to serving my parish in music
ministry as an organist for an occasional mass here and there. This
occasional mass became a regular activity when I was about 14 years
old and I slowly began playing organ and choir directing for various
parishes in Berkshire County up until I graduated from high school.
I was also heavily involved in Youth Ministry with the COTY Center
in North Adams. When I graduated high school in 2001 I really had
a solid belief in who Jesus Christ was in my life through all of
my parish involvement and ministry work.
I entered U Mass Amherst in
the Fall of 2001 as a music education and piano performance major
and became very active in the Newman Catholic Center both as a member
of the student group there and as the Newman Center’s Music
Director for two years. It was in my senior year at U Mass that
I began to think of what I was to do next in my life. No matter
how much I “ignored” the call to priesthood the call
became more and more present in my life.
When I finally decided to respond
to God’s call I was in my last year at U Mass and working
at St. Mary’s Parish in Longmeadow. At St. Mary’s I
was blessed to have a wonderful pastor as a role model and an excellent
staff who gave me the assurance that this is what I was being called
to do. My activity in the parish had grown out of just the music
director job to becoming totally involved in youth ministry, teaching
religious education, helping with parish functions and many other
activities.
I am now in my first year of
pre-theology at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, MA and am
so thankful for all the experiences that God has graced me with
in life. The call to priesthood was not only through God but also
through the people God planted in my life to assist me in my discernment.
I would encourage anyone who is seeking possible vocation to the
priesthood or religious life to listen to God always but to also
see how God is speaking to you through others and in what situations
of your life is God calling you. God Bless!