Age: 28
Home Parish: I was accepted into the Catholic Church at the Catholic Center in Athens, GA
Seminary: I finished my studies attending Mundelein Seminary at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. I am currently working in a Pastoral Year at the Parish of Corpus Christi in Round Lake, NY
Degrees: BA in International Affairs from the University of Georgia, MDiv from USML
Work Experience: Technical Advisor at UGA-Student Center, 1st Lieutenant Chaplain Candidate with the 330th Medical Reserve Unity out of Ft. Sheridan, IL
Vocation Story: The Church requires that any man seeking ordination, whether it’s diaconate or priesthood, to attend a five day retreat within six months of ordination. For me, that retreat was scheduled for the 2nd week of Lent, at New Melleray Abbey, a Trappist Monastery located in Des Moines, Iowa. The rhythms of prayer and silence were much appreciated after having spent a blurred three months in the Holy Land. As thoughts of diaconate ordination grew within my mind, the reality of the promises that I would soon be taking, and the faint flicker of the light of this very long tunnel all began to dawn on me.
I remember during one of the days of prayer, I was asking God if I was really ready for this. Could I make these promises, and would His grace be there to keep me walking if I wavered. Could I put complete faith in this vocation? At one point, His voice quietly interrupted the myriad of thoughts running through my mind. He asked me, what do you want? Without a pause for contemplation, I replied, “I want to be a priest.” His response was quick and unwavering, that is not the right answer. A sense of cold dread washed over my heart. Had I made the wrong decision? Had I been going down the wrong path for the past five years? What had I missed? He asked again, what do you want?
I had to sit with that question for many hours. Then, during a walk through the Trappists’ cemetery, the snow capping the tops of tomb stones which bore witness to a life of dedication to prayer, it occurred to me the mistake of my answer. To prayer I returned, and again, the question came, what do you want? My response was where I’d begun years ago when I first arrived in Albany in 2006. “I want to be close to you.”
You see, a vocation is a very difficult thing to understand. Regardless of its form, whether it’s marriage, religious life or the priesthood, we can never understand what those promises will demand of us, nor where they will lead us. Yet these worries, which often seem so large, are in truth, secondary to everyone’s primary vocation; to be with Christ. People change, marriages change, the priesthood can change. But Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13.8).
The beginning of a vocation can be difficult to discern. During the beginning of the process, I had thousands of questions, such as “is God really calling me to be a priest?” “What if I want a wife and kids?” and “Am I really qualified to be a priest?” That’s not how Jesus calls people to the priesthood though. Consider the first apostles. In the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus asks Simon and Andrew, “what are you looking for?” They wanted to know where He was going to be, to which he replied, “come and see.” To Philip, He simply offered two words, “follow me” and Philip Nathaniel left everything and followed. Our life is always a response to that call. There are times when all other things fail. The things that you thought important and the people that you relied on can all let you down. But at the very heart of the Christian life is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which loves us and sustains our vocation. The core of this reality for a priest is the Eucharist. Psalm 116 says it best: I kept my faith, even when I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted’; I said in my consternation, ‘men are all a vain hope.’ What shall I render to the Lord for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people (Ps 116.10-14)
