SEMINARY St. Francis de Sales Seminary 3257 S. Lake Drive St. Francis, WI 53235-3702
BIRTHDAY September 16
PARISH St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Greenville
Are there any books that you love so much that you have read them twice (or more)?
There are many, but the “Lord of the Rings,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and “The Phantom Tollbooth” are the only ones I’ve read more than five times each.
When you find yourself with a “free night,” what is something you are likely to do?
I’d probably hop online to play some video games with friends or else sit down with a good book for some quiet time.
What do you remember from your First Communion?
I honestly don’t really remember it. What I do know is that I received it from Fr. Mark Vander Steeg, who I looked up to while growing up. His example of how he treated the Eucharist is part of what helped me eventually acknowledge that there was more to Communion than meets the eye.
Where is one of your favorite places to pray, and what makes it special to you?
When I was in college, I grew to really love praying in the woods while walking. I was attending UW-Green Bay, and there’s an extensive arboretum surrounding the campus that I used to take daily walks in with my girlfriend at the time. We moved on, of course, as I began to heed the call to priesthood, but I kept up my habit of walking in the arboretum while talking to someone I loved, only now it was God I was talking to. There’s also a Catholic chapel in those woods, which I think may have helped hallow the place.
What role has the Eucharist played in your discernment of the priesthood? The Eucharist isn’t just the reason I’m pursuing a priestly vocation, it’s the reason I’m still Catholic. Why else would I be here if not because I must respond to the love God showed me first by dying for me? His sacrifice inspires love and loyalty in a way that is unmatchable, his beauty and praiseworthiness is so profoundly proven by the sacrifice of the Eucharist that I can’t help but desire to be like him, since he’s so beautiful. Then there’s adoration, where we can sit with him and just be there, in person, to witness that sacrifice. It’s always in adoration that I hear God’s promptings most clearly, so it’s no surprise that it’s always been the time that my desire to be a priest has grown. I want to be like Christ, and I want to bring people to Christ, so that they can drown in his infinite beauty with me. What better way to do that than to be, like him, a priest, and to literally bring him to people in the form of the Eucharist?
If there was one thing you could communicate to the faithful about the importance and role of the Eucharist in our Catholic faith, what would it be? The Eucharist is the reason we are here. If Jesus Christ did not fulfill the promises he made to his people, both in person and through the prophets, Christianity would just have been a mystery cult that would now be dead and mostly forgotten. But it isn’t, because he did. The Eucharist is the fulfillment of the central promise he made to save us, and without it we would not be the same. The Eucharist is the glue that holds us together as a Church. It’s why we come to Mass — it’s the perfect synthesis of what Jesus wishes to teach us, and it’s what he wants us to emulate. It’s also literally God. Why else would we travel to God’s house if not to go see God? Let the Eucharist be what holds you in community with the Church, because if that is not the center of your faith then your faith is placed in the wrong god, and you will inevitably be disappointed. If the Eucharist is the center, however, then your faith will weather all the things people claim drive them away from the Church — whether hypocrisy, scandal, or any other sin that lurks in a community of imperfect people — since you will know that the center is still pure and good.
Which saint should people invoke for your vocation and why? Please pray for the intercession of St. Joan of Arc. She has been a great inspiration to me as I seek to improve my discipline in prayer, like one of the soldiers under her banner.