Bishop Hartmayer called me to his office in Savannah sometime during March 2014.\u00a0 Not long before, we had briefly spoken about the possibly of naming me pastor later that year, so I drove to Savannah anticipating a conversation about my first pastorate.\u00a0 To my surprise, the assignment I received was significantly different.\u00a0 He named me Vocation Director, Assistant to the Bishop, and Chancellor.\u00a0 I balked at the idea of wearing so many hats, and feared the responsibility of heading the Vocation Office.\u00a0 The nine years I served in the Vocation Office presented many challenges and moments of growth for me, while at the same time taught me innumerable lessons I now take into my ministry.\u00a0 The greatest is that in the midst of the many things needed in order for faith to take root in the heart, the most foundational is human development.\u00a0 For God to do great things, we must first be human beings that are living their lives to the fullest.<\/p>\n
A document written by Pope John Paul II in 1992 stresses the importance of human formation for future priests by indicating that \u201cof special importance is the capacity [for future priests] to relate to others.\u00a0 This is truly fundamental for a person who is called to be responsible for a community and to be a man of communion.\u00a0 This demands that the priest not be arrogant, or quarrelsome, but affable, hospitable, sincere in his words and heart, prudent and discreet, generous and ready to serve, capable of opening himself to clear and brotherly relationships, and encouraging the same in others, and quick to understand, forgive, and console (Pastores Dabo Vobis<\/em>, 43).\u201d<\/p>\n These words ring true for future priests, but are true for every person.\u00a0 I always giggle when people say, \u201cdon\u2019t say anything bad, Father is here.\u201d\u00a0 Priests are not called to a different kind of holiness than every man and woman is called to live.\u00a0 As Christian men and women, we are called to be people of communion \u2013 not arrogant or quarrelsome, but affable, hospitable, and sincere.\u00a0 Father Gregory Boquet, OSB, who was Rector of Saint Joseph College Seminary in Louisiana for twenty-five years always says, \u201cbefore a man can be a good priest, he must be a good man.\u201d\u00a0 Considering the Parable of the Sower, every person must prepare his or her heart to receive the good seed that the Sower plants.\u00a0 Our humanity must be well lived in order for us to receive God\u2019s grace at its fullest.\u00a0 If we are unhealthy or dysfunctional human beings, the way the faith takes hold in us will be unhealthy or dysfunctional.<\/p>\n When a young man arrives to the seminary, before he can learn how to pray or be introduced to theological studies, he must first be comfortable under his own skin.\u00a0 Young men arrive to the seminary with the same struggles that every young man today faces \u2013 they are products of today\u2019s generation \u2013 and oftentimes much healing is needed.\u00a0 Seminary formation certainly prepares men for the Priesthood, but first and foremost, it prepares them to be healthy human beings.\u00a0 Their humanity becomes a vessel through which God\u2019s grace touches the lives of others, rather than a stumbling block.<\/p>\n Human development \u2013 knowledge of how to create healthy boundaries, how to develop wholesome friendships, how to keep fruitful hobbies, how to avoid vice and sin, how to seek help for mental health concerns \u2013 is vital in every person.\u00a0 The molding that happens in seminary begins at the home, and prepares every child to be better prepared to work with God\u2019s grace.\u00a0 A life well lived becomes an effective vessel for God to accomplish great things.<\/p>\n Written for Southern Cross<\/em>, the monthly magazine of the Diocese of Savannah.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bishop Hartmayer called me to his office in Savannah sometime during March 2014.\u00a0 Not long before, we had briefly spoken about the possibly of naming me pastor later that year, so I drove to Savannah anticipating a conversation about my first pastorate.\u00a0 To my surprise, the assignment I received was significantly different.\u00a0 He named me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":7229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[2207,2204,1888,119,813],"class_list":["post-7223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-formation","tag-human-development","tag-ppf6","tag-priesthood","tag-seminary"],"yoast_head":"\n