As years went on, my desire
to be a priest grew, along with the desire to be other things. A
teacher, doctor, nurse, bus driver, fire fighter…and the list
goes on. When I entered high school and my junior year, the priesthood
was still on my mind, but girls were the thing. Because of my size,
girls weren’t particularly interested in me. So, at the end
of my junior year, I made a promise to God, that if He would allow
me to know what it was like to be liked by a girl I would enter
the priesthood. During that summer, I had filled out college applications
to Christendom and Franciscan University of Steubenville (not knowing
you had to go through the Diocese to become a priest). At the beginning
of my senior year, I was 65 pounds lighter and set on going to school
to be a priest. However, I met and dated a young lady for two and
a half years. But, my calling didn’t go away, it only grew.
I could no longer continue lying to myself, I had to go to school
to be a priest. A few weeks later, I went on a “Come and See
weekend” with Fr. Dailey, our Vocations Director to Saint
John’s Major Seminary. It was in that weekend that I knew
that the priesthood was for me.
I was accepted by Bishop McDonnell
as a Diocesan Seminarian in June, and the by the Rector of the Seminary
of Our Lady of Providence, Fr. Kenny, in July. My heart was, for
the first time in two and a half years, at rest.