Contributions by Jeff Grant
On June 6, four men in the Diocese of Phoenix will be ordained to the priesthood. Get to know them by reading their stories below — from a vocation planted in the heart of a toddler to a St. Paul-like conversion through the power of the rosary.
The ordination Mass will be held at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Avondale, Ariz., at 10 a.m. Join the livestream event on the Diocese of Phoenix Facebook and YouTube channels.
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Rosary inspires veteran’s radical conversion
The reversion of Deacon Paul Graupmann, F.H.S., to the Catholic faith was a bit like the conversion of St. Paul: sudden, swift and sure.
He grew up in South Dakota in a family that attended Sunday Mass and always prayed before meals. After high school, he served in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Japan. By then, he was no longer practicing his Catholic faith.
“I was living a pretty wild lifestyle. I never thought of God and was never praying.”
What happened next can be laid at the feet of his older brother, Andrew.
At that point, Deacon Paul was serving in Washington state and had the opportunity to spend time with Andrew.
“My brother, who was kind of a frat boy, very far from the Lord, had his own conversion experience,” Deacon Paul said. He shared his powerful testimony and “he actually got me to go back to confession.
“To this day, I don’t really know why I went. It was just grace in the moment. And then I was given a penance of five rosaries to pray.”
Five? That took some time but in the end, the penance bore fruit.
“On a whim, out in Washington state, I thought, ‘Why don’t I just try this prayer thing out and kind of see what happens?’ I did, and it totally changed my life.”
Turns out, the rosary has quite a history in Deacon Paul’s family. His mother is one of 14 siblings. Growing up, her family prayed the rosary daily. All of her siblings are Catholic to this day.
“I remember being a kid and you knew you had to leave Grandma and Grandpa’s house by 5 p.m. or else you’re going to be caught praying the rosary,” Deacon Paul noted.
Today, as a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit, he wears a rosary on his waist every day. “It goes with me everywhere,” Deacon Paul said.
His road to the priesthood is rooted in his reversion experience. “It was just so revolutionary — like, God loves me. It was the most authentic thing I’d ever experienced in my life.
“And then it was almost an epiphany: Oh, there’s something God wants me to do.”
Andrew spoke to him about vocations and the different states in life.
Every time Deacon Paul asked the Lord if he was called to the priesthood, he received the same answer: “I felt that same presence, that same kind of consolation that I received the first time I met the Lord.”
He came to know the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit during a retreat in 2015. They invited him to visit the friary for a nine-day novena to St. Francis. Deacon Paul fell in love with the community.
“They were on fire for the Lord and had a deep desire to evangelize and serve people, which was what I felt I was called to do. That’s when I said ‘yes.’”
Home Parish: Our Lady of Victory, Kadoka, S.D.
Favorite Saints: St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Paul
Favorite Scripture: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” (Rom 8:18)
Hobbies: Woodworking
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Drawn to Christ through eucharistic encounter
Deacon Simon Ortiz grew up as the youngest of six siblings in a family that was active at
St. Maria Goretti Parish in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“My mom sang in the choir, but I never altar-served or anything,” Deacon Simon said. He attended religious education at the parish and during a retreat his sophomore year of high school, he went to a breakout session on vocations.
“This was my first time being around young priests. They were very lively and joyful about their vocation,” Deacon Simon said.
The retreat took place in Williams, Ariz., and featured a few firsts. “I went to public school my whole life, so I had never seen religious sisters or younger priests,” Deacon Simon said. He’d never seen snow falling either. “It was just a very joyful experience.”
During his senior year, he went on retreat again. This time, during Eucharistic adoration, he felt called to the priesthood.
“That’s when I really received the call in a very profound way. Up until that point, I was thinking about where I was going to go to college. I was going to go to Northern Arizona University or maybe Scottsdale Community College.”
He began going to adoration and praying the rosary daily. “And that’s when the Lord really started to draw me to Himself.”
Not long after, he applied to seminary and was accepted. “I entered at 17. I was only 17 for about a week of the seminary semester because my birthday is in late August, but I like to claim that,” Deacon Simon said with a grin.
His parents were very supportive of his call to priesthood, though his mother said, “You shouldn’t feel any pressure from me. You need to do what Jesus tells you to do.” His father expressed initial concerns, but Deacon Simon said one of the biggest graces of seminary has been to see his father “deepen his own prayer life as a result of me entering into seminary.”
Deacon Simon studied at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio for four years and then transferred to St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. One of the things he’s enjoyed the most about his seminary years is the fraternity with other men who are in formation.
The daily rhythm of prayer has also been a source of joy. “We have a holy hour every day and we get to go to Mass every day,” Deacon Simon said.
He relished his spirituality year that featured time to grow closer to the Lord without academic pressure. He needed to discern whether he was being called to a religious community like the Carmelites or diocesan priesthood. In the end, it was clear that the Lord was calling him to a life of deeper prayer and to serve as a diocesan priest.
Home Parish: St. Maria Goretti, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Favorite Saints: St. Peter, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Favorite Scripture: “Whoever loves Me will keep My word and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.” (Jn 14:23)
Hobbies: Singing, sports, photography
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Fraternal love rekindles childhood call
Though his call to the priesthood was unmistakable, there was a point during religious studies that Deacon Nathan Blanchard seriously considered giving up.
After entering Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, out of high school at age 18, Deacon Nathan spent four years there before moving to St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver.
But after three years in Colorado, he found himself unexpectedly at a crossroads.
Deacon Nathan described a sense of disconnectedness, though not from his call or desire, but from the process.
“I wasn’t in a good mental state,” he recalled. “I needed to take a break.”
Then, God intervened through a phone call from Father Paul Sullivan, rector of Nazareth House, the Diocese of Phoenix’s local seminary.
Father Sullivan and Father Kurt Perera, then the vocations director, invited Deacon Nathan to move from Denver to Phoenix, where he settled into fellowship with the vocations team and took a job with a local electrician. Deacon Nathan began soaking in the love of Christ, his formation leaders and the brotherly atmosphere within his local seminary community, including conversations with Bishop John Dolan.
“He felt known and loved again,” recalled his mother, Christina Blanchard. “He was ready to go.”
Deacon Nathan said he might have left seminary altogether.
“But I knew doing that would be turning my back on Jesus Christ and [ignoring] the call God had given me so clearly.”
The fourth of six children born to Deacon Greg Blanchard of San Francisco de Asis Parish in Flagstaff, Ariz., and Christina, Deacon Nathan displayed an affinity for the priesthood at an early age.
“He was less than 2 [years old], barely able to speak,” Christina said. “He would get up into the presider’s chair (the tallest chair where the Mass’ main celebrant sits), and say, ‘Father Nathan, Father Nathan.’ At age 5, he wanted a play paten and chalice, so we made a ceramic set for him.”
Then, in seventh grade, while on a summer camp retreat, Deacon Nathan found himself experiencing a sense of God’s calling he could not ignore.
“On the first night, we were at Mass. I had kind of ‘tuned out.’ I received the Body of Christ and the Blood. The Lord spoke very directly to me. He said, ‘Nathan, I want you to be a priest.’
“I cried for the rest of Mass, tears for this powerful experience and joy and excitement. Right after Mass, I pulled my youth minister aside and told her what happened.”
After spending time at Nazareth Seminary, he returned to priestly studies with a semester of immersion in Honduras and wrapped up at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. He was ordained to the transitional diaconate in a Mass celebrated by Bishop Dolan last November at his family’s home parish in Flagstaff, where his dad served as the deacon.
Deacon Nathan’s dad sees his son bringing a friendly, unassuming nature to the priesthood with the heart of a spiritual father, someone who can enable others to feel as if they are the only person that matters when Deacon Nathan is talking with them.
“[Nathan] can make friends with anyone. If you can’t get along with Nathan, you can’t get along with anyone. He’s definitely good with people,” Deacon Greg said.
“What surprises me about him is the incredible growth,” said Christina. “Five years ago, I thought, ‘He has a way to go.’ Now, he’s ready.”
Home Parish: San Francisco de Asís, Flagstaff, Ariz.
Favorite Saints: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Louis the King
Favorite Scripture: Luke 15 and John 15
Hobbies: Hiking, writing, ukulele
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Former pilot soars toward God’s will
As a pilot, Deacon Jeff Pooley soared through the clouds, far above earth and its troubles. Soon, as a newly ordained priest for the Diocese of Phoenix, he’ll guide others toward heaven.
Deacon Jeff grew up in Riverside, Calif., one of three children. He was active in his home parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and was an altar server until eighth grade. There were probably inclinations early on about priesthood, but it wasn’t something his family talked about.
Then, when he was 17, the Lord reached into Deacon Jeff’s heart with a prompting. At the time, a religious order priest who had been serving at the family’s parish was retiring and returning to his native Spain. The priest died two weeks later.
“He knew he had cancer and that there wasn’t much that could be done about it, but he chose to serve anyway,” Deacon Jeff said.
At a memorial Mass for the priest, Deacon Jeff was overcome by emotion and asked himself why he was crying so much. In a moment of clarity, he felt an interior voice tell him, “This man laid down his life for you.”
That same voice continued: “I could be calling you to do the same thing.”
“I was petrified,” Deacon Jeff said.
Not long after, he tearfully confided in a teacher at his public high school: “I think I’m supposed to be a priest — but I don’t really want to be a priest!”
His teacher’s words in that moment have stayed with him down through the years: “Pooley, we don’t make decisions in desolation.” She encouraged him to move forward with his life and realize that if God wanted him to become a priest, He would make it clear.
At 18, Deacon Jeff left home to study at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. After earning a degree in aeronautical science, he stayed in Prescott and volunteered with the youth ministry group at Sacred Heart Parish.
“I was telling kids, ‘Do God’s will for your life, and you’ll be happy,’ but it felt like hypocrisy because I knew I had felt this call when I was 17, but I wasn’t responding to it.” He told the Lord, “If You want me to be a priest, make it abundantly known to me.”
Deacon Jeff worked as a flight instructor for two years. During that time, many priests came into his life and walked alongside him. “They loved me and showed me the joyful life of priesthood.”
Then, while visiting a friend during alumni day at his alma mater, he heard that same still, small voice: “What are you waiting for?”
He emailed Father Paul Sullivan, the vocations director at the time, and entered seminary not long after.
Home Parish: Corpus Christi, Phoenix
Favorite Saints: St. Teresa of Calcutta, Pope St. John Paul II and Sister Clare Crockett, whose cause for beatification was opened in 2025
Favorite Scripture: “He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted … to place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes …” (Is 61:1)
Hobbies: Cooking, watching movies
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To support formation of priests in the Diocese of Phoenix, visit priests.dphx.org
