If you ask any young man the exact time he fell in love, he would probably find it difficult to pin point the exact moment. However, he can probably tell you the significant events that solidified their relationship. In a similar way, I cannot point out the exact moment when my vocation journey began but I can tell you for certain, the sexual abuse scandal of 2002 helped me to take a decisive step.
I have thought about the priesthood long before 2002, but never actually decided. Like a young boy who wants to be a fireman but then learns about the requirements and loses interest, my call to the priesthood also began with admiration for priests. However, the priests’ scandal caused me to be angry and to lose that admiration. One day, in a homily, my parish priest said that we often complain about problems, but have we ever thought about what we could do to help solve the problems?
Certainly, I never saw myself as a solution to the priest pedophile scandal. But as a new college graduate, and as I was thinking about my life and how I felt comfortable being a healthy celibate, I decided to try the seminary. Even though I had received notice for an interview for Drexel Medical School in Philadelphia, as I weighed my chances and options, in the end, I applied for the seminary. I did not think I would last; nevertheless, I wanted to give God a year of my life. I never want to live my life with “what ifs,” and since I had just finished college, I thought that it was the perfect time for me to explore priesthood. After one year in the seminary, I was happy with my decision and continued my journey to priesthood.
Perhaps I am a fool to pursue the priesthood at this point in my life with the knowledge of the scandal and its ramifications. But I am nothing compared to the great Nazarene “fool” who believed His suffering and death would redeem humanity from sins and showed everyone the value of love. I want to follow this Nazarene “fool” because He exemplified the foolishness of God, and this type of foolishness is wiser than human
wisdom (1 Cor 1:25). This is the scandal of the cross, and in my own way, I am involved in that scandal. My vocation journey began with a scandal…. yet it is not the type of scandal you would expect.
Bro. Dat
Theology of Priest Formation – Although the Seminary exists to form men to become priests, however, our theology teaches us that the formation of a priest is not complete in the seminary alone. Pope John Paul II called the family as the first seminary where we are first taught the faith. As we grow and prepare for the other sacraments of initiation (Holy Communion and Confirmation), other men and women taught and modeled the faith for us. The faith community where we worship is also a place of formation. It is where the Body of Christ gathers. It is a place where we are continually nourished by Word and Sacrament, where we see the faith lived out from visiting the sick, caring for the poor, to teaching our youth. You, the members of this faith community, are also essential to Bro. Dat’s formation as a priest. When I was newly ordained and was assigned to St. Catherine in Burlingame, it was the people of God there that taught me how to be a priest. Just as fathers and mothers learn to be parents through their children, so we learn to be servants of God and His people through you. Bro. Dat needs your encouragement, needs your support, and needs your constructive comments. And together, may we help this generous young man to be the best possible priest God called him to be.
Fr. Dan
