Blog Archives

Andrea Schneider

7/30/2018

Our adult retreats have been a game changer for adult ministry. When I look at how other areas of ministry have expanded, like prayer ministry and our healing services, I see those as fruits of our adult retreat. A big part of that is the people who have stepped out in faith and followed where the Lord is calling them. Many of the adults now in leadership roles have attended one, if not all of the adult retreats.

Being apart of this parish and leading adult ministry has been an amazing opportunity for me. I’ve been blessed to see people be transformed by God’s love. I’ve witness people receive freedom and healing. I’ve been able to watch people leave retreats on fire for the Lord, and experience a new excitement about their faith. It has been such a blessing and humbling experience to walk this journey of faith with so many adults at our parish! I would like to share with you some short reflections from previous retreat attendees as to how the adult retreats has impacted them.

“I thought the retreat was absolutely amazing! It is so hard to describe an experience that powerful. It was the most amazing, powerful, healing experience that I have ever had. The Lord always shows up in such a powerful way. It is truly an experience that I can't get anywhere else.”
- Karen Bengal

"In attending the parish retreat for the first time, I found a group of people who organize activities within the parish. I felt their love for all members of the parish. They are truly living the two greatest commands of Jesus to love God and neighbor as yourself."
- Bill Armbrustmacher

“I attended my first retreat last Fall and look forward to every upcoming retreat. It’s always a really nice time to get away and spend time with the Lord. We are all so busy that we forget to pause and spend time in fellowship with other members of the parish, spend alone time in prayer or participate in small groups, which is part of what the retreats offer. It’s such a welcoming atmosphere throughout the weekend. It’s not always serious, we actually laugh a lot! I was able to spend time getting to know many people that I would otherwise not have a chance to connect with. I’ve become good friends with several people I have met on retreat. Because of my participation in the retreats, I feel more connected to the parish community and want to go deeper in my faith. I’m no longer afraid to go out on a limb and attend Adoration or the healing services because I know I am becoming closer to Jesus. If I had not taken the leap of faith I did when I was invited on retreat last Fall, I wouldn’t have been able to experience all the wonderful things that the Lord has brought to me. I personally invite you to take the leap and attend the retreat. You will not be sorry you did.”
- Cindy Braun

“What I enjoy most about the retreats is an open atmosphere to actually discuss faith. How often in your daily life do you get that opportunity? The retreats feature many individuals who share their faith journey, "witnessing". It is surprising to hear they share the same challenges that I do. As a bonus, where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, I am there in your midst. Right from scripture, God himself promises to be present. After about 6 retreats we can safely every attendee has felt His presence.”
- Vern Thelen

"My husband and I decided to attend the retreat after moving to the area only 1 year prior. While we were a little apprehensive about knowing very few people prior to the retreat, everyone was welcoming and open. We not only were able to spend time with God, but He also blessed us with several new friends. We are so glad we went!"
- Kate Davis

“I’ve been on the last 3 retreats and they have been such a stepping stone for my faith, to the point I consider them essential for my spiritual growth. Each retreat brings something new to the table and I’m always amazed with what I take away from them. I have yet to walk away disappointed and I always leave wanting more. I was hooked after the first one and my calendar has been planned around them since! If you’re looking for a great start to take that next step in your faith, these retreats are a definite must!”
-Stephanie Kirvan

Our next adult retreat is September 28-30 at the St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt. I want to encourage you pray about coming on the next retreat. I know people have busy schedules, and there is always something we could be doing, but is that where the Lord is calling you to be? These retreats have so much to offer and something I look forward to every year. I’m always getting something new from them and always leave feeling recharged. Registration is available online!

God Bless
Andrea

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Kameron Riley

7/25/2018

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As a coach, I am constantly giving my players instruction. I tell them what to do, how to do it, and most importantly, why they need to do it. Ideally, I am providing them knowledge that will enable them to reach or exceed their potential and to play the game the right way.

When I was asked to chaperone this year’s Steubenville conference, the first question I asked myself was, “what will my role be and how will I most effectively fulfill that role?” Having never been in this position, it was a bit unclear to me as to how I was going to do so. But despite that uncertainty, the end goal seemed very clear to me; I was to serve in a manner that allowed our students to experience this conference to its fullest potential.

It was at this point that I started to affiliate being an effective chaperone with being an effective coach. I believed that to fulfill my role as a chaperone, I had to speak to these kids; I had to give them instruction. And so, I began to pray to God, asking that he provide me the necessary knowledge and wisdom to speak to these kids in a way that inspired and encouraged them to open up and simply make themselves available to Him. I asked, “What do you want me to say?” In the months, weeks, and days preceding, I continued to ask this question, “What do you want me to say, God?”

After we had arrived on Friday and attended the day’s activities, I did not feel right. I did not feel as if I was fulfilling my role as chaperone, as I had not yet spoken to any of the kids. I started to question why God wanted me there. I knew He wanted me there, but I was not sure why.

Saturday morning after mass, one of the other chaperones suggested we go to the Portiuncula Chapel, which is set aside for private prayer and adoration. After we arrived, I began to ask God again, “What do you want me to say?” Only this time I explained to Him that I did not feel as if I was adding value or fulfilling my role as chaperone. He said to me, “Nothing. I do not want you to say anything.”

A few months back I was meeting my Grandma for breakfast after 8:00am mass at Charlie’s in Westphalia. For convenience, I decided to attend mass at St. Mary’s in Westphalia and walk down to Charlie’s afterwards for breakfast at nine. During that mass, Fr. Eric Weber said something very simple, yet profound that I will never forget. He said, “One cannot pass along something he or she does not possess themselves.”

That Saturday morning when God said to me, “I do not want you to say anything,” it was this very message Fr. Eric shared that Sunday morning in his homily that came to mind. It was at this point that I realized I had overestimated the power of words and underestimated the power of action. If I wanted these kids to open up and make themselves available to God, I too, had to open up and make myself available to Him. If I wanted them to step outside their comfort zone and embrace the uncomfortable, I too, had to step outside my comfort zone and embrace the uncomfortable. From that point forward, I was able to stop worrying about what to say and really just focus on living in the moment. In doing so, I was able to see more clearly the various ways God was present throughout the weekend.

This retreat was an amazing experience. As people ask me, “How was it?” and “What was it like?” there is one word that comes to mind, “transformation.” Among the many amazing things I witnessed through the duration of the weekend, the most apparent and powerful was the transformations I saw in so many individuals. I experienced students who perhaps were not comfortable speaking face-to-face with each other on the bus ride down, praying over and with one another throughout the weekend. I saw students who maybe were not comfortable reading in front of the class at school, get up in front of a busload of people and lead a rosary. I witnessed students who have little to no experience speaking in crowds get up in front of 3,000 people and share their story. I witnessed, firsthand, the great things and transformations that can take place when we make ourselves available to God and it was an experience I will never forget.

Going into this weekend, there was a lot of uncertainty. I was not sure what my role would be, how or to what extent God would work, and really what the whole experience would entail. I knew very little detail. However, I knew great things would take place. And, knowing that, I developed this natural desire to prematurely distinguish what those great things would be and what I would do to influence what took place and how it would impact the people involved. Just as I believed, or wanted to believe, I knew what my role was as chaperone, I also wanted to determine the details involving the weekend before they took place. Yet, it was not until I stopped worrying and thinking about these things that I was able to fully see God at work. And I believe that is the most important detail to understand when speaking in regard to transformation: to see it and experience it, we first must set aside our own thoughts and desires and place our trust in God. This weekend, I saw just that when 82 students from our parish made the trip to Steubenville. Thankfully, because of their faith and commitment, I was able to witness the amazing transformations that derive from such decisions.

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Paul Fahey

7/17/2018

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I am blessed to be involved with many ministries around the parish. I pray with, evangelize, and teach every age from Kindergarten on up. And while I really enjoy most of these ministries, one of my favorite parts of my job is answering questions in the junior high and high school classrooms. Whether it’s the Religious Ed class I’m regularly teaching or an MHT theology class that I’m visiting, I love answering questions about the faith that are asked out of genuine curiosity. Questions like: Do animals go to heaven? Why do people suffer? Who is your favorite saint? What are angels and demons? Do Catholics believe in evolution? These are questions many adults have but don’t have the innocent boldness of kids to ask. It’s here where I’m able to share stories about my life and family to help illustrate explain the faith. It’s here where I’m best able to share my own love of Christ and his Church with the students. It’s here where I’m fulfilling my vocation as a catechist.

That’s what I wanted to talk about in this article: the vocation of a catechist. As is the case pretty much every summer, some catechists move on to other ministries and vocations leaving the parish with a need for more catechists. This upcoming school year the parish is in need of catechists for various classes in middle school, junior high, and high school.

This isn’t a bad thing by any means and neither is it unexpected. The vast majority of catechists are volunteers (or receive a small stipend per each class) who serve this ministry for the season of their life that God calls them to. Sometimes this season lasts just one school year and sometimes it lasts decades. But when God asks you to respond to his call he will open the doors to make it happen, and he will close doors when he wants you to serve someplace else. The parish’s need for catechists is a regular opportunity for you to ask God if he wants you to minister in this way, an opportunity to follow his will even in unexpected ways. So I wanted to explain to you what the vocation of catechist is and then practically what a catechist does here at Most Holy Trinity.

The vocation of catechists is both very simple and very profound. Our diocese describes a catechist this way:

“A Catechist in the Diocese of Lansing is one who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have the desire to teach and have responded to a call from God to participate in the Church’s mission to lead and encourage others to the same.”

In other words, a catechist is someone who has a personal relationship with Christ and a desire to invite others, specifically students, into a similar relationship. It’s that simple. A catechist doesn’t need a teaching degree or a theology degree. A catechist doesn’t need to be a daily Mass goer. And a catechist certainly doesn’t need to have all the answers - just leave those for me to answer when I visit the class :) Catechists are simply people who love Jesus, love to learn about Jesus, and have been called by God to share that love with others.

So what does this look at here at MHT? If someone feels called by God to be a catechist, or if someone is curious and just wants to know more about what being a catechist looks like, they contact me and we set up a time to meet. At the meeting I ask about why the person is interested in this ministry, I ask about their relationship with God, and I explain all the details and answer any questions about religious ed. We have textbooks and other resources for catechists to use in class. We have regular catechetical formation opportunities for catechist to continue learning about the faith and to ask the questions they have. We will have opportunities to go on catechists retreats. And we do our best to pair up new catechists with one or two other people so that the strengths and talents of a team overcome the fears and weaknesses of individuals.

If you feel God tugging at your heart as you are reading this, or if you have felt a desire to be a catechist in the past, please take that to prayer and sincerely ask God what he wants you to do. If you still think that God is asking you to consider this ministry then please reach out to me and we will talk about what to do next. My job isn’t to recruit people to fill a need, rather it’s to help people see where God is calling them and how they can best respond. As Father Dennis often says, we don’t call ourselves to a ministry. Jesus, through the Church, calls us. Responding to God and living out the vocations he has called us too is how we truly live a joyful and fulfilled life and how the Love of God reaches the hearts and minds of all people.

Christ’s Peace,

-Paul

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Adam Halfman

7/9/2018

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We are now less than a month away from our 2018 Parish Festival on July 26-29th! We often talk about how important this event is as a fundraiser for our parish which it certainly is. But the last couple of years I have really been struck by how big of an event this is for our parish community. It’s more than just a fundraiser or an event for the kids. It’s something that brings people together in a way that few events do.
I’ll be honest, when I first took over the responsibility of chairing the festival; I wasn’t too thrilled about it. I remembered loving the event as a kid, but as an adult it didn’t really do much for me. It was usually a hot day with a large crowd of people and a lot of chaos. All things that I normally try to avoid! It’s no coincidence then that after the last volunteers stepped away from chairing the event with me that you started to hear announcements wondering whether we should still be having it. I always hate the idea of doing things just because we’ve always done them and the festival seemed like an insane amount of work if it wasn’t bearing fruit beyond the fundraising and being a nice thing for the kids.
In the past three years chairing the event I have been blown away at the end of each weekend by the number of people I saw at the various events, especially on Sunday. It’s crazy to look around during the grounds in that 11-2 prime time and see all of the people that are there. I wouldn’t even be able to throw out an educated guess! Is it 1000 people or more? Whatever the number it is, it’s safe to say that the festival brings in more people than any other event on our calendar! Once I realized the sheer magnitude of this event it didn’t take long for my perspective about the festival to change.
What started for me as an event to raise a lot of money turned into an opportunity for our parish to do ministry to people. If we have more people than any other event in attendance, then doesn’t it make sense for us to try and be more intentional about what we offer as a parish? As I’ve learned from Sherry Weddell’s book, “Forming Intentional Disciples” there are many ways that people can come back to practicing their faith. Sherry uses the term, “Building a bridge of trust” as she describes how things associated with the parish can connect with people who have been away from the faith. With that prinicple in mind we decided to have a time of Adoration in the church during the festival last year to ask Jesus to be present during the day and to minister to all of the people who were on the parish grounds. We also had our evangelization team available to hand out resources to people, answer questions and pray with people. When all was said and done and I thought I had made more mistakes than previous years, I had a few people comment on how that year was “the best one yet”. I thought they were joking but I shouldn’t have been surprised when we gave the Lord a more central location at the event that He touched peoples hearts in a way that gravy burgers and fries couldn’t!
Looking ahead to this year I am hoping that more people can see the parish mission embedded in this event. And not just as a way to reach out to people who have been away from the faith, but as an opportunity for us to build our parish community as well. That’s a small reason why putting the workers list on signup genius was appealing. How many times have we worked a job at the festival and either found ourselves reconnecting with someone we haven’t spoken to in a while or got to know someone new? I’m really hoping that increased accessibility to the workers sign up will allow more people to sign up and limit the number of people that need to be assigned to work a shift. In all honesty I would love to have it fill up completely with volunteers so we didn’t have to assign anyone. Even if that meant that people decided to work more than one shift. That’s not necessarily an expectation that I have, I just think that if we have a great event and a good reason for doing it, then people will respond to that.
It used to be that it was a requirement for parishioners to be involved with the parish festival through volunteering to work a shift, bringing a baked good, and donating something to the Arts and Craft Booth. While we still rely on the support of our parishioners to make the festival a success, the word “requirement” doesn’t really fit anymore. With all of our schedules filling up more and more, we can’t blame people for scheduling vacations or choosing other activities over the festival each year. At the same time we’re extremely grateful for those who continue to give of their time and resources to make the festival a tremendous success each year.
Please consider joining us for our 2018 Parish Festival on July 26-29th or helping out in any way that you are able. Together we can continue to make this event something that will be a staple of our parish community for years to come!

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Brian Armbrustmacher

7/5/2018

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I was born into an average Catholic family. My siblings and I were raised in the faith, we went to Mass each Sunday and received all our sacraments at the usual ages. Although I did the minimum to be considered “Catholic,” there was something definitely missing. I didn’t really talk about God with others and I didn’t pray regularly. Growing up, nothing happened in my life that allowed me to know who God is and who He wants to be in my life.
In the spring of 2012, I had the opportunity to go on my first real retreat, the 8th grade retreat put on by the high school youth group. I went because my friends were going, and I thought it was going to be a fun time. Honestly, I don’t remember much of what we did over the weekend, nor do I remember what most of the talks were about, but I do remember the Saturday night Adoration that we had. We had just heard a testimony and the lights were dimmed. I was sitting front and center as Father Bill Koenigsknecht processed into the room with the Blessed Sacrament. He then put the monstrance on the makeshift altar right in front of me. As a group, we sang praise-and-worship songs with intermittent silence, so we could just look, talk and listen to Jesus. At the end of Adoration, Fr. Bill got up, and began benediction. As he reposed the Blessed Sacrament, I distinctly remember hearing the words, “You could do that,” in my head, almost like a whisper. This shook me! I felt different for the rest of the retreat, and even after getting home.
After the retreat, the words that the Lord said to me left me feeling confused. “You could do that,” he said. What’s that supposed to mean? Was God calling me to be a priest?! In order to get answers, I went to Andrew Halfman, my theology teacher, and asked to meet. In our meeting, I told him what happened in Adoration, and I asked him what I was supposed to make of it. He kindly told me not to worry about it. If this was a call from God for me to become a priest, since I was only in 8th grade, I had plenty of time to think about it later. This is not what I wanted to hear. I wanted a definite answer: did God want me to be a priest or not? I’m a planner; if I knew what God wanted me to do, I could take intentional steps to prepare myself for that. Looking back, I should have tried to deepen my prayer life to strengthen my relationship with Jesus, and in doing this, over time, my vocation would have become clear. Instead, I tried to learn more about God and Catholicism. If God was calling me to be a priest, I needed to know as much about the faith as I could.
For the final months of 8th grade and into my freshman year of high school, I asked my youth minister for any and all media that would teach about the Church. I wasn’t completely sure who God was, or what the Church specifically taught, so I wanted to know all about it. I read things like The Essential Catholic Survival Guide, Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible, The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth and The Angels: In Catholic Teaching and Tradition. I also started listening to Catholic Answers Radio and to Lighthouse Catholic CDs. At this point, I felt God wasn’t someone whom I could have a relationship with. He was merely someone who I could know about, so I did my best to learn all about him.
In the fall of 2012, I went into my freshman year of high school. In high school, instead of being segregated by grade like in middle school, students from different grades would intermingle. This is actually how I got involved in youth group. During lunch, there was a group of seniors who regularly played cards, and they welcomed younger students to join them. Over time, I became friends with two guys in particular: Josh Hamilton and Grant Feldpausch. They both made it a point to invite me to youth group events. Josh would also invite me to go out to the movies, out to eat, and even play laser tag. These guys were super nice, and such great role models for me! They were both into their faith, made school a priority and didn’t party on the weekends. Because of how genuine they were, I wanted to be like them. Throughout high school, I chose to be be involved in youth group, try my best in school, and to not get caught up in drinking and partying.
During my freshman and sophomore years, I kind of assumed that God wanted me to be a priest. I wanted to be holy, so I went to every youth group and church event I could; I went to Bible studies, social nights, movie nights, and Holy Hours. I also made it a priority to go to every retreat I could. If there was something going on at my youth group, I was there. Although I had good intentions, I didn’t really pray often and God was a distant figure in my life. Despite everything I went to and how involved I was in youth group, I still didn’t know that I could have a personal relationship with God.
During my sophomore year, my youth minister, Adam Halfman, noticed how involved I was. He asked a classmate and me to join a leadership group, made up of mostly upperclassmen who were into their faith and helped to plan retreats/events. Something different about this group was that Adam, who led it, wanted it to be centered on the model of intentional discipleship. This challenged me to not only be involved in youth group for the sake of my own faith, but to go out and bring others too. I also realized that Josh and Grant had used this model on me, and how successful it could really be.
The summer after my sophomore year, I attended Franciscan LEAD (A week long retreat that stands for Leadership, Evangelization And Discipleship and is held at Steubenville). This was a week where I met people my age who also loved their faith, and wanted to grow closer to God. Coming into the retreat, it was on my heart to think more about the priesthood and to gain a personal relationship with God. One night, it was announced that teams of two adults would come and pray over each of us. As the praise and worship session started, I was one of the first to be prayed with. After praying for a few minutes, prayer leader said he got the sense that I had things that needed to be “pruned away;” that some things in my life were keeping me from a close relationship with God. Immediately, the thought of becoming a priest came to mind. In that moment, it was clear what God was saying to me: “Stop thinking about becoming a priest.”
Surprisingly, this was a big step in my faith. At first I was upset. Why would God have put it on my heart to think about becoming a priest when he was just going to rip it away from me?! I had spent two years thinking about seminary and the priesthood, and I had nothing to show for it. Looking back now, I can clearly see that I didn’t really have a relationship with God. I was never honest with God in prayer. I would use my thoughts of becoming a priest like a shield of sorts. I assumed that I was already holy because, hey, the Lord wants me to be a priest. I don’t need to make any efforts in my relationship with Him; it’s perfect (because God only calls the elite to be priests, right?). I also thought, “Since I am being called to be a priest, I don’t need to talk to those “sinners” in my class, who partied on the weekend.” I thought the way I was living, with a ‘holier than thou’ mentality, was what God wanted from me and that needed to change.
Something else that I got from LEAD was a real prayer life. At LEAD, we were taught how to pray and how we should use our time in prayer to simply converse with God. We don’t need to say the right thing, or sound holy in our prayer. God wants us just as we are. This was huge for me. I could come to God with my worries my struggles and not worry about doing it perfectly. Also, knowing that God loved me in spite of whatever I was going on in my life was freeing. Again, I didn’t have to worry about living perfectly, praying perfectly or being perfect; God wanted me to be myself.
In August, I went on service retreat and had a life-changing conversation with Chris Feldpausch, a guy close to my age from our parish. As we talked, I was vulnerable with him about struggles that I was going through. I had never revealed such personal things to people my own age. Not only did I share about myself, but he opened up about past and current struggles that he had. This was the start of an accountability group. Each week after that retreat, Chris and I would get together and discuss how our week had gone, struggles we may be facing, and anything we needed prayers for. It was really a blessing during my junior year in high school. This group actually grew, too. First, we had Josh Luttig join, then we asked seven others who had just come back from LEAD to join. This men’s group was a way in which I grew in my faith during my junior and senior years. Being held accountable, I was challenged to pray more, but also to grow in virtue, especially during my senior year. I was the oldest member, so I would lead meetings and I was the guy to whom people came when they needed help outside of our group meetings. This was powerful for me because these guys trusted me to pray and talk to them even when there wasn’t the privacy of a meeting. I found that I enjoyed supporting them through the tough moments that they experienced throughout the week.
My last two years of high school went by quickly. I continued to do pretty well in school and stayed involved in youth group. In May 2016, I graduated from high school, and the following fall, I went to Central Michigan University to become a physician assistant. At this point, my faith was very important in my life. I finally knew that I could have a personal relationship with God, and I did my best to pray regularly and let Him know what was going on in my life. I was also interested in being involved in the Catholic parish on campus. After being in the men’s group in high school, I saw how effective a group could be at strengthening the members’ faith lives. I wanted to have people who I could be vulnerable with while I was at college.
I spent a year at CMU, but it was rough for me in the beginning. I had to adjust to ordering my own schedule in things like going to bed on time and waking up when I was supposed to. I would go to Mass on the weekends, but found it difficult to talk to the people who were at the parish—it seemed cliquey. I became disheartened from this bad experience at St. Mary’s. In mid-October, I went on a retreat at the parish. Although it didn’t do much to strengthen my relationship with God, I did make friends there. After that, I found my niche at St. Mary’s. I would go to Mass as often as my schedule allowed, go to the chapel to pray between classes and cook for meals that St. Mary’s hosted on Sundays. There were FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students)missionaries on campus, and I actually became “discipled”, or mentored by one of them. I again became excited about my faith and to bring others to Christ.
The following summer, in 2017, I started working at a nursing home to get patient care hours needed for my major, and through this experience, I saw how much of an effect I could have in the residents’ daily life. Because of this, I chose to change my major to nursing. As it turns out, CMU did not have a nursing program, so I had to change schools. I ultimately decided on staying home and commuting to Lansing Community College to complete the necessary prerequisites.
Being back at home was not great for me. At CMU, I was seconds away from friends and always had someone to talk to. At home, most of the time, I was by myself. This really wore on me. Over time, I started having feelings of depression. I would feel alone, unloved, and even unwanted. There were times in which I felt like there was no point to go on with my life. I was in a really bad place, so I ended up talking to my mom and a counselor at LCC and I brought it to confession. The people who I talked to all gave me great support and helped me through this difficult time.
In December 2017, I was the emcee at a high school retreat that was put on by the youth group. It was an incredible experience because I had a big part in planning and putting these plans into action. During the retreat, I loved seeing how the Lord was affecting the participants through talks, prayers, Adoration, Mass, small groups and prayer teams. The biggest part of the retreat for me was Saturday night. After Adoration ended, Adam Halfman and I talked about how the retreat was going. Towards the end of the conversation, he paused and said, “Brian, you seem to have a heart for ministry. Have you seriously considered the priesthood since high school?” When he said that, I remember that my heart felt like it was on fire. I had a strong desire to be a priest, and to do God’s will for me. Shortly after the retreat, I made the prayer to God saying, “If you want me to go to seminary, let things fall into place.”
From there, I met with Fr. John Linden (the Director of Vocations for the Diocese) and had a conversation about where I had been and where I am in my faith. Through this conversation, Fr. John said it seemed like I might have an authentic call to the priesthood. He encouraged me to apply to seminary, so I did.
From there everything has seemed to fall into place. My parents have been very supportive of me taking this step, and Fr. Dennis agrees that I should attend seminary. Just a week ago I received the final approval in a meeting with Bishop Boyea so I am excited to announce that I am now officially a seminarian and will start classes in the fall. Although there have been fears in becoming a seminarian, I have felt a certain lasting peace throughout the application process. Looking back, it’s easy to see the ways that God has worked in my life over the past six years as he has prepared me to take this step. I’m very excited to start seminary and see what he has in store for me next!

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