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Q&A’s: Men to be ordained to holy orders
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FOR MORE INFORMATION: Archdiocese of Denver's Office of the Diaconate: Archdiocese of Denver's Office of Priest Personnel: Archdiocese of Denver's Office of Priestly Vocations: |
By Denver Catholic Register
Ten men were ordained to the diaconate on Oct. 9 to minister in the Denver Archdiocese.
Two of the men were ordained permanent deacons; the remaining eight men were ordained to the diaconate as a step in their priesthood formation.All the men are in formation to minister in the Denver Archdiocese.
CLICK ON EACH NAME BELOW to read their interview with the Denver Catholic Register.
To be ordained deacons:
To be ordained deacons, as a part of their priesthood formation:
- Michael Bodzioch
- Gerónimo González
- Brian Larkin
- John Nepil
- Cletus Omode
- Gregg Pedersen
- Brady Wagner
- Grzegorz Wojcik
To be ordained to the Permanent Diaconate:
Meet Deacon Candidate David Peverley
Name: David Richard Peverley
Birthdate: Oct 15, 1956
Parish assignment: St. Peter, Greeley
Wife’s name and wedding date: Doreen Ann Peverley; April 13, 1985
Children: Michael, 29; Laura, 24; Daniel, 22; Sharae, 19
Formation: St. Francis School of Theology for Deacons
Q: Describe your educational and professional background.
A: College degree from the University of Houston. Worked in the computer industry as a product and project manager for 30 years. I now work for St. Peter’s as director of religious education and family life.
Q: What first attracted you to the diaconate?
A: Initially I saw it as a means to an end. But now, I see it as a glorious state of being from which the mission of the Church can be spread.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter formation?
A: I felt an interior call to serve people, especially people in need, through the office of the Church. I went through a period of discernment where I felt the call was supported.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about serving the faithful as a deacon?
A: The clerical state gives us a tremendous opportunity to witness to the Church and support the mission of the Church leading people to Christ and his salvation here in our earthly lives and for eternity. The shepherding role appeals to me the most.
Q: What do you find most daunting about serving the faithful as a deacon?
A: Along with the opportunity to make a positive difference in people’s lives comes the opportunity to hurt. The wrong comment at the wrong time can send people away and I find that daunting.
Q: Deacons often find themselves called to a particular apostolate or area of service. Is there a particular apostolate to which you feel uniquely called by God in your role as a deacon?
A: I feel called to serve people with a “broken heart” from whatever source. The broken heart leads to a sense of being lost, meaninglessness and pain. Through a variety of means and as an instrument of grace, I hope to lead people back to a path of hope.
Q: Can you describe how God led you to this particular area of service?
A: In the beginning, I had many, many people come forward to me for help even though I had no particular skills in this area. Through continual study, prayer and grace, the work has born fruit.
Q: How do you plan to balance your ministry to the Church with your responsibilities to your spouse and family?
A: My wife and I have weekly dates where we reconnect as wife and husband. Also, Doreen works at St. Peter’s so we see each other throughout the day.
Q: How do you feel your experience as a husband and father will contribute to your ministry as a deacon?
A: We know, firsthand, the joys, heartbreaks, challenges, wonders and opportunities in these aspects of life. We have the scars as well as the victory patches.
Q: If there was one aspect of the diaconate that you’d like to clarify for Catholics, what would it be?
A: We are here to serve you. We are here to lead you to the holiness and happiness of a life in Christ. Never be afraid to come to us with your worries.
Q: Do you have a favorite or unusual hobby?
A: I love to wander off the trail in new and unusual wilderness lands.
Meet Deacon Candidate Andy Usera
Name: Joseph “Andy” Andrew Usera
Birthdate: Oct. 26, 1949 in Santurce, Puerto Rico
Parish assignment: Our Lady of Loreto in Foxfield
Wife’s name and wedding date: Betty Ann (Batcheller) Usera; April 10, 1976
Children: Paul Vincent Usera, 31 and Christian Nicholas Usera, 28; granddaughter Sophia, 1 and daughter-in-law Aimee
Formation: St. Francis School of Theology for Deacons
Q: Describe your educational and professional background.
A: I graduated from Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, a Jesuit high school in Puerto Rico in 1967. I received a B.A. in modern languages from Colgate University (1971), a J.D. from George Washington University in 1976 and a masters in systematic theology from the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College in 2006. Since February 2009, I am the vice president and general counsel of Rocky Vista University, a college of osteopathic medicine and health sciences located in Parker, Colo. For 20 years before that I was in private law practice as an attorney in the field of higher education law in Virginia. Before that I served as in-house counsel to a postsecondary accrediting agency, and also served as deputy director of congressional liaison for a federal agency. I also served two members for House Education and Labor for seven years as education aide.
Q: What first attracted you to the diaconate?
A: Initially as a response to a drag-down conversion experience on May 8, 1994, in the Diocese of Arlington, Va., where the permanent diaconate program had been closed for many ears and did not reopen until 2006.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter formation?
A: A deep encounter with God in December 1996 where the call was explicit and elicited a further response, which coincided with my name being submitted to the bishop of Arlington for consideration as someone who could assist through the diaconate in the evangelization of Hispanics. I met with the head of the diocese’s Hispanic Apostolate, who in turn encouraged me to pursue a master’s in theology in preparation for the day when the program was reopened.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about serving the faithful as a deacon?
A: Being able to apply a lifetime of quite varied life experiences and education to the service of God and others. God-given talents are meant to be used and if we don’t we will one day be held accountable.
Q: What do you find most daunting about serving the faithful as a deacon?
A: The careful balancing of all of the facets of my life, including two sacraments. One needs prayer, grace and perseverance to make it all fit in a day. Additionally, we need to pursue as a deacon quality over quantity. We serve to what we are called to do and strive to do it well.
Q: Deacons often find themselves called to a particular apostolate or area of service. Is there a particular apostolate to which you feel uniquely called by God in your role as a deacon?
A: Because of my language skills, advanced theological studies and teaching experience (nine years as an instructor for the Institute of Pastoral Formation in the Arlington Diocese), teaching and sharing knowledge with others. In teaching the blessing works both ways.
Q: Can you describe how God led you to this particular area of service?
A: I was asked around 1998 to lend a hand in teaching by the Institute of Pastoral Formation of the Arlington Diocese’s Hispanic Apostolate, although I had never taught before. My language ability also led me to mission work in Nicaragua.
Q: How do you plan to balance your ministry to the Church with your responsibilities to your spouse and family?
A: Wisely and interactively. When I first entered formation and throughout, there has been on emphasis on the need to seek balance in our diaconal ministry and lives. Communicating with the spouse is very important, and this includes calendaring activities. My wife, a convert to Catholicism, is descended from a long line of ministers spanning many centuries, so from her perspective, it is normative for the man to be engaged in ministry and she has been my support throughout the long process, which included a relocation from Virginia to Denver.
Q: How do you feel your experience as a husband and father will contribute to your ministry as a deacon?
A: In today’s world, the family unit which is the foundation of our Church is under attack. Marriages feel the strain of many factors, whether economic, social or the racing pace of life. I have experienced much in my own life and in my own family, as a husband, father and in the context of an extended family, which gives me a perspective of understanding and relating to what others may be experiencing. When we hurt is when we most want to feel Christ’s love and support. If I can help in communicating that to those in need, that will indeed be a blessing for them and for me.
Q: If there was one aspect of the diaconate that you’d like to clarify for Catholics, what would it be?
A: There is no such thing as a “lay deacon.” We are ordained clergy and bear God’s imprint in our souls as of ordination, and this despite the fact that many of those who are permanent deacons are married and maintain professional jobs while serving in diaconal ministry. Another thing is that once ordained a deacon, the man is always a deacon. I was very touched during my recent ordination retreat at the Monastery of St. Walburga when I heard a reading on the death of one of the early Church martyrs, a bishop, who removed his dalmatic and handed it over just before being put to death.
Q: Do you have a favorite or unusual hobby?
A: Cooking and travel. In travel, my wife and I tend to mix something religious in our travels, even when it is for vacation or business.
To be ordained to the "Transitional" Diaconate as a part of their priesthood formation.
Full name: Michael Stanley Bodzioch
Birth date: July 7, 1957
Where born and reared: Elizabeth, NJ
Seminary: Blessed John XXIII National Seminary, Weston, Mass.
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I have a Bachelor of Arts in computer science from Rutgers University, 1988. I worked for AT&T for almost 17 years as a computer programmer/systems analyst. Basically, I built and maintained small computer software systems to help make other AT&T employees’ jobs just a little easier.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood?
A: Noticing the lived example of priests in my life. Why would they do this?
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: Early in the 2000s. Somewhat simultaneously, as our faith became more and more important in my life, several people had asked me if I had ever considered the priesthood.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter the seminary?
A: The Blessed Sacrament. In hindsight, as I was my reprioritizing my life, He was in the center of it: daily Mass, eucharistic adoration, just spending time in a Catholic church.
Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: Primarily in prayer. However, my family and friends have also provided wonderful support. Not the least of whom is my former pastor, Father Larry Christensen, C.M. His support, especially his initial support when I could have hightailed it elsewhere, has been very important for me.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the priesthood?
A: Leading the people in prayer, primarily in the Mass; celebrating the sacraments, in general.
Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: The tremendous responsibility the Lord places in the priest’s hands, literally and figuratively, and the corresponding trust that his faithful place in the priest.
Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: I would say the general camaraderie among the seminarians. As we go through the ups-and-downs of seminary life, a bond forms among the men. I see some lifetime friendships forming.
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: I enjoy reading, keeping up with current events and continuing to learn about our faith.
Q: Is there a particular talent or gift you feel you bring to the seminary community and, eventually, to the Church as a whole?
A: I have been able to use some of my computer skills since I’ve entered the seminary. I’ve used them more than I’d expected. How the Holy Spirit will use that now and in the future for his purposes? He’ll have to figure that out.
Q: In today’s world, a call to celibacy is seen as radical, if not impossible. How have you reconciled the priesthood’s call to celibacy with this challenging cultural perspective?
A: Radical. Seemingly impossible. Challenging. Doesn’t sound different than many of the Church’s teachings, and the Gospel message in general. Our lived faith for Catholics is radical, seemingly impossible, and challenging for all.
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?
A: My being recognized as a seminarian has definitely led to conversations about our faith. This happens especially in the parish, for example: greeting people at the exits after the Mass. Some of these people seek clarification on particular teachings of the Church.
Q: How do you feel about this significant step, being ordained to the diaconate, in your priesthood formation?
A: This is of course an important milestone in my journey. This ordination opens up more opportunities for me to serve in my parish pastoral assignment in Massachusetts: proclaiming the Gospel, preaching, baptisms. I will be able to participate more in the life of the parish, in the life of the Church as a whole, and…eventually in the life of the Church in the Archdiocese of Denver.
Meet seminarian Gerónimo González
Name: Gerónimo González
Birthdate: Oct. 31, 1983
Where born and reared: Jalisco, Mexico, also reared in Colorado
Seminary: St. John Vianney Theological Seminary
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I entered seminary after I graduated from Aurora Central High School (Aurora, Colo.) in 2002.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood?
A: I remember going to Mass when I was a child and wanting to sit at the edge of the pew on the center aisle so that I could see the priest. Something about the priest fascinated me. As I reflect on this experience now, I know that it was Christ himself in the person of the priest that attracted me. He was calling me.
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: Since I was a child I have felt a call to the priesthood. That calling has deepened as the years have passed.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter the seminary?
A: As I grew older the idea of becoming a priest did not wane so, when I was about 15, I joined RAD (Radical Awareness for Discipleship). This program, run by the Vocations Office of the Archdiocese of Denver, helped me to dive deeper into my call and helped me make the decision to join the seminary here in Denver. For me, it was never a question of “if” I was going to enter seminary; it was a question of “where.”
Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: Throughout my life God has provided many people who have supported my vocation. My family has been a great support as well as many priests and friends.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the priesthood?
A: I look forward to celebrating the Eucharist and bringing people to Christ who is present in this sacrament.
Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: Being a priest is not easy. This is something I have come to learn in the seminary although I have not experienced it myself. I think what I find most daunting about the priesthood is being a spiritual guide for countless souls who will look to me to be another Christ for them. The responsibilities inherent in the ministry are enough to drive anyone away, but I know that this is who God wants me to be. I have faith that He will bring to completion the good work he has begun.
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: I like gardening, playing foosball, and spending time with family.
Q: Is there a particular talent or gift you feel you bring to the seminary community and, eventually, to the Church as a whole?
A: I think one of the biggest gifts/talents I have received is that of being bilingual and bicultural. This talent will be indispensable for my future ministry.
Q: In today’s world, a call to celibacy is seen as radical, if not impossible. How have you reconciled the priesthood’s call to celibacy with this challenging cultural perspective?
A: A call to celibacy is radical but not impossible. I desire and love the Lord and this love, as imperfect as it may be, drives me to want to give myself entirely to Christ. Celibacy is a way of expressing and living the love between the loved and the Beloved as St. John of the Cross would say. Christ fulfils all human needs and desires. It is for Him that I will live my celibacy in the context of my priesthood. In this way, I will be utterly receptive to him and to the needs of his Church. The world will never fully understand the “why” of celibacy because it does not understand what love truly is.
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?
A: From very early in my life I remember giving testimony to my faith and to my vocation. When I was in high school teachers would ask me what I was planning to do with my life. I always said I wanted to become a priest. Such on answer always meant strange looks and sometimes an explanation.
Full name: Brian Patrick Colby Larkin
Birth Date: June 28th, 1980
Where born and raised: Born in Denver, raised in Littleton
Seminary: St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver, Colo.
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I graduated from the University of Colorado in the spring of 2002 with a bachelor of arts in business administration, emphasis in accounting. Following my time at the University of Colorado, I worked as a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionary for two years, one in Montana and one in North Dakota.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood?
A: I really wasn’t interested in the priesthood; I cared much more about evangelization and I largely resisted the possibility of priesthood for a number of years. My heart was first turned toward my vocation by the deep joy I found in helping others come to know Jesus—and seeing how desperately the people around me needed him. Through my service in FOCUS and prayer I saw more and more the beauty and necessity of priests.
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I first felt the call my senior year of college. It really scared me because I had other plans, but one of my roommates left college to enter seminary, and his decision shocked me into being more open to God’s will in my life.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter the seminary?
A: The only thing that can really sustain a vocation is God’s call. I came to seminary and stayed because I have somehow become convinced that this is God’s will for my life. At a certain point I knew I had to enter to find out, I would never be at peace if I didn’t at least give God that chance.
Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: Support has come from my family members who have loved me even if not all of them really understood; there is also a strong bond between men who are called to something greater than themselves. My brother seminarians, especially those in my class, have undergone the same trials, doubts and hopes as I have; there is something powerful in that. For myself and a few of the other guys, we have found a very strong form of this in the brotherhood of the Companions of Christ (a fraternity).
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the priesthood?
A: Celebrating the Mass and preaching the Gospel.
Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:16, “who is sufficient for these things,” referring to his ministry. I feel the same general insufficiency. A priest is called to be Jesus Christ for the Church, and so I don’t find any one particular thing as daunting as the knowledge of whose shoes I am called to stand in.
Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: My favorite class was our course on the synoptic Gospels; but a close runner-up would be pastoral theology. The best aspect of seminary is having a curfew which is earlier than the one for the high school kids I have taught (just kidding).
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: Getting out of the city for a long run.
Q: Is there a particular talent or gift you feel you bring to the seminary community and, eventually, to the Church as a whole?
A: I have a great love for Scripture and for teaching it.
Q: In today’s world, a call to celibacy is seen as radical, if not impossible. How have you reconciled the priesthood’s call to celibacy with this challenging cultural perspective?
A: Celibacy is radical, and most people don’t understand it; but the same is true for the Gospel as a whole. I find that many conversations about celibacy are engaged at a superficial level, and that is how the world tends to view the faith. Celibacy however is a beautiful gift, and one which defies trite answers. I also can’t say that I look to the world to understand sexuality, but to Christ, Mary and the Church.
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?
A: For three years of my seminary time I was really involved with the youth group from my home parish of St. Frances Cabrini. During that time I was mostly leading Bible studies for high-school aged young men. It was tremendously formative and rewarding for me, and through the study of Scripture I was able to watch a number of men encounter the Lord in a powerful way.
Q: How do you feel about this significant step, being ordained to the diaconate, in your priesthood formation?
A: I feel both very excited and also a little trepidation. I am grateful to the Lord for my vocation and excited to serve the Church. I hope and pray that I will be a worthy steward of God’s mysteries..
Full name: John Nepil
Birth date: August, 27, 1983
Where born and reared: Denver, CO
Seminary: St. John Vianney Theological Seminary
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I entered at 18 as a graduate of Littleton High School.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood?
A: After my conversion to the faith in the summer before my senior year, it was the witness of Msgr. Ken Leone and Father Michael Pavlakovich, at the time, the two priests at my home parish, St. Frances Cabrini.
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: Throughout my senior year in high school.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter the seminary?
A: I was 18 and had only one desire—to do something radical for the Lord.
Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: My family and friends were supportive of the decision—most importantly, the men who I entered with were a great source of encouragement and support.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the priesthood?
A: Offering Mass and hearing confessions.
Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: Isolation and workaholism.
Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: A theology elective on the work of Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: Climbing 14ers.
Q: Is there a particular talent or gift you feel you bring to the seminary community and, eventually, to the Church as a whole?
A: I’m pretty sweet at Bond for N64 (Nintendo game).
Q: In today’s world, a call to celibacy is seen as radical, if not impossible. How have you reconciled the priesthood’s call to celibacy with this challenging cultural perspective?
A: Christ’s call to celibacy is irreconcilable to the cultural perspective on sexuality.
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?
A: I taught a Bible study for high school guys, two of whom—Joe O’Sullivan and Kevin Burnett—are now seminarians and have surpassed me in holiness and wisdom.
Q: How do you feel about this significant step, being ordained to the diaconate, in your priesthood formation?
A: It is as humbling as it is surreal—the greatest honor of my life.
Name/Age: Cletus Oluwafemi Omode, 33
Where born and reared: Nigeria
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary, Denver, Colo.
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: Education: Ordinary national diploma in quantity surveying and building technology; higher national diploma in quantity surveying. Professional background: two years working experience in technical design manufacturing production processes and estimation and control in a construction products company.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood?
A: What really came first was not my priestly vocation rather it was my Christian vocation. In this sense it is much more than an experience of my vocation to the priesthood. I will describe it as a journey. My priestly vocation is more than a choice on my part; it is more of a response because I was led to it in an unexpected way and far from my own plans. To prepare me for it, it was preceded by many remarkable events and the influence of each person that I came across in my life. But most of all by the Christian community and my family.
I was born a Catholic but I had never understood till a critical moment in my life, the meaning of the words “gift of faith.” When one becomes envious of those who do not believe, one begins to feel cheated. He begins to reject belief itself as I did. Without faith one is free and that at first is a pleasant feeling. It is only later that you become terrorized and alarmed because everything is robbed of meaning and sense. There is nothing to build on except the hollowness of oneself and one’s pride. This brought me to the brink of taking my life.
Truly, the Church understands doubt and teaches that faith is a gift not to be acquired by either reason or merit. It was as a result of this deep personal experience of Christ’s love who took me out of hell through a serious journey in the life of faith of the Christian community of the Neocatechumenal Way and my family that I was guided back — first to the faith and then to the priestly vocation, which I see clearly as a fruit of this experience. In this sense I can say I am a concrete witness.
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I was 9 or 10 years old when I first thought about becoming a priest. It was closely tied to the fact that it was the period in my life that I made my first Communion, my family met the Neocatechumenal Way and I came in contact with two priests who lived their vocation truly losing their lives in love with Christ and the Church.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter the seminary?
A: My experience as an itinerant (missionary) in Nigeria. Each moment of catechesis is always life-changing, not only for those listening but for me too. It gave me purpose and meaning that God indeed has a plan for my life. The Church made sense more and I began to understand my relationship to the Church. In time it gave me the courage to take the final step—to enter the seminary.
Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: In the Neocatechumenal Way through the brothers and sisters of the communities and my catechists, both in Nigeria and here in the United States; my former parish priest Father Liam Burke and my family. Also in my formation—my brother seminarians and my formators.
Q: What are you must looking forward to about the priesthood?
A: St. John Vianney was the one who said, “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Christ.” God’s love cannot be resigned to seeing people deprive themselves of salvation. There is nothing better than a shepherd with the sheep who had been lost in the desert being brought back to the fold. It is true that I cannot directly produce the conversion of souls but I am responsible for the proclamation of the Good News, of the totality of faith and its demands. Those who have encountered Christ cannot resist the urge to tell their friends.
Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: Seeking out those who are far away.
Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of the seminary life?
A: The whole aspect of the seminary formation. To choose one over the other will not give sense to other aspects, which were equally fruitful for me.
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: Team sports and reading.
Q: Is there a particular talent or gift you feel you bring to the seminary community and, eventually, to the church as a whole?
A: That gift is my life. Every other thing (talents and capabilities, etc., if they exist) are all fruits of the immense gift of my life. Although it took a while, it is where God met me.
Q: In today’s world, a call to celibacy is seen as radical, if not impossible. How have you reconciled the priesthood’s call to celibacy with this challenging cultural perspective?
A: I have experienced and tasted that God precedes us in our call as Christians and in the specific mission (vocation) through which he wishes to glorify himself. Whether as married or celibate, the fact is that I cannot use the world’s standard to judge what I have received in faith as a gift of love from God. Love precedes action. In this sense Christianity is not a moralism—an external thing like a prescribed law.
My experience of celibacy/chastity is to act in accordance with my identity, which is with Christ. I can be what I am in my actions because Christ already gives me what I must be, a character of his reality, if I am open to it everyday. It is the reason why Christianity and not just celibacy is radical because it is the fulfillment of the gift of a new life in each Christian no matter their vocation.
Q: If you have been on mission (itinerancy) as part of your formation thus far, share where you went and what you learned from that experience.
A: My first taste of itinerancy (mission) was in my country, Nigeria, and later in formation. My second period of itinerancy was in Holyoke, Colo., in Florida and in the Turks and Caicos Islands. What I encountered is that despite all the talk of men and women being conditioned by where they live, fundamentally the hearts of all men and women are the same.
We all need salvation—we need God. I saw concretely many miracles where God acted in people who are not afraid to enter into the plan God had for them. Before my eyes, I saw marriages rebuilt, people reconciling and falling in love anew with Christ and the Church—even going on mission themselves (with their families)—and others entering into religious or priestly life out of gratitude, and many more incredible experiences. I saw how much love God has for each individual.
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?
A: There are many of these moments but the ones that I remember most is of catechising and giving personal witness to your faith. Life for everyone is like travelling a road of hills and valleys. To see someone who has travelled these same roads with his fears, distress, suffering, pain and sin and to see God mark his life gives people hope for their own life and an understanding that God has a plan of love for each person.
Q: How do you feel about this significant step, being ordained to the diaconate, in your priesthood formation?
A: To follow God’s will is indeed costly. There are many uncertainties, risks and fears because it is God who chooses and it is he who decides. He leads the way. It is true that the way is not always clear. There is only the present moment to which I can live with certainty. Christ’s act of love for me is what has led me to this vocation and my courage to respond to this vocation stems from this fact of God’s love.
I am no different from anybody. It is the power of Christ’s love that sustains me and so far, I grow daily in joy, anticipating what is coming next and it only springs from entering the will of God, and to have no regrets. If I were to go over my life once again I would not change anything except maybe to trust more in the action of God for me and to live life with more gratitude and less grumbling. How could I forget the Christian community from which God has taken me and people God has put in my path who have and still influence my call? They are the arrows that led me to God. It is a whole new experience of love and trust; it is like being held by the hand of God.
Meet seminarian Gregg Pedersen
Name: Gregg Pedersen
Age: 33
Where born and reared: Colorado Springs, Colo.
Seminary: St. John Vianney Theological Seminary
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and a master’s in marriage and family therapy from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. Before seminary I was finishing my master’s degree and then worked in adult ministry for St. Louis Church in Louisville, Colo.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood? When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: I was not raised Catholic, so I had never met a priest until my last semester of college. I became involved with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) and began meeting some great priests, including many at the seminary where my best friend had just entered. After studying Catholicism for about two years, I saw the truth of the faith and became Catholic in 2002. I was attending daily Mass several times a week. Often I would stay and pray after Mass. It was only a few weeks after I was confirmed and began receiving the Eucharist that I started feeling a call. That call began as quick thoughts and small interests such as, “I would like to preach on these readings” or “I would like to hear confessions.”
Q: What ultimately led you to enter the seminary?
A: In California, I had been meeting with a spiritual director who told me to try doing some “priestly things” and see how I felt. I taught Bible studies, catechism, and helped with youth retreats. I felt more alive during these times compared to anything else that I did. I loved sharing my faith in Christ with others! I loved seeing God move in the lives of others!
I moved back to Denver and eventually realized that my desire for priesthood was so strong that I had to give seminary a try. I knew I had to dive in and give it my all to see if God was really calling me. I felt like God was asking me, “What do you want to do?” And to my surprise and delight, I said, “I want to be a priest, your priest.”
Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: My best friend had been in seminary for several years, so he was always supportive, but never pushy. I was living with some good Catholic men my age and they were supportive also. My spiritual director and friends were also supportive. My family is not Catholic, and it did take them a little while to warm up to the idea of me being a priest, but they really are very supportive and I am so grateful for them.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the priesthood?
A: Proclaiming the goodness of God and the life that he offers each one of us to live in union with him! The Father has sent his Son and the Holy Spirit to bring us all back to himself because he loves us. I will be blessed to participate in this Divine Invitation most profoundly through saying holy Mass, hearing confessions, baptisms and anointing.
I am also looking forward to helping couples prepare for marriage and working with parents to make every family as strong and healthy as possible. (This is what I was training to do before I entered seminary).
Q: What do you find most daunting about the priesthood?
A: Honesty, lately I have been dreading our overall culture. I was looking through a Newsweek a couple of days ago and it reminded me of how absolutely opposed to Christianity our media and education culture is. It is a formidable task to speak light in the midst of so many and constant voices speaking darkness.
But Christ is not afraid or intimidated and we should not be either. I heard and responded to the Gospel in the midst of a secular college campus, God’s grace is everywhere.
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: I like hanging out with my friends, reading, playing guitar and listening to music. To name a few.
Q: Is there a particular talent or gift you feel you bring to the seminary community and, eventually, to the Church as a whole?
A: All through high school I played lead electric guitar in a heavy metal band. So I do bring a certain musical quality to my seminary community. I have since learned how to play praise and worship and led the Vigil Praise band for three years. I also try to use my counseling degree and usually lead a group of seminarians each semester who are interested in learning more about counseling resources.
Q: In today’s world, a call to celibacy is seen as radical, if not impossible. How have you reconciled the priesthood’s call to celibacy with this challenging cultural perspective?
A: As I mentioned, our overall secular culture would be the last place I would look to for advice on sexuality or religion. Luckily, we have an alternative to our confusing culture. The magisterium of the Church who guards and teaches all that Christ revealed to the world through the Apostles. This is a great plan of love. The purpose of being male or female is to make a total gift of oneself. This normally happens in matrimony. But Christ showed us that we can make a total gift of ourselves through celibacy as well. Celibacy is not an end in itself, it is a means of union with God. We imitate Christ, who lived in constant communion with the Father. Christ’s celibacy was fruitful and life-giving; the Church was given birth through his offering of self. As a priest, we participate in Christ’s priesthood. Through the sacraments, He sustains his bride, the Church, and in every generation draws a people to himself. If you have ever been baptized, received Communion, confession, or any other sacrament, you have received a portion of this fruitful and life-giving power of the priesthood.
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?
A: Yes, this happens somewhat regularly, which is a great opportunity to share what God has done in my life. But I want to remind all the lay people that they have a special privilege of not being noticed so quickly, which allows them to be in all kinds of circumstances where they can share about God. You can share about Christ and be heard in a way that sometimes someone in a collar cannot be heard. You can be like angels, being right next to someone and speaking light into their lives. Yes, I think as a priest or deacon we have a lot of opportunities to talk with people about God (and I am looking forward to that), but I was not brought to Christ through talking with a priest, it was through my two college roommates, my Christian friends, and eventually my Bible study. Be salt, be light!
Full name: Braden Steven Wagner
Birth date: November 16, 1981 - 28 years old
Where born and reared: Carmel, IN
Seminary: St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver, Colo.
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: After graduating from J.K. Mullen High School in Denver in 2000, I went to the University of Colorado Boulder to study business. I graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business-accounting in 2004, after which I joined the seminary.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood?
A: I had never thought about the priesthood until I was a junior in college when I got involved with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) at the University of Colorado. Several men in my Bible study were discerning their vocation, asking what God desired them to do, particularly if he wanted them to be a priest. I initially did not want to be priest but I thought to myself: Well, I should be open to it if that is what the Lord wants me to do. He knows me and has created me for a purpose so I should probably ask him what he wants. So, for several months I brought that question to the Lord every day, and interestingly, it wasn’t until after hearing the call to the seminary that my heart began to desire to be a priest.
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: During Holy Week of my junior year, the Lord gave me a tremendous amount of peace in prayer about going to the seminary. When I prayed the simple prayer, “Lord, I don’t care, I will do whatever you want me to do, just let me be close to you,” it was clear that the Lord wanted me to go to the seminary. At the time, I was not sure if he wanted me to be a priest but it was enough to get me in the seminary. It was as if he was telling me to “come and see” as he told Andrew and John (Jn 1: 39).
Q: Where did you find support for your call to the priesthood?
A: I learned quickly that it is difficult to live a holy life on one’s own. But by being involved in FOCUS and campus ministry at CU, I made several friends who supported me and challenged me to follow Christ more closely, most especially by their witness and their prayers. My family was a profound source of support and encouragement as well. Upon entering the seminary, I found that my seminarian brothers, especially the Companions of Christ (fraternity), have been a tremendous blessing in seeking after Christ. But most important, the support for my call came from Christ himself in daily prayer, Mass, and frequent confession as well as Mary who constantly brought me closer to him through the rosary.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about the priesthood?
A: I am greatly looking forward to preaching and hearing confessions because they both have tremendous power to open hearts to God working in people’s lives. And yet they are also the two which I find the most daunting.
Q: What has been your favorite class or aspect of seminary life?
A: My favorite aspect of seminary life is the Spirituality Year, the first year in seminary when we have a privileged time to spend in prayer and fraternity. It is a time to go deeply into our hearts with the healing and transforming power of Christ and an opportunity to enjoy the fellowship of brothers. For when Christ calls us to himself, he calls us into a brotherhood.
Q: What is your favorite pastime?
A: I really enjoy anything outdoors: hiking, backpacking, skiing, playing sports. Getting in touch with the natural world always stirs in me a childlike wonder.
Q: Is there a particular talent or gift you feel you bring to the seminary community and, eventually, to the Church as a whole?
A: I hope that my desire to be honest and authentic with my brothers at the seminary has helped them in growing in the freedom to be themselves. It is dumbfounding how each of us is so unique, and the mystery of our own profound uniqueness in Christ is the greatest blessing we can give the world.
Q: In today’s world, a call to celibacy is seen as radical, if not impossible. How have you reconciled the priesthood’s call to celibacy with this challenging cultural perspective?
A: Honestly, I can’t think of anything more appropriate in my response to God’s call in my life. I want to give God everything, to be totally consecrated to him, because he has given everything of himself for me and to me and held nothing back.
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: Just this past summer, I spent some time with the Missionaries of Charity in Washington, DC. It was a great blessing for me to pray and work with them, especially as I prepared for diaconate ordination. Learning how to love and serve the poor was a joy as I worked in their house of AIDS patients and the mentally ill. But also, having the opportunity to witness in the sisters what it means to be totally consecrated to the Lord was an incredible grace.
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: I just went to my 10-year high school reunion this past summer. I really enjoyed the time I spent with so many people that I had not kept in touch with over the last several years. But it was a great opportunity to talk about God’s work in my life since I had last seen them, and hopefully, it was a chance for others to grow deeper in their relationship with the Lord. I know I was edified by others’ testimonies of how they are trying to live their faith, especially since many have gotten married and are trying to teach their children about Christ.
Q: How do you feel about this significant step, being ordained to the diaconate, in your formation?
A: What a gift! I am astounded. Pray for me.
Name: Grzegorz Wójcik
Birthdate: Jan. 14, 1980
Where born and reared: Kwidzyn, Poland
Seminary: Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary, Denver, Colo.
Q: Describe your educational and professional background before entering formation.
A: 1995-2000, technical high school, electricity and electronics; 1990-1994, music school, clarinet section, all in Kwidzyn, Poland.
Q: What first interested you in the priesthood?
A: At an Advent retreat I heard a priest who came from the missions in Africa. He had a lot of stories about evangelization. While listening to him there was a spark that ignited in me.
Q: When did you first feel called to the priesthood?
A: When I was a teenager I had some difficulties in accepting my family, at that time my mother brought me to listen to the catechesis of the Neocatechumenal Way (a Vatican approved, parish based catechumenate). This experience changed my life. It enabled me to love my family and to discover that the Lord is calling me to the priesthood, and to be missionary.
Q: What ultimately led you to enter the seminary?
A: In the year 2000 I met a homeless person with whom I spoke for a long time and I understood that the Lord may be calling me to help people who are suffering and to bring them to Christ. I went to a Neocatechumenal Way meeting in Italy for all men aspiring to pursue a vocation to be a priest with a missionary call and I was sent to Denver.
Q: Wha
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