. Lynch said he's now hearing from boys who are still in high school and are interested in pursuing the priesthood. "A lot of the youth now are really getting into their faith," he said.

Count Kachuba among that group. Despite his initial reservations, Kachuba was thinking more seriously about a religious vocation by the time he was a student at St. Joseph High School in Trumbull. Eventually, he realized it was his destiny to become a priest.

"The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like God was really calling me," he said.

He entered St. John Fisher after graduating high school. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from Fordham University in 2004, then obtained his bachelor of sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

While training, Kachuba served at several local parishes, including St. Ann Parish in Bridgeport and St. Pius X Parish in Fairfield.

In addition to his religious studies, Kachuba has also long been interested in music. He's played the violin for years, and even joined an Irish band at St. John Fisher.

Once he becomes a priest, Kachuba said, he expects that he'll be asked to work with youth because of his age. However, he said he'll serve in whatever way the diocese asks. "There's so many ways that God is needed in people's lives," he said.

Both Kachuba and Jeremiah will learn today which parishes they're assigned to, and Lynch said they would be assets wherever they go.

Lynch said he knows Kachuba particularly well, as he was a chaplain at St. Joseph when Kachuba was a student there. However, he's been impressed with both men.

"These two men are awesome," he said.

"Nine men to be ordained priests for the Archdiocese of St. Louis"

From St. Louis Review Online
by Barbara Watkins

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke will ordain nine men to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of St. Louis at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 24, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Lindell Boulevard and Newstead Avenue in the Central West End.

The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be conferred after the reading of the Gospel of the Mass. An announcement of the new priests’ assignments will be in an upcoming issue of the Review.

The soon-to-be-ordained priests will be Fathers Matthew Barnard, Patrick Driscoll, Brian Hecktor, Michael Houser, Eric Kunz, Edward Nemeth, Kevin Schroeder, James Theby and Noah Waldman.

All have earned master of divinity degrees and master of arts in theology degrees from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. For the past year, all have served as transitional deacons, which carries the title "Rev. Mr."

This is the largest number of men to be ordained priests for the Archdiocese of St. Louis since nine men were ordained in 1987. In addition, another five Kenrick-Glennon seminarians are being ordained in coming weeks for other dioceses.

Following ordination there will be more than 100 men enrolled at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, more than half of them studying to be priests for the St. Louis Archdiocese.

Four men were recently ordained as transitional deacons for the archdiocese.

FR. MATTHEW BARNARD

Rev. Mr. Barnard, 29, is the son of Bill and Debbie Barnard of Oxford, Ind. His home parish is Little Flower in Richmond Heights.

An Indiana native, he attended Oxford Elementary School and Benton Central Junior/Senior High School in Oxford. After attending St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and Greenville College in Greenville, Ill., he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Louis University.

He served his supervised ministry at Loyola Academy in St. Louis, Assumption Parish in Mattese and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Ferguson. His transitional deacon assignment was at Holy Trinity Parish in St. Ann.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 25, at Little Flower Parish, 1264 Arch Terrace in Richmond Heights. Concelebrants will include Msgr. John Leykam and Fathers Lawrence Herzog, Theodore Rothrock and Christopher Weldon. Father Rothrock will be the homilist. A reception will be held following the Mass at Little Flower School.

Rev. Mr. Barnard said he first discerned a call to the priesthood as an altar boy, a call that continued through his school years. In his sophomore year at college, he decided to "give it a try" and spent two years at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.

"After that I left for a time, spending two years away from the seminary for further discernment. I graduated from St. Louis University and taught at St. Vincent High School in Perryville. During my time in Perryville, I decided to return to the seminary, as I finally realized what God was calling me to do and be.

"In spring of 2007 I transferred to the Archdiocese of St. Louis and was ordained to the transitional diaconate on Nov. 3. Since then I have been assigned at Holy Trinity Parish in St. Ann. Serving the people there has been a great joy, as well as a beneficial training ground for priestly ministry. As priesthood ordination approaches, I am very excited and continually affirmed in my vocation. I am grateful to God for the many gifts he has given me, most especially the gift of serving Him and His Church as a priest," Father Barnard said.

FR. PATRICK DRISCOLL

Rev. Mr. Driscoll, 48, is the son of James Driscoll and the late Loretto Driscoll and the stepson of Margaret Driscoll. His parents reside in Carlsbad, Calif. His home parish is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

A California native, he is a graduate of elementary school and Santa Barbara High School there. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in public relations from the School of Journalism at San Jose State University, both in California. He attended St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif.

He served his supervised ministry at St. Peter Parish in Kirkwood and St. Angela Merici Parish in Florissant. His transitional deacon assignment was at St. Mark Parish in Affton.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 25, at the Shrine of St. Joseph, 11th and Biddle streets in Downtown St. Louis. Concelebrants will include Fathers William Pegnam, Robert McDermott and Thomas McDermott, OP. Father Thomas McDermott will be the homilist. A reception will follow the Mass.

Discussing his vocation, Rev. Mr. Driscoll said, "The Franciscan Friars at the Mission of Santa Barbara and the Jesuit Fathers at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, along with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, were very positive influences. I received my first Holy Communion in 1967. It was a time, I would learn later, of great upheaval. But the Friars and Jesuits assigned to my parishes were men of great faith, and the Liturgy was always celebrated with much beauty and solemnity. This made a lasting impression upon me when I was a young altar boy and this I believe was the sowing of my vocation.

"Archbishop Burke has also been a tremendously positive influence upon me by his example of courage, compassion and holiness," Father Driscoll said.

FR. BRIAN HECKTOR

Rev. Mr. Hecktor, 32, is the son of Paul and Suzanne Hecktor of Marthasville. His home parish is St. Ignatius Loyola in Concord Hill, where his father serves as permanent deacon.

He attended St. Ignatius Loyola School and Washington High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in German language and culture from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. He minored in business administration and worked two years in the business consulting industry with Accenture prior to attending the seminary.

He served his supervised ministry at St. Mark Parish in Affton and St. Gianna Parish in St. Charles County and his transitional diaconate assignment at Ascension Parish in Chesterfield.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 25, at St. Ignatius Loyola Church, 701 Mill Road in Concord Hill. The homilist will be Msgr. Patrick Hambrough. A reception will be held in the parish hall following Mass.

Rev. Mr. Hecktor said he began thinking about the priesthood at about age 10 but didn’t take it seriously until his mid-20s. "After several years in the seminary, I came to discover the joy of committing yourself to doing God’s will, whatever that might be."

He was influenced in his vocation by the late Father John Morse, who had been pastor of St. Ignatius Loyola, his parents and his siblings, all of whom prayed for him and encouraged him.

"One of the things I’ve learned in the seminary is that our faith is infinitely deep. I look forward to exploring these amazing depths as a priest and helping others to find fulfillment in their own exploration," Rev. Mr. Hecktor said.

FR. MICIHAEL HOUSER

Rev. Mr. Houser, 26, is the son of Dr. Michael and Shirley Houser of Chesterfield. His home parish is Ascension in Chesterfield.

He attended Gateway Academy in Hazelwood (now located in Chesterfield) and Immaculate Conception Apostolic School in Center Harbor, N.H. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and classics at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. He also studied abroad in Gaming, Austria and Oxford, England.

He served his supervised ministry at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Bissell Hills and his transitional diaconate assignment at St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Parish in Oakville.

He will celebrate two Masses of Thanksgiving on Sunday, May 25. He will celebrate Mass (in the extraordinary, or Tridentine Latin, form) at 10 a.m. at St. Francis de Sales Oratory, 2653 Ohio Ave. in South St. Louis, and at 3 p.m. at Ascension Church, 230 Santa Maria Drive in Chesterfield.

The homilist at the 10 a.m. Mass will be Father Michael Monshau, OP, and the homilist at the 3 p.m. Mass will be Msgr. Joseph Pins. A reception will be held at 4:30 p.m. at Ascension Parish.

Rev. Mr. Houser said, "My parents were the first to influence my vocation by the devoted way in which they lived their Catholic faith in their everyday life. I learned from them the importance of daily prayer, and came to desire a personal friendship with Jesus and Mary."

His discernment continued through high school and college before he made the decision to come to Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.

"Throughout my years at Kenrick, I have been blessed by my interaction with the seminary faculty, who have helped me to develop my gifts in many different ways. I have also always been inspired and encouraged by the example of Archbishop Burke and by the personal concern he has shown for me and all the seminarians. Through my interaction with dedicated priests, especially in my year at the Cathedral Basilica, I grew ever more confident that God was calling me to serve his people in the priesthood.

"I recognize how, in my own life, priests have served as bridges for me to encounter Jesus Christ in the sacraments. I pray that I will be able to be such a bridge, and always lead people to a closer encounter and friendship with Jesus Christ, who offers us the fulfillment of all our deepest desires," he said.

FR. ERIC KUNZ

Rev. Mr. Kunz, 27, is the son of Beverly Kunz-Straatmann of Union. His home parish is Immaculate Conception in Union.

He attended Immaculate Conception School in Union and Our Lady of Lourdes School and St. Francis Borgia Regional High School in Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Louis University.

He served his supervised ministry at St. Alban Roe Parish in Wildwood and Queen of All Saints Parish in Oakville. His transitional diaconate assignment was at St. John the Baptist Parish in South St. Louis.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 25, at Immaculate Conception Church, 100 N. Washington Ave. in Union. Father Joseph Havrilka will be the homilist. A reception will be held at the parish following Mass.

Discussing his vocation, Rev. Mr. Kunz said, "I believe that when a person is called to the sacred priesthood, he is called from the beginning of his life. Some of us are blessed to hear that call earlier than others. I heard the Lord calling me at a very early age when I was in grade school at Immaculate Conception." He continued to hear that call throughout his school years.

"I have had many great priestly examples along the way. From all of them, I have learned that for a priest to be a good priest, he must be a holy priest. It does not matter so much if he is a great preacher or a great money manager or a great intellectual. Those are important to a degree, but most importantly of all is that he is a holy priest, a real and true friend of Jesus Christ. That will make him a good priest and that is what I hope to be," Rev. Mr. Kunz said.

FR. EDWARD NEMETH

Rev. Mr. Nemeth, 26, is the son of Diane Nemeth of St. Louis Hills and the late Edward J. Nemeth. His home parish is St. Gabriel the Archangel in St. Louis Hills.

He attended Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Bellefontaine Neighbors, CBC High School in Clayton (now located in Town and Country) and Russell High School in Ashland, Ky. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Louis University.

He served his supervised ministry at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, St. Sabina Parish in Florissant and St. Mary’s High School in South St. Louis. As a transitional deacon he served at St. Joseph Parish in Imperial and as chaplain at S-F Boy Scout Ranch.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 25, at St. Gabriel the Archangel Church, 6303 Nottingham Ave. in St. Louis Hills. Father C. Eugene Morris will be the homilist. A reception will be held in the school gym after Mass.

Rev. Mr. Nemeth said, "I consider it a great honor to be called by God to serve as one of His priests. As His representative to the Church and the people’s representative to God, I am struck with the awesomeness of this responsibility, and I pray to be worthy of this calling.

"I look forward to being the vessel for the dispensation of God’s graces through the sacraments, especially in Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist. I am thankful for all the priests and faithful who have influenced me along the way to the priesthood, especially those in the parishes in which I served and in the seminary."

FR. KEVIN SCHROEDER

Rev. Mr. Schroeder 26, is the son of Stephen and Victoria Schroeder of St. Peters. His home parish is St. Cletus in St. Charles.

After being home-schooled, he attended St. Thomas Preparatory High School Seminary in Hannibal, Mo. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Louis University.

He served his supervised ministry at St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Parish in Florissant and his transitional diaconate assignment at St. Joseph Parish in Cottleville.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 25, at St. Cletus Church, 2705 Zumbehl Road in St. Charles. Father Brian Fischer will be the homilist. A reception will be held at the parish after Mass.

Rev. Mr. Schroeder reflected on his discernment to the priesthood, crediting first his parents for their example of faith and generosity, as well as many priests.

"My time in seminary has been very fruitful and I have learned so much since I began 11 years ago. I know that prayer is indispensable, both for personal holiness and effective ministry as a priest. My time as a deacon in Cottleville has shown me the great love the people of God have for their priests and the high expectations they have for their personal holiness.

"As a priest, I look forward to serving God’s people and investing myself in their spiritual care. I can’t wait to be assigned to a parish and dive into the many opportunities to offer Mass, hear confessions, celebrate the sacraments, promote vocations, etc. I hope to share the many blessings God has given to me, and I desire to lead people closer to Christ, who is calling us to be his friends and co-workers in the work of saving souls," he said.

FR. JAMES THEBY

Rev. Mr. Theby, 29, is the son of Stephen and Susan Theby of Chesterfield. His home parish in Incarnate Word in Chesterfield.

He attended the parish elementary school and DeSmet Jesuit High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Louis University.

He served his supervised ministry at St. Norbert Parish in Florissant and St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Oakville and served his transitional diaconate assignment at St. Francis of Assisi.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 25, at Incarnate Word Parish, 13426 Olive Blvd. in Chesterfield. Father Edward Rice will be the homilist. A reception will be held at the parish following Mass.

Discussing his vocation to the priesthood, Rev. Mr. Theby said, "Since I was in high school at DeSmet and got involved in Life Teen at Incarnate Word, I felt called to service in the Church. The examples of many holy priests, the encouragement of family and friends, and prayerful discernment before the Blessed Sacrament led me to choose this vocation as a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

"I am looking forward to serving God as a priest, especially in preaching the Gospel and celebrating the sacraments. It will truly be a privilege to serve people and to be there with them at the most important times in their lives," he said.

FR. NOAH WALDMAN

Rev. Mr. Waldman, 39, is the son of Nancy Waldman of West Des Moines, Iowa, and the late Barry Waldman. His home parish is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

He attended Rydal Elementary School in Meadowbrook, Pa., and Abington High School in Abington, Pa. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture at Princeton University in New Jersey and a master’s degree in architecture at Notre Dame University in Indiana.

He served his supervised ministry at St. Ferdinand Parish in Florissant and St. Peter Parish in Kirkwood and was a transitional deacon at St. Clement of Rome Parish in Des Peres.

He will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 25, at St. Clement of Rome Church, 1510 Bopp Road in Des Peres. Concelebrants will include Msgr. James Pieper, Msgr. Robert McCarthy, Father John Johnson and Father John Hunthausen, SJ. Father Johnson will be the homilist. A reception will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. in the church hall.

Rev. Mr. Waldman described his faith journey to the priesthood as "atypical," because he was raised in a Jewish home and has attended three Catholic seminaries.

"By my ordination, I will have spent nearly 10 years in seminary. My seminary years have been rewarding, but in many ways very difficult, but I cherish all the difficulties I have encountered, since they have made me a more faithful and humble man, one who is much more reliant on the Lord."

He continued, "As you might imagine, my Jewish mother was not exactly thrilled to have her only son become a Catholic priest. However, she has seen the happiness I have experienced in my vocation thus far; and she has also experienced my own increase in love and appreciation for her. And because of these, she and the rest of my family have grown in understanding and appreciating my vocation. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

He spoke with fondness of his diaconate service, saying, "I have cherished this time at St. Clement of Rome, and despite the great joy of my ordination day, it will be marked by some sadness, since it will also signify the end of my assignment there. Many of the members of the parish community have been dealt great sufferings — sickness and tragedy — over the years, and I have seen with my own eyes how these men and women have responded with great faith.

Also the pastor, Msgr. Pieper, has shown me by example how to be a good and holy pastor."

"Judges: German ban on head-scarves includes nuns' veils "

I'm torn: is this a good thing or a bad thing? On one level it's good that there are actually nun/sisters in Germany that are wearing habits in public schools and they're being persecuted for it(who would've thought?). Of course the bad part is the fact that there is such a limitation on religious freedom in modern Germany. My what we take for granted.

From EarthTimes.com

Mannheim, Germany - A law which prohibits Muslim women teachers from wearing head-scarves in a German state's public schools also forbids Catholic nuns from wearing their veils in regular classrooms, judges said Wednesday. The administrative tribunal of Baden-Wuerttemberg state set out the position in a detailed written judgement, two months after ruling verbally that a woman convert to Islam, aged 58 at the time, could not teach in her scarf.

The south-western state has a law that bans "exterior expressions of religious confession." Germany has been split on the scarf issue, with some states tolerating teachers in scarves and others sacking them if they refuse to teach bare-headed.

The judges in the city of Mannheim interpreted the ban on religious dress as applying to all religions, whether to nuns and monks in habits or to male Jewish teachers wearing the kippa.

The law expressly exempts Catholic religious who teach Catholic doctrine classes in public schools, and the judges said three nuns in the state who teach other subjects had personal exemptions that would not apply to any other sisters in the future.

Pray for our Priests

World Day of Prayer for the Consecration of Priests

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Friday, May 30, 2008

Letter from Cardinal Hummes

Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy

"Factor or not?"

Jeff Miller posted the following over at his blog "The Curt Jester"

"Factor or not?"

We all know the story of when Moses returned to his people in Egypt to lead them to the promised land. The Pharaoh being annoyed at Moses’ request decides that the Jewish people have it too easy and so decides that they must gather their own straw in addition to cranking out the same number of bricks as per the normal quota . We all see the unfairness of this of requesting the same amount with smaller resources.

But do we see this unfairness when it comes to vocations to the priestly and religious life? We have smaller families and have no more children than is average among the secular culture and yet we wonder why the number of priest and religious are reduced. We demand that we have the same percentage of vocations to the priestly and religious life as when Catholics showed much more generosity when it came to having children.

Now I realize this criticism is an oversimplification and that there are many factors involved when it comes to men and women answering their vocations, but surely this is a factor. Just looking at history we see so many that answered the call to their vocations were often not the first or second born. Now I am not just talking about the rare cases like St. Catherine of Sienna who was the 23rd out of 25 children, but as a generality. Surely the contraceptive culture and the culture of death has had a toll on vocations? Though of course we can’t limit God in what he will do in answer to our own selfishness when it comes to vocations.

There is also just the psychological aspect where parents of smaller families are going to be much less likely to encourage a priestly or religious vocation since they might be more focused on grandchildren or their children having a “career.” This does not mean that to be a good Catholic you must have a dozen children or so since their is valid discernment in spacing children using legitimate means based on serious reasons to do so.

So while much of the so-called vocation crisis is people with vocations to other than the married or single life not answering the call, is this not a factor? God does not give us statistics (a perfect being would have nothing to do with statistics) on this or anything else so we can never know for sure what the effect is since God is very generous even when we are not.

"Bishop's prayers answered? Signs point toward more joining priesthood"

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Monday, May 12, 2008
By Ann Rodgers

Catholic Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh received an honorary doctorate from St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe over the weekend, capping a week in which his prayers for more vocations to the priesthood show signs of being answered.

More than 80 men and boys from the Diocese of Pittsburgh attended an inquiry meeting Thursday for those who think they might be interested in priesthood. It was followed by a standing-room-only hour of prayer for vocations.

"The spirit is moving," Bishop Zubik said.

The inquirers, who attended a cookout at St. Paul Seminary in East Carnegie, got a tour and a talk from the bishop on what priesthood is about. They ranged in age from older grade school students to professionals, the oldest of whom was 51. Then they joined nearly 600 other people from across the diocese to pray for more priests, with people standing five rows deep in the back and spilling out of the auditorium door to fill the lobby.

"I have never seen the seminary auditorium so packed," said Bishop Zubik, who gave up the traditional bishop's mansion in Squirrel Hill when he became bishop of Pittsburgh last year to live at St. Paul with the seminarians.

New seminarians live there for at least two years to receive spiritual formation and take college-level classes in philosophy and theology at Duquesne University. Then they go on for at least four more years of graduate and continued formation at one of several seminaries the diocese uses, including St. Vincent.

Only after receiving a master of divinity degree, as nine men did at St. Vincent Friday night, is a man eligible to be ordained for a diocese or a religious order.

There were no Pittsburghers among the St. Vincent graduates this year, although Bishop Zubik expects to ordain three men from other seminaries next month.

The diocese currently has 27 seminarians. Four of them attend St. Vincent, which currently has students from 13 dioceses, 12 Benedictine monasteries and several other religious orders.

One graduate in Friday night's commencement was a woman, Carol Ann Seraphin, who had earned a master of arts in theology, which is different from the ordination-track degree.

When Bishop Zubik spoke he addressed her briefly from the pulpit, apologizing for having assumed that all of the graduates were going to become priests and asking her understanding for having prepared a commencement address that was primarily about priesthood.

In his address he told the future priests to make sure their knowledge of God was more than academic.

"Do you know about Jesus and really know him?" he said. "Can you listen to experts speak about him, but especially let him speak about himself?"

Archabbot Douglas Nowicki of St. Vincent presented Bishop Zubik with his honorary doctorate, calling him an example of "what it means to be a follower of Christ and of the Holy Spirit."

Bishop Zubik has two master's degrees, the one required for ordination and another he earned later from Duquesne University in education administration, but no earned doctorate.

Although he attended seminary at St. Mary's in Baltimore, he has long-standing ties to St. Vincent from his many years as a priest and auxiliary bishop in Pittsburgh, when he served as an adjunct spiritual director at the seminary in Latrobe.

"Calls about joining the priesthood surge"

Gary Stern
The Journal News

YONKERS - The grounds of St. Joseph's Seminary - covered by more than 25,000 faith-fueled teens only three weeks ago for the papal youth rally - are now quiet, bare and still.

The fields behind the seminary, where young Catholics waited on impossibly long lines for sodas and rosary beads, are barren. Grass and dirt.

Even seminarians, whose numbers are way down in recent years, are getting some time off before dispersing for their summer parish assignments.

One of the few people who is still experiencing the papal visit, in a sense, is the Rev. Luke Sweeney, director of vocations for the Archdiocese of New York.

Normally, he receives a couple of inquires each week from young men considering the priesthood. But during the last three weeks, he has received dozens. Some of them are quite serious and come from men who say that Pope Benedict XVI's visit has inspired them to consider taking a step they have avoided.

One 20-year-old college senior wrote to Sweeney:

"I have prayed and continue praying that God will let me not be afraid to do his will and that I will accept any vocation he has in mind for me. I have to say having the chance to see the Holy Father in person on his visit to the U.S. was out of this world and his words had a great impact on me."

Another wrote that after watching the pope in New York, "I can't help but be brought to tears of joy with the simple thought of becoming a priest."

This was the hope. The Archdiocese of New York is facing a worsening shortage of priests and is in great need of seminarians. The archdiocese has only about 470 active diocesan priests — compared to 1,200 four decades ago — and about 40 percent are between 65 and 75.

Cardinal Edward Egan was to ordain six new diocesan priests yesterday at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The main or upper seminary at St. Joseph's will be training a total of fewer than 20 men next fall.

"It's always been my gut feeling and belief that there are guys out there thinking about it," said Sweeney, who talks about the priesthood at high schools, colleges and parishes. "The idea has been kicking around for a while, maybe years, but for whatever reason - work, fear, simply pushing it out of their minds - they can't take the step. My hope was the Holy Father's visit would knock some people off the fence and give us the shot in the arm we need.

"It seems to be happening," he said.

Sweeney is excited, but cautiously so. Of the men who have contacted him, some will get cold feet right away. Others will need to finish college or to take a few years to consider their vocation or get up their courage. Others will prove to be a poor fit for the priesthood.

"We want to avoid flash-in-the-pan conversions," Sweeney said. "We really monitor applications. But I want to talk to them as soon as possible to get a sense of their vocation, of whether they are a promising candidate."

Sweeney believes that at least several young men may be ready to enter St. Joseph's minor seminary this fall, where students study philosophy and other subjects before entering the main seminary to study theology.

The true impact of the papal visit, though, won't be known for more than a decade, Sweeney said. The hope is that men who enter the seminary years from now will look back on the papal visit as a formative experience - and a counter to the sex-abuse crisis that has certainly weighed on the minds of young Catholic men in recent years.

"I'm hopeful that in the coming years, young men will say, 'That's the first time I thought about the priesthood, when the pope was in New York,' " Sweeney said.

The early signs are good. Sweeney's new Web site - www.nypriest.com - got 8,000 hits during and immediately after the pope's visit.

Sweeney is also talking to Egan about launching an advertising campaign with the slogan: "The world needs heroes."

In the meantime, he keeps getting e-mails like this one:

"After spending the day at the rally, seeing the Holy Father and even just as importantly seeing so many young men in seminary, all my fears and concerns about entering seminary have escaped me and I cannot shake the feeling of joy over the idea of becoming a priest."

"El Paso diocese will ordain 15 deacons"

From El Paso Times
By María Cortés González / El Paso Times
05/09/2008

Juan Manuel Alvarez will be ordained a deacon May 31. (Courtesy of Juan Manuel Alvarez)For the first time in more than 25 years, the El Paso Catholic Diocese will be ordaining 15 deacons -- fulfilling a role in the Catholic church that dates back to the Bible.
The men, who come from a variety of backgrounds including education, engineering and law, will be ordained at a Mass on May 31 at St. Raphael Catholic Church on the East Side. Bishop Armando X. Ochoa will lead the 10 a.m. service.

The Rev. John Stowe, spokesman for the diocese, said the new deacons would be a "great blessing" to the parishes they will serve.

"They will assist with sacramental, charitable and catechetical ministries, depending on the needs of their particular parish," he said. "Deacons are able to baptize, witness weddings and conduct funeral rites, which will be a great help for many of their pastors."

Leaders in the diocese are proud of the training the deacons received. The 15 were carefully selected from a pool of about 100 applicants.

"They have gone through a thorough formation program of four years, and their wives have been part of that program as well," Stowe said.

He added, "Because it has been many years since we had an ordination to the permanent diaconate, there was a great deal of interest when the formation began four years ago. Many men are not aware of how much time the preparation takes or how much service they are expected to give; still, there were a good number of applicants for the program."

The diaconate program consisted of four years of preparation --
one year of pastoral training and three years of academic studies including moral theology, the history of the church, liturgy and the sacraments and the Old and New Testaments.
Sister Marie Vianney Bilgrien, of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, said the deacons are not necessarily being seen as the answer to the priest shortage in the Catholic church.

Instead, she said, the new deacons are bringing back an ancient tradition.

"It's actually found in Acts (of the Apostles), Chapter 6, where

Carlos E. Rubio, pictured with Norma Lujan, will be ordained a deacon and serve at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church. (Times file photo.)people began to grumble that people weren't being taken care of. And so the apostles picked seven men to feed the hungry and take care of the widows," said Bilgrien, coordinator of pastoral studies at Tepeyac Institute.
The deacons will be the "eyes and ears" of the bishop and help take care of the needs of people, she said.

Juan Manuel Alvarez, who will be ordained and serves at St. Pius X Catholic Church, said he was tentative when he first entered the program four years ago.

"When I started, it was like, 'Let's see how it goes and living day by day,' " he said.

Now he is ready to serve God by living by what Matthew said in the gospel -- to help the sick and feed the poor.

"I feel strong and I'm ready to serve God and am confident in all that I have learned," he said. "It's a great opportunity to share my faith with all people and share that responsibility that we have as Christians. We need to love one another like Jesus loves us."

Carlos E. Rubio, another deacon who serves in the Our Lady of the Valley parish, said he is ready to see his responsibilities increase. Before he entered the program, he was already heavily involved in the church in various programs, including the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

"This is a calling for me, and I feel that I have a certain responsibility to the church, which is good," he said. "We do better when we have a complete commitment to do something."

Deacon Jim Szostek, who was ordained in 1978, said it will be a balancing act for the new deacons to serve God, as well as to be husbands, fathers and professionals.

And he is the first to acknowledge he has no idea how many hours he spends at St. Pius versus his home or his business, Jolly Jim's at Bassett Center.

"It is just part of my lifestyle. I do all of those things -- being a family breadwinner, husband and vocation ministry -- all at the same time."

But he is as firm in his enjoyment of that busy life style as he is of his faith.

"It just gives true meaning to life -- and I feel that the community is like my second family," he said.

"Three seminarians to be ordained transitional deacons"

From The Catholic Key

By Marty Denzer

KANSAS CITY - Three seminarians will be ordained "transitional deacons," on May 17, one year before their ordinations to the priesthood.
Christian Malewski, 29, decided he wanted to become a priest because "I truly felt that this was what God was calling me to.

"There was much initial resistance on my part," he wrote in an e-mail from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, where he is in his third year of Theology studies. Prayer brought a sense of clarity and the feeling that there was a genuine need in the Church for more priests and the priesthood would be a great way to be of help to others, he wrote.

A member of St. James Parish in St. Joseph, Malewski received a bachelor's of history from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., and studied pre-Theology at Conception Seminary College in Conception, Mo. He chose Kenrick-Glennon for his Theology studies because of its reputation for solid priestly formation. It is also fairly close to home, which is important to him.

Malewski hopes to eventually "become just a simple parish priest". He is interested in fostering holiness within families and parishes provide unique opportunities to interact closely with families, he wrote.

For Duc Nguyen, 39, the story of his call to the priesthood goes back to his family's escape from Vietnam.

"I remember those who helped us on the boats," he wrote in an e-mail from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn., where he is in his third year.

"I don't know whether they were priests or seminarians, but definitely they were leaders in the faith and they were very heroic. I remember they used to organize us to pray the rosary on the boats and afterwards in the refugee camps. We would get up and pray the rosary together and sign hymns to the Blessed Mother together as we were escaping Vietnam."

After they arrived in the United States, Nguyen remembered that the priests who had come over from Vietnam were like Moses for them, caring for the Vietnamese people when they arrived - their material needs, but especially their spiritual needs. For Nguyen, that was most important. "I saw them as real leaders of God's people, and from there true happiness came. I remember when I was small we had a lot of tradition of priests, and thinking of them as I was growing up were probably the happiest moments of my life."

Nguyen hopes and dreams of offering his life to help others have the joy of seeing God face to face in heaven.

Angelo Bartulica, 34, is the fourth of five children born to Croatian immigrants Nicholas and Bozica Bartulica. A member of St. James parish in St. Joseph, Bartulica at first hoped to pursue a career in federal law enforcement. But God was calling me to the priesthood, he wrote in an e-mail from Mundelein Seminary near Chicago where he is in his fourth year of Theology.

He attended Conception Seminary College for pre-Theology, and then chose Mundelein Seminary. When he entered seminary, he wrote, the choice was between Mundelein and St. Meinrad in Indiana for Theology. St. Meinrad is a Benedictine-run seminary, so Bartulica chose Mundelein, which is run by the Archdiocese of Chicago, in order to broaden his formational experience.

Bartulica hopes that as "a deacon and eventually as a priest, I may effectively spread the Gospel message and lead people to a more intimate relationship with Christ through his church. My dream is that there be an end to the divisions between Christian denominations and that one day all the people in the world will embrace the Catholic faith."

The three seminarians will be ordained transitional deacons at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in St. Joseph on May 17.

HDNet Video on the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

Thanks to Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR for sending me the link.

"Saints be praised, holy bones hit road"

This is the second time I've come across the fact that Passionists are bringing out relics of their Saints for veneration - and for promotion of vocations to their community. Wonderful!

From The Age.com
Carolyn Webb
May 9, 2008

Father Tiernan Doherty is taking relics around the country.
Photo: John Woudstra

He's not a rock star; he's a Catholic priest from the little-known Passionist Order, but like Jimmy Barnes, his aim is to inspire veneration.

In the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney on July 15, Father Doherty will chaperone the relics — slivers of bone — of three saints.

They've been sent to Canberra from the Basilica of St John and St Paul in Rome. Yesterday Father Doherty drove them to Melbourne and handed them to Father John Pearce, the Passionists' Australian head, at the Kew office of tour sponsor Le Pine Funerals.

They will "stay" at the Passionists' Holy Cross monastery in Templestowe until the tour of NSW, Victoria and South Australia next month.

All three of the saints were Italian. Like rock stars, they all died young.

Gabriel Possenti was 23 when he died of tuberculosis in 1862 while studying to be a Passionist priest. He was adopted long after his death by the US gun lobby, which claims his firearm skills saved a village from marauders in 1860.

But Father Pearce, of St Paul Apostle in Endeavour Hills, says this is a fable. He had been a hunter, but guns were common in Italian villages to shoot pigs.

Maria Goretti died horribly — in 1902, age 11, she was attacked by an intruder who tried to rape her, and then stabbed her to death when she said she'd rather die than submit.

St Gemma Galgani died aged 25 in 1903. She had suffered meningitis, cared for her seven siblings when their parents died, and developed stigmata-like gashes in her hands, feet and heart. She died of tuberculosis.

The itinerary for the metre-long closed reliquary includes a service on June 10 St Paul Apostle in Endeavour Hills; a 7pm mass at St Bernadette's in Sunshine; a sitting at the Holy Cross Monastery, Templestowe, on June 14, and St Brendan's in Shepparton on June 25 and 26.

"Three are called to serve through priestly ordination"

From The Catholic Telegraph - Cincinnati
By Lew Moores
CT/E.L. HUBBARD
Deacon Ed Pratt, Deacon Ryan Ruiz and Deacon Jason Bedel

There are almost 20 years separating in age the three men to be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati this year. But none ever strayed far from their religious roots, even as they reached points in their lives when they placed their vocations — in their words — on the "back burner."

All three had thoughts of the priesthood at a young age, as early as when they were in grade school. But two of them had already embarked on other careers, and both owned homes. The third, the youngest, had decided on entering the seminary by the time he had graduated from college.
All three will be ordained to the priesthood on May 17 at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati. They will join the 187 active priests ministering in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

As one of the seminarians at Mount St. Mary Seminary at the Athenaeum of Ohio pointed out, the years almost evenly divide these three seminarians — 10 years from the youngest, another 10 years to second oldest and another 10 to the eldest.

It is a symmetry they hope portends well into the future when both the older and the younger men of such proclivities — choose this path.

Deacon Ed Pratt

Deacon Edward Pratt, 45, is from Middletown, attended Catholic grade school, Bishop Fenwick High School and then headed southward to Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he majored in business administration and had visions of a career in human resources, but with a Catholic bent.

He worked at Target in human resources, but then moved on to hospitals — Mercy of Fairfield and Mercy of Hamilton — working in management development and recruitment. He also worked for more than seven years as director of member services for the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators (NACPA).

"We were regular churchgoers," he recalls. "My mom and dad are still active in the Middletown parish. We didn’t have statues in our house, although some people do. Catholic grade school and high school were important. Then I went to Xavier. Those values were always present in my home."

Through most of his career life, he’d stayed close to his religion, working at Catholic hospitals with religious Sisters. He was chairman of his parish council in Middletown for five years and taught religious education for several years.

"I was helping the Sisters do orientations on why you work in a Catholic hospital, what are the values the Sisters hold when you’re dealing with patients," he says. "That’s how I ended up working with NACPA."

For more than seven years, Deacon Pratt traveled for NACPA, visiting 42 states, working with dioceses and "more motherhouses of Sisters, Brothers and priests than I knew even existed. I did a lot of stuff to help Sisters’ orders, wrote handbooks, made sure they had good personnel policies. I did a lot on pay and benefits to see that the church as an employer was being just to those who worked for the church."

And while doing that, he thought something was missing, even as he grew into his middle and late 30s.

"I think the seminary was always in the back of my mind," says Deacon Pratt. "As I reached my upper 30s, I thought, ‘I’m going to give this a try. If it doesn’t work, God will let me know, and I’ll go back to doing something else.’

"I have to say that when you hear these stories from guys that they just knew they had to be at the seminary or they had this life-changing moment — I never had that. But I had a journey. My life has been a journey.

"I did not have an ‘a ha’ moment. I just did a journey. I know some guys will say, ‘Well, I was sitting in church and . . .’ That never really happened to me. It was just kind of a continual journey to me. I didn’t have that moment. I was working with men and women, Religious and priests and laypeople who worked for the church. There was something there, something I needed to do even more than what I was doing."

Close friends and family were not surprised by his decision.

"Everyone has been very supportive," said Deacon Pratt. "I think if you ask my parents what they think about it, they would probably say they’re not surprised." He paused and began laughing. "Or, ‘What took so long?’"

Deacon Pratt enjoys travel, which meant the travel he did for NACPA was not a chore. He also considers himself a sports fan, though he concedes, "I’m not gifted to play. I would say I pretty much appreciate everything except for hockey and boxing, because they’re too violent for me."

His days start with morning prayers, followed by Mass, then classes.

"That was one of the biggest adjustments for me as an older guy," said Deacon Pratt. "I was 39 when I got here. After owning my own home and having a career, suddenly having a routine schedule — where someone else seemed to be setting the schedule — was a bit of an adjustment. The academic part, the classroom part, I didn’t find it as hard as I thought it would be. That’s not to say academics weren’t an adjustment after having a career and going back to being a fulltime student."

His thoughts on the future of the priesthood?

"We need to look at the role of the laity and how we collaborate," Deacon Pratt said. "I’m looking forward to working with a lot of the lay ministers. As for the priesthood, there have to be ways to do things to show younger men and older men and have them recognize this as an option in their lives.

"I feel like I’m in the right place."

Deacon Jason Bedel

Deacon Bedel, 34, lived in Cheviot until the age of 13, when his family moved to Miami Heights. He attended St. Martin of Tours grade school, but when his family — he was one of seven children — moved, he attended Taylor High School in North Bend, then Xavier University, where he studied public relations and was intent on a corporate career.

"I was hoping to get into public relations for a big corporation somewhere," he recalls.

His was a religious household, and the family lived across the street from the church in Cheviot. "We would see the priests," he said. "I remember being impressed with that. I had an appreciation for the Mass. I thought the house the priests lived in — the rectory — was cool. When I was in grade school I was pretty sure I would become a priest."

When he attended a public school, thoughts of becoming a priest "got put on the back burner." He was sure he would one day marry. And he thought college was in the future.

"I realized that the best thing would be to go on to college," said Deacon Bedel. "That way you can get a good job and provide for a family. I dated all through college."

He worked summers delivering ice for Home City Ice Co. while at Xavier University. It was pure physical labor. He began working year ’round, and as he came close to graduation from Xavier, he was promoted into a management position at Home City Ice.

While the job wasn’t in public relations, he appreciated having a management position at a young age. He was later promoted to sales.

But he was also impressed with the Jesuit priests at Xavier.

"Most of these guys are highly educated — PhDs and such," said Deacon Bedel. "They could have used those skills for selfish reasons, to make millions out in the world. But they decided to give those gifts back to God, to bring about the kingdom of God instead of bringing about their own wealth. But even though I was impressed by them, it wasn’t enough for me to reconsider a vocation to the priesthood."

Nor had he considered it despite the fact that his uncle, Father Bob Kleiner, is a Comboni missionary.

By 2001 Deacon Bedel owned his own home in Westwood. He had a girlfriend for two years who attended Mass with him but was never baptized Catholic.

While she was atten