Local News

Sept. 7, 2006

10 answer calling to religious life

By Mary Moore
The Catholic Sun

As prayers for vocations throughout the diocese increase, so has the response of young men and women to the call.

Supporters filled the Fiat House — formerly Café Fiat — for the third annual vocation celebration and send-off for seminarians leaving Phoenix to discern the priesthood this year.

Future seminarians credited their decision to the influence of family, friends, priests and the sacraments.

“I’m here because I lost a ping-pong game to” diocesan vocations director Fr. Don Kline, laughed Matt Magnus, a 19-year-old Arizona State University civil engineering student and parishioner of St. Timothy in Mesa. 

Working at the front desk of the parish office, Magnus said he met with priests and parishioners on a one-on-one basis, something he would be excited to be a part of as a priest.

Patrick Summerhays, who could not be present at the evening’s celebration, also credits priestly examples for his decision.

“I’m just another vocation caught in the crosshairs of Fr. Jim Wall,” the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, the soon-to-be seminarian ribbed.

A 33-year-old financial investment advisor and the third of seven children, Summerhays said he is offering his life to God “and letting Him finish the story.” He will attend St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver.

Summerhays is one of three parishioners from St. Thomas the Apostle leaving for the seminary this fall. Matt Anderson, 23, and Keith Kenney, 32, a former aviation electronic specialist for the U.S. Navy, said hearing homilies on the priesthood helped their discernment.

Kenney returned to the Church after encouragement from a fellow Catholic in the Navy who “kept slipping Scott Hahn tapes in his bag.” During one particular Mass at his parish, he heard Fr. Wall say “offer yourself to God.”

“I had never heard it put like that and so I did right then at Holy Communion, and I got a real sense of peace,” which he says led him toward vocational discernment in the priesthood.

Matt Anderson, a convert to the faith, recently graduated from ASU with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, concentrating in religious studies and psychology. 

The former assistant youth minister at St. Thomas says his love for ministry was the start of his response to God’s invitation to serve, and continued in his work with Youth Arise North America.

“My initial feeling is one of excitement,” Anderson said.  “I am not sure what the Lord has in store for me, but I know that He is calling me to seminary and it is my hope to respond generously to His invitations.”

Kevin Grimditch of Corpus Christi Parish, and Tommy Petrola of Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, two recent high school graduates, are also in this group of new seminarians. Both will be leaving for studies at Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

Grimditch said time in silent adoration before the Blessed Sacrament helped him to discern the call to study the vocation further.

“With everything you have to deal with in the world, it is hard to find the time and quiet to block things out and listen to God,” he explained. “Spending time in adoration helps with that, and so will this time of discernment.”

This year’s 10 discerners, the largest bunch in years, includes Sr. Mary McDonald, who recently joined the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration.

Fr. Kline credits the response to the prayer and leadership of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, as well as the increasing presence of religious in the diocese, including the Poor Clare nuns and the newest addition, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.