May 5, 2010

Former paramedic, architect to be ordained to the priesthood

By Denver Catholic Register

On May 15, five men attending the two seminaries of the Denver Archdiocese will be ordained to the priesthood. The men attend St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Archdio-cesan Missionary Seminary.

Below are interview responses from two of the seminarians. The other three will be featured in next week’s Denver Catholic Register. Click here to read more of their interview responses as published prior to their ordination to the Diaconate.

Name: Deacon David Jerome Nix
Birth date: Aug. 16, 1978
Birthplace: Denver
Former occupation: Paramedic, FOCUS missionary
Seminary: St. John Vianney
 

Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: Sometimes from the most unlikely of people.  For instance, an elderly orthodox Jewish woman from Philadelphia has been very encouraging through the past six years of seminary.  I met her and her husband on a flight from London to Rome before seminary, and we all stayed friends.  She’s flying out for my ordination. 
 

Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: Praying the Mass seems really daunting after learning what the Mass really is.
 

Q: If you have been on mission (or itinerancy) as part of your formation thus far, share where you went and what you learned from that experience.
A: Having witnessed the Gospel in a few foreign countries, it is hard to narrow it down to what was learned in a few sentences.  Perhaps I can say that there is nothing as formative as love, especially toward the poor and the unborn.  To love them both at the darkest spots, like abortion clinics, is really to love Jesus Christ.  I learned that it takes supernatural love, not just natural love.  Only God can give the first.
 

Q: Can you recall a particular moment when you have been called to give testimony to your faith, or more particularly, to your vocation to the priesthood? For example, perhaps someone’s recognition of your seminarian status has led to a conversation about the Catholic faith?
A: A few months ago I went to go speak to a professed atheist on his death bed.  Partly because of my Roman collar, and partly because of his grandkids’ prayers, Divine Mercy came into his life.  He professed a belief in God that very hour of our conversation (3 p.m.—the mercy hour—when Jesus died for him) and he asked me to baptize him.  I did baptize him, and he died nine days later.

Name: Deacon Jose Maria Quera
Birth date: June 14, 1960
Birthplace: Barcelona, Spain
Former occupation: Architect
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater
 

Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: God from the very first moment became my first and strongest support. Externally, He helped me greatly through my community, my catechists, my family, and friend priests. Internally, God gave me the grace to surrender all my resistance to renounce married life and abandon my profession (architect).
 

Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: Externally, I find most daunting to serve the Church in a country far from mine with a different culture and language. Internally, the thing that appears as most daunting is my weaknesses and personal limitations. In this sense, St. Paul’s experience contemplating God’s power, perfectly shown in his weakness encourages me tremendously. It gives me the key to overcome the daunting areas and crosses that surely will be raised in my future priestly life: To not look down on my limitations but just lean on God.
 

Q: If you have been on mission (or itinerancy) as part of your formation thus far, share where you went and what you learned from that experience.
A: My three years in itinerancy have been really helpful in my formation. The first year I joined a team catechizing in the southern states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. These are states with a small Catholic presence. We had to travel long distances constantly in order to reach and catechize in different towns or visit priests. That year I also experienced for the first time a great persecution from some people within the Church; a sign that showed me the authenticity of the mission. I felt like a true disciple, sharing the same persecution that Christ endured from within the Jewish religious circles.

The following two years I joined a new team formed to catechize in the northern states of New England. The reality there was very different. We found a strong Catholic presence but one deeply hurt by a great secularization and the recent sex scandals. Many churches had been sold, and old parishes that had been built to welcome a large Catholic community now were almost empty. One of the positive aspects coming from this crisis is that I saw the priests more open to accept our assistance helping them to reach and bringing back those people who no longer believe in God.  

I conclude by saying that personally, this time helped me to experience the presence of God accompanying the team in the precariousness of the mission. He was always providing for us in different ways: temporary jobs to pay for gas, hospitality from priests and various people, and also some nights sleeping in the car. I’m especially happy for having been a witness of the power of God through the foolishness of the preaching. I have experienced how the announcement of the kerygma (death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) to people has the power to transform the lives of those who accept the love of God manifested in Jesus Christ.