Year of the Priest: St. Joseph College Seminary

When I am not working and ministering to all of you here at the great St. Thomas of Villanova Parish, or at my family home, I am probably at my home away from home St. Joseph College Seminary, where I am working on my Undergraduate Degree in Philosophy.

St. Joseph College Seminary is the undergraduate seminary program of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The men who attend St. Joseph Seminary enjoy the community focus of a small seminary and the academic challenges offered by Loyola University Chicago. The seminary environment offers seminarians the opportunity to experience the duties of priesthood while working toward earning a prestigious college education. The Apostolate Program places students in parishes (like me and 11 of my brothers are doing this summer), hospitals and even other countries, where they live the life of a priest, ministering to others and gaining a greater understanding of the values of religious service.

We really have a fantastic community at St. Joseph Seminary. This past year we had 40 men studying for the Archdioceses of Chicago, Milwaukee and Atlanta, the Dioceses of Toledo, Ohio and San Bernardino, California as well as men studying for the Carmelite Order. If it were not for St. Joe’s I do not know if I would have been able to fully embrace God’s call in my life to the priesthood, and try to live that ideal out in everything I do. The opportunities for prayer, discernment and academics, have only aided me in further developing my own vocation to the priesthood. Our community gathers for prayer almost three times a day (7:15 a.m.-Morning Prayer, 5:30 p.m.-Evening Prayer and 9:00 p.m.-Night Prayer), however our day and our lives are truly and fully rooted in the Eucharist. Each day we as a community celebrate the Eucharist at 7:30 a.m. as well as have weekly Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

All of these opportunities for prayer, mixed with academics, and of course our pastoral work through our apostolate, like my summers here at St. Thomas, as well as working with Youth and Young Adult Ministry at St. Barbara, and teaching Religious Education at St. Ignatius, really make St. Joe’s a sweet place to live and discern your call. We have great priests, led by our Rector, Father Jim Presta, who show us the ideal of priesthood, and show us how to live out that vocation in everything they do.

Pray for me, my brother seminarians at St. Joe’s and our Priest Formation Team, and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood.