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New seminarians continue discernment journey
By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
November 1, 2007
Sheunesu Bowora moved to Phoenix from Zimbabwe in 1999. He joined Most Holy Trinity Parish and focused on becoming an airline pilot.
He soon found out that God had different plans for him.
“My discernment started about four years ago after a conversion experience,” Bowora said. “My first inclination was to resist the feeling of being called by the Lord. I had a desire to get married and was also working on getting my career going as an airline pilot.”
But as Bowora spent more time in adoration and praying the rosary, he felt a pull to the priesthood that he couldn’t ignore.
After much prayer and discussion with Fr. Don Kline, diocesan director of vocations, he and five other local men took a significant step toward the priesthood by entering the seminary this fall.
Always discerning
Though entering a seminary may seem like the first step to becoming a priest, in many ways the process starts much earlier.
Fr. Kline described the application and interview process as stringent and demanding.
“You don’t just slip into the priesthood,” he said.
After Bowora felt compelled to investigate his vocation, he attended a discernment retreat hosted by the diocese. The retreat leaders gave him practical advice, information on various religious orders and put him in contact with Fr. Kline.
Fr. Kline suggested that Bowora test his vocation by getting involved in a parish ministry. He chose the Life Teen program.
“Through this, I learned so much about the Church and discovered that I had the ability to teach the faith to groups,” Bowora said. “I also learned how to relate to people and how to be creative in spreading the good news.”
Then, Fr. Kline invited Bowora to move into the house of discernment at Mount Claret. He lived with other men discerning their calling, but still going to school or work.
“Since the feeling of being called was not going away, I decided to figure it out once and for all,” Bowora said. “I would do this by dropping all my own plans and giving my all to God through serious discernment in the seminary.”
Brian Rollo, who entered St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver this fall, had a similar story.
Though he felt a call to the priesthood as early as 2001, he didn’t seriously investigate it until the following year, when he joined a discernment group at St. Timothy Parish in Mesa.
He attended a discernment retreat and entered the pre-theologate program at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, which is designed for men discerning the priesthood.
There, his calling solidified, so he set up a meeting with Fr. Kline during his Christmas break.
“At the end of our meeting, he invited me to apply,” Rollo said. “I did and the rest is history.”
Seminary life
Discernment doesn’t end upon entering the seminary; it only deepens.
“You’re immersed in that environment where you are strongly encouraged to look at the issues of your life and your relationship with the Lord and how that lines up with what He’s calling you to do,” Fr. Kline explained.
“There’s an intensity to it,” he added. “If you avail yourself to seminary formation, your discernment will lead you either to the priesthood or to another way of life in a healthy manner.”
Kurt Perera, who attends Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, said a powerful combination of prayer, work and study helps focus seminarians on what God wants for them.
“The seminary atmosphere provides for an open and healthy forum of sincerely seeking out God’s will through weekly conferences, meetings with formation advisors and one’s spiritual director,” he said, describing his experience so far as “joyful and happy.”
Jorge Sandoval, who also attends Pontifical College Josephinum, said that living with like-minded men fosters a supportive environment for discernment.
“We all have a great love for God and the Church, and we continually strive for holiness each day in the seminary,” he said. “I definitely feel that I am in the right place.”
Sandoval did note that seminary life could be demanding. Like any place of higher learning, there are essays, midterms and finals to fret over as well as extra-curriculars that, for Sandoval, include hosting a weekly radio show called “The Seminarians.”
“It has become one of the highlights of my week,” he said of the program, which is broadcast on St. Gabriel Catholic Radio.
“It is so much fun to share personal experiences of seminary life on the air, knowing that I can be an instrument of God’s love and joy through mass media communications,” Sandoval said.
These seminarians know that effectively spreading the Gospel in today’s culture is a challenge all future priests will face.
“In a world of constant secularization and distortion of morals, future as well as current priests need to preach the Gospel truth ‘in and out of season’ despite the repercussions they will face,” Perera said.
Looking at the seminarians in formation, Fr. Kline felt optimistic.
“I’m looking to the future of the Church and these are the priests that are going to be educating the future of our Church,” he said, adding that the goal is to prepare men “to do that faithfully, with love.”
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