"God has a plan for everyone, fifth graders told at Vocation Days"

From The Catholic Key

By Kevin Kelly
Catholic Key Associate Editor

Photo: Sister Maria Damiana Lee, of the Sisters in Jesus, the Lord, explains the life of an avowed religious woman to fifth grade girls from several Catholic schools at the annual Fifth Grade Vocation Days Feb. 9.
KANSAS CITY — Prayer. There is no substitute.

That was the message that priests and avowed men and women religious gave to some 800 Catholic school and home-schooled fifth graders at the 15th annual Fifth Grade Vocation Days Feb. 9-10.

Gathered at Archbishop O’Hara High School, the fifth graders learned that God has a plan for their lives, and the only way to know that plan was to talk and listen to God in prayer.

Some of the priests and religious brothers and sisters who spoke to the fifth graders in both large and small groups told them that they had even pursued other calls until God’s call to religious life could not be ignored.

“I went to college, got a degree in mathematics and I taught math,” Father Joe Miller, director of vocations for the Society of the Most Precious Blood, told boys in small group sessions.

“I almost got married,” he said. “But I really felt the nudge of God calling me to be a priest.”

And it was a nudge heard only in prayer, Father Miller said. God sent him no loud, clear instructions.

“It wasn’t a bolt of lightning, or a burning bush like Moses,” he said. “God will call you similar to the way he called me. It will be a little nudge, a little pull inside.”

Franciscan Sister Mary Clare Eichman told the fifth graders that she also wanted to be married and have a family.

“Even though I had a job I liked, something was missing,” she said.

“I always thought that I just hadn’t found that perfect guy yet,” Sister Mary Clare said. “Then I found that perfect guy” — Jesus.

She recalled her sister, Pam, expecting her first child, telling her “This was what I was created to do.”

“I learned that God was calling me,” she said. “Only when I started living out religious life, I finally understood my sister’s words. This is what I was created to do. It’s brought me more joy and fulfillment than I could ever dream of.”

Diocesan vocations director Father Richard Rocha told the fifth graders that he was a football coach at both the college and the high school levels before he responded to his call to the priesthood.

He introduced seminarians Michael Leeper, who told the fifth graders he heard the call in the U.S. Navy, and Sean McCaffery, who said he had a Hollywood acting career going, including a part in a Hannah Montana video, when he responded to his call.

God may be calling any of the fifth graders to religious life, to married life, or to single life. But he is calling them to something, the priests and religious told the fifth graders.

“Don’t be afraid to listen to his dreams for you,” Sister Mary Clare said. “You’ll be amazed.”

The fifth graders got the message, as well as learning about the lives of priests, religious brothers and sisters.

“We learned what it is like to be a sister,” said Isabel Flores, of St. Peter School in Kansas City. “It means you are married to God.”

“Being a priest is fun, but sometimes it can be sad when people die,” said Xavier Lamros of Nativity of Mary School in Independence.

“We learned there is a difference between nuns and sisters,” said Madison Clark of Our Lady of the Presentation School in Lee’s Summit. “Sisters are more missionary, and more active in the community. Nuns are more cloistered and they pray a lot.”

“If you pray and listen to God,” said Emilie Connors of Presentation, “God will tell you your mission in life.”

Bishop Robert W. Finn, in his homily at Mass that ended each day, told the fifth graders, that it isn’t always easy to hear God’s voice through all the distractions and noise of living.

“We have to know which voices to follow, which paths to follow,” he said.

“We have to listen to him in our hearts. We have to listen to him in the Word of God. We have to listen to him in the teachings of the church, and we have to listen to him in our prayers,” the bishop said.

“Sometimes we just need to be quiet with God in prayer,” he said. “If we do that more and more, we can recognize God’s voice calling us.”

Bishop Finn said time spent in prayer will help a young person recognize the voice of God just as easily as they recognize their best friend’s voice or a parent’s voice immediately over a telephone.

“We learn to recognize the voices of people we care about and love immediately,” he said.

“We need to spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ so we can begin to recognize his voice,” Bishop Finn said. “This is the voice that really matters, the person who loves us and cares for us through and through. We have to learn to listen to Our Lord, Jesus Christ. He will call you.”

Bishop Finn asked the fifth graders to pray for him, and he promised to pray for them as well.

“Jesus has a plan for you,” he said. “My prayer for you is that you will say, ‘Yes.’”

Seminarian Philip Johnson

Seminarian Philip Johnson (Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh) gives a powerful talk to the student body of St. Thomas More Academy in Raleigh, NC. If you are not aware of Philip's heroic witness, you can learn more at his blog: In Caritate Non Ficta

Seminarian Philip Johnson from Deacon Watkins on Vimeo.

"Higher Calling Leads Cartwright From Georgetown"

From CollegeSwimming.com

Georgetown University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Lee Reed announced today that Men's & Women's Swimming and Diving Head Coach Steve Cartwright will step down from his position at the end of June.

Cartwright is resigning and returning to the seminary in the fall at St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia, Pa., studying for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, N.C.

"I am very happy for Steve and we wish him the very best as he pursues something that is very close to his heart," Reed said. "This decision was a very difficult one, but Steve has done a great job with our program here and he leaves it in great shape."

Cartwright has coached at Georgetown for six years, serving as the head coach of the program for the last three. He had previously served as the interim head coach since December 2006. He had been an assistant coach for the prior two-plus seasons.

During Cartwright's tenure at Georgetown, the Hoyas experienced tremendous success both in the pool and in the classroom. Since his arrival on the Hilltop, 34 school records have been broken and more than 50 percent of the times listed in the all-time top-10 list were recorded. The Collegiate Swimming Association of America has awarded academic All-American honors to team members for 36consecutive semesters. In addition, they named the Hoyas one of the top All-Academic Teams in the nation for the spring semester of 2006, the same semester the women's team recorded the highest grade-point average in the nation. For the spring semester of 2007, the men's team had the highest GPA of all Division I swimming and diving programs in the country.

This year, the women's team went 10-2, posting the best dual-meet record in school history and broke nine school records. The men's team broke five school records and placed seven swimmers in the top-16 in their individual events at the BIG EAST Championship.

A search for a successor to lead the program will begin immediately.

"Seminarian with Maui links assists pope during ceremony"

From The Maui News

By Claudine San Nicolas

Photo at left: Patrick “Pat” Arensberg holds niece Julia Kaitlyn Smith during a family reunion two years ago in Hawaii.

A seminarian with ties to Maui held the microphone for Pope Benedict XVI throughout Sunday's canonization of St. Damien in Rome.

Patrick "Pat" Arensberg was born on Maui on Jan. 3, 1984, coincidentally the same birthday of Hawaii's first saint, Father Damien de Veuster, a 19th-century Sacred Hearts priest who served Hansen's disease patients in Kalaupapa.

Arensberg, 25, was baptized and received his first communion at Christ the King Church in Kahului. He attended Lihikai Elementary School up until the 3rd-grade when his parents, Joseph "Joe" and Julie Golis Arensberg, moved their family of seven children to the Mainland.

The Arensbergs - Joe, a 1975 St. Anthony High School graduate, and Julie, a 1974 Maui High alumna, have lived in Mobile, Ala., for the last 15 years. Pat is the fourth of their seven children and is studying at the North American seminary in Rome.

Contacted by e-mail, Pat Arensberg said he recently grew a strong devotion to Father Damien.

"He is a model for any priest, whether living in a parish or in a foreign mission country because of his devotion to the Lord and to the people he served," he said.

Just seven hours before Sunday's 10 a.m. (10 p.m. Saturday HST) canonization ceremony and Mass in Rome, Arensberg and Oahu resident Rheo Ofalsa were selected to serve as assistants to the pope during the canonization of five saints including Damien.

Arensberg's primary duty was to ensure that the microphone was placed correctly in front of the pope whenever he was to speak or pray.

"To have the opportunity to serve at the canonization was a real blessing," Arensberg said. "The whole event was very surreal, I couldn't believe I was in arm's distance from the pope the entire Mass."

The Arensbergs contacted family and friends on Maui as soon as they learned of their son's role. They also stayed up early Sunday morning in Mobile to watch the live telecast.

"We were so excited,"Julie Arensberg said about watching her son at the canonization. "We're just overwhelmed."

Joe Arensberg said he was proud of his son and happy about his choice to study for the priesthood.

"I was always hoping one of mine would choose a life of vocations," Arensberg said.

Joe Arensberg worked on Maui as paramedic but left the job nearly 20 years ago to study to be a teacher. He now teaches theology at a high school in Mobile, where he intends to share stories of Hawaii and of Father Damien.

"He was always one of those people local Hawaii Catholics could look up at," he said.

Pat Arensberg called it a blessing to be at Damien's canonization.

"I think that is is a great thing for Hawaii to get its first saint," he said. "Hopefully, it will be a call for a deeper relationship with Christ for all Christians, especially Catholics, that live in Hawaii.

"May they learn from the example of Father Damien: To love all our brothers and sisters as Christ did and to help those who are in need, no matter how dire the situation may be."

"Raleigh Vocations" - new website for the Diocesan Office of Vocations

Click the image above to go to the new website.

Fantastic video - "Fifty Years a Priest"

Pope Benedict XVI - early days of his vocation

Cardinals' Vocation Stories

Cardinal Bertone Tells His Vocation Story

From Zenit

By Jesús Colina

VATICAN CITY, JULY 17, 2009 (Zenit.org).- For this week's contribution to "God's Men," the column with which ZENIT is celebrating the Year for Priests, we present an exclusive interview with Benedict XVI's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

* * *

ZENIT: When did you discover your vocation to the priesthood?

Cardinal Bertone: I discovered it precisely when I was studying the fifth year of gymnasium -- what would today in Spain be the first year of bachillerato, or in Mexico or the United States, the second year of preparatory or high school -- in the Salesian Institute of Turin, in Valdocco, which is the first institute founded by Don Bosco.

There, I studied secondary school and bachillerato (liceo) and honestly, before that, I had not felt any desire to be a priest, despite living among exemplary priests who were my professors and educators. Instead, I wanted to study languages and dedicate myself to seeing the world, and thus, something very different -- something like international relations, in a certain sense.

Later on, a Salesian priest who was my Greek professor, made a proposal to me: "We are organizing a three-day priestly discernment encounter. You can come and think about your future." I accepted and after these three vocational discernment days, I decided that inasmuch as it depended on me, I would become a priest and join the Salesian congregation.

On May 24, 1949, I gave this news to my parents, who traditionally made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Help in Turin. They were somewhat surprised, given that they had never heard me speak of plans to be a priest. They told me, "If the Lord wants this, we will not object. Indeed, we are quite happy. But remember that it will depend on you to be faithful and therefore, it is you who has made this decision."

That's how I began the path of my vocation, with the novitiate and then, with the whole program of studies, etc.

ZENIT: And who helped you to follow this path?

Cardinal Bertone: In a special way, the Salesian educators, and particularly at the beginning, the master of novices. I lengthened the novitiate four months because I was so young. Theoretically back then, the novitiate began at age 15 and ended at 16, with the first profession. I still hadn't turned 15 when I entered on Aug. 16, 1949, and therefore, I extended the novitiate until I turned 16 in December of 1950. That's when I made my religious profession. Afterward, the Salesians and excellent confessors accompanied me.

I should mention that at the beginning I asked advice regarding this decision from a confessor -- an 84-year-old priest -- who heard confessions behind the main altar of the Basilica of Our Lady of Help, and to whom I regularly went to confession. He gave me his counsel. He told me: "Look, this is a very large task. You will have to prepare yourself very well. But remember that I have been a priest for 60 years and I have never regretted it." So, encouraged by this testimony too, I followed this path, though in visiting home, I had a bit of a problem, a bit of nostalgia. But my parents told me: "Finish the whole testing period and the study program, because it was you who made this decision. And after that, you can make a more mature choice." And at the end, I made the decision to continue to priestly ordination, which happened July 1, 1960.

ZENIT: Along this path, what was the role of the Salesians' founder, Don Bosco?

Cardinal Bertone: Certainly Don Bosco was an extraordinary model of a priest, and his followers, his sons, who were my professors and educators, represented him very well. They offered me beautiful testimonies that sparked in me the desire to follow this path and encouraged me in it. In my life, Don Bosco has always been present. He has guided me in my growth toward the priesthood and afterward as a priest, in the missions that I have had as a Salesian, from being major rector of the Pontifical Salesian University, here in Rome, and formator of many candidates to the priesthood -- very many.

Later on he has guided me in my life as a bishop: first as the archbishop of Vercelli and then in Genoa and now, as the secretary of state, as the closest collaborator of the Pope. Don Bosco taught me to be faithful to the Pope, to give my life for the Pope and for the Church, something which I try do with my limits, but with all my strength.

ZENIT: What have been the greatest difficulties and the most beautiful satisfactions?

Cardinal Bertone: As I mentioned, I had some difficulties during my formation, as I felt a certain nostalgia for the past, for life with my companions and friends. But I stayed strong in following my vocation. Those who were my age, who didn't think that I would follow this path, especially my classmates from liceo -- I studied liceo as a Salesian but with 30 companions who now have professions and a beautiful role in Italian society and have supported me -- they told me: "If you are a priest, you should be like Don Francesco Amerio." He was our great professor of liceo, of history and philosophy and also religion. For me, he was a model, one who has supported me -- and I've still got my notes from his religion classes. That is proof of the influence had by this priest, this professor, who my companions presented to me as a model.

Afterward I had difficulties, especially in the years from 1968 to 1972. I was here in Rome -- I was a professor at the Salesian University and also a formator for candidates to the priesthood. We had a large number of theology students in what was then the Pontifical Salesian Atheneum: 140 theology students who felt the pressure and the influence of the changes of '68, of the debate and the whirlwind of opinions. It was after the [Second Vatican] Council. But we had had moments of a lot of friction and of clashes of opinions and people, and as the superior, I had to make decisions on these students' admission to holy orders. We kept up a very intense dialogue with the students. Those were times of great student meetings, with discussions that lasted hours, even late into the night. Thus, moments of tension, but also of overcoming these tensions.

Then as a bishop, and as an archbishop of the two dioceses that I have guided, both of them by appointment of Pope John Paul II, I also had moments of confrontation, sometimes taxing situations, with this or that problem that arose in the local Church. When I was secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, there were also some doctrinal problems given us to analyze and judge, and sometimes they were very grave problems at the doctrinal, moral or disciplinary level.

But in this role I have also had very beautiful satisfactions: The fact of having guided and of having had a fraternal community, I would say relationships of fraternal communion, of strong friendships, which continue even to today, when I run into old students or bishops from all over the world.

I have had moments of authentic communion, of fraternal friendship in the joy of fidelity to the Pope, in the joy of fulfilling our priestly and episcopal ministry, or because of the fact of having led many youth to the priesthood. Then there is the episcopal fatherhood in priestly ordinations and in episcopal ordinations, which now are more and more frequent in my role as secretary of state, with the ordination of many collaborators of the Pope and also of many local bishops.

This is a great satisfaction: The great people of God is made up as well of the pastors of the Church, with their various responsibilities, with their diverse roles, according to the vocation and charism that the Holy Spirit distributes. This people that journeys in profound unity is truly a beautiful sign of the benevolence of God for the Church and all of humanity. I experience this in the meetings I have with the local Churches, with the pontifical representatives all over the world, and with the leaders of states who come to visit the Vatican and express their appreciation, their recognition of the Church's work, of the testimony the Church gives, whether it be in the field of formation, above all in the area of education, or in the field of promotion of the human person, social promotion, or special assistance to the weakest classes of society.

Thus, I give thanks to the Lord for the gift of the priesthood and also for the gift of the episcopacy. And I wish everyone a good Year for Priests!

[This interview can be seen in its original Italian at www.h2onews.org]

[Translation by Kathleen Naab]

"In the Name of the Father: Life's journey leads to the altar for Tim Gallagher"

From the Morgan County Citizen

By Meg Ferrante

The Mother’s Day brunch at St. James Catholic Church in Madison was just starting to break up when a stranger entered the social hall. He was covered from head to toe in grime. He almost looked like he’d been in a fire.

There were some murmured whispers. A few people jumped to get him some food. But one man sat down with him. Prayed over his meal and offered to listen as the stranger, in clear agony, clutched his head and shared his story. Homeless and hungry, the stranger had hitchhiked from Maryland and was waiting for a ride to Texas where he hoped to start his life over. He was ashamed to be there, ashamed to be asking for help, but he didn't know where else to turn.
As the last few families scrambled off to pamper their mothers, one man reached out to touch this stranger’s arm, let him know he had time. All day if necessary. In fact, just weeks away from giving himself to God as a Catholic priest, Tim Gallagher just happened to have a lifetime.

A lifetime ago, Tim Gallagher was a tight end for the Morgan County Bulldogs, chasing girls and trying to fit in just like the rest of his classmates. He joined the Army because he didn't want his parents to have to pay for college. He served in Operation Desert Storm and then attended the University of Georgia like so many of his friends. He had a career as a physical therapist, did volunteer work building houses in Mexico and was looking forward to marriage and a family.

A bit adrift in his Christian identity, Gallagher was involved with a Protestant missionary group and not even going to Catholic Church all the time. Then something happened. Not a lightning strike or a miracle. More like a slow-growing seed that began to bear fruit. Or the pieces of a complicated puzzle falling into place.

He decided to settle his questions about Catholicism by praying the rosary. He studied with an Apologetics class to learn more about the reasoning behind Catholic teaching. He joined a young adult ministry and social club. And the capstone on his reconversion was returning to the sacrament of reconciliation--confessing his sins to a priest--which he had not done in a decade.

"When my faith was awakened to the fact that the [Catholic] Church was really the true Church, my belief in the sacraments was awakened," Gallagher said. "I came to see priesthood and marriage as gifts from God. Priesthood became an option. But deep inside I thought I could never do that."

This past Saturday, the Archdiocese of Atlanta ordained eight new priests in a three-hour ceremony at the Cathedral of Christ the King. And Sunday morning at Madison's tiny St. James, a record crowd crammed the sanctuary to celebrate Fr. Timothy Joseph Gallagher's first Mass. Nearly 300 were in attendance, with overflow in the social hall watching on closed-circuit television. At the altar, Gallagher was surrounded by seven priests, three seminarians, two Franciscan brothers of the Primitive Observance, one deacon and four altar boys.

The choir was tripled in size for the occasion. Mothers and grandmothers were escorted to their seats in front of 58 family members. Pomp and circumstance was on full parade. "There's no stopping an exuberant celebration, especially when the congregation is so proud of one of their own," said Monsignor Peter Dora, priest at St. James.

But there were many solemn moments as well. Fr. Brett Brannan, the Vice Rector of Mount St. Mary's where Gallagher attended seminary, spoke of Gallagher's coming responsibilities.

"A priest is a priest not for himself. A priest is a priest for his people," Brannan said.
He reminded Gallagher that he will be tempted and discouraged by the devil, as Satan knows that a priest's job is to bring people to Jesus and Jesus to the people. But he praised Gallagher's joy for life.

"People need joy in their priests. And why not? We have the greatest message in the world to share!" Brannan shared with the congregants.

Gallagher took the lead at last when he gave voice to the liturgy of the Eucharist for the first time.

"This is the point where I bring about true body and blood of Jesus," he explained in an earlier interview. "It is the apex of every priest’s existence, to consecrate the bread and wine into the true presence of Jesus." This, he said, was one part of the planning making him nervous. "I'm just going to try to do my part to keep a prayerful presence with the Lord in the Mass and hopefully I won’t mess it up."

"The Lord be with you," he sang, beginning the commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus shared with his disciples.

"And also with you," answered the church.

"Lift up your hearts."

"We lift them up to the Lord."

And on he sang. His voice cracked, but only once. He slowly relaxed into the prayer like a man born to pray it.

Following his reconversion, Gallagher made a fateful move by telling an old friend. He was a priest Gallagher didn't realize was working to advise Catholics in Atlanta who might be interested in priesthood. The priest shepherded Gallagher through classes to help him understand God's will and eventually forced an application for priesthood on him. It sat on his desk for more than a year.

The application might well have continued collecting dust if not for divine intervention.

"God made it obvious he wanted me to take next step," Gallagher said.

While in Jamaica, doing physical therapy for the handicapped children of Mustard Seed mission, he made a bold offer to the mission's priest. "I'll leave it all to do this," he told Fr. Gregory. He loved mission work and secretly hoped it would be a way out of priesthood.

Gregory turned him down, telling him he was needed more as a priest.

"It was those kind of things..." Gallagher said. "God giving me voices here and there, putting people in my life at different times, me resisting it all the way. It was a battle."

He finally decided to put off deciding. He would become a seminarian and pray more about it.

Seminary was no less a challenge for Gallagher. He had to readjust his attitudes about priesthood in general. "I thought only weird guys pursued that. But there were normal guys, going through the same process, guys praying to follow in the steps of Jesus. The attraction to women and marriage was still very strong , but we just prayed and tried to listen to God."

He fought another battle trying to understand God's will for which order of priest he should join. He spent a year with the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance, who live in ultimate simplicity, pray all day, sleep on the floor, hitchhike rides and beg for their food. Ultimately he felt himself called back to Archdiocesan life where his interaction with a congregation is assured and where, thanks to his time with the Franciscans, he plans to live, like his hero St. John Vianney, as a "simple parish priest."

Every story has a back story, and the interesting one here lies in Tim's mother, Becky, who is Baptist.
She said that she and Tim's dad, John, spent 90 percent of their dating days wondering how a Catholic and a deep-south Baptist could ever make it work. She's as proud as anyone about Tim's choice and credits Tim's insight and deep beliefs to being brought up in a home with two separate practices of faith.

"We would visit my parents and go to Baptist church to honor them," she said. "The four-hour car trip would usually spawn a discussion of our faith. Sometimes heated. We all came to the conclusion that our faith was the same, though our practice was different."

Becky, who attends Antioch Baptist in Godfrey, was overjoyed when her 90-year-old mother agreed to attend the ordination and first Mass, the only family member to do so.

"She's been telling people, 'When everybody gets to heaven, everybody's going to be rubbin' elbows with people of all different religions, even Catholics, so we'd better get used to it here on earth.’”

John has his own interesting tale to tell. In the seminary himself for three years, he never pushed it on his kids. "I wonder if I might have done more," he said. "I prayed that they would do what God would want them to. So this was God's will. I knew it would work out."

In two weeks, Gallagher begins his first assignment, as a parish priest right down the road at St. Pius XII in Conyers. St. James' priest says this poses only one problem. Loss of bragging rights. "We could say we had the largest number of seminarians proportionally speaking of any congregation in the Atlanta archdiocese, possibly in the whole country,” he said. “All of that came to an abrupt end yesterday." He was quick to point out that as God has blessed this little congregation with a priest, the church will continue to pray for another. (And a return to distinction.)

Gallagher ended the Mass telling the youth of the church to listen for God's calling and have the courage to answer. After all, in his case, he says, "for me to do this is evidence of God’s mercy and grace in the world. I think He really had to change my heart for me to pursue this. In His mercy and patience, Jesus is calling men to be priests. Jesus is calling all of us to follow Him. Any sacrifice is worth gaining heaven."

"Hail Mary: Former Defiance football stalwart seeks priesthood"

From Crescent News.com

By Jack Palmer

Photo at left: Mark Walter (center), a 1992 graduate of Defiance High School, was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana on June 6. He will continue his religious studies at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland and is scheduled to be ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest in 2010. Walter is pictured with his parents, Mike Walter and Letty DeLeon-Silva, both of Defiance.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- During his high school years, Mark Walter loved to knock heads with opposing linebackers.

Now he operates from a different play book.

Walter, a 1992 graduate of Defiance High School, was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana earlier this month. His ordination into the Roman Catholic priesthood is tentatively scheduled for June 12, 2010.

"I am most looking forward to offering Mass and dispensing God's grace through the sacraments and sharing in the lives of the people God called me to serve," said Walter, now 35.

"I would really like to work with teen-agers and young adults. That's an age when people sway away from the church and I certainly fall into that category. It's an important time to provide spiritual support and encouragement."

Walter is the son of Michael Walter and Letty DeLeon-Silva, both of Defiance. He has a younger sister, Molly, who resides in Colorado.

"My parents and sister have been very supportive," he stated. "So have my uncles and aunts and cousins. Father Tim (Kummerer) at St. Mary's (in Defiance) has also been a big influence. Both the St. Mary's and St. John's parishes have been very supportive. I know they pray for me a lot."

Many area football fans may recall Walter as a bruising running back on a strong Bulldog squad which recorded a sparkling 9-1 mark in fall 1991.

"Mark was one of our senior captains that year," said DHS football coach Jerry Buti. "He and Eric Rodriquez were the featured running backs. Our only loss was at St. Marys and they were state champions."

Following high school, Walter attended the University of Dayton and University of Cincinnati, originally intending to major in medical technology. Looking back, he says his interest in religious studies was piqued by two religion courses he took at UD.

"That was my first year in college when I was taking general courses to figure out what I liked," he said. "One of them was taught by a Catholic priest. It was about how the church makes saints and how saints lived their lives."

Walter returned to Defiance in 1998 and worked at a heating and air conditioning business, paint store and large building materials retailer. But he never forgot those religion courses and how they had sparked his interest.

"It was 2001 and I still hadn't found something I wanted to do, something that I was really passionate about like I was with football," said Walter. "That was the first time I started thinking about religious studies."

He enrolled at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne where he began discerning a call to the priesthood. While serving as student chaplain at Lutheran Hospital, he met a former seminarian who introduced him to other priests.

"They were very encouraging," said Walter. "I began thinking this was something I was called to do, but I still had some doubts about committing my life to the priesthood."

After earning a degree in ministry studies from USF, he entered seminary at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Md., in fall 2004.

"I went there thinking I would give it a year and see what happened," said Walter. "I still wasn't sure if being a priest was for me. The seminary's director of spiritual formation and the spiritual director both took me under their wing. With their help and through prayer, I found the affirmation to continue in seminary."

For the past two years, he was chaplain of Mount St. Mary's Division I baseball team and active in intramural flag football and softball. He will remain there to finish his sixth and final year of seminary.

"I'm preaching a homily almost every day for daily and/or funeral Masses," he said. "It really takes time to prepare a homily. You start reading the lessons a week ahead of time and then take them with you throughout the week. The hardest part is making them relevant and practical to every day living. Faith is not just in the head, it has to be lived."

After his ordination as a priest, Walter will be assigned to a parish in Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana, which covers north central Indiana.

"Mark becoming a priest doesn't surprise me, he is a great kid," said Buti. "He was very disciplined and never a problem. His parents were very involved and supportive.

"It's too bad he's not around here," added Buti. "He could be our team chaplain."

"Banking on priesthood: Broker leaves behind a lucrative career to become a man of the cloth"

From the National Post

By Katherine Laidlaw

In Thomas Lim's last job, he earned a six-figure salary, lived in an expansive home and managed the bustling operations of Sun Life Financial, a brokerage firm. He was a high roller on an upward career trajectory.

On Saturday, he starts a new job: one without material luxuries and the fast-paced intensity of the stock market. He is becoming a Catholic priest.

Eight years ago, Mr. Lim was assistant vice-president of Sun Life. He had it all: money, power, relationships, upward mobility. And yet, he says he was intensely unhappy.

Now 40 years old and after six years of study, he is being ordained at St. Michael's Cathedral.

The Catholic Church doesn't require priests to give away their savings when they enter the seminary, but he has left his financial investments in the hands of his brother, who is also a banker. He doesn't miss working in the business world. "There were moments in the past where you'd be obsessed with every tick up, every tick down," Mr. Lim said. "I don't feel like I'm shackled any more."

Between about five and 10 men have been ordained each year for the past five years in the Greater Toronto Area, according to the Archdiocese of Toronto. Seven are being ordained this Saturday.

Many come from diverse backgrounds, such as Mr. Lim, seeking spirituality they cannot find in the pressures of everyday life.

Frank Portelli, a 33-year-old once far more interested in clubbing, left his job working with the federal government's bankruptcy regulator to become a priest.

"During my undergrad [at the University of Toronto], it was more about drinks, smoking, dancing, girls, not studying," he said. He reluctantly applied to the seminary after being encouraged by a priest he knew.

Likewise, Eric Rodrigues was completing a master's in biostatistics at McGill University in Montreal when he realized his dreams of being a doctor were eclipsed by a call from God. "Deep down I know that it was a desire to serve people and help people who are suffering."

In Mr. Lim's case, he ignored his first push toward the priesthood, which came a long time ago when he was attending De La Salle College, a prestigious private school run by the Roman Catholic Lasallian brothers.

The nudge came from Brother Benedict, a short, bespectacled man who patrolled the locker hallway. "I had the fourth or fifth locker from the chapel," said Mr. Lim, whose older brother, also a student at De La Salle, was thinking of entering the monastery. Brother Benedict came down the hallway to ask Mr. Lim if he would be following suit. "I kind of laughed and said, 'Are you crazy? I want to make money,' " said Mr. Lim. "I think he thought he could get two for the price of one."

Instead, attending De La Salle left Mr. Lim with a burning desire to be wealthy. He grew up in the Regent Park housing complex, one of Toronto's most destitute, crime-ridden neighbourhoods, where he lived with his mother, father and seven brothers and sisters in a small, four-bedroom home.

He attended the private school on a scholarship. "People did look at you a little strangely. You know, you're coming home in your blue blazer and tie to Regent Park," Mr. Lim said.

"After being in that environment, with those kids who had so much, I came up with a plan. That plan was to make as much money as possible."

After high school, he went on to the University of Toronto's business school. After graduating with a bachelor of commerce, Mr. Lim took a job at Toronto-Dominion Bank, where he was made manager of the mutual funds division before moving to Canada Trust and then to Sun Life. His parents were devout Catholics. But Mr. Lim turned his back on his faith and refused to practise for 12 years. "I found out later, [my mother] prayed for my return each day," he says, voice cracking.

Eight years ago, Mr. Lim had broken up with his last girlfriend, a Catholic who attended church regularly and had encouraged him to attend as well. One Saturday, he wandered into St. Justin, Martyr, a parish in Unionville. Standing at the back of the church, Mr. Lim says he was "overpowered" by the pastor's homily. He listened while the priest spoke about encouraging those who felt lost to return to the church.

Soon after, Mr. Lim was ringing Rev. Michael Busch's doorbell, asking to speak to him about his sermon. Instead, Rev. Busch says, they talked about their lives.

"He was what we call a 'walk-in off the street'," Rev. Busch said. "I always say to him, my first impression of him was anger, bitterness, dissatisfaction."

The description is a stark contrast to the soft-spoken man he knows now, he says. "He's a lot calmer. The man that was before, sometimes those are the qualities that come out when we're searching or when we're frustrated."

Like Mr. Lim, Rev. Busch left behind a lucrative career in advertising to become a priest. "It was the same kind of thing: young, had it all, going in a certain direction but not happy," Rev. Busch said.

"It's something that's very prevalent among young people today. They're really searching for that kind of spirituality."

Seeing in Mr. Lim many qualities he remembered in himself, Rev. Busch told Mr. Lim he should consider joining the priesthood.

"I more or less threw it at him," he said. "I knew it was a bit of a shock for him. I could see he was reaching a point where his questions were leading in a very specific direction."

‘Father of the Father’

The post below was written by Fr. Luke Sweeney, Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of New York, is from the website "Fathers for Good" which "is an initiative for men by the Knights of Columbus".

'Father of the Father'

By Father Luke Sweeney

Photo at left: Fr. Luke Sweeney, his father Luke Sweeney, and Archbishop Dolan

This article is printed in recognition of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, May 3.

My dad loves to recall a defining moment of his becoming a father late in life, at age 50. His habit was to come home and read the newspaper, but when I was a toddler, I must have come over and swiped the paper out of his hands. The light went on in his mind and he realized that in my childlike way I was asking my dad to play with me. He took the hint and threw his heart into doing things with me then and throughout the years.

The presence of a father is invaluable in a boy’s life. As a vocation director I witness the wounds left when fathers are physically or emotionally distant from a young man. There can be anger that builds up, problems of relating in an appropriate masculine way and difficulties in school.
I have been blessed with my dad’s continued active presence in my life.

While my mother was more vocally and explicitly Catholic, praying with me at bedtime and listening to Christian radio, my dad’s presence was always quiet, but clearly there. At different times he offered words of wisdom. He taught me how to golf, threw the football with me, and even once dug up grass from the backyard for a history project.

A short while ago I asked my dad if he had ever stopped going to church over the years. He said never. What a wonderful job his family and the priests and religious sisters did for him when he was young. They set him on a good path and he never strayed.

My father has recalled for our family on numerous occasions his days in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and how incredibly quiet and focused the crew was before a battle. Most were deep in prayer, begging for grace and preparing for death. Perhaps his trust and reliance on God during those years deepened his commitment.

My dad’s presence and practice in the faith was never lacking. I always felt encouraged to get involved with the Church through his example. He was involved as an usher, volunteer for the Cardinal’s Annual Appeal, and as a parish trustee. He went to Mass, stayed afterward for the rosary each week and would go to Stations of the Cross during Lent. We also did these things as a family.

I began talking about the possibility of a priestly vocation in the sixth grade, and my dad took me to the seminary to meet the rector when I was a senior in high school. His words of wisdom were, “No matter what you decide to do in life, your mom and I will love you and support you!” What a sense of freedom to follow God’s will and not be forced to live out a parent’s preconceived plan for my life.

My mom died of a brain tumor right after I was ordained a deacon. My dad and I were present at her passing. Now that I am a priest, my dad has become a person that I talk to about how things are going (he constantly tells me to pace myself), but also someone I now pray with. We pray the rosary when driving together in the car, and sometimes I have the privilege of offering Mass in a hotel room when we travel together. Whatever the occasion, my dad is prouder than anything to be the “Father of the Father.”

Recently, we both went to confession while on vacation. Without missing a beat, he took from his bag a little old military prayer book from the 1940’s which he had used all these years to prepare himself for the sacrament. His strong and basic faith had seen him through battles, and it continues to guide, renew and nourish him daily. His love and devotion to Jesus and the Blessed Mother have had a great effect on my life, and there is little mystery that I was able to hear God’s call.

Father Luke Sweeney, ordained in 2001, is vocations director for the Archdiocese of New York.

Hat tip to Jenna.

"Struggle, study, simplicity"

Years of hard work culminates in ordination of Jamie Utronkie
By Heather Kendall
Originally posted at Barry's Bay This Week.

Deacon Jamie Utronkie of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards Township will be ordained in Ottawa on May 30 and will return to St. Casimir’s Catholic Church in Round Lake Centre on May 31 for his first mass as a priest.
Photo by Heather Kendall

Family and friends will gather at St. Casimir’s Catholic Church in Round Lake Centre on May 31 to attend Deacon Jamie Utronkie’s first mass as an ordained priest. With more than 50 first cousins on his father’s side alone, the church is sure to be packed.

Deacon Utronkie, his older brother and two sisters grew up on Mask Road (west of Simpson Pit Road) and they are the fourth generation to live there; his parents Jerome and Patsy Utronkie operate the Natural Waters Trout Farm.

He attended St. Casimir’s Catholic School and Madawaska Valley District High School before heading to Carleton University in 1998 to study commerce. While finishing his third year there, he became ill.

“I had a lot of abdominal pain,” he says. “I was bleeding, I was losing weight and I was tired. I didn’t know what was wrong and neither did the doctors.”

He says he grew desperate to discover what was causing his illness.

“I was ready to face whatever it was – good or bad,” he says. “I just had to know what was wrong.”

There were some mornings Deacon Utronkie couldn’t get out of bed and he began to wonder if he was dying. He turned to prayer and promised God he would surrender his life to Him, in whatever capacity He chose, if the cause of Deacon Utronkie’s illness was revealed.

“I kept seeing my life from the end,” he says. “I looked back to see if I had regrets. I didn’t, but I saw that glorifying God meant a lot to me. I thought I could help people along their faith journey – that’s when the possibility of the priesthood came to me.”

In January of 2002, he finally got a diagnosis: he had ulcerative colitis. He was put on powerful drugs and went into remission. He continued to lead a busy life – full time studies at Carleton, full-time work at a bank and a Catholic Outreach program at the university. He was setting himself up to burn out, he now says.

After the diagnosis, he wanted to keep his promise to God, but was not sure what path was the best to take.

“I was keeping all the doors open.”

During this time, Deacon Utronkie was attending Holy Rosary Parish in Ottawa, which is run by the Companions of the Cross. He found he was attracted to how they preached, their mission and their vision. He decided to visit with that community to see if it was right for him. He stayed for a week in April, 2002 and while there he went through the application process.

The Companions of the Cross believe in living simply, detached from material things; they are committed to cooperating with bishops of the dioceses. The community’s beginnings date back to 1984, when Fr. Robert Bedard, a seminarian, and two others planning to enter the seminary began to meet regularly to provide spiritual support to each other. By 1985, a vision for ministry had crystallized: participation in the renewal of the Church through an effective evangelization founded on looking to the Cross. There are currently five communities – Ottawa (the home base), Toronto, Halifax, Houston Texas and the Philippines.

Back at the bank, Utronkie came across a job posting for a full-time teller and decided to apply. When he didn’t get the job, he took it as a sign that he was not to pursue a career in commerce. However, his boss then recommended he be interviewed for a loan manager position.

“I did the interviews, but by this time I was leaning towards joining the Companions of the Cross community,” he says.

April 18, 2002 was a pivotal day. It was the anniversary of the death of his beloved grandmother and on that day he had two key telephone calls. The first was from Fr. Bedard, founder of Companions of the Cross, who informed him that he was accepted into the community. When he hung up the phone, there was a message waiting: his boss at the bank said he had great news.

“I called him back and asked if I could talk to him about the news the next day. I wanted to spend the evening reflecting on what I should do.”

The bank position would give him financial stability, job security and room for advancement, but he realized that these motives were materialistic. On the other side of the coin, life with the Companions of the Cross meant no financial security.

“My illness taught me that material things pass away,” he says. “Something about being disconnected from material things appealed to me. I didn’t want to be attached to ‘stuff.’ So I felt peaceful about joining the community.”

The following September, he and 17 others joined the Companions (only two of the 18 are left). The first two years – called the applicancy – are a period of discernment to “make sure this is what you want.” He spent four months at the Formation House in Combermere; in all he had a term of formation, two terms of philosophy and another term of formation. They were the most difficult two years – spiritually, physically and psychologically – of his life.

“I had a nasty relapse of colitis while in Combermere,” he says. “I began to wonder if I’d made a mistake.”

By Christmas, his weight was down to 100 pounds. His specialist ran tests and made an appointment for him early in the morning of Jan. 2, 2003. He was shown pictures of the colonoscopy test.

“A normal colon is pink,” he says. “Mine was black. The ulcers had ruptured. I didn’t want to hear that at age 23.”

The results put him back in a state of turmoil and anger. The doctor recommended radical surgery to remove his colon and rectum. Deacon Utronkie was put on prednisone and had to wait nine months for the surgery. The drug put him in remission and he gained 60 pounds during the wait. In October, just after he’d entered his second year of applicancy, he had his operation. He was off school for seven weeks, but found the community was very supportive.

“It was a good place for me to be,” he said.

In April, 2004, he had a second surgery, with nine days in hospital and another 10 recuperating at home. He then did a retreat to decide if he would make the temporary commitment to the community.

“I had a lot of anger and confusion with regard to what I had in my mind about what seminary life would be like,” he said. “Why would God take me off track with the surgeries and recovery time? The sense I was getting in my prayer time was that my sickness was not a diversion, but was part of the journey I needed to do.”

He says his experience has given him more empathy for those who are ill.

“I understand the spiritual turmoil one goes through,” he says. “It’s hard to understand when you’re going through it, but when you look back, you understand God allowed it so you can grow.”

It’s been five years since the surgeries and his health has been good, he says. He studied theology for three years at Dominican University; last September he was ordained a deacon in Ottawa. He has been a part time student at St. Paul’s University, doing studies in canon law. As deacon, he can perform some sacraments (baptisms, weddings); he can also do funerals.

“A deacon is sort of the first stage of holy orders,” he says. “There are permanent and transitional deacons; I’m transitional, which means I intend to become a priest.”

He expects to be ordained in Ottawa May 30 and will hold his first mass (a mass of thanksgiving) as a priest on May 31 at St. Casimir’s.

His family is proud of him and supports his decision. He says it took his father a long time to adjust (“he always saw me as married with kids”), but his mother was immediately supportive. His sisters had mixed reactions at first and his brother, who he’d been living with while in university, was not surprised.

He is looking forward to full-time ministry and should learn where he will be posted before his ordination.

“The excitement hasn’t hit me yet,” he says. “But I’m content with my decision.”

"Our Priests, Our Heroes"

"Theologian Comments on Compilation of Vocation Stories"

From ZENIT
By Karna Swanson

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 3, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Times are tough, and more than ever people need real heroes to inspire them, says theologian Christine Anne Mugridge

Mugridge is the co-author/editor with Jerry Usher of "Called by Name: The Inspiring Stories of 12 Men Who Became Catholic Priests," published by Ascension Press.

In this interview with ZENIT, Mugridge discusses the "heroic" aspect of the priesthood, and what led her to edit a compilation of vocation stories.

Q: As a woman theologian, what led you to edit a book of priestly vocation stories?

Mugridge: As a theologian in the Church, I realize that the public at large doesn't often hear a woman share about the topic of the priesthood as a "gift": that is that Christ gives himself to all humanity as a gift through his priesthood. Each man in saying yes to the priestly call is saying yes first to Christ personally -- this response is heroic.

But let us look beyond this human element and see the priesthood in terms of Christ who then gifts himself in his eucharistic presence. I take this gift of Christ personally. The Eucharist is a powerful witness of Divine Love in the world, not a fable, not wishful thinking. The greatest gift of love is the gift of our living God -- present in holy Communion. As a Catholic laywoman, I am keenly aware of this reality and praise God for it.

These are challenging times for everyone: Both inside and outside the Church. In working on this book, I likewise wanted to defend the priesthood today from a largely negative and false perspective that has been portrayed through the media in general.

People need heroes. We need heroes to lift up our hopes and inspire us to live life with a sense of meaning and virtue even as we are challenged to the depths of our faith. The priesthood is a great gift won by the price of Christ's blood, given for the world. This vocation certainly represents a heroic form of life. The personal witness of the men in sharing their individual vocational calling is important in that while it shows us heroic virtue in action it also humanizes our understanding of the priesthood and assists the Church in expressing the Gospel message. Heroes do not have to be perfect to inspire us.

While growing up my family was very blessed to be close to our parish priests. These men were personal friends. The balance of family life and friendships with priests was always there as a part of my foundational education in the faith. I wanted to share something of this same relational experience with others.

Q: The book features a cardinal, an archbishop, a founder of an order and various other priests who have contributed to the Church in many ways. How did you choose which 12 priests you would ask for their vocation story?

Mugridge: Choosing only 12 men was very difficult, of course. In fact, we had so many good choices the book could have been three times the present volume. Readers are asking for a second edition and we certainly could fulfill that request!

I wanted to bring a global experience of the gift of the priesthood itself into one book, telling of the universal nature of the Church and the vocational calling from different cultural backgrounds. Many Catholics may never have the opportunity to meet so many varied people from different places in the world or even from another diocese. The criteria for the individual participation in writing a chapter was a high standard of holiness and openness to God's will in living out their priestly vocation today. I think the book succeeds in presenting these goals.

Q: Is there one aspect or story that stands out to you?

Mugridge: One aspect certainly struck me as we edited the testimonials. Very clearly what emerges from these stories is that the call to the priesthood is unmistakably a special call from God himself to unite with Christ's self-giving and to participate in this self-donation and thanksgiving that is the Eucharistic Celebration.

As I wrote in the introduction [I kept in mind that] there is only one priesthood and this is the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. John Paul II highlights this point as he wrote in his Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 2005: "Christ's self-giving, which has its origin in the Trinitarian life of the God who is Love, reaches its culmination in the sacrifice of the Cross, sacramentally anticipated in the Last Supper. It is impossible -- for the priest -- to repeat the words of consecration without feeling caught up in this spiritual movement [...]

"The priest must learn to apply these words also to himself, and to speak them with truth and generosity. If he is able to offer himself as a gift, placing himself at the disposal of the community and at the service of anyone in need, his life takes on its true meaning. This is exactly what Jesus expected of his apostles. [...] It is also what the people of God expect of a priest."

Q: What are the main elements that seem to underline every vocation story?

Mugridge: The priestly call is a personal call from God to each individual man. This is not a question of a "career choice" nor a simple job to try out for a period of time on one's "faith journey."

As each man says yes to God in his priestly ordination, his identity -- his whole being -- then is eternally linked to the salvific identity of Christ himself. So deeply is this call felt, that the man who hears it cannot "avoid" it if you will -- no matter how many years or distractions he experiences!

It is amazing to read in each of the stories of the growing awareness of this reality. Each man would come face to face with God and give an answer to this Call. Likewise, it is profound to read of the corresponding grace and sacrifice that is required for each man to follow Christ.

Originally, we wanted to title the book "In Persona Christi" precisely because we could read that as each one surrendered to the call and went on to priestly ordination, the Person of Christ and his mission of salvation for the world would emerge more brilliant.

This level of appreciation for the vocation has been marred in recent years. We the editors and publisher of the book wanted to allow the beauty and mystery of the vocation to be seen anew.

Q: In the midst of so much bad news in the Church these days, this book shows us that God is still present and active in the midst of it all. What did you learn in editing this book about how God is continually working in the lives of individuals, even in the midst of challenging circumstances?

Mugridge: There is no doubt that God is continuing to work in all our lives even in the midst of challenging news. We have had our share of bad news recently -- but Christ is with us in the midst of this suffering. The Good News with a capital g is written in, with and through the Incarnate Word himself. This being said, there are many good priests whose lives inspire renewed faith.

In producing this book, we wanted to afford the reader the opportunity to read such stories; testimonies that are not necessarily being shared on a larger public scale. History unfolds both difficult and noble periods of Christian life. The mystery of salvation history we know, is that God is continually working through fallen humanity. It is not that God only tolerates mankind, it is that God in his wisdom, knowing human strengths and weakness, chooses to become one of us and wishes to share a living communion with us. We are his instruments of grace.

Each of us as baptized Christians is called to be a witness to Christ and his Church. However, it is especially in the person of the priest that Jesus Christ unites himself to the human family and in a unique manner to the People of God -- for only through the sacrifice of the mass is the Covenant Communion -- the salvific love of the Triune God -- made manifest on earth in a manner most excellent in the Real Presence.

There is no scandal in the Church now, no matter how bitter, that was not committed against the person of Christ himself first by his own followers. We must not forget the fundamental reality that at the cross, there was only one disciple standing.

Our hope therefore is not in frail humanity -- our hope is in the living presence of the person of Christ himself whose promise to remain with us until his glorious return is an unbreakable promise. It is the truth. The Bridegroom will not betray his own Bride -- his Body.

Q: Who should read this book, and why?

Mugridge: I would like to encourage everyone to read this book -- men and women, young and old. The personal witness of faith and the encouragement to pursue the call of Christ in one's life is strengthened through reading these stories. The temptation now is to see the priesthood as a type of job, focusing on the imperfections of the person and not in the mystery of the Triune God. This book identifies the presence of God in the life of these men. They share with the reader their interior dialogue with the Lord regarding being called by name. My belief in Christ and sense of optimism regarding the Church was strengthened through reading these personal stories. We encourage people discerning their own vocation to read it as well as those who want deeper insight into the Catholic Church and the vocation of the priesthood in the Roman Rite.

"Heeding call to priesthood DON'T AWAIT DIVINE E-MAIL"

From Fredericksburg.com
BY Amy Flowers Umble

As a young adult, Keith Cummings felt God calling him to become a Catholic priest.

He responded by leaving the church.

"It was a radical way of life, and one that I was not ready to embrace," Cummings said.

Overwhelmingly, young Catholic men are turning away from the priesthood.

The number of American priests began dropping in the late 1970s and has declined ever since, creating a priest shortage in the country, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

Religious scholars and the Vatican offer a number of reasons for the decline: smaller Catholic family sizes, a tarnished image of Catholic clergy following sex-abuse scandals, a cultural shift in American priorities and the celibacy requirement.

But the impact is pretty similar. Parishes often struggle without priests. Some share clergy. Some shut down.

But this isn't much of a problem in the Arlington Diocese of the Catholic Church, which extends from Northern Virginia through Spotsylvania County. In fact, while nationally the priesthood has declined, the diocese has had a growing number of priests since its formation in 1974.

Now, more than 160 diocesan priests serve in 68 parishes. The number is adequate, but if more priests came on board, the diocese could open more parishes for the growing Catholic population.
With that goal, the diocese has an active vocations program to help those who, like Cummings, may feel a calling but hesitate to take the leap of faith.

Over the course of 20 years, Cummings came back to the church occasionally. In 2005, after the death of his mother, he began attending Mass several times a week. He knew he would probably end up a priest.

Still, Cummings--who worked as a computer scientist in King George County--doubted his worthiness. Priests, he thought, were a lot like the saints: extremely holy.

He brought his concern to the Rev. Brian Bachista, vocations director for the Arlington Diocese. It's a common worry.

"What we say off the bat is that you're not worthy enough, and you're not holy enough. There are no perfect priests," Bachista said. "We're all called to be faithful Christians and the reason one explores the priesthood is not their level of holiness but because they believe this is what God created them for."

On Easter 2006, Cummings said he definitely felt God calling him to be a priest with a very strong, peaceful feeling.

It took nearly a year to apply to seminary. The proc-ess involves a 38-page application, eight letters of reference, a criminal background check, a psychological evaluation, two essays and a 10-page biography.

"The process is similar to applying to a college, with a much more detailed analysis on our personalities and spirituality," said Jason Burchell, a Courtland High School graduate studying to be a priest.

The application is long and difficult, but Cummings said he understood.

"The church takes very seriously the problems of the past," he said.

The process weeds out the majority of applicants, Bachista said. They are not asked to continue to seminary if they've committed any sexual abuse or if they have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, he said. Also, anyone who comes to the priesthood immediately after a job loss or breakup is asked to wait a year.

After making it through the screening process, potential priests enter seminary. The diocese sends priests to one of six seminaries. Cummings attends a Massachusetts seminary, geared toward older men. Burchell, 29, attends one in Maryland.

For most men who, like Cummings and Burchell, already have college degrees, it takes about six years of study to become a priest. The diocese pays the $30,000 annual tuition. About 75 percent of those with degrees will go on to become priests. About 50 percent of those without college degrees will finish. Those who become priests serve in the sponsoring diocese.

Most of the 33 men now studying to become priests first finished college and had another career. The trend, Bachista said, has been for older men to enter the priesthood.

But he sees that changing and attributes it to Pope John Paul II's outreach to youth.

Burchell said that many of his generation felt closer to the recent pope and this, in turn, changed them from a "me-first" generation to one prepared to serve.

The sacrifices of the priesthood are great, he and Cummings said. Even now, they spend much of their time in class, teaching and and serving. And in the future, they expect to work hard as priests.

"All of our life is a balancing act between the sacrifices we make and the compensations we get from those sacrifices," Cummings said. "This is a radical sacrifice but we are compensated by Christ himself."

"'God created me a deaf person for his glory,' explains priest"

From Catholic News Agency

By Sr. Lou Ella Hickman

Corpus Christi, Texas, Feb 21, 2009 / 04:16 pm (CNA).- When Father Tom Coughlin began seriously considering a priestly vocation in high school, little did he realize how long and winding the road would be to becoming the first deaf priest ordained in the United States.

Fr. Tom began applying to various seminaries after he graduated from high school, but was turned down from one after the other due to the fact that he is deaf. Instead, he went on to study and graduate from Gallaudet University in 1972 with a BA in English and then in 1976 obtained his MA in Religious Studies from Catholic University. He entered the Trinitarians in 1972 and was finally ordained by Cardinal Lawrence Sheehan of Baltimore in 1977.

He met with so much opposition before and after ordination that he almost quit, explained Fr. Tom to Sr. Lou Ella Hickman of the South Texas Catholic Newspaper. “Most people were not prepared to welcome a deaf person. I was all alone, but the vocation director Father Joseph Lupo told me ‘You have to open the door. You have to suffer so others won’t.’ And I saw his point. Following Christ you have to make sacrifices. One has to enter the mystery of suffering in order to pray better. Mary, Joseph, the apostles all suffered but they understood the meaning of God’s love.”

Fr. Tom also received support from Cardinal Pio Laghi, former Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States, also gave his support to Fr. Tom’s effort to start a community that would minister to the deaf.

Years later, Cardinal O’Connor of New York invited Fr. Tom to set up a House of Studies for deaf seminarians in Yonkers, New York which was later transferred to the Archdiocese of San Francisco upon the death of Cardinal O’Conner.

Bishop Allen Vigneron of the Oakland Diocese erected Fr. Tom’s deaf community to the status of Private Association of the Faithful – one of the first steps in the creation of a creation of a religious institute. As result, the community moved from San Francisco to Oakland. Then, in 2007, the community moved from California to San Antonio, Texas as the cost of living there was too high.

Now that the community has moved to San Antonio, Fr. Tom explains, “The vocations are coming to us.” That translates to nine members. One is in theology and hopefully will be ordained in about two years. There are three novices, one postulant, two are in philosophy and one is earning a master’s in Spanish. As all of the prayers and formation is done in sign language, if someone is interested he would have to proficient in signing in order to join.

Fr. Tom is currently in contact with ten men who are interested in joining the community.

At present, the down side to this community is that they depend one hundred percent on donations, however, Fr. Tom is also very interested in admitting more men so that the deaf in other cities such as Chicago and New York can benefit from their charism, the special God-given gift that the community lives out. And for Fr. Tom, that is best part of his ministry. He described it simply, “The Word became Flesh. In sign language God’s word is more clear’ not just verbal but made flesh. This is our charism.”

Litany in Honor of St. Francis de Sales, Patron of the Deaf:

For the Church, that we may become more aware of the great giftedness of those with disabilities, — St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.

For the Church, that we may like Christ, reach out and empower those with disabilities, — St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.

For each local Church, that we may respond with care and respect to the needs of those with disabilities, — St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.

For an increase of religious vocations to and by those with disabilities. — St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.

To learn more about Fr. Tom’s community, visit: www.Dominicanmissionaries.org.

Follow Up to the Fr. Tolton Article

After posting THIS ARTICLE on Fr. Augustine Tolton, I received an email from Fr. David Streit, S.V.D. in Rome. It seems the article stirred some memories and he wrote me the following, which I post here with his permission...

"Reading your story on Fr. Tolton brought back memories

for me, since the Divine Word Missionaries have been in
charge of St. Elizabeth's (St. Monica's) parish in Chicago
for generations.

I spent my time as a deacon at St. Elizabeth's. The church
at the time (since replaced) was a converted hall. The rectory
was the closest thing to a slum I have ever seen in my life, full
of cockroaches and rats. Many of the people in the parish lived
in a series of truly appalling low income high rise buildings
called the 'Robert Taylor Homes' (since demolished by the
City of Chicago). I remember sweating blood at the thought
of going to visit sick people in those awful buildings.

The neighborhood was in really poor shape, but the
Black Catholic community of St. Elizabeth's had a collective
memory of Fr. Tolton and were proud of him.

The Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) were the first congregation

in the U.S. 'post Tolton' to accept Black candidates for the
priesthood and religious life. Our pioneering seminary,
St. Augustine's in Bay St. Louis, MS, was founded in
the 1920s by stubborn German SVDs who didn't let
a little thing like the prevailing racism keep them from admitting
and training Black candidates from all over the South and the
Caribbean.

The attached pictures show the first four Black SVDs who
were ordained on May 23, 1934. They were Fr. Vincent Smith, SVD,
Fr. Francis Wade, SVD, Fr. Maurice Rousseve, SVD, and
Fr. Anthony Burgess, SVD. Shortly after, Bro. Vincent Webb, SVD
professed his vows as the fist Black religious Brother. He just died
a few years ago after 68 years as an SVD Brother. Our Holy Spirit
Sisters (SSpS) were among the first Sisters to open and teach in
Black schools in Louisana, Mississippi and Arkansas. The very first
congregation founded by African American women were the
Oblate Sisters of Providence, founded in Baltimore in 1821.
They pre-dated Fr. Tolton by 50 years. (Picture below)

The 4 Black SVDs pictured below are usually called the first African
American men ordained as priests, but I believe that what is really
meant is that they were the first ones ordained in the U.S. (as the article
mentioned, Fr. Tolton was ordained in Rome.)

Since then, about 100 of the African American priests in
the U.S. have either been SVDs or had their training with SVDs
and later were incardinated in dioceses as things opened up.
At least seven African American SVDs have been appointed
as Bishops in the U.S.

February is Black History month, and it's a good time to
remember Fr. Tolton and those courageous men and women who followed him."

Fr. Dave Streit, SVD
Rome

Fr. Augustine Tolton - America's First Black Priest

From the Examiner.com

By Pamela Luther

With Illinois’s political dirty underwear hanging out to dry in the past few months, it looks like more political negative dispersions are falling upon us Is there any one who has not heard enough of Blago and now the evolving comments by Burris? My "profound" editorial comment is “Ugh”. So much for that, as far as I am concerned. I want to examine a person of integrity.

One illustrious man of exemplary character from Illinois impacted Chicago and the mid-state region. This was America’s first black priest, Fr. Augustine Tolton.
He was born into slavery in 1854 in Missouri. He was baptized Catholic and was apparently catechized (taught) in the faith as a young person. There are several versions regarding his escape from slavery, but they all grant that his mother escaped with him (age 7) and her other children to Hannibal, Missouri where they crossed the Mississippi in small boat into Illinois, a free state.

They made their way 21 miles north to Quincy, IL where they ultimately resided and worked in a tobacco factory. Young Augustine was befriended by an Irish Catholic priest who allowed Tolton to attend St. Peter’s parochial school. Although Illinois was a free state, racial biases ran strong during the Civil War era, and his going to this school caused controversy among those in the parish. Even though Tolton was very bright and was involved serving the parish as an altar boy, the hullaballoo ballooned. His mentor, Fr Peter McGirr, sensing the vocational call this young man had, encouraged him to finish his education. Tolton and his siblings stayed in the parochial school in spite of the social backlash.

In spite of adversity and racism, Tolton finished school and graduated from Quincy College, a Franciscan college. As he prepared to enter the priesthood, it became clear that the racial barriers still existed. Every single American seminary rejected him as a student, even the one that trained priests to minister to the black community!

His benefactors finally were able to assist Tolton enough that he was able to go to Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. There he became fluent in Italian as well as learning Latin and Greek.Tolton was ordained in Rome in 1886. Shortyly after his ordination, he was informed that his mission would be to “negroes in the United States.”

Upon returning to Quincy, he celebrated his first American mass at St.Boniface parish and was appointed to serve at St. Joseph Negro Church in that city. He was such an articulate preacher that many whites were flocking to the parish; thus causing great controversy again because of the ugliness of racism. Tolton graciously decided to move on.

Because of prejudice and the attitudes of the times, Fr. Augustine Tolton received a significant amount of flak while serving as pastor of St. Joseph’s Negro Church in Quincy, IL. He was very successful and became well known as an inspiring homilist with his eloquent voice and impressive education.

“The large number of people who sought his classes of inquiry, the crowded Sunday Masses, the coming together of people of both races in his church brought down on him not only the jealously and scorn of some white priests, but also the envy of some Protestant Negro ministers”. (rootweb)

This did not go over well in the post-Civil war years where racism persisted in spite of the emancipation of slaves. It appears that Tolton agreed to leave the city—I assume that he didn’t want to be the source for disunity within the Church.

He went to Chicago where he was well received. In Chicago, he led the development of the “Negro national parish” at St. Monica’s Catholic Church at 36th and Dearborn with the help of St. Elizabeth’s parish. He was very successful earning national attention and a parishioner count of 600 people. He was affectionately known as Good Father Gus. The parish ultimately became an mission of St. Elizabeth's.

Fr Tolton had some health issues and died from heat stroke one hot Chicago summer day in July, 1887. He was buried in Quincy, IL at a priest’s cemetery, as he had requested. Apparently his coffin was buried very deeply so that another priest’s coffin could be placed over it. According to sources, it is surprising that, given the times, it was amazing that he was even allowed to be buried in a “white” cemetery, and speculation exists regarding racism following him to the grave.
I find this man to be incredibly fascinating. He overcame insurmountable odds in order to fulfill the call God had given him. He bore the “yoke of slavery and racism’. Even in the face of all odds, he received an unbelievably rich education and ministered to the black community of his time. He was called upon by bishops from large dioceses to help establish parishes for black Catholics. The hope of possibility, the achievement of all he did demonstrate the power of God, the importance of mentors and strong self-determination to live out the Gospel in the face of all negative odds. That to me is very inspiring!

Read the full story in this book:

"Pope discovered vocation in culture of death"

"The pope said in 2006 that it was a clash with the brutality of the Nazi system, "this anti-human culture", that confirmed in him the vocation to the priesthood."

From Spero News

By Asia News

It was the "brutality" of Nazism, of this "anti-human culture" that helped the young Joseph Ratzinger discover his vocation for the priesthood. "It confirmed to me that the Gospel shows us the right road, that we must help so that its road will triumph", said Benedict XVI. He was responding to one of the questions put to him by five youth of the diocese of Rome, who took part in a meeting to prepare for the upcoming World Youth Day.

A vocation that grew with the "beauty of the liturgy" and with "love of knowledge", that is, with theology.

Replying to a question about his vocation, the Pope said: "I grew up in a world very different to the present one, but at the end, things come together. At the time, on the one hand, it was still normal to go to church and to accept the Revelation; on the other, there was the Nazi regime that was telling me the new Germany would no longer need priests. But it was precisely this clash with the brutality of this system, of this anti-human culture, that confirmed to me that the Gospel shows us the right way, that we must help so that its road will triumph. My vocation grew almost naturally with me, without great conversion moments. Helped by my parents and by the parish priest, I discovered the beauty of the liturgy which, in a certain sense, opens up the heavens.

"In the second place, I was helped by the beauty of knowledge, understanding the Sacred Scripture as much as possible, entering in this Dialogue with God that is theology. Naturally, difficulties could not but be present, I asked myself if I would be able to live in celibacy for all my life, and I was aware that loving theology was not enough to be a good priest; one also needed to be always available for sick people, the poor and youth. To be simple with the simple. I asked myself if I would be capable of living all this. I was helped by the company of friends and good priests.

There was a spontaneous festive atmosphere in a meeting that swiftly turned into a celebration, with at least 30,000 Roman youth present. However there were also flags of Poland, Czech Republic and Mexico waving among the crowd in St Peter's Square, around Benedict XVI. A meeting that re-evoked memories of John Paul II, who came up with the idea of World Youth Day and who gave youth, in the now-distant 1984, the cross that the youth today carried inside the basilica, going to pay homage at the tomb of Wojtyla with Benedict XVI.

Choirs, dance and music welcomed Benedict XVI into the square, as did the words of Maddalena Santoro, the sister of Fr Andrea, who read some writings of the murdered priest, including: "I feel I am a priest for all, because they are sons loved by God: God loves Jews, he loves Christians, he loves Muslims." The pope embraced her and Fr Andrea's mother, Maria.

The questions posed by youth inevitably included one about the family, marriage and sexuality, asked to the Pope by Anna, aged 19 years.

His reply was that loving was often understood to be something egotistical, that consumeristic culture had emptied of meaning, whereas it was really letting go of oneself and therefore self-discovery. In the Bible itself, right after creation, "the sacred author gives a definition of marriage, following the other, so as to become a sole existence, flesh born of communion of love that unites and thus creates the future."

With time, all cultures became stained by the mistakes of mankind and thus the original plan of God was obscured, even if man could never completely forget or wipe it out. Thus it is with monogamy. Thus, marriage and affection become possible even if they appear impossible in the climate of our world. Notwithstanding all other models of life, there are many Christian families living with joy, according to the model indicated by the creator, We know that to achieve great success, in sport for example, training, discipline and renunciation are called for. This is how it is with life too: becoming men demands renunciation that is not negative, but which helps us become truly men, and if there is a consumeristic culture that does not want us to live according to God's plan, we must create islands of Catholic culture, in which to live according to the creator's plan.

And to the question "what is expected of us", Benedict XVI replied: "Making God present in society".