Welcome to ConsiderPriesthood.com

–#1–

This weekend I took our youth group down to the 8th annual Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco. It is a great event to reveal to young people the true fight for the dignity of the human person. I always find it interesting that counter-protestors come out and display hostile and negative attitudes towards the walkers. Rather than showing that they are able to dialogue, they come out and attack. They reveal quite easily for the youth that there really is a battle, and it is a battle between good and evil. They reveal what evil looks like.

We passed by one of the first groups of counter-protestors and one of them quickly realized I was wearing a roman collar. So he began to shout at me and started pointing at me and calling me vulgar names. My kids were shocked. To be honest, I was not quite expecting it. Usually they just chant and scream their slogans or insult the Catholic faith. It was my first time with some direct anti-Catholic priest type speech. But we dealt with it in silence.

Indeed it was a great weekend. And the local news did actually pick up the story for a couple minutes.

Let us continue to pray for the end to abortion and all attacks on the dignity of the human person.

–#2–

Whatever vocation we are called to live, there is necessary sacrifice. If we are called to marriage, we surrender some of our favorite hobbies, our personal comforts, and our free use of time for family. So also with the priesthood, people speak of sacrifice. One sacrifice always on my mind in the fall and winter months is my old ritual of Sunday football. My 10am-430pm routine has been shattered by the working day of a priest, or in my case, seminarian. But it is worth the sacrifice and more – especially considering the 49ers finally ran out of juice.

–#3–

Tuesday I gathered with my 2 pastoral year seminarian brothers for a meal and conversation. We had a good time discussing parish life and the joys and struggles.

–#4–

Thursday I was at Presentation Parish in Sacramento visiting with the students as the parish school. I think after 2 hours they know everything you can know about discernment, seminary life, and priestly formation without having gone through the entire process. Thanks to the Dominican Sisters, Fr. Leatherby, and Presentation students for having me!

–#5–

We are doing some interviews and hiring in the next couple weeks here at St. Joseph’s so please pray for the transition. I have to say I am especially invested in this whole process as I have been filling in for some of these currently vacant positions so I cannot wait!

AMDG

–#1–

Saturday, the youth group went up to Paradise to compete in our first ever Frozen Turkey Olympics. After 2 events, we even held the lead. But eventually we were completely wiped out by the other 2 teams. But as you can see, we had a good time losing. In the event below, we were supposed to push our frozen turkey, nicknamed Steve, into certain sections on this picnic table for points. This contestant of ours shoved it so far it flew off the edge of the table almost hitting yours truly!

And here is St. Joseph’s, also known as the red team, after our less than glorious loss. They didn’t know, but we wore red for the 49ers, and it was worth it. We pulled out a monster victory over the Saints on the way home from Paradise!

–#2–

The Sunday 3:30pm Mass at St. Teresa’s was celebrated for Martin Lara, a parishioner here in Auburn, who was tragically killed this past week. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

–#3–

This week Fr. Brian has been out of town so I made myself acting pastor. Do not try to find the authority for that in canon law. I am just the one living in the rectory really. It has been a calm week so not too much to report. I had an interview for the Catholic Herald so once again you will being seeing this face in the magazine. I was in the magazine for Jan/Feb for vocations and I was pleasantly surprised with how many people in our parish read in the Herald as I have gotten a ton of comments in the past few weeks.

–#4–

The Walk for Life West Coast is this Saturday. We are taking a group of youth from St. Joseph’s out to San Francisco. Hope to see many of you there.

–#5–

Finally, our Holy Father spoke to Roman seminarians today telling them, “Priestly life requires an ever-increasing thirst for sanctity.” What a way to end today. We must hunger and thirst to be holy, to be full of charity, and to radiate that sanctity in the world of today.

AMDG

–#1–

It has been another busy week. Part of this I attribute to National Vocation Awareness week. I visited a couple different Catholic schools to speak about vocations, including our own here in Auburn.

–#2–

Youth Group went well on Saturday. We had one of our best turnouts and quite a few newcomers. We have another event this weekend called Frozen Turkey Olympics. It is a competition between different youth groups that usually happens right after Thanksgiving but was rescheduled for this weekend. Please say a prayer for safe travels.

–#3–

This week I also did some more investigating of the resources available to the Hispanic community in Auburn so I can better assist. That has been some work but I definitely have some good ideas of what can be done now. It is amazing how many meetings make up the life of a seminarian on pastoral year, let alone a pastor.

AMDG