Although by this point my work knew that I was leaving to go to seminary I wasn’t quite ready for it to get around for everyone to know… at least not until I had told a few more people in person. During the application process I had told most of the family that I am close to and I had told most of my friends that I am close to in Wisconsin and that area. The groups of people that I really wanted to tell in person before it got out to everyone was my friends and coworkers from my time in Kentucky and Tennessee.
I had a four or five day weekend due to working weekends on either end of a stretch and normal days off, so I decided that I would head to Kentucky first. I was going to leave after work one day, but I got everything wrapped up that I needed before the time off and asked my boss if he would mind signing a leave slip. He signed it and I hit the road. I drove and got to Kentucky in time to go to the Wednesday night Mass at St. Mildred’s, the parish I had attended while living there. I had always enjoyed going to the Wednesday night Mass there, it was a great way to break up the monotony of the week and bring my life back to being centered on Christ through the Holy sacrifice of the Mass.
At the end of Mass Fr. Mike made some mention to everyone that I was going to seminary… he had heard it from the two people that I had let know there, one is a seminarian for the Lexington Diocese whom I had been friends with while there, the other is the pastoral associate whom I had asked to write a letter of recommendation for my application process. After Mass I had a brief talk about the priesthood with Fr. Mike, it was very nice and as always good to hear another priest’s perspective on the life.
I drove to a nearby town where my friend the seminarian was working at a parish for his summer assignment. Him, and the priest at that parish had offered me a room in the rectory there for the two nights I’d be in the area. It was nice to meet this priest and to catch up with my friend. The next morning, after Mass at that parish I drove back to Somerset to see and talk to my former coworkers. I had let them know that I was coming, so many were able to make time to go out to lunch while I was there. It was great to catch up with them and give them the news that I was going to seminary. As is pretty common when I tell people, they didn’t necessarily understand the “why” of it, but were very supportive and happy because they do see it as a good thing when someone dedicates their life to God.
That evening I went to have supper with another former coworker and his wife. It was great. This couple is Baptist and him and I had talked about faith extensively when we were working together. There were the deep conversations on theology, as well as the friendly joking of each one putting forth that their denomination is better. We fell right back into our joking, and it was great. As I was leaving their place he promised to pray for me, I said “thanks, even though those Baptist prayers only count for about half credit.” We both had a good laugh over that one.
The next morning I headed down to Tennessee to see my friends there. Only a couple of them knew that I was coming. There was a get together scheduled for my good group of friends, so I thought that I’d just stop in and surprise them. It was great to see them and spend time with them. I was also happy to see their support when I told them that I was going to seminary. It was a great night of just hanging out with friends and celebrating my acceptance to seminary.
After that quick trip I was ready for it to be “public” for everyone who cared to know that I was going to seminary to study to be a priest. In this modern time the best way that I knew to get it out there for everyone to know was to post a note about it on my Facebook account. I got an amazing amount of support from all of my friends on that. As with others that I had told in the past, most of them that said something in private made a comment along the lines of, “I’m surprised, but really when I think about it I’m not.”
It was in private messages on the Facebook that I had people asking me to blog about my experience of the seminary, so that is what this is. I decided that if I was going to do that, it should be the whole experience, the discernment process, the application process, and the preparation for seminary before I even get there. I am hoping to post at least once a week while I’m at Mundelein, but my first priority will be the formation and academics there, so I apologize if it is a bit longer on occasion.
Peace,
Adam
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