Follow me: Answering God’s Call

By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
May 17, 2007

As the Diocese of Phoenix prepares to welcome its largest class of new priests in 14 years (June 2 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral), the six ordinands spoke to The Catholic Sun about their vocations, their seminary experience and the great challenge of priestly life awaiting them.

Eugene Florea

Age: 30
Seminary: Mundelein, Illinois
Home parish: St. Timothy, Mesa
First assignment: Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral

Growing up in New York, Eugene Florea said he was blessed by a family that went to Mass every Sunday.

This foundation led him to become involved at his college’s Newman Center, though a sense of Christ and His love didn’t come to him until a retreat during his senior year.

“While in adoration, I felt a deep sense of Jesus’ presence around me,” Florea recalled. “Along with this overwhelming feeling, the idea of priesthood popped into my mind.”

Though the seed was planted during that retreat, it would be another few years before Florea acted upon the idea.

He graduated from college with a degree in computer engineering and moved to Tempe to work for Motorola. A friend of his introduced him to St. Timothy Parish in Mesa where both his faith and his sense of vocation grew.

“God had placed a desire for the priesthood on my heart, and it became something I could imagine myself doing,” he said. “And then it became something I really did want to do.”

After a year of discernment, he entered the seminary, where the amount of introspection required could seem a bit daunting at times.

“We have spiritual directors, formation advisers, vocation directors and field education supervisors who we report to and give updates regarding our growth in various areas of formation,” he said.

Though he’ll be a priest soon, he said that his education will continue.

“The parishioners at my first assignment will play a crucial role in helping me learn to be a priest and I would appreciate any feedback they could give me on how I can better serve them,” Florea said.

Craig Friedley

Age: 49
Seminary: Mount Angel, Oregon
Home parish: St. Thomas the Apostle, Phoenix
First assignment: San Francisco de Asís Parish, Flagstaff

The route toward priesthood was a circuitous one for Craig Friedley. Raised Catholic by his father in Chicago, Friedley stopped practicing sometime after his confirmation.

He joined the Air Force and became very involved with Mormonism, almost to the point of being baptized into their church.

But Mary had other plans.

Friedley remembered feeling pulled back to the Catholic Church by the Mother of God. He moved to Phoenix and became involved in the Life Teen program.

“It was there that I learned who I am as a Catholic,” he said of the Catholic youth group. “I found that I liked it, and I wanted others to know and practice the same.”

He entered the seminary and realized to become a good priest requires sometimes-painful introspection.

“The formation program at Mount Angel Seminary helped me to face myself and helped me to decide that if I was to follow the calling of Jesus to serve others, I had to become a generous man and one who would serve His people,” Friedley said.

Though his seminary helped prepare Friedley for the priesthood, he credits the faith of his father as laying the groundwork for his vocation.

“I truly believe that if my father had not taught me who God was when I was younger, I would not be ordained as a priest today,” he said. “It was through my parents that I came to be a man of God.”

Kilian McCaffrey

Age: 40
Seminary: Mount Angel, Oregon
Home Parish: Blessed Sacrament, Scottsdale
First assignment: Queen of Peace Parish, Mesa

Kilian McCaffrey was born in Dublin, Ireland, and has also lived in New York, London, Amsterdam, Chicago and Detroit.

He described the journey that eventually led to become a priest in Phoenix as “a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit leads us gently to do God’s will.”

After receiving a degree in electronic engineering from Dublin City University, McCaffrey eventually found himself working for the automotive industry in Detroit and then in Tempe.

He lived in Scottsdale and joined Blessed Sacrament Parish where he “particularly enjoyed the Novena of Grace on Tuesday evenings.”

His involvement in the parish led him to consider a call from God to enter the priesthood, which he described as a “great challenge.”

“It is something that one can meet only with time, prayer, humility and the formation that the seminary provides,” McCaffrey said.

While attending Mount Angel seminary, McCaffrey managed the soccer team and founded a poetry appreciation club.

After his ordination, he looks forward to working with the faithful in his ministry.

“So much of what we do is based around working with people, the faithful, the body of Christ,” he said. “Seeing Christ in those we meet is always the challenge. It is not always easy, but it is the great and new commandment.”

He hopes that Catholics will remember to pray for the newly ordained priests as they embark on their “long journey.”

John Muir

Age: 29
Seminary: Mundelein, Illinois
Home parish: St. Theresa, Phoenix
First assignment: Further theological studies

John Muir felt an “overwhelming and very personal experience of God’s existence and love” while on a confirmation retreat in 1994. The experience led him to delve deeper into the mysteries of the faith.

“Although I was still afraid of what these truths would mean for my life,” he said, “I was unconditionally grasped by their truth.”

As he grew in his faith, he felt called to enter the seminary while in Europe for World Youth Day in 2000. He answered “yes,” and became a seminarian shortly thereafter.

He credits his vocation in large part to the love his father showed in going to daily Mass.

“As my faith matured in my college years, I knew instinctively from my Dad’s example that to be a man means having a deep relationship with God, and I think this gave me a pretty good context in which to hear the call to the priesthood,” Muir said.

That call was nurtured by his years in the seminary, which helped him know Christ better.

“Having the leisure time to spend with Him during my time in the seminary has been by far he most rewarding thing along the road so far,” he said.

After his ordination, Muir will continue his studies, completing a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois.

Ernesto Reynoso

Age: 36
Seminary: St. Meinrad, Indiana
Home parish: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Scottsdale
First assignment: Most Holy Trinity Parish

Ernesto Reynoso, originally from Juarez Chihuahua, Mexico, was working for Motorola as a software engineer when he heard the call from God.

“Like many of my brother seminarians, I had a very successful life and thought I had everything I needed,” he said. “But in reality, I knew that I was missing something. I was lacking the courage to say ‘yes’ to our Lord.”

Reynoso thought about what quality all successful people in this world share. He described it as a willingness “to take a risk in something that they always believed.”

He decided to take that risk and enter the seminary.

When he is ordained a priest, Reynoso will be entering into what he calls a “beautiful mystery.”

“Priesthood is a mystery of trust. It is a mystery of intuition, of suffering, of joy and of love,” he said. “I have realized that when I totally trust in God, the difficult challenges I encounter become blessings by the simple fact that I am letting God work in me.”

He said that his family laid important groundwork for his vocation by instilling in him a love for Jesus, Mary and the Church.

“This is the best gift parents can give to their children,” he said, “the gift of opening the doors of heaven.”

Paul Sullivan

Age: 30
Seminary: St. Meinrad, Indiana
Home parish: Resurrection, Tempe
First Assignment: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Glendale

Paul Sullivan describes his vocation story as “short and simple.”

“In my early 20s, I began to consider God’s place in my life along with what He wanted of me,” Sullivan said. “I reflected on two facts: one, that we only pass through this life once, and, two, that God has a plan for me.”

This realization led Sullivan to a prayerful consideration of the priesthood, though it wasn’t easy at first.

“I believe that the greatest challenge for me has been making the first step of accepting that God had called me, as unworthy as I am, to such a vocation,” he said.

“This vocation, like any, has nothing to do with worthiness,” he added. “It is purely a gift from God.”

Sullivan said that the seminary prepared him for a host of different ministries once he becomes a priest.

“I have been blessed to work in parishes, hospitals, a prison, orphanages, mission trips and youth retreats all in addition to community life at St. Meinrad,” he said.

But his favorite part of formation was getting to know the parishioners at his home parish of Resurrection in Tempe where he would work during breaks from school.