Spiritual Wars IV: A New Hope

I am very excited about the new campaign in my Diocese to promote and encourage young men to answer the call to priesthood. Since Fr. Ron Hutchinson, the new director of priestly vocations in Grand Rapids, took over his job in June, many things have changed in regard to vocations in my diocese. The most important of these is the appreciation and desire to encourage those who choose to follow the call or ordination. Before Fr. Ron took over his new office there was not much in the way of incentive to answer the call to priesthood in the Diocese of Grand Rapids. The old website (updated now by Bishop W. Hurley) for the Diocese was not much to boast about and a new applicant seeking to find information on answering the call in Grand Rapids had to dig through many pages before coming to the 'Vocations' page. The page was full of information on vocations to the Diaconate, Eucharistic Minstistry, Lay Apostolates, etc...and way at the bottom was a very small little insert for the Priesthood, with a broken link to an email account that was no longer used (at least as far as I found) by the Vocations Director then in office.

Since Bishop Walter Hurley has taken the reigns of the Diocese and installed the ambitious, orderly, and very reliable Fr. Ron Hutchinson as Director of Vocations in the Diocese, we have a new web-page on the Diocese website dedicated solely to priestly vocations! Not only is this webpage an awesome and much needed addition to the website, but on top of that, I think that the new site is beautifully laid out, and contains a lot of useful information.

Grand Rapids currently has 15 seminarians and I hope that many more will come. With this new website, I am sure that if they do have the call and want to give it a try, they will have the information that they need at their fingertips. The life of a Priest is not a popular choice in this modern world of ours, and as such, I think that it is the duty of every Bishop to ensure that they make every effort to make information about the priesthood as easily available as possible. You never know how many vocations may have been lost simply because they did not receive the helpful nudge in the right direction. Do not be silent! Encourage vocations!

A New Look!

This is the new face of my blog friends! I decided that the plain green was getting to me, and this template cought my eye as being fresh, countryish, and still maintained the green color that I wanted, but in more shades! I have also updated the links so check them out. I hope to update some more things soon...but that was enough change for the moment.

Enjoy the new look of the Bubble Friends!

My Life, Then and Now...

Being in a new and unfamiliar environment always makes me turn to thoughts of where I have been in the past at the same calendar time as present. So here is a quick review of my life as it has been during the month of September...

• 1983...one month old...and nothing much to report as I do not recall this time, but I am sure that I was doing my best to keep my parents awake at night and giving as much trouble as I could if things did not go my way...as they often did not.
• 1986...Doing my best to keep mom busy, after all if she was not watching me, what else was there to do? I would hide in the woods and let her scream my name until I had thought that she wanted me back sufficiently enough...and then would emerge all smiles! That stopped with my new wardrobe of bright oranges and neons, but the neighbors bringing me home still continued...
• 1988...Kindergarten was a blast, loved my teacher, loved my classmates, loved school! St. Patrick's School (pop. circa 80) was where I was at during the day, with the fun school bus ride to and from school in the morning!
• 1991...Homeschooled now, so I probably did not get up until around 9 and depending on how mom was feeling that morning I did or did not put my effort into my schoolwork. Especially when you have an annoying three year old sister who does her utmost to distract my brother and I...when she was not on one of her 100 Dalmatians marathons (watch, rewind, watch, rewind, watch, rewind...she killed the tape in two years) and me in the other room quoting the entire thing by memory..."How are you Cruella? -Miserable darling as usual; perfectly retched."
• 1995...Just came back from the Legionaries of Christ's summer camp in Center Harbor New Hampshire. Home never looked so good! I had a little fun showing off my new soccer skills to my always more athletic brother and actually was better than him! So all that unwanted soccer playing did some good...but that soon faded as I had come to detest the sport and all others!!! The habits of daily life at the legion followed suit!
• 1997...Freshman year...felt no different, other than the math had just become harder and more annoying...again!!! I was the perfect Catholic homeschooler...and by now you are all gagging...yes I know, but such I was! I served mass at a Latin Mass (Novus Ordo) every Sunday (about 10 families attending...all homeschooled). I dressed like I was from the 1950's with my hair slicked to the one side and my shirts always buttoned all the way up to the color...and heaven forbid that I should have my t-shirts untucked! Music was all Irish Folk, Chant, or Classical...since popular music was all from the devil, and if it caused plants to die, think what it would do to my impressionable mind!
• 2000...I was coming out of my shell and practicing for the upcoming performance in a community theater production of A Christmas Carol after having been in the Music Man earlier in the year. I went to a salon for the first time and got my hair cut short with bangs and actually started not to tuck my T-shirts in (I felt like such a rebel)! The cultural exodus had begun!
• 2002...Freshman year at Magdalen College. Woke up at 6:25 with the lights suddenly turning on and burning out my eyes, and by 7:15 I was showered, dressed (Jacket and Tie), chores done (the bathroom and rooms were sparkling), wardrobe and unmentionables drawer in order and checked (all hangers neatly spaced, socks in a row and bed as flat as an iron), and sitting in the chapel, just in time for 7:30 Mass. Then breakfast, three classes, lunch, chores or sports (i.e. "chores"), showered again, supper, mandatory studies and silence until night prayer at 9:15, and I would be in bed by 9:30 (no later than ten) with my books in descending order and pulled to the edge of the shelf lest I get called out of bed in the dark by the flashlight wielding proctors for a book a full millimeter out of line.
• 2004...Woke up for Morning Prayer (I actually did in those days) in the hobbit hole of room 307 in Rosa Mystica or the new SJV of Ave Maria after Nick Rottman knocked on my door with the usual "Morning Brendan!" Spent the rest of the day going to classes (if the mood struck me) and whiling the day away distracting Joe Gates from his homework and cooking something instead. Ended the day with a trip to the wonderful grazing grounds of EMU's DC-1 and evening prayer with Fr. Ed and the other Pre-Thee guys (unless it was Tuesday and I got a wonderful dose of Dr. Dietrich!). Went to bed around 10pm...or midnight....or 1...or Joe and I got the random urge for something at Meijers...
• 2006...Morning prayer and Mass at 7:15, classes, holy hours, breakfast, lunch, and dinner (very good food...I am in danger of becoming fat!) formation talks, and spiritual advice with evening prayer at 5:15 fills my day now. I spend my whole day inside the Seminary, not daring to go out much because it's Detroit and...need I say more? Needless to say, the farm boy in my is going crazy, I am not used to averting my eyes and not being friendly lest someone take it the wrong way and do something scary, and I need some fresh air!!! I get what I can in the interior courtyard with one solitary tree and very square confines...they really need a garden here...a natural all plants, no grass and no square lines or anything garden!
  

Such is my life, in the past...and at present in a nutshell! And look...its 2am and I have Morning Prayer...old habits die hard!

I miss you...every one!

From GR to D-town

Some of you may be wondering how I got to Sacred Heart. I know I had been telling you all that I was going to be sent to Mundelien, Illinois (Our Lady of the Lake Seminary), but, as things would have it, God seemed to have other plans. Shortly after returning home after Graduation I got a call from the new and very recently appointed Vocations director for the Diocese of Grand Rapids. He saw that I was in sort of a limbo status, being on the old (and inept) Vocation Director's directory of applicants, but nothing much other that that. Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear from him! For a while it had seemed that nobody wanted me in GR and so gave me little motivation to complete my application (after all, if they never even seem at the very least slightly interested that you are interested in being a priest in their Diocese...why not go elsewhere?). I was thrilled and before the conversation ended, I had a date set to meet with Father regarding my vocation...at last I felt wanted!

The meeting was interesting...I arrived on time, but for some reason all the doors were locked (not again...was what I was thinking) but I eventually stumbled on some people taking a tour of the place (random huh?) and they let me in and I was able to find Father's office. The conversation went well, and he was very apprieciative and supporting in my decision to study for the priesthood in Grand Rapids. He then asked me if I was thinking of going to Sacred Heart...that was interesting...and I told him that I had not as I was under the impression that all GR guys went to Mundelien, but that I was open to the idea (did not want to seem too eager...and I did have mixed emotions on the subject...still do...). The reason he said that the change came was, 1) New Bishop (from Detroit), 2) New Vocations Director, and 3) The other seminarian that I would be going with had requested to come here (the big reason I came to find out).

So that is how I ended up here. The first seminarians ever from Grand Rapids to attend this seminary. Nice sense of pride in that...but we are also the Gunea Pigs to test out the place and see if future GR seminarians will come here. I hope it goes well, I am getting used to the place, but it is still Detriot and a far cry from what I am used to back home on the farm. Please keep me in your prayers!

The Recluse Returns

Despite a rather extended period of dryness in regards to my blog, the arid weather has abated, and I am ready to begin posting again in earnest. I thought that since so much has happened in the past month (hence the arid lack of posts) that you all really do deserve an explaination and a real update on my current status.

The month of August was a flurry of commotion. I completed all the requirements for admission, and was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Grand Rapids in Michigan. I am currently in residence and studying at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit Michigan. I am in Second Philosophy (which means that my ordination year is roughly 2011...so mark that on your calanders to be in Grand Rapids for that!) and so far am enjoying getting to know the guys here at school. Seminary is interesting...mostly because I have never been at a place that is so predominatly male before...I am not sure if I still know what a woman looks like (yes I am exagerating, but the image is apt I beleive).

So keep me in your prayers, as I will keep you in mine. And stay tuned, the scheduled life of school should help me post more...as well as the fact that I have better internet here at SHMS!

God Bless!