10 Days into Seminary Life

When I first decided to apply to St. Joseph College Seminary in Chicago, the essence of community and brotherhood played a huge factor. I wanted to be around other guys headed toward the same goal. Now ten days into my seminary career, I have already begun to see it more clearly. On Move-In Day, returning seminarians helped move myself and other new seminarians into our rooms and introduced themselves. They were very glad that we were here. I'm glad I am too!

If it were not for my brother seminarians helping me and guiding me in the right direction, I would never have learned the things that I now know. Before coming to St. Joseph's, I knew that good liturgy was always important, but I never had been to a place where everyone is passionate about liturgy, liturgy that is flowing but yet has structure and body. Good timing and reverent movement is very essential when serving, lectoring and even while being an Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Eucharist.

If it were not for my brother seminarians, I would not have been able to tie my own cincture and wear a collar with my cassock. I would not have know how to decorate an altar after it had been anointed during the Dedication of the Altar Mass that we just had the previous evening in our brand new chapel. So far, seminary has taught me how important it is to work with one another. Cooperation is very important.

In a way, my brother seminarians are my new family. We live, eat, pray, study, and play together. It really is what I needed. I needed to be around other guys who are determined to meet one goal, growing together in love and service, and God-willing,one day as priests! I have learned that nobody is ever alone. Everyone is here to help everyone else succeed. If there was such a thing, this would be the objective of the "No Seminarian Left Behind Act." Nobody should ever feel like they are alone in their discernment or their studies. We are here to encourage one another and grow ever more in love with Christ and His Church each day.

Supporting Vocations to the Priesthood

It feels so strange to say I will be moving out of my house and moving in to St. Joseph College Seminary in Chicago in less than a week. I have been so blessed to meet so many great people over this summer and I am so grateful for their love, prayers and support. To know that I have the backing of my home parish, family, friends and complete strangers is an amazing feeling.

When I first started this blog, I had just got home from attending my second Seminary Summer Camp hosted by St. Francis De Sales Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin. I was on fire for the faith and wanted to share my experience with anyone who would listen. I was feeling confident that God was calling me to become a priest as I was entering into my sophomore year of high school. I began recording my thoughts, my prayers, my writings and the many events that I participated in. I became a team member of a major vocations website that had begun in England run by teens specifically for men thinking about the possibility of priesthood, writing prayers and reflections for the site. Because of the site, I had the opportunity to be interviewed on Relevant Radio about how I came into contact with the creator and founder of the website, John Howard who is now a seminarian in England.  It was a very exciting time in my life!

The biggest thing that I learned this summer is how important it really is to be involved in as many events as you can. Everything that you are able to participate in, gives you an opportunity to share your faith with others, network and meet new people as well as make great new friends. This summer I frequently visited a discernment house in Shorewood, WI which housed five young men who were discerning the priesthood. One of these men will be entering college seminary with me this Tuesday as a Junior. I got to know each of these men, prayed with them, shared my discernment story with them and let them know of my support. I felt it was only fair to offer not only my time, but also my prayers and support that I was so fortunate to receive as I was applying for seminary.

The point that I am trying to make in all of this is not to make myself look high and mighty, but to share with fellow seminarians and discerners that even after getting accepted to seminary our work is not done, but is only beginning. Besides going to classes and formation lessons, I feel it is so important to take the time to show discerning men how much you are praying for them and how much you support them as they continue discerning God's will for them. Having the support of seminarians and priests while I was discerning and even during applying to seminary gave me confidence and helped me to know that I had good friends that had confidence in me that I seemed capable of being a good priest. It is so important to pray for the future of our church and support them with our company and kindness.

The Pilgrimage: 50 Miles to Holy Hill

Millions of people make religious pilgrimages each year. Whether it is making a trip to Lourdes, Fatima or Champion, Wisconsin, a religious pilgrimage is a time to step back from our day to day lives and begin a voyage, not only in a physical state but also in a spiritual sense. It is during these pilgrimages that we begin to draw deeper into our relationships with Christ, giving ourselves a chance to admire, as well as ponder, His wonderful deeds and His constant love for human kind.

A few weeks ago,  I was given the chance to embark on my first religious pilgrimage led by Archdiocesan Vocations Director Father Luke Strand. This pilgrimage was a 50 mile walk from St. Francis De Sales Seminary in St. Francis to Holy Hill in Hubertus, Wisconsin. Following Mass, we began our pilgrimage with a trip to visit Auxiliary Bishop Donald J. Hying at his office at the Archbishop Cousins Center to wish him a happy one year anniversary to the episcopacy.

After congratulating our awesome Auxiliary Bishop, we made our way to various churches on the south side of Milwaukee such as: Immaculate Conception in Bay View, the Bascilica of St. Josaphat on 6th and Lincoln Avenue, St. Anthony's on 9th and Mitchell, as well as the St. Joan of Arc Chapel on the Marquette University Campus before going to Aurora Sinai Medical Center on Kilbourn Ave, where my Mom had planned a wonderful lunch for the starving pilgrims.

After filling our bellys with some amazing food, we continued to make our way  up Wisconsin Ave, picking up two Marquette students that chose to pilgrimage with us for the day. We stopped to pray in front of Planned Parenthood, tried with no avail to get a look at the new chapel that was built inside Marquette University High School and prayed inside the Schoenstatt Shrine on 55th and Wisconsin Ave. For dinner, we traveled to Christ King Parish in Wauwatosa and finally arrived at St. Mary's Visitation Parish in Elm Grove at 8:00 to spend the night. The next day began with 6:30 AM Mass. We were graciously invited to have breakfast at the home of Brian Magliocco and his wife, Melissa.  Brian is the coordinator of WYRE Ministries which produces wonderful events for the youth of Wisconsin with opportunities to grow closer to God, such as the Wisconsin Youth Rally that is held every year.

After breakfast, we made the trip to St. John Vianney Parish in Brookfield to pray Morning Prayer and then to St. Dominic's Parish for lunch with Fr. David Reith, the Pastor, and newly ordained Fr. Brad Krawczyk, now the Associate Pastor. After breakfast it was straight walking all the way to Merton, Wisconsin. Relying solely on Divine Providence, we were amazed when a man stopped us on the side of the road with bottles of water and Hershey chocolate bars. It was even more amazing to us when he revealed to us that he was a Mormon. We stopped at Fr. Luke Strand's aunt's house for dinner and to spend the night. The first thing we all did was jump in the cold pool. Relaxing our tired bodies in the pool was awesome!

We woke up the next morning refreshed and energized, ready to conquer the final 10 miles to Holy Hill. We were a mile away from our destination when we decided to walk the rest of the way barefoot. It was just a small sacrifice, offering up our tired bare feet to Christ. I can't even imagine how He could walk the Via Dolorosa with so many lacerations on His body, His crown of thorns and His tired feet. All of these painful details with the addition of a heavy wooden cross in just incomprehensible! This small sacrifice that we gave, by walking the last mile to Holy Hill barefoot was our way of completing our pilgrimage, by uniting ourselves with Christ, and offering up our sore and tired bodies, so that He could transform them and use them for His glory. This was the purpose of our pilgrimage, to give witness to Christ by walking these 50 miles, carrying a Papal flag, carrying no food of our own with us, totally relying on God like we should be each and every day of our lives. 

Attending the 4:00 o'clock Mass at Holy Hill was such a fitting end to the pilgrimage, reminding us what our true purpose of this journey was. Pilgrimages are supposed to bring you closer to God and for us, this literally was true. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I hope to go on more pilgrimages in the future, continuing to move ever closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A Prayer-filled Weekend

As temperatures continue to rise during this summer, its always great when you are able to escape the heat and head up north for cooler weather. This past weekend I was invited to head up to Catholic Youth Expeditions at the Formation Center in Door County, Wisconsin which is headed up by Fr. Quinn Mann of the Diocese of Green Bay. I traveled with Fr. Luke Strand, the Archdiocesan Vocations Director, and a young man who is discerning a call to the priesthood. It was a wonderful weekend on Kangaroo Lake, filled with swimming and playing Ultimate Frisbee, as well as prayer, adoration and benediction, and time for confessions, too.

One particularly exciting thing that I did witih  the 15 other expeditioners and staff was getting to travel across the road to bless a family's farm and their animals. Due to the fact that the family was not Catholic, the priests and the rest of us jokingly referred to the event as, " going to bless a pagan farm and pagan animals." After all, the blessing really didn't mean that they were invoking the help of God and entrusting their farm to Him, but it was seen as a good luck charm to them; something you do just a precaution.We proceeded to do a Eucharistic Procession from the Chapel of the Formation Center, across the street to the farm where we definitely got our fair share of jaw drops and long gazing stares. It turns out though that the family, which had invited the rest of their family and friends, were very grateful to us for coming over and blessing their farm and animals in the way that we did. Adoration and Benediction in the middle of a field with cows mooing around you was a cool feeling. In some ways, I could picture this being like the Nativity of our Lord in a stable with farm animals around him. I wonder if he ever got annoyed of them mooing.

After the blessing and the Eucharistic Holy Hour, Fr. Quinn drove myself and the other 6 servers and the two other priests back to the formation center on a tiny golf cart. Just imagine Fr. Quinn driving a golf cart, sitting next to Fr. Luke, while six of us are hanging onto the ends of the cart with cassocks and surpluses, while were bouncing over grass and bumps in the road, carrying thuribles, big bowls of holy water and huge Eucharistic torches. Let's just say that one of these servers ended up being baptized with the entire bowl of holy water as he left the golf cart totally soaked from head to toe.

A great part of being a brand new college seminarian is being able to travel to different places and meet new people.  It's always an amazing feeling to know that so many people are praying for you and love you. I feel like because I get support from so many people, that I should atleast pay it forward. Whenever I go anywhere, I pray that I may be like Christ for others who have never seen Christ or experienced his love. Whenever I go places and meet people who are discerning a call to priesthood, I feel like it is important for me to show support to them, let them know I'm praying for them and trying to stay in contact with them. No one should ever feel like their alone in their discernment process, so it is always good to show your support for discerners.

 I was so fortunate to have met many seminarians this past weekend too. Most of them were from Mundelein Major Seminary in Chicago, a few from the Diocese of Green Bay and of course, 5 of us from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. It was awesome for us to meet with one another, to play sports and goof around with one another, and pray with and for one another. I truly had a blast this weekend!

Family Instills and Promotes Faith in Us

Today my family and I had the opportunity to go to Nazareth Day for Families held at the Basilica of St. Mary Help of Christians at Holy Hill. The whole day was filled with Mass, hot dogs, brats and burgers fresh off the grill, as well as face painting, bounce houses for the little ones and games of volleyball and soccer.

All in all, the entire day was celebration of families. Families show us what it means to belong, grow and develop, and most importantly, families show us what it means to love. I think Bishop Donald Hying said it perfectly in his homily today, " Marriage is a vocation that many are called to, and having a family is a vocation as well. It is not easy to have a family. It is not always easy to bring your children up in the world that we have today especially with secularism on the rise. This is why we applaud these families for doing their best to bring their children up in the faith of the Catholic Church and most importantly, to know and love God. Without good and holy families instilling the great faith that we believe in by attending Sunday Mass as well as other church related activities, vocations to priesthood and religious life would never be what they are today." 


So in conclusion, I just want to say a big thank you to all those families and in particular my own family, for bringing your children up with great morals, for being great examples of how we should live, giving up our lives in order to bring us to God through the sacraments that we have received, all so we can grow closer to our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Summer Continues to Teach The Importance of Hard Work

This summer I have the opportunity to work at St. Francis De Sales Seminary here in Milwaukee, as a part of a groundscrew team. The previous two summers I had spent work at my parish. Being able to work on various things to keep the grounds and the building working and looking good is a really great feeling. To know that I am working at a place that not only fosters my vocation, but also has fostered countless others over the 157 years of its existence is amazing.

While working there I have had the opportunity to learn different skills and work tatics that I not only need in order to keep the building running, but will also need them for the rest of my life such as the importance of hard work, determination and patience. As I start college seminary this coming August, I know that I will need all of these same characteristics. I realize that I will need to learn all that I can, in order to help as many as I can. This means that in order to properly educate people in the faith and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I need to immerse myself in every area of study that I can. Just as a maintenance man who does not know how to use tools will have a hard time improving and taking care of the buildings he is entrusted to, so a priest who has no knowledge of the faith really have a hard time educating others in the ways of the church.

With that in mind, I have given myself a few goals this summer as I move closer toward beginning seminary life.

1. Increase or find consistency in my prayer life.
2. Read as many philosophy and theology books as I can.
3. Write emails or letters to those discerning a call to priesthood or has expressed an interest in applying to seminary, but need a little encouragement.

All in all, this summer I feel like it is time for me to start living the life that I will, while I am in seminary. This is my time to continue to grow in my faith and bring others to it as well. I only pray to God that I can.

Young People of Wisconsin: "It's Time to Stand Up For Life!"

This past weekend I was invited to give a talk about pro-life issues to a group of 17 teenagers at a youth retreat at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hales Corners, WI. My talk was to be on pro-life issues, specifically abortion. This has been an extremely important topic ever since it was made legal in the 1973 Roe V. Wade Supreme Court ruling. My talk highlighted facts about abortion, the Catholic Church's teaching on it as well as personal experiences that I have had with pregnant classmates who were contemplating abortion, and personal stories about my time spent praying outside of a local abortion clinic. The main thing that I wanted to incorporate in my talk however was how important it is for the youth of our church to stand up and fight for the pro-life cause. After all, we are the future of the church aren't we? We need to show the rest of the world that we can make a difference in the way that it is run. This includes fighting to end abortion and all attacks on human life. We need to show the world that we will not stand by and let organizations such as Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics influence us and our decisions. A copy of my talk is below in italics.

One of the biggest ways that we can make an impact on the world is by doing one very simple but equally powerful action, voting. Yesterday marked the Recall Primary Election for Governor in Wisconsin. As you may know, Governor Scott Walker is being recalled and will, as of yesterday's primary election, face Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a Recall Election on June 5th. One of the things that Mayor Tom Barrett is in support of is abortion. As young people and young adult voters of this great state, we need to stand up and vote in support of pro-life candidates, namely, Governor Scott Walker. Walker is extremely pro-life and that is why he is getting my vote this election. Not only is he unjustly being recalled after doing a great job moving Wisconsin forward and out of debt, but it is also appalling that his opposition is one who is so evil that he is in support of killing innocent children and then trying to receive communion at a Catholic Church. It is time for us to stand strong as the young people of this state and vote for what is right. Please join me in voting for Governor Scott Walker on June 5th to not only to continue to move the state forward, but also save lives doing it.  

Respect Life Committee Talk May 5th 2012 • My name is John Bender. I’m a senior at Nathan Hale High School in West Allis, a parishioner at St. Matthias Catholic Church in Milwaukee and am a member of the Respect Life Committee there.

• So when Eva Melenchuk, the president and founder of the Respect Life Committee here at St. Mary’s invited me to come talk about pro-life issues, I thought it was a great honor and a great chance to talk to kids around my own age about how important it is to make an impact in the world, by stopping one of the biggest things that harm it, abortion.

• So I’m going to begin by starting with the church teaching on human life taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church- “All life is sacred from conception to natural death.” 

• People’s Exceptions- “ I’m only in favor of abortion in cases of rape and incest. When it comes to saving innocent life however, there are exceptions. 

• There is nothing more important than the life of each and every human being.  

Facts about Abortion 

• Legal since the Supreme Court ruling of 1973. 

• Since then, over 42 million abortions are performed in the US each year. 

• 52% of these women receiving these abortions are younger than 25. 

 • 64.4% of all abortions are performed on un-married women. 

• Teenagers obtain for 20% as well as 1.2% for children 15 and under.  

Why is abortion still utilized? 

• 1% of all abortions occur due to rape, 6% due to health problems regarding either the mother or child. 93% of all abortions occur because of social reason. Simply put, 93% of children are aborted due to inconvenience. 

• Meaning that when a mother or family member feels like it is convenient for them to have a child, they will have one. Which leads to the question, “ when is it ever convenient to abort or end innocent human life?”  

The Question is? 

• How can we stop these horrible attacks on life from being performed, the biggest and best answer is abstinence.

• After all, the more couples that practice abstaining from sex reduces the number of women becoming pregnant, stops the transfer of sexually transmitted diseases and of course, without a pregnancy, there is no abortion. 

 • Sex between a married couple is seen as beautiful. It not only unites the couple but it also creates the possibility of creating new life. 

• It is outside of this marriage bond that sex is considered morally wrong. First, because it is not commonly used as a way to pro-create, and second because a large number of pregnancies for unmarried couples are often result to abortion. This is the challenge for us young people. We need not only be physically strong, but also mentally and morally strong.  

Call to be proactive 

• As young people we have to be proactive in terms of our faith. We have to be advocates for one another. This requires getting out of our comfort zones and getting involved.

• There are many ways to get involved in the pro-life effort. 

• This past March the Archdiocese had a Pro-life rally at the Cousin Center bringing huge amounts of teens and young adults to pray for an end to abortion. 

• Each October is dedicated as Pro-Life Month, dedicating everything during that month towards praying for the pro-life cause. 

• There are also opportunities to make a true impact in the pro-life movement. 40 Days for Life asks people of all ages to make a trip down to Affiliated Medical Services on Farwell Ave. in Milwaukee to pray for the end to all abortions that continue to occur at this last abortion clinic in the Milwaukee area.  

Personal Experiences 

• I have known a few classmates and old friends who have been pregnant and currently pregnant. When I have talked to these girls many of them felt strongly about keeping their baby, but also others have been influenced by their parents to try to make them give up their baby by aborting it. It is very sad for me to see how much their life will eventually change with or without the baby. 

• The time that I have spent praying out in front of abortion clinics have definitely been life changing. I remember standing out in front the building watching countless women walk out of the clinic, heads down in shame, emotionally and mentally drained, feeling totally wiped out. I remember hearing the clinics employees ridiculing us for trying to deprive women of their right to abort their children. They seem so full of anger and hate, constantly calling us name, occasionally calling the police on us. It is very sad, but we understand that the only reason that they are angry is because somewhere inside of themselves; they know that what we are doing is honorable and right. Their reactions give away their true feelings. 

 • I can count the times that I have been to the abortion clinic on one hand, and sometimes I feel like I’m not really doing anything to fight abortion. In reality, just my being there, standing there, praying there; I am making a difference in someone else life. Maybe God is calling each of you to work in the pro-life movement. You will never know until you try. Just by going a few times will not only change your life, but it will change the lives of the people around you walking past and seeing your bravery and cheerful spirit. We need to bring a little light and happiness to fight the darkness. I encourage each of you to listen intently to what God is calling you to do. I promise that he will never disappoint you.