Cincinnati Seminarian Blog

As promised, this is the first of several installments in a series of posts.

The preliminary focus question that must be asked here is, “What is it like to be in the seminary? What is formation?” This will attempt to address common misconception #1, that is, that when a young man enters the seminary he is automatically “signed up” for the priesthood.

This is an interesting topic, as many people assume that a young man must be certain that he will be ordained a priest when he enters the seminary, but in fact nearly half of the men who enter the seminary eventually discern that they were not called to the holy priesthood for one reason or another. In fact, the seminary is actually the best place to discern this call, as the entire program is based around making a candidate first a better man, and secondly a better candidate for orders. There must be a slight delineation apropos to this gradual process of growth into which is called “formation.”

When I speak to students about what it is like to be “formed” in the seminary, I generally use the analogy of a blacksmith who is fashioning a sword. The blacksmith is able to take a piece of raw metal and see the potential inside of it and so he attempts to pound out the flaws and imperfections of this bar of metal by a process of gradual tempering with fire, water, and hammering. When he is finished, not only has the potential that he saw in that bar of metal become reality, but this bar of raw material also looks radically different than it did before, and so is the goal of seminary formation, for as Bishop Sheen so aptly quipped “the priest is not his own.”

The seminary community is one of the few places in the world that cuts the worldly distractions to a minimum, allowing time for classes and studying, time to hang out with other guys who are also striving for holiness, and most importantly of all, quiet time for garnering the necessary spiritual life of a future priest. This time of preparation is necessary for a young man to be formed into a priest who is in the world, not of the world.

Therefore, the seminary provides the proper tools and environment for a young man to discern a vocation to the Holy Priesthood, and does not mean that he is automatically “signed up,” but rather there is a process of growth that is necessary called “formation.”

Please pray for more holy vocations!

St. Charles Borromeo, patron of seminarians, pray for us!

Soon I will be starting a series entitled “common obstacles to the seminary and possible solutions,” or simply “common obstacles,” that will attempt to address reasons as to why men, and particularly young men do not enter the seminary. Possible topics will include; “the true nature of the discernment process and seminary formation,” “celibacy, and the manifold graces inherent,” and “self-abandonment, why following the Lord’s will is paramount to your vocation,” though I will continue to add topics as I go along.

Please keep us in mind that we will be entering into finals week, and with the transitions that are made for the summer it may get a bit quiet, but fear not! I will continue to post when I am able.

Please pray for us as we prepare to take our final exams.

St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of theologians, pray for us!

Here at Mount St. Mary’s of the West, we have a beautiful property with a historic building that is surrounded on three sides by a wooded area. Though overgrown due to the sands of time, there exist several old trails in this wooded area, and for the first time today I went outside to walk them. After several minutes of meditative silence broken only by the distant chirp of a few birds, I stumbled upon the hidden gem that all of the trails lead to. I had found myself in front of an old Marian grotto, the kind that was built using rocks that had been mudded together and built into a sort of portico for Our Lady.

Now, it was obvious that this statue had recently been painted, as it gleamed in the scarce rays of sunlight that baked the leaf-strewn ground. I was struck by the strange contrast between the freshly painted statue and the rest of the grotto itself, as if Our Lady shone from the midst of the earthly creation, that hidden gem who is merely waiting for us to entreat her maternal care.

Now, the reason why I took a walk in the woods in the first place was because I had been strenuously pondering how I was going to begin the next paper due for my seminary coursework, an explication of St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 6:1-5, but the encounter with grotto to Our Lady got me thinking that if all of these paths had led to Our Lady, then the person who built the paths must have intentionally led whoever is willing to trod those paths to her, and thus must have preexisted her. Then, I was reminded of the account of Luke 24, in which the Lord appears to two apostles who walk on the road to Emmaus. It is particularly striking that only one apostle is named, and as I did not initially realize that the path that I started on in the woods would lead me to Our Lady, so those apostles did not know that Our Lord would appear to them on their journey. Therefore we never know what means the Lord will use to bring us to Him, whether a co-worker who is having a rough day, a chance encounter with someone at the supermarket, or yes, even a rough and overgrown trail out in the woods.

Please pray for more priests!

There are a great many things that are impressive about the seminary. From the immense graces that the Lord provides to the great theological insights afforded by the professors to the near immeasurable amount of work that is crammed into the final weeks. Couple this with the uncanny ability of seminarians to procrastinate on writing papers until the last minute, and it can seem that the days are literally packed with work (and yes, we are on the quarter system, which seems a bit frantic anyway).

On top of the normal obligations of the seminary, a phenomena known as the “ordination cycle” hits around this time, which with five dioceses represented at this seminary, can potentially mean ten separate ordinations from early April lasting until June. Please do not get the impression that I lament these beautiful occasions, for this is the culmination of many years of hard work for these men, and also can be beautiful occasions for grace. It does make for a busy end-of-year-push (as one exasperated seminarian gasped between breaths), though.

Please offer these men who are to be ordained in your prayers, that they have an inexhaustible zeal for winning souls to Christ through His Church.

St. Joseph the Worker, protector of the Holy Church, pray for us!

Inevitably when I go back home on a break this question always pops up; whether in the parish, giving vocations talks, or at the dinner table. At this point in my formation, I have been through four years of philosophy and nearly one year of theology, but what have I learned?

As one of my venerable professors would always say, philosophy gives you the language to be able to describe theology, and therefore we must study philosophy before theology. Socrates said that the only thing that he knew was that he knew nothing, and indeed, sometimes that’s how I feel too! However, ecclesia supplet, (the Church provides) and therefore my own ignorances and inadequacies are completed by Christ, mediated through the Church. (Indeed, Philosophy supplies the language!)

When I give vocations talks, often I will address the primary concern that many young men have about the entering the seminary, namely that they don’t feel worthy to be a priest due to to their own personal inadequacy. I always tell my audience that the only worthy priest is Christ, and he perfects the rest! Therefore, let the Church provide, and don’t be afraid! I am reminded of the example of St. Ambrose, that great Doctor of the Church who was ordained a Bishop because the people of God saw his potential. Oh, and did I mention that he didn’t feel worthy to be ordained? In fact, he was baptized, ordained a Deacon, a Priest, and a Bishop all in the same week! Not only did St. Ambrose become a great apologist in fighting against the Arian heresy, but his preaching converted St. Augustine, who also had a great effect on the defense of the Early Church.

Let us pray for the intercession of St. Ambrose, and please pray for more priests!

Over the past two days, there has been an uncommon circumstance in the building…FIRE ALARMS! It seems that due to the construction going on around here, the alarm system keeps getting tripped through one means or other. That is quite fine by me, as we had the rare privileged of praying Vespers outside due to the interruption. With all of the seminarians huddled around a guy in an alb, we began praying in the parking lot with the alarm still blaring in the background.

This change of pace was a rather enjoyable excursion, to the great outdoors, and a great reminder that we seminarians are training to be able to serve the people of God. Sometimes it takes an unusual circumstance to facilitate that, such as a trip out to the parking lot due the influence of an over-achieving dust cloud.

My apologies for the lack of updates on this blog, suffice it to say that this year has been quite busy, we seminarians have had some great opportunities to promote vocations through High school talks, Junior High vocations basketball games, and Andrew dinners. These events are wonderful for promoting the beautiful call to the vocation to the priesthood, but are also time consuming for us who also take classes and are in formation for the Holy Priesthood.

That being said, this past Saturday the Archdiocese ordained 36 men to the order of Diaconate, with 33 permanent Deacons and 3 transitional Deacons. Archbishop Schnurr’s homily was poignantly beautiful, and I am always struck by the beauty of the prayer that Archbishop prays over each candidate as he is given the Evangeliary (the book containing the Gospels):

“Receive the book of the gospel whose herald you have become.
Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you teach.”

Does this not mirror the universal call to holiness that Christ impels us to? These Deacons in a particular way are being asked by Christ, through the mediation of the Archbishop, to utilize the graces that they had been given and multiply them, like Our Lord’s parable of the Ten Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Please pray for our new Deacons, that they may use their gifts to serve the people of God!

Last year on his feast I posted this reflection on my visit to Ars and the continuing blessings of the life of St. John Vianney.

A couple new comments have popped up in the last few weeks. Then after our daily Mass at the parish today a young professor from the University of Dayton stopped by the sacristy to talk about his recent visit to Ars. As I mentioned to him today, you don’t go to Ars unless you want to go to Ars… and St. John Vianney is today undoubtedly moving hearts and inspiring lives for the priesthood. I know that was the case with my visit.

For the very, very lucky souls who can attend, the Congregation for the Clergy is hosting an “International Priests’ Retreat” in Ars next month. For the rest of us… this YouTube video (simply of a pilgrim’s photos) gives some glimpse of the town today.
YouTube video: Pilgrimage to Ars

During today’s Mass, I was struck by the fact that Ars is truly a simple place. It could be Kettering, Ohio. I could be Coldwater. It could be anywhere.

The deep love of Christ, the selflessness, simplicity, humility, and charity that characterize St. John Vianney and make him the model for all priests are universals.

We need to follow that model. And we need more men willing to step up and live the life to which Christ is calling them.

From June 8-20, my four classmates, myself, and Fr. Earl Fernandes became pilgrims to the Holy Land. As mentioned, this is an annual part of our program at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West. Every year, the class that has just finished internship is blessed to have this opportunity.

For the sake of this blog, I’ll post pictures and descriptions of some of the many highlights of this trip. The first region of the country that we saw was the northern part of Israel, including the Mediterranean coast and Galilee.

After seeing Caesarea and Mount Carmel in our first couple of days, we drove (rather, “were driven,” as we had a guide and driver for this whole trip) east to the Sea of Galilee. Our home base was the city of Tiberias, and from here we took smaller trips to the Mount of Beatitudes, Tabgha (and the Church of the Multiplication), Capernaum, Mount Tabor, Nazareth, Cana, and the Sea of Galilee itself.

Quite a list… and it’s no less incredible to me as I type it out today.

So, here are some photos and descriptions of our visits:

The Church of the Beatitudes
Galilee is a lush, verdant area, in sharp contrast to the desert in southern Israel. This mount, where Christ preached to the masses on the hillside below, forms a natural amphitheater where his teaching could have been heard by all. This 20th century church is simply stunning, and it was a great blessing to spend time here in reflection and prayer.

The Shore of Galilee: “The Church of the Primacy of Peter”
It is said that it is on this spot, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the Risen Lord prepared a fire and meal for his Apostles. Peter, upon seeing the Lord, rushed to the shore. It was here, too, that Peter was reconciled with Christ after his threefold denial, and here Christ commissioned Peter to “feed my sheep.” (John 21)

We were blessed to be able to celebrate daily Mass at so many holy sites. Fr. Fernandes always had a striking homily that incorporated both the readings and the pilgrimage site. This was one of my favorite spots; we were at an outdoor altar very close to the Sea. To hear him speak of Jesus encountering the apostles on the shores of Galilee… with those very shores right behind him… was very powerful.

Capernaum was a key town during Jesus’ Galilean ministry. The ruins of Peter’s home were central in the town. This picture, however, is of the Synagogue in Capernaum. It was here that Jesus proclaimed his “I am the bread of life” discourse. (John 6:48) While a number of the holy locations in Israel are “traditional” or approximate, we know this is exactly where Jesus walked and preached.

Mount Tabor is the location of the Transfiguration. We had a beautiful Mass and time to reflect on the dramatic revelation of Christ’s glory. Another highlight of the trip for many.

The Church of the Annunciation, Nazareth
Okay, I keep saying that these sites were highlights… but this was surely one of my favorites. The mammoth Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth was completed in 1967. Unfortunately, Israel was not immune to the architectural fads of the time. The upper church is certainly a product of the era. However, the lower church (or grotto) is the true highlight. Here we have the excavations of Mary’s childhood home and the spot honored as the location of the Annunciation (and, thus, the Incarnation). I loved praying here and could have stayed for ages.

So… there’s the first part of our trip in condensed “blog” form. In running through the destinations, it might seem as if we were on a mere whirlwind tour of a series of stops. Thankfully, though, we were able to keep it a true “pilgrimage.” Especially as the trip went on, we made sure to take time for a Holy Hour or just time for quiet prayer at the key stops. Celebrating Mass, as mentioned above, was central to at least one of the locations each day. In short, it remained a prayerful and focused trip.

More of the pilgrimage, with more pictures, forthcoming.

I won’t waste time apologizing for the all-too-frequent silence here… FWIW, I don’t keep up with Facebook any better.

During the summer months, Cincinnati seminarians are scattered at various parishes/apostolates/ministries or places of employment. Only during the summer between 2nd and 3rd theology are the summer months really spoken for: most do a hospital program called CPE.

Along with three other seminarians, my plan was to spend six weeks this summer in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in our seminary “exchange” program. We annually host seminarians and priests from Honduras in the winter, then send our men in the summer to learn Spanish and experience the life of the Church in that nation.

But… this is not the summer to go to Honduras. We continue to pray for the people of that nation and hope that stability and peace are restored soon.

The coup occurred the week before we were to arrive in Tegucigalpa, so with the input of Cardinal Rodriguez, we were able to cancel the entire program for this summer with a couple of days to spare. Two of the men decided to go to San Antonio, Texas, to study Spanish through an alternate program. The other two of us chose to find alternate ways to spend our summer. Thus, unexpectedly, I am back at my internship parish of St. Albert the Great in Kettering, OH.

My prior post was written on the eve of my class’ trip to the Holy Land. I have tons to share from that trip. I will break this incredible trip up into a few different posts… so stay tuned.