HOLY NAME OF JESUS
HOUSE OF FORMATION
2589 S. Webster Ave.
Green Bay, WI 54301-2951

Kairos Year

BIRTHDAY
September 16

PARISH
St. Mary of the Immaculate
Conception Parish, Greenville

INTERCESSOR
St. John of the Cross. He has
proven steadfast in helping
me through times of change. I
would also ask that each of you
pray to your own patrons for
their intercession on my behalf.

What is your favorite hobby?
I enjoy playing tabletop role-playing games, both because it’s a great excuse
to hang out with friends and because I like storytelling.

What is your favorite liturgical season?
Easter, when all our anticipation during Lent finally pays off. It’s a revelatory
time, reminding us of the ultimate reward of heaven once our time of waiting
here on this imperfect earth is over, and a time of celebration that the way
has been opened to us.

Who is your confirmation saint? Why did you choose him?
There is an image of St. Ambrose defying Emperor Theodosius in the Cathedral,
and I was greatly inspired when I saw it. I took him as my confirmation saint
because I desired to have that same courage he showed to stand up to the
powerful and hold them accountable for their actions. Doing that will be necessary
to reclaim our culture for Christ, and I knew I would need help in that fight.

Who taught you to pray?
Many people have helped me learn how to pray, but the most important was
my dad. He led our prayer at every meal while I was growing up and prayed
with us again before bed. He taught me the importance of showing gratitude
in prayer and not just asking for things, as well as how to never take the gifts
of God for granted. Later, I learned more about prayer from St. John of the
Cross, or at least from his writings. I learned from him to seek God in the
silence of prayer, when he speaks his message of love the clearest.

What gives you the most joy at this point in your formation?
I find the most joy in pursuit of the truth, whether that be academically, in
conversation, or in contemplation. We have been blessed with a generous
God who has not only given us so many faculties of observation, reason,
intuition, and curiosity that his other creatures lack, but also an entire universe
to use them on. The more we use them, the more we can understand just
how beautiful, sensible, incomprehensible, and awesome the universe God
created for us is, and it gives us a sense of how much more of each of those
things God himself must be.
As I move into the Kairos Year, I look forward to being able to bend this
pursuit toward subjects of a more spiritually relevant nature than I have been
able to in my studies so far, and I hope that because of their closer relevance
to the things of God that they prove to bring even more joy than the natural
or human topics I’ve studied before.

How do you view a priest’s relationship to St. Joseph?
St. Joseph is a great example for priests to follow because his life so closely
mirrors the duties of the priesthood. He was foster father to God’s Son,
just as priests are called to be spiritual fathers to God’s adopted children.
Through his chaste marriage to the Virgin Mary, he exemplifies chaste
celibacy and “marriage” to the Church. Most importantly, he was a stalwart
servant of God, heeding the messages he was sent and dutifully protecting
the Christ Child and his mother.
It’s also somewhat heartening, I think, to remember that Joseph was not
sinless like the rest of the Holy Family. He is like all the rest of us, with no
special protection from the stain of sin, no advantage in holiness, yet still
selected to act as father to Christ himself! He is a reminder that each person,
whoever they may be, has a special place in God’s plan regardless of their
own worth. For some, that special call may be priesthood. Others may be
called to great works, still others to small acts of love. Whatever the call, he
is a reminder that it is not our own worth that dictates what good things God
does with us, only our ability to listen to him.