Where did you learn that?
By Bishop Francis Malone
I have had several opportunities to visit with our young Catholics, in particular, those of high school age. Giving them the option to ask questions, one of the most frequently asked is “when did you know you wanted to be a priest?” There are those who know that I had an uncle who was a priest, and in fact was quite instrumental in facilitating my move from Philadelphia to Arkansas, where I lived with him and go to witness what a priest does from day to day. He was ordained before I was born, and he and I served together in the Diocese of Little Rock for many years. An exemplary priest, he lived to the age of 93, sixty-seven years as a priest.
But the awareness I had that God was calling me to the priesthood was when I was a very young altar server in our parish Church in Philadelphia. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a very large Church with an elementary school of over a thousand students, forty religious Sisters of St. Joseph, and five priests assigned to the parish. I remember these priests very well, my pastor of 19 years, Msgr. Nugent, the associate pastors, Father Corrigan, Father McDonough, Father O’Brien, Father Vizzard, and Father Paul Curran. Father Corrigan taught me how to serve Mass, answer the prayers in Latin. He also came to our home the night my mother died and gave her the Last Rites of the Church. Father McDonough was one of three brothers who became priests, one of them later the Archbishop of Louisville. Father O’Brien baptized me. Father was a steady no nonsense associate pastor. Later on Father John Oulds who exemplified holiness in the priesthood. Msgr. Nugent was very much like a grandfather tome, and gifted me with his Chalice when I was ordained a priest. He also preached the homily at my First Mass of Thanksgiving. That which stands out in my mind is that in the wake of the clergy scandals in the Church, none, not one of these priests has ever been accused of misconduct, and to the man became models for me. When I saw them celebrate Mass or minister in the parish, I had this feeling that God was calling me to do the same. In retrospect, they were holier than me, better preachers, especially Father Curran who died this past year, and father-like men like Msgr. Nugent.
Ask any priest about his story, and he’ll be able to tell you about the priests in his life who became the models for his own priestly vocation. I am sure that soon to be Fathers Gabriel Cisneros and Kelby Tingle have their own vocation story. And without them knowing how, they too are becoming models for future priests.
I can tell you from my own experience that prayers from those I have served has sustained me throughout almost 46 years of ministry. So I am not shy about asking for your continued prayers for me–AND for the priests who serve you now, AND for the two new priests about to be ordained. The strength that comes from such prayers keeps us close to the Lord and to you. May the month of June in which we add two more to the number of those who serve us be a special time when we increase our prayers for them.