August 18, 2026 • 52 mins
Are you discerning the priesthood? Or want to learn more about what seminary life is all about? Four current seminarians for the Diocese of Paterson join the podcast to share their experience inside and outside the classroom. Joining Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director Jai Agnish are seminarians Michael Kane, Brian Collins, Eric Hasenbein, and Sean Gallagher. This episode was produced in collaboration with the Office of Vocations as part of Seminarian Media Day and was recorded at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison, N.J.
Show notes:
https://patersonvocations.org
Email questions and podcast topic ideas to Bishop Kevin at beyond@patersondiocese.org.
Produced by Jai Agnish, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, Catalina Zempoalteca, and Father Charles Lana for the Diocese of Paterson. Engineered, edited, and theme song by Jai Agnish. Illustrations by Dennis Dalelio.
Beyond The Beacon on Instagram and Facebook. Bishop Kevin on Instagram. The Diocese of Paterson on Instagram, Facebook (English) / Facebook (Spanish).
Every three years, each Diocese in the USA has the graced opportunity to make a scheduled pilgrimage as one Diocesan family with their Bishop to the National Shrine in the nation's capital. 2026 is once again "our year!" Please note the two-day and one-day options: Oct. 16, Friday, and Oct. 17, Saturday. Visit the Diocese of Paterson website here to learn more!
On Coffee with Kupke, we have a cup of coffee and sit down with diocesan archivist, Monsignor Raymond Kupke Ph.D., to delve into the history of Catholicism in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J. Hosted by Father Paul Manning and Msgr. Kupke. Listen to Coffee with Kupke wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it on the St. Paul Inside the Walls YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@stpaulinsidethewalls.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_05 (00:07):
Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin
Sweeney, a podcast of theDiocese of Patterson, New
Jersey.
Join us for conversations aboutour Catholic faith, and together
let's strive to live a life offaith, hope, and love.
We're so glad you can join us.
I'm Jay Agnish, CommunicationsDirector for the Diocese and
editor of the Beacon, our newswebsite.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
Bishop, how are you?
(00:28):
Good Jay, how are you doing?
I'm doing well.
So um we are where where are we?
It's kind of a unique episodewhere this is part of Vocations
Media Day, a first-time eventour vocations office put
together.
And we're at On the Feast of St.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
Maximilian Maria Colby.
Talk a little bit more aboutthat.
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05 (00:49):
So uh as part of the Vocations Media Day, we uh are
participating in a we're havinga podcast with some of our
seminarians.
And uh yeah, looking forward tothe conversation.
SPEAKER_03 (00:59):
Here at our evangelization center in St.
Paul's Inside the Walls inMadison, and in a different part
of the building.
We've we have the studioupstairs that's used for coffee
and cupkey in a Paul StreetJournal, and we've used a few
times.
But uh uh we're here in uhwhat's uh this room I think is
often used by the young adultcommunity that meets uh one of
(01:21):
our uh next guests, I think, cantell you a little bit more about
that.
Is he spent some time as part ofthat community.
SPEAKER_05 (01:29):
So um is there anything that you want to uh
discuss?
I know obviously the uh you hada statement you made on social
media about the earthquake inColombia.
SPEAKER_03 (01:39):
Yeah, so we as with Venezuela uh and other natural
disasters and other places whereum people are hurting in pain,
we certainly are joined inprayer.
And uh here in our own diocese,we're blessed with so many uh of
our priests who come to us, havecome to us from Colombia and
many people as well throughoutour parishes.
(02:01):
Um many would have familymembers that um have been
impacted.
Uh it seems that the directfamily members of our priests
are all okay from what we'veheard, and um but um I think
it's over 200 that were killed,and um many that lost their
(02:22):
homes and have been injured, andso um we uh we're trying to get
more information over these.
It's only been since Monday now,it's today's Friday, and uh so
uh we continue to pray for um uhthose impacted by the earthquake
in uh Columbia.
SPEAKER_05 (02:38):
Okay.
Well, why don't we uh find outwho we're sitting next to here?
So all the way at the end hereis is Brian Collins, a
seminarian, and Michael Cain isto his left.
How are you guys doing?
Doing well.
How are you?
I'm doing good, thanks.
Yeah.
Glad to be here.
Good, yeah.
Thanks for being a part of this.
Um before we start ourconversation, why don't we start
(03:01):
with a prayer?
SPEAKER_03 (03:02):
So on this feast of Saint Maximilian Maria Colby,
who um has a very interestinglife and vocation story, a
Franciscan priest and amissionary um in Nagasaki
originally from Poland and uhdid went as a missionary to um
Japan and founded a community inNagasaki, just outside and above
(03:22):
the city.
Uh the community there survivedthe dropping of the atomic bomb,
and uh um Maximilian came backto Poland after a time in Japan
uh during the time of the Germanoccupation of Poland during the
Second World War and uheventually was arrested and put
(03:42):
in a concentration camp.
And so um many know the storythat uh a prisoner had escaped
from the camp, and when oneprisoner escaped, they would
take ten people and just uh putthem in a starvation hut, as
they called it, uh, and theychose the ten um prisoners who
(04:03):
were gonna be starved to death,and one of them was a father of
ten children, I believe.
Uh, and St.
Father Maximilian Colby steppedup and uh in in the Haloap.
There's a great description thatI shared with seminarians
earlier.
Um in the Daily Homily, um uhFather Bonavice Hicks tells a
little bit of the story of hisstepping up.
(04:24):
He said the this commandant ofthe um concentration camp kind
of took a step back because ofFather Macmillion's uh presence,
but um he said that he wanted totake the guy's place, and
Commandant said, okay.
Um and uh as I shared at Masswith the seminarians, uh when he
was canonized by Saint, by nowSt.
Pope John Paul II, 1982, Ibelieve, the man who whose life
(04:48):
he had exchanged for his own umwas there present, I think he
was 82 at the time.
Um so uh a great example uh anduh a good day to have Media Day
because uh he had a printingpress and he was uh he started a
group called the Knights of MaryImmaculate and uh was very in
Poland, especially um interestedin getting the news out through
(05:10):
media, the media of the timebeing printed word on on
newspapers and pamphlets.
Uh so um a good good uh patronsaint for for Media Day.
Uh so uh we'll pray now umasking um the intercession of
Saint Mar uh Saint Mary, SaintUh Maximilian Maria Colby and uh
and Mary our Blessed Mother.
(05:31):
Uh we'll ask the um help andprotection of uh St.
Michael the Archangel.
Uh I've shared on the Hallow appthe last few years now, the
something called St.
Michael's Lent that uh thatHallow's doing right now.
So if you're not familiar withit, you can check it out there.
But um we'll ask uh we'll praythrough the intercession and ask
the help of uh St.
Michael the Archangel, name ofthe Father and of the Son, and
(05:53):
of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Saint Michael the Archangel,defend us in battle, be our
safeguard against the wickednessand snares of the devil.
May God rebuke and we humblypray, and do thou, O Prince of
the Heavenly Host, by the divinepower, cast into hell Satan and
all the evil spirits that wanderthe world seeking the ruin of
souls.
Amen.
Saint Michael the Archangel,pray for us.
(06:13):
Saint Maximilian Maria Colby,pray for us.
Mary, Mother of the Church, MaryImmaculate, pray for us.
In the name of the Father, andof the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.
Amen.
SPEAKER_05 (06:24):
Okay, so we've been given some questions and we want
to get to get to know you guys alittle bit more.
I guess, I guess the kind of theperspective we're coming from is
um for people who might not haveuh an idea of what actually goes
on in seminary, um, you know,and also people who might be
discerning um the priesthood orseminary.
(06:45):
Um so that's kind of where we'recoming from.
But we have some fun, some funquestions, some serious
questions.
So where do we want to start?
SPEAKER_03 (06:51):
Maybe just before the questions, uh our
seminarians can introducethemselves a little bit more
than just uh what year you're inor where you're from, but uh
maybe just tell us a little bitabout yourself, where you grew
up, when you first thought aboutpriesthood, and maybe uh what it
was like from that first thoughtto now being in the seminary.
Brian, why don't you start usoff?
SPEAKER_00 (07:10):
Right, yes.
So I'm from St.
Luke Parish in Long Valley,which is kind of way, way out
there at the very edge of thediocese.
SPEAKER_03 (07:16):
Looks a little like Ireland out there.
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
It does.
I like it quite a bit for thatreason.
Um when I first started thinkingabout priesthood was really when
I went through what was thencalled RCIA in my home parish
because I was not raised aCatholic.
But uh I went through theprogram at the parish, I
received my sacraments at theEaster Vigil when I was a
freshman in college, and fromthere it just became a logical
(07:38):
thing of discerning priesthood.
And it's funny that we're herein this room because in this
room I did a lot of mydiscerning because the former
vocation director, uh Father EdRama, we would have first
Saturday days of discernment,and at that time they were held
here, so we would sit in thisroom a lot and fraternize and
discuss discernment.
So it's fitting that I'm back inthis building.
SPEAKER_03 (07:56):
You said um in your first year of college you
received had you been baptized?
SPEAKER_00 (08:01):
I had been baptized as an infant, and then there was
no follow-up.
SPEAKER_03 (08:04):
I was not raised in the So you received communion
confirmation at the EasterVigil, I imagine?
SPEAKER_00 (08:08):
Yes, and made uh first confession shortly
beforehand.
SPEAKER_03 (08:11):
Right.
Uh and uh and where were youstudying in college at that
time?
SPEAKER_00 (08:15):
So at that time I was actually studying locally at
the County College of Morris,right in Randolph.
And then after I did two yearsthere, I transferred down to
Loyola University in Marylandand got my bachelor's there.
SPEAKER_03 (08:27):
And uh did you do some missionary work?
SPEAKER_00 (08:31):
No, I did not do any missionary work.
I did a lot of work with theKnights of Columbus down in
Baltimore.
However, I didn't do anymissionary work per se.
SPEAKER_03 (08:40):
Um but uh you continued to nurture your faith
while you were living away atcollege, and uh uh did you find
a community of faith there thatuh where you worshiped?
SPEAKER_00 (08:50):
I did.
There was a very strongcommunity of faith there, and
funnily enough, one of thepriests on campus, it's a Jesuit
college, so we had Jesuitpriests there.
We had a discernment group ofmyself and five or six other
young men who were studying atLoyola who were discerning, and
we would meet once a month inthe Jesuit residence, have
dinner, and pray and justdiscuss and talk about what we
(09:11):
were reading, how ourdiscernment life was going.
And I also got a spiritualdirector when I was down there,
which was very good, and thathelped me get to where I am now.
So it's been a fun path.
SPEAKER_03 (09:22):
And then you connected with the vocation
director, Father Rama at thetime, and then little by little,
next thing you know, you were inthe seminary, right?
SPEAKER_00 (09:28):
Yes, I'd been in touch with um Father Ed and then
Father Charlie when he was madethe assistant vocation director.
And yes, I got the application,spring of my senior year, and
filled it out and was accepted.
Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_01 (09:42):
Great.
Michael?
Yeah, so I'm originally fromMarstown, born and raised.
Um grew up going to St.
Virgil's, St.
uh Resurrection Parish inRandolph for a little while, and
then uh stent in uh Assumptionof Marstown.
Um when I grew up, grew upCatholic, kind of credo
Catholic, um went to SouthCarolina.
(10:04):
My parents moved down south andI moved with them to South
Carolina.
And uh when I moved down toSouth Carolina, I really started
to discern like the road thepriesthood and decided I think
it's it's only best if I apply.
So I applied originally to theDiocese of Charleston, South
Carolina.
Uh I was accepted by the Dioceseof Charleston, and um during my
(10:28):
time of discernment in seminary,during my year down there, I had
some thoughts of you know, maybeuh what do I is this right for
me?
Do I is this uh really where Ifeel called at the time?
Um I left seminary for uh abouta two-year time period, um, was
in a relationship and thendecided to reapply to uh to the
(10:49):
diocese of Patterson this time.
And uh was in contact withFather.
Come back home, exactly.
Come back to where I'm born andraised.
Uh was in contact with FatherRama and Father Charlie, and uh
praise be to God again, wasaccepted back up to uh my home.
SPEAKER_03 (11:04):
So right, I think it's important for people to
know that uh um each eachthere's similarities to a
vocation story, uh uh and andthings that would be the same
classes and years that you haveto go through.
But for some, they enter theseminary and they go through and
they get ordained.
Uh from many others, uh theymight go to the seminary, say,
(11:25):
I'm not so sure.
Yeah.
Uh take some time away and findthemselves back in the seminary,
as was the case with yourself,right, Michael?
SPEAKER_01 (11:32):
Exactly.
Yeah.
It was uh it was a great, youknow, time of discernment away,
but I realized like I felt theLord's calling me back, and um
praise be to God, I'm back.
SPEAKER_03 (11:39):
So Jay's got some questions.
SPEAKER_05 (11:41):
Yeah, so Michael, maybe a good one for for you.
Um so here's a question formaybe for a discerner.
So, what if you have agirlfriend and you're thinking
about the priesthood?
SPEAKER_01 (12:32):
Um that's a really good question.
I think it's important just topray um and to spend a lot of
time with the Blessed Sacrament,um and really just discern what
the Lord is calling you to do.
Because both marriage andpriesthood are beautiful
vocations.
Um, both are important vocationsto the life of the church.
Um but it's really importantjust to discern and see where
(12:54):
the Lord is leading you.
And if if the Lord leads you topriesthood, he'll make it clear
to you like he did for me.
The Lord made it very clear thatthis is where I was supposed to
be.
And um same thing with marriage.
If it's if you know a young manis called to marriage, the Lord
will make that clear as well.
SPEAKER_05 (13:08):
So great.
And Brian, here's one for you.
So what cool experiences doseminarians have?
SPEAKER_00 (13:15):
Cool experiences seminarians have.
I think the opportunity to livein community with a lot of young
men like yourself that areseeking out God's call and have
said this initial yes and are atthe seminary is great because
it's a great support system.
You're there with each other,living in community, and you
know, these are your brothersthat you live with, so you can
(13:36):
talk to them about just aboutanything, and it's a very very
good sense of community, Ithink.
And also, you know, you praytogether, which is nice because
oftentimes when you're out inthe world you don't have the
opportunities to pray together.
Oftentimes you pray more byyourself.
So when you're with a group witha ha with a house of twenty some
odd guys, it's nice praying incommunity for sure.
SPEAKER_05 (13:57):
Yeah, one of the questions is do you feel lonely?
SPEAKER_00 (14:01):
In the seminary, no, you don't feel lonely because
you're living in a hallway withten other guys that you all have
the same hope in theory, whichis you all won't be ordained
priests one day, God willing.
So the loneliness is not there,I would say, in the seminary,
because you have that strongcommunity life.
Sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (14:20):
Bishop, do you have anything?
SPEAKER_03 (14:21):
Uh well, uh to say that Brian, um, when you say
cool experiences, and there's ummany different types of
experiences in the seminary asin life, uh, but you know, the
church is always looking at umhow are we doing with uh
encouraging guys, um, supportingguys, forming guys who feel they
(14:45):
may have a call, and from thestart of the process to uh a
decision about whether a guy'sready to be ordained a deacon
and ordained a priest.
Uh and the church has kind ofadded a wrinkle in the last uh
few years.
Uh they updated something calledthe program for priestly
formation, kind of the documentin Rome that um outlines the
formation in a certain uh partof the uh world really, um, and
(15:08):
uh so the United States.
And uh in the most recentrevision, the church said
there's a need for guys to spendsome time upon entering or
applying to the seminary, beingaccepted for the seminary,
before they start the formalclasses, and uh there's a lot of
formation in something that'snow called the propodudic year,
(15:30):
right?
And uh, Brian, uh one of the uhhighlights would be that uh
because we live in such a worldwhere we are often bombarded by
technology, uh the church saysmaybe it would be good to take a
fast or sometime away from beingbombarded every day by
(15:50):
technology.
And so I think uh you had aboutsix days a week where you didn't
have a phone, right?
Was it last year, right?
Or the year before last year.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
So the structure was the s the basic structure of it
was you would have your cellphone from Saturday morning to
Sunday evening.
Okay.
Sunday evening after dinner, youhad to turn in your phone and
your laptop, and then MondayMonday through Saturday morning
mass, you would not havetechnology, so you were kind of
removed from the world.
(16:19):
And it forces you to learn to bepresent in a way that we I think
have lost a little bit.
You know, we're so bombard withtechnology, we're so
interconnected, whichinterconnectedness can sometimes
be a good thing, but then it canalso sometimes pull us away from
the moment.
So one of the goals of the PropDudic year was to make us more
present in the moment.
And when there's no technologybetween you and the guys that
(16:40):
you're living with, your theconnection with that with them
then becomes different becauseyou're all experiencing this
kind of isolation from the worldat the same time.
SPEAKER_03 (16:48):
And you know, thinking about it myself and
talking to other bishops, uh,what there was a concern, okay,
it's another year really, addedon to that time of formation.
Uh and you know, can how whatwould the reaction be to guys
who have phones as many of us doall the time, uh being with and
um I think to my surprise andthe surprise of many, maybe the
(17:10):
guys themselves, uh so many ofthe guys have said, oh, this is
great.
Would you say that that many ofthe guys felt that the the break
from technology was a was a goodthing and and something that
they uh welcomed rather thanthan resisted.
Would you say that?
SPEAKER_00 (17:26):
Yes, I would say that a great deal, and to the
surprise of many, because Iremember when we all first
reported, when we all firstarrived, there was a lot of
anxiety around it.
Oh, when do we have to turn ourphones and when do we have to
because it's it's foreign to alot of us now living without the
technology.
And sometimes it's that fear ofthe unknown, sometimes it's that
fear of not being able to callor text someone right then,
right now when we want to.
(17:48):
But you found after the firstcouple of weeks, after the first
month, two months, that guysreally adjusted to it in a very
good way.
And they enjoyed it quite a bit.
Prior lives benefited, theybenefited in growth of virtue
and holiness just being in themoment, not being elsewhere
mentally.
SPEAKER_05 (18:05):
Michael, how far along are you in seminary?
SPEAKER_01 (18:07):
I'm going to my uh first philosophy year.
So technically my first year offormation.
SPEAKER_05 (18:13):
Okay, so you're through the propade year and
okay.
SPEAKER_03 (18:16):
So when a guy has finished his undergraduate
degree, um it it uh Michael wasin the seminary previously, so
he didn't have to do thepropadeic year.
Uh right now, as it stands, if aguy's never been in a seminary,
they would do a propodudic year,then two years of philosophy and
four years of theology, right?
Okay.
Uh so um uh you're just you'reback now to start again.
(18:39):
Um uh maybe talk a little bitabout that time away, um, yes,
in a relationship, but alsoworking.
And uh uh I believe you were inthe um hospitality industry, no?
Yes, yeah.
Uh what would you say from uhhaving left the seminary now to
go back to the seminary, thatworking experience uh taught you
or helped you to appreciate interms of your own faith life or
(19:01):
even your discernment or makingthe decision to go back to the
seminary?
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
Yeah, I think um spending the time away and
having kind of living in thereal world as it is, um, was a
beautiful thing.
Uh having a job, having a careerreally.
I was a manager at a hotel andand I could have certainly
continued that job going forwardin a very long-term way.
Um, but I I think it was reallybeneficial for me to live on the
(19:24):
uh outside of the seminaryformation for a while and see
how um the vast majority ofpeople live their lives going
forward, right?
Uh having a job and um I love aboss and having a boss and
sometimes also being thebiggest.
SPEAKER_03 (19:43):
Right, right.
And sometimes being the boss,right?
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Uh but it was a beautiful experience for me.
It taught me a lot of leadershipqualities.
Um taught me a lot of just howto um manage the everyday life
of uh the normal population,everybody outside of formation
and priesthood.
SPEAKER_03 (20:02):
So uh we got two of our other seminarians coming in,
but maybe Jay, one question eachuh for the guys uh one one for
Brian, one for Michael.
SPEAKER_05 (20:11):
Here's a good one, Michael, for you.
I hope for you.
Uh what if parents don'tencourage the priesthood because
they want grandkids or want asuccessful career from their
son?
SPEAKER_01 (20:22):
Yeah, I think um if the parents aren't super um I
think it's common, right, wherewe live in a world um where
parents want grandkids, andthat's a beautiful thing, it's
an important thing.
Um but I think that as a as aman uh when you when you get to
the point of discernment um youneed to kind of take control of
(20:43):
of your own direction and whereyou want to go in life.
And um kind of saying, like,mom, dad, I I love you, um, but
I love you so much that I wantto do this for you.
Like I I uh the the life of aseminary and the life of a
priest is a beautiful life.
Spending so much time withpeople and and ministering to
people um that that a man kindof just needs to say, Mom, dad,
(21:06):
I love you so much, but but thisis where the Lord is leading me,
and just following the Lord andwhere He's He's asking you to go
uh is a really important thingto do.
SPEAKER_05 (21:14):
That's great, it's beautiful.
Okay, so Brian, we're gonna havea little fun.
So I'm gonna throw a couple atyou and you you let me know
which one you wanna answer.
So can you play video games?
SPEAKER_00 (21:24):
Yes.
Okay.
SPEAKER_05 (21:26):
Do you pay taxes?
Do you pay taxes?
SPEAKER_00 (21:32):
Uh do I pay taxes?
SPEAKER_05 (21:35):
That's a question for Father Charlie.
SPEAKER_00 (21:37):
That's a question for the vocation director.
SPEAKER_05 (21:39):
Are you worried about making money?
SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
No, I'm not I'm not really worried about making
money.
Now, don't get me wrong, moneycould be a lot of fun.
But um, when you're entering theseminary, God willing to be a
priest, you know, you're notdoing it for the lifestyle.
You're doing it because you wantto live in imitation of Christ.
Now, do I have nice jackets, youknow, nice shoes, all that kind
of thing?
Sure, but I'm not terriblyinterested in making that much
money because in the priesthoodit's just a giving of yourself
(22:05):
fully to the church, to theLord.
SPEAKER_03 (22:08):
And just before we uh each of you had the
opportunity, I believe, to spendsome time in a parish this
summer and get a littleexperience of living in the
rectory and working.
Uh Brian, where were you?
SPEAKER_00 (22:19):
I was at Holy Spirit Parish in Pequanic with Father
Caesar Haramillo.
And uh a highlight from thesummer, something that uh A
highlight from the summer, umgetting the chance to do stuff
stuff with the school, with thevacation Bible school, which was
really an interestingexperience.
And also just the privilege ofliving at a parish, getting to
know people and Just the trustpeople place in you as a
(22:41):
seminarian, I thought was areally beautiful thing.
And Michael?
SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
I was at St.
Catherine Usina and MountainLakes.
Father Parisi.
Father Parisi and uh and the dogscout.
It was beautiful.
It was an amazing experience.
I think Vacation Bible school,like Brian said, was a beautiful
experience.
Uh spending some time with kids,but also for me, I had the
opportunity to see the life ofsome baptisms and some weddings,
(23:04):
which was really beautiful fromthe side of priesthood and
seminarian life.
SPEAKER_05 (23:08):
So last question for both of you.
Do you have friends outside ofthe seminary?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
You can have those.
SPEAKER_00 (23:16):
And thank God for that, right?
SPEAKER_03 (23:17):
It's uh uh we all need a day off and sometime uh
to get some rest and relaxation,right?
So well, Michael, Brian, thankyou very much uh for being with
us today and uh for your yes dayby day to uh try to ask the Lord
to show you his will, and if itbe um priesthood, uh we'll be
praying for you and ask everyoneto pray for you and uh uh thanks
(23:39):
for giving us the time today.
SPEAKER_01 (23:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (23:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (23:42):
Thank you.
Okay, so we're gonna go to greatjob.
SPEAKER_03 (23:45):
Well done.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (23:45):
Two more guests.
We'll be right back.
Okay, and we're back with two ofour other seminarians.
Welcome.
SPEAKER_04 (23:59):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (24:00):
So uh can you tell us who you are and and maybe uh
what year in seminary you are?
SPEAKER_04 (24:05):
Absolutely.
My name is Eric Hosenbein.
I'm from Morristown, home parishof Notre Dame at Mount Carmel,
Cedar Knowles, and I'm goinginto my second year of
pre-theology at ImmaculateConception Seminary at Seton
Hall University.
Trying to remember all that.
SPEAKER_07 (24:23):
Originally from Nan Olive, grew up going to uh St.
Jude's in Bud Lake.
Uh now I live in uh Morristownafter a little bit of traveling
for college and work.
Um, and my home parish now isthe Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary.
And I am entering my first year,the Propodudic Year at a St.
Joseph Seminary.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (24:41):
Well, welcome, thanks for being on.
Bishop, where do you want totake the conversation?
SPEAKER_03 (24:46):
Um as we discussed with our uh two previous guests,
uh uh Brian and Michael, uh, wetalked a little bit about the
Propodudic year and thatprocess.
Uh Eric mentioned pre-theology,that's another word for uh time
of studying philosophy.
So uh again, propodudic yearfirst, then two years of
philosophy, and then four yearsof theology.
Uh please God, leading to umordination as a deacon the year
(25:10):
before you would be ordained asa priest.
Uh so again, thank you, Sean andEric, for your yes day by day,
um, but also uh for being withus here today on Media Day and
on our podcast.
Um, as the other guys did, maybejust uh you told us where you
were born and raised, uh, butmaybe just tell us a little bit
more about yourselves uh uh uhgrowing up uh and when maybe you
(25:33):
first thought God could becalling me to be a priest and uh
what it was like from that firstthought to uh talking to a
vocation director, applicationprocess and being in the
seminary.
Maybe right.
SPEAKER_04 (25:46):
Um so I grew up in Morristown, I grew up grew up in
the public school system, but myparents sent us through the CCD
faith formation program at NotreDame, and we were just Christmas
Easter, you know, mass family.
Um so I didn't have thatpersonal relationship with
Christ yet, but I kind of knew,you know, the rhythm and the
(26:07):
kind of the crater Catholicstuff.
I went to an OperationAppalachian trip that so many
parishes go to.
I was kind of really introducedto other people who had, you
know, I think just a bit moredeeper personal relationships
with Jesus.
Um and then I started joiningyouth ministry, started going to
Sunday Mass.
(26:28):
Um, priesthood was not on mymind.
Uh I go off to Virginia Tech tostudy engineering, and I think
it was just the right place atthe right time.
And the Lord, I got introducedto many great friends and people
and good chaplains and just goodmentors.
SPEAKER_03 (26:45):
Where campus ministry programs?
SPEAKER_04 (26:47):
Campus ministry, Newman House.
Um, it was just a good location.
And I was introduced to dailymass, adoration, frequent
confession, and building up theprayer life.
And slowly but surely the Lordworked on my heart where a year
or two go in, and I'm reallythinking about the priesthood,
thinking about what does Godwant for me in life, what is he
(27:10):
asking me to do, what's hiswill, um, and what are the signs
that he's telling me in prayer,through conversation, through
friendship.
Um, so after my freshman year, Icame back home, contacted Father
Ed, who was in Morstown at thetime, first Saturdays here, and
I said, What do I do?
What is this whole thing?
I have a lot of questions.
I, you know, I'm getting thesesauces, these feelings.
(27:31):
Help me with this.
And he helped me, he guided me,he answered my questions, he
said, okay, now go back andpray, and we'll we'll catch up
in six months and let's do thesethings.
Um and it just turned out that Ithink the Lord was leading me,
and we started building arelationship, and by the end of
my four years of college, I knewI had to, I just had to apply,
(27:54):
otherwise, I'd be regrettingsomething for the rest of my
life.
Um, so I applied and I I got inand I went right from college to
my property here at St.
Joseph Seminary.
Um, so you're you're building arelationship, hopefully.
And and you hopefully make itflourish.
And that ISCs, as I found withvocation directors and events
(28:14):
and talking with theseminarians, it it helps you get
a sense of the call and what'sreal and what's not real, and
oh, this is this is authentic.
And as Christ called the men onthe the shores of Galilee, he's
calling men today, and he'scalling to serve here in in our
home area of New Jersey, believeit or not.
Um so it's it's beautiful, youget over the fear, and and you
(28:37):
you appreciate and you lovesolely day by day the will of
the Lord.
So that's a bit of my story.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (28:46):
Yeah, as far as mine, yeah.
I also grew up um Catholic.
Um went to C C D at uh St.
Jude's, and um my my family wasa little similar where we would
go every Sunday, and then Inoticed kind of as I got a
little older towards highschool, we stopped going to mass
as frequently, and I like Iwasn't like very much practicing
my faith um through like collegeand my um young adult career.
(29:07):
And then I had um sorry, where'dyou go to high school?
I went to high school at uhMount Olive High School, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (29:12):
Mount Olive High School and and then college?
SPEAKER_07 (29:14):
Uh yeah, and then college was um University of
North Carolina, Wilmington.
Um and high school I was uh veryinvolved in um our like TV
production program.
We had a very robust thing wherelike um every like um television
production.
Yeah, television production.
So like uh we had our own TVchannel, MO TV, Mount Olive
Television.
And um on like Mondays,Wednesdays, and Fridays, we
(29:34):
would some of us in the clubwould get to school early to
actually run a live news show.
It was like five minutes, butum, we would do like live cuts
with like some commercials andlike PSAs sometimes, and like I
like really like that world oflike you know crafting stories
and going out, kind of likegetting a scoop and like you
know, just showcasing likepeople and maybe like uh the
things they're doing, differentlike clubs or like initiatives.
(29:55):
Um and so I was drawn to that,and so I went to uh film school
to pursue that.
SPEAKER_03 (30:01):
University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
Wilmington, yes.
Right.
And studying film.
Yes.
You were gonna be a filmmaker.
SPEAKER_07 (30:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Uh yeah, I had uh when I uh cameout of school, I had dreams of
being a producer.
Um I always like the logistics.
SPEAKER_03 (30:14):
And you worked in the field then after college,
huh?
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (30:17):
For um six years I worked with a video production
company right outside of uhPhiladelphia.
I moved there for the work.
SPEAKER_03 (30:22):
Do you remember the first time you thought that the
Lord could be calling you topriesthood?
SPEAKER_07 (30:28):
Yeah, um, yeah, when I started um going back to mass
and like um practicing my faith.
SPEAKER_03 (30:34):
When was that?
SPEAKER_07 (30:35):
That was uh April 2023.
Oddly enough, um, my friend andhis fiance now wife, um, they
invited me to go to one of theirSunday services.
They went to a church um inPhiladelphia, and uh when I went
there, I I saw you know peopleworshiping God, of course, as
you do, uh, on a Sunday.
And uh I I hadn't had thatrelationship with um with God
and Christ in so long.
(30:56):
And like uh it was a wake-upcall, like, wow, like I I've
been missing this.
Like I I want to go back andactually, you know, talk to God.
And so um, you know, I wasraised Catholic, I knew that you
know I had to go to confessionbefore I could receive the
Eucharist and Mass.
And so I went to confession thenext Saturday, and it was a
really healing experience.
Uh it really just um I I feltactually healed by like um
(31:19):
confessing my sins after um solong, and it was um it made me
realize that God's mercy is sogreat and that his love was
there for me, and I was like, ohwow, like you're like real, and
like I now like I owe youeverything.
Like, and so I I I went on thislike rapid like journey of like
self-catechesis and then uh uhjoining all these uh young adult
groups, like uh St.
(31:40):
Paul's like the walls, whatever.
Right, right, and uh uh justgoing to mass, praying, going to
adoration, and you know, thevocation question you know
inevitably came up.
Yeah, it was actually umMonsignor John Hart at um
Assumption, who was the first uhpriest to ask me if I uh ever
wanted to be a priest, and uh heasked me after a daily mass
(32:00):
during Lent in 2024, and I waslike, oh no.
SPEAKER_02 (32:08):
You got the wrong guy.
SPEAKER_03 (32:11):
But no, but um we don't choose him, he chooses us,
right?
SPEAKER_07 (32:14):
So yeah, once he um he asked me like uh the question
never really went away, and Ihad come to a few uh first
Saturdays actually in this roomwith uh Father Charlie and
Father Ed Rama, um discernedlike kind of discerned like a
little bit, and then I was like,eh, I don't think it's for me.
And then you know, tried to likedate here and there, and just
(32:34):
nothing ever took off, andpriesthood kind of kept calling.
And uh a year later, um lastyear in 2025, I was at a more
spiritually mature point where Isaw the beauty of the vocation
of the priesthood as well aslike uh the married life, and uh
I was like, okay, I can kind ofsee myself going either way.
And then um once I had gone to afew discernment events, I read
(32:56):
uh To Save a Thousand Souls, um,and then you know, ironically
enough, I I had actually gone ona date with um a woman and I was
I told her, I was like, Oh yeah,I'm uh discerning the
priesthood, I just want to beopen about that.
And she's like, Oh, what's thatlike?
And you know, I talked about it,and this is funny.
Uh she ended up like kind oflike pulling back like from our
communication after that date.
And I thought, like, oh, I musthave done something wrong here.
(33:18):
Did I do something stupid?
Like, did I just make somemysterious words?
Yeah, so like um I ended uptalking to her on the phone like
a week after, and I was like, Ohyeah, like uh it just feels like
you pulled back a little bit.
I had a good time, like justwanted to see if there's
anything wrong.
And she was like, Well, when youwere talking about like uh you
know the priesthood andeverything, it seemed like your
head and your heart weren't onthe same page.
And I was like, Oh, like and Iwas like, Yeah, I didn't even
(33:40):
realize that.
And then um Yeah, so like and itwas like a f a week or so later
I read The Save a ThousandSouls.
I'm just reading about whatpriests do.
SPEAKER_03 (33:48):
Save a thousand souls, a book written by a
vocation director about the lifeof priesthood, uh life of a
priest, and uh it covers a lotof um uh ministry and uh prayer,
and uh it's uh been a help tomany who are um discerning.
Jay had some questions.
SPEAKER_05 (34:05):
It's so great to hear the connection, how all of
you have been involved with St.
Paul and South of Walls here atthe Young Adult Ministry.
And now might be a good timejust to push the vocations.
Uh so uh check the show notesfor information about the
vocations uh office.
SPEAKER_03 (34:20):
And the first Saturday, especially for those
interested in vocations andcontacting the vocation office.
Um, Father Charlie Lana, ourvocation director, and um uh I'm
not sure if the first Saturdaystill takes place here or it's
someplace else now.
SPEAKER_04 (34:34):
Takes over in um Father Ed's Paris.
SPEAKER_03 (34:36):
Father Father Ed Rama was the previous vocation
director.
He's now uh pastor in MountHope, uh St.
Bernard's, uh, and he uh hoststhe first Saturday now.
But uh but yes, Jay, as you'reright.
Uh that's um I want to sharethat.
SPEAKER_05 (34:49):
And uh yeah, give a call, email, reach out.
Um so uh so we know you'reallowed to have friends.
We've established that from theother guys.
So um what are what are somecommon questions that you get
from your peers or friends orparents or whoever when when
when you first enter theseminary or when you're thinking
(35:11):
about it?
Um Or when you're in seminary,like what's a common question
you get?
SPEAKER_04 (35:17):
Yeah, you get a lot of questions, you know, just the
practical, like, what do youstudy?
What do you do?
You know, it's yeah, it's a lotof philosophy, it's a lot of
theology.
But seminaries also uh allowed aformation in a good way.
Uh you're not just do this, dothat, don't do this, don't do
that, you know.
Um there's a lot of formation ofthe interior heart where you
(35:39):
kind of you opened up yourselfand you allow the Lord to
transform you as he walked withthe disciples for three years in
ministry.
They were transformed by thepresence of Christ, and you walk
in that path.
You know, another title for wehave many titles in the church.
You can get very That's anotherthing.
A lot of people are just kind ofclarify pre-theology,
(36:00):
philosophy, property, whatvocabulary, oh yeah, yeah.
So another term is discipleshipand configuration.
So discipleship is you'relearning to disciple and follow
the Lord.
And then your last years offormation are configuration,
configuring yourself to Christ,the high priest as a priest is.
Um so that's a very that's a bigthing.
(36:23):
And then just people are open.
So a lot of practicals of whynot marriage?
You know, Sean was talking aboutit.
You have two beautifulvocations.
You can live a life, you canhave a career.
Um is your priesthood a career?
And the you know, thepriesthood's a it's it's a
supernatural calling, it's asupernatural fatherhood of
laying down your life for yourchildren.
(36:45):
Um you know, the curator ofalways talks about this.
Your your parents should be yourfamily.
And if you God willingly liveout your vocation, whatever God
is calling you to be, you willbe fulfilled in every way uh
possible.
Um and it's especially mostespecially for religious life
and the priesthood um and forparents, you know, even through
(37:08):
you know the thick and thin ofit, and the late nights and the
you know the the diaper changesand everything, the
pre-sacrifices in so many waysthat he gives himself to the
family.
In seminary, you learn that abit.
You go to summer assignments,you know, you got your late
night studies, you got yourpapers, whatever, but you learn
to to pray, to form yourself,and to configure yourself, to
(37:33):
give yourself to the church.
And it's it's kind of there'snothing like it.
You know, I sometimes say it'slike the army, you know, there's
a regiment schedule, you gottawake up, breakfast is at 6:30,
you know, 7 a.m., you gotta behere, you gotta do that, and we
have another guy who's in thearmy.
Um, but it's kind of more thatwhere you're giving yourself in
(37:53):
totality of I'm laying around mylife.
So it's a unique call and it canbe challenging sometimes, but
you know, guys, and they everyguy says this.
They look back at the year orthey look back at the years and
they say, Wow, how much the Lordhas changed me.
Same way in a marriage, in arelationship, having kids, how
much the Lord has changed me.
(38:14):
So seminary is a process ofthat, and it's a beautiful
process.
SPEAKER_03 (38:19):
So Sean, uh, you've just recently, I think, had the
experience as you described theconversation with the woman that
you were dating, uh, but also umyou've been breaking the news
right over these last few monthsto uh parents or family members,
family friends, everybody.
What have been some of thereactions?
As Jay said, some of thequestions, uh seminary, what
(38:41):
does that mean?
Priesthood?
Yeah, uh any uh anything thatstood out in terms of telling
somebody, people you workedwith, what you're gonna do next
and and what their reactions orquestions were?
SPEAKER_07 (38:50):
Yeah, um a lot of it um did center on like marriage,
like are you gonna be able toget married?
And it's like, oh no.
SPEAKER_04 (38:56):
Like um marrying the church.
Yeah, marrying the church.
SPEAKER_07 (39:00):
Yeah, actually, um I was thinking when you were uh
you were talking to Eric aboutlike uh this one line I read
from like a vocational likediscernment book, because I was
trying to like discern how todiscern when I was like going
through the discernment process,and there were a lot of
conflicting things.
SPEAKER_03 (39:14):
Figure out how to figure things out, yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (39:17):
Yeah, and one line was like uh if you if you um if
you're like uh something alongthe lines, if you're going out
with like a like a great womanand like or a great girl, and
you're just like why would whywould you like shift paths?
Um and I kind of realized thatum my woman, so to say, was kind
of like the church.
Like I started to fall in lovewith the church when I like was
getting involved in all theseministries, teaching like
(39:38):
confirmation classes, and I waslike, oh okay, like this this
path is like in front of me.
Um and I feel more drawn to likeserving in this capacity um as
like you know a priest would.
So that's kind of uh kind ofwhere my heart went.
Um but yeah, to go back to thequestion, yeah, um, a lot of it
is around that, or just like youknow, how are you gonna like,
you know, what are you gonna dofor money, where are you gonna
(40:00):
live?
And um, you know, uh everyseminarian's like living
situation is a little different.
SPEAKER_05 (40:06):
But um Who was the first person you told once you
had a clear was it clear, like,okay, I'm gonna be a priest?
Yeah, um or go to the seminary.
SPEAKER_07 (40:14):
I told my family, like um I told my dad actually
when I was like discerning, andI I I wasn't like sure I wanted
to be like go down like the pathto like seminary, but um I
remember him saying like I thinkthat might be good for you, and
that was like very encouragingum to hear.
Um but yeah, I probably told myfamily first and then some of my
uh my close friends that I keepin touch with.
SPEAKER_03 (40:33):
But and your family's been supportive?
SPEAKER_07 (40:35):
Yeah, they've been supportive, praise God.
Yeah.
Um yeah, I I haven't gotten anyresistance.
Um Eric, how about you with yourown family?
SPEAKER_04 (40:43):
Uh there's a lot of questions at first.
I remember I told a lot of myfriends I was part of a
discernment group where we readto save a thousand souls in
college.
So some of my closer friendsknew and and were familiar with
the journey, but but God blessmy parents, uh, they they just
didn't know a lot.
What is seminary?
Philosophy.
And and you know, parents wantthe best for their children.
(41:06):
And I was still in college atthe time.
I was going for engineering, andI was saying, I think I may want
to leave this and go do this.
And any good parent would say,Well, what if that doesn't work
out?
And it was very real.
What is this philosophy?
How is that gonna work out?
Um, but over time, you know, asthe seminarians formed, so are
the parents.
(41:26):
There's a formation process forthe parents, and I see that with
every seminarian, their parents,the Lord works on their hearts
tremendously as the Lord workson the seminarians' hearts as
well.
And I could I've seen that in myparents over the past three,
four years.
So there's a lot of questions atfirst, a lot of what is this?
What's going on?
SPEAKER_05 (41:47):
We know you're Catholic, but this is whoa, man,
this is like you're crossing theline your way out there.
Next level.
SPEAKER_04 (41:53):
But you know, God bless my you know, my parents,
and I'll give a good example.
Recently, they my dad and mybrother went to the ordination
of gender and Father Lucas.
So he's at the cathedral for thefirst time, and it's a different
mass.
You know, there's a lot ofdifferent parts and different
rituals than a normal Sunday.
And I encourage any parent orseminarian or someone thinking
to go to an ordination mass, goto cathedral, see what kind of
(42:16):
happens, see what you know thebishop does, and the man who
lays on the floor.
So he has to have the mass.
And afterwards, he said, I havea lot of questions.
So I finally catch up with him,you know, a day or two later
after the first mass ceremony atthe parish, and he said, So this
is like a wedding day.
Yes, it is.
It exactly is a wedding day.
Good, good, good work.
It's even a party.
It literally was a party.
(42:38):
And he said, So I should invitethe family.
I said, Yeah.
And so, okay, I'll rent on a busand we'll go to the cathedral.
I said, Oh my gosh, look atthis.
I don't have to, you know, andand I was like, I would never
have imagined that three yearsago.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (42:51):
Um, enthusiasm.
SPEAKER_04 (42:53):
Yeah, you know, and just you know, enthusiasm and
just the oh my god, it's like hecan, you know, he sees it.
And that's the type of, youknow, if you give the Lord an
opportunity and you give it outto him, he'll work.
He'll he'll work.
And it's it's beautiful to seethat.
SPEAKER_03 (43:09):
Question was earlier about um what are some cool
things that uh seminarians getto do.
And uh uh one of the cool thingsI got to do as a seminarian in
1993, I believe, um, was go toWorld Youth Day in Denver,
Colorado, with then St.
Pope John Paul II.
Uh and uh I met Eric.
(43:30):
Uh you were still, I think youwent, you traveled with the uh
with the university, right?
Uh I was with the university.
We met uh we met, I think, inFatima uh when uh but you got to
be part of World Youth Day uh inin Lisbon with with Pope Francis
three years ago now, I guess.
And uh were you um did you wereyou at the Eucharistic Congress?
Yes.
So um uh and uh maybe talk alittle bit about those
(43:53):
experiences.
SPEAKER_04 (43:54):
Yeah, talk about cool experiences.
Um I I remember preparing forthat World Utah trip, and I was
like, well, you know, I could,I'm in college, but the money
and you know, there's otherthings I want to do in the
summer.
And then my chaplain was said,no, you're gone.
Like, come on now, like no, no,no, no, no.
This is for you.
Ask your mom.
(44:14):
I was like, my mom's not gonnasay yes.
Like, only two weeks and you'relike, no, no, no, no.
So I said, Fine, I'll ask her,you know, I'll be a good
obedient, you know, uh student.
And I asked her, he said, No,no, no, this will be good for
you.
You should go.
In fact, here's my credit card,you're signing up.
I was like, okay, here we go.
So I had a blessed opportunityto go there.
If you get, you know, you gottagive another an opportunity, and
and I think you'll be surprisedwhat he'll bring you and where
(44:37):
he'll send you.
So And that one year, I wentwith the Diocese of Richmond,
World Youth Day, and we that onecalendar year, so we started out
in Lourdes.
We did a week kind of in Lourdesgoing across Spain, and then we
met up in Fatima, and sureenough, there's the Diocese of
Patterson.
I said, What are the odds?
Um, and earlier that spring, Iactually had another opportunity
(45:03):
to go to Mexico and I went toour lady Guadalupe.
And then that same summer, Iended up going to Ireland and
seeing Our Lady of Not.
Wow.
So, you know, and I asked Marythat year, I said, I want to go
closer to you.
And she said, Alright, here wego.
We got Lords, we got the wholetour together as a whole.
So I was like, oh my goodness.
(45:23):
Um, you know, not everyone hasthe same experience, and the
Lord will send you places that,you know, it's different for
everyone.
Um, but asking you shallreceive, and you know, it's just
it's part of the process of yougive yourself over to the Lord,
you think of Matthew, follow me.
(45:43):
I don't know if you had any ideaof where he was going or where
he'd be ended up and off toIndia and all these type of
things and and stuff, but um andwe're experienced hopefully a uh
a Eucharistic revival uh here inthe United States.
SPEAKER_03 (45:58):
Uh and um we saw that beautifully in uh
Indianapolis, uh, where 70,000,60 or 70,000 came together.
Um uh anything stuck out fromthat experience?
SPEAKER_04 (46:10):
Um world you think was great for the Universal
Church, but the Eucharist ofCongress was, I think that was
the spark for the guy in theturning of the American church.
You know, you think about pastrecent decades, and I think
we're building it up again.
And I think Pope Leo has helpedconfirm that a lot of just the
fact that he's an American Pope.
That Eucharist Congress, Ithink, was very special because
(46:33):
it kind of said we're back.
The American Catholic Church iswe're on the high roll again.
I don't know why I keepsnapping.
Um we're we're we're upstreamagain.
Um and you saw the beauty ofmany parts of the country, not
only you'll physically cometogether, but many voices of the
church coming together.
That was very spiritualities anddifferent voices.
(46:58):
And you remember Mother OlgaOlga, yeah.
And just walks of life,different vocations coming
together to speak about thebeauty of the Eucharist, the
importance of it, and how welove the church in the United
States of America.
So it's just a great experiencefor me to see all that, see
(47:20):
different seminarians, seedifferent priests, um, and it
becomes like a little family inthe Catholic world.
You know, it's it quicklydwindles down and get to know
people, hang out with them, umand and and you know, praise the
Lord in Lucas Oil Stadium.
It was a beautiful adoration,confession, mass, just it
(47:42):
doesn't get much better thanthat.
SPEAKER_05 (47:44):
Sean, what inspires you in your either in your
studies or as you look forwardto the day, God willing you
become a priest, what what givesyou joy or what are you looking
forward to?
SPEAKER_07 (47:56):
Um there was actually like a uh prayer card
that our vocations director, uhFather Charlie, handed out to us
maybe like a month or so ago.
It's a litany for priests andseminarians, um where uh at the
end of like the litany, it'slike um kind of like uh going
through all the things like apriest would do in a service,
like for every confession I'llhear, um Jesus love them through
(48:17):
me, you know, for every like umsoul I'll reach out to, Jesus
love them through me.
And um when I when I've readthrough that at times, um I've
gotten very excited for like theprospect of what everything a
priest does to to be a shepherd,to be like a a fisher of men.
Um so I would say that thosethings um when I think back to
(48:38):
that and like what my ministrycould look like if I'm a priest,
God willing, um, that doesmotivate me for the path ahead.
SPEAKER_05 (48:45):
Beautiful.
SPEAKER_03 (48:45):
All right, so we have we have some maybe one more
each, or final.
Yeah, what do you think?
SPEAKER_05 (48:50):
Uh yeah, lightning round.
Uh okay, here's a good one.
Do you do you sit around andstudy and pray all day?
SPEAKER_04 (48:58):
Yeah, there is there is a good amount of prayer and
study.
There's also a lot of goodcommunity and recreation.
Um it's a it's a you know, theeveryone says this.
The years go by quickly, but thedays are long.
The days are full.
You're up pretty early, andsometimes you're up late at
night, but they're veryfulfilling days where you've
accomplished a lot.
(49:18):
And it's a good feelingsometimes when you look back and
say, look at how much I studied,prayed, learned about the
church, learned about myself,and ran around and did all these
things and met all these people.
Uh so a lot can go on in theseminary.
You'll be surprised.
And what what do you eat at theseminary?
SPEAKER_05 (49:33):
So what?
What do you eat at the seminary?
Oh.
Um Do you have special seminaryfood or seminary?
SPEAKER_04 (49:42):
You'll um sometimes they like to do there's always
taco Tuesdays like constant atSt.
Joseph's.
Um we do a lot of, we have a lotof bagels.
We're at we're at Seton Hall, soit's a Jersey seminary.
So I tell all the otherseminarians I know, I'm like,
well, we got the we got the goodbagels at my seminary.
Do you cook at all?
We do a little cooking.
Um that's more of a fraternitything.
(50:04):
So, you know, both seminariesfor us, there's the university,
they have chefs.
SPEAKER_03 (50:10):
And that's but okay.
SPEAKER_04 (50:10):
The propodeudic program is is that part of the
uh there's a little cooking partof that, but also we sometimes
need a bit more of a homegrownmeal.
So some guys will just like,hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna do this
dish.
Oh, St.
Joseph's Day.
So we did all the St.
Joseph Italian dishes and justhad a good time.
We'll go out to dinner um justfor some good fraternity.
Um, you know, some of the someof the best conversations happen
(50:34):
over meals.
Yeah.
So you just kind of get downafter prayer into the refectory,
and you know, there's alwayslike a salad bar, there's always
options, whatever.
So sometimes you gotta getcreative of some guys will bring
down an avocado, so I'm makinglike a breakfast avocado wrap or
whatever.
Um it's always the funsometimes.
SPEAKER_05 (50:52):
Sean, any final thoughts on uh behind the
curtain of seminary?
What you're looking forward to,right?
SPEAKER_07 (50:57):
I haven't gone behind the curtain yet.
I'm like looking forward to it.
Um my first day of seminary isgonna be in less than two weeks.
Um so I'll get to hear all theuh see whether it's somebody's
really like for yourself, right?
You'll enjoy it.
Yeah, very much looking forwardto it though.
SPEAKER_03 (51:13):
Well, thank you guys for uh being with us today
again, and but your daily yes tothe Lord.
Uh you'll certainly be in ourprayers uh yourselves, uh
Michael and and Brian and all ofour seminarians and uh Father
Charlie for his work and uhthanks for for being with us
today.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (51:28):
Thank you, Bishop.
Thanks so much, and also shoutout to Catalina for putting this
day together.
And uh all right, we'll leave itthere.
Okay.
So, yeah, thanks again forjoining us, and thank thank you
all for joining us and being apart of this podcast.
Please subscribe, comment, andleave a positive rating.
Get to know us better byfollowing Bishop Kevin's
Instagram and beyond the beaconon social media.
(51:49):
Read the bishop's weekly columnon beaconnj.org and get in touch
if you have a question for thebishop or a podcast topic idea,
and discover our other podcasts.
See you next time.
SPEAKER_03 (52:00):
Thanks, everybody.
Thanks, guys.
God bless you.
Take care.
Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin
Sweeney, a podcast of theDiocese of Patterson, New
Jersey.
Join us for conversations aboutour Catholic faith, and together
let's strive to live a life offaith, hope, and love.
We're so glad you can join us.
I'm Jay Agnish, CommunicationsDirector for the Diocese and
editor of the Beacon, our newswebsite.
With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
Bishop, how are you?
(00:28):
Good Jay, how are you doing?
I'm doing well.
So um we are where where are we?
It's kind of a unique episodewhere this is part of Vocations
Media Day, a first-time eventour vocations office put
together.
And we're at On the Feast of St.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
Maximilian Maria Colby.
Talk a little bit more aboutthat.
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05 (00:49):
So uh as part of the Vocations Media Day, we uh are
participating in a we're havinga podcast with some of our
seminarians.
And uh yeah, looking forward tothe conversation.
SPEAKER_03 (00:59):
Here at our evangelization center in St.
Paul's Inside the Walls inMadison, and in a different part
of the building.
We've we have the studioupstairs that's used for coffee
and cupkey in a Paul StreetJournal, and we've used a few
times.
But uh uh we're here in uhwhat's uh this room I think is
often used by the young adultcommunity that meets uh one of
(01:21):
our uh next guests, I think, cantell you a little bit more about
that.
Is he spent some time as part ofthat community.
SPEAKER_05 (01:29):
So um is there anything that you want to uh
discuss?
I know obviously the uh you hada statement you made on social
media about the earthquake inColombia.
SPEAKER_03 (01:39):
Yeah, so we as with Venezuela uh and other natural
disasters and other places whereum people are hurting in pain,
we certainly are joined inprayer.
And uh here in our own diocese,we're blessed with so many uh of
our priests who come to us, havecome to us from Colombia and
many people as well throughoutour parishes.
(02:01):
Um many would have familymembers that um have been
impacted.
Uh it seems that the directfamily members of our priests
are all okay from what we'veheard, and um but um I think
it's over 200 that were killed,and um many that lost their
(02:22):
homes and have been injured, andso um we uh we're trying to get
more information over these.
It's only been since Monday now,it's today's Friday, and uh so
uh we continue to pray for um uhthose impacted by the earthquake
in uh Columbia.
SPEAKER_05 (02:38):
Okay.
Well, why don't we uh find outwho we're sitting next to here?
So all the way at the end hereis is Brian Collins, a
seminarian, and Michael Cain isto his left.
How are you guys doing?
Doing well.
How are you?
I'm doing good, thanks.
Yeah.
Glad to be here.
Good, yeah.
Thanks for being a part of this.
Um before we start ourconversation, why don't we start
(03:01):
with a prayer?
SPEAKER_03 (03:02):
So on this feast of Saint Maximilian Maria Colby,
who um has a very interestinglife and vocation story, a
Franciscan priest and amissionary um in Nagasaki
originally from Poland and uhdid went as a missionary to um
Japan and founded a community inNagasaki, just outside and above
(03:22):
the city.
Uh the community there survivedthe dropping of the atomic bomb,
and uh um Maximilian came backto Poland after a time in Japan
uh during the time of the Germanoccupation of Poland during the
Second World War and uheventually was arrested and put
(03:42):
in a concentration camp.
And so um many know the storythat uh a prisoner had escaped
from the camp, and when oneprisoner escaped, they would
take ten people and just uh putthem in a starvation hut, as
they called it, uh, and theychose the ten um prisoners who
(04:03):
were gonna be starved to death,and one of them was a father of
ten children, I believe.
Uh, and St.
Father Maximilian Colby steppedup and uh in in the Haloap.
There's a great description thatI shared with seminarians
earlier.
Um in the Daily Homily, um uhFather Bonavice Hicks tells a
little bit of the story of hisstepping up.
(04:24):
He said the this commandant ofthe um concentration camp kind
of took a step back because ofFather Macmillion's uh presence,
but um he said that he wanted totake the guy's place, and
Commandant said, okay.
Um and uh as I shared at Masswith the seminarians, uh when he
was canonized by Saint, by nowSt.
Pope John Paul II, 1982, Ibelieve, the man who whose life
(04:48):
he had exchanged for his own umwas there present, I think he
was 82 at the time.
Um so uh a great example uh anduh a good day to have Media Day
because uh he had a printingpress and he was uh he started a
group called the Knights of MaryImmaculate and uh was very in
Poland, especially um interestedin getting the news out through
(05:10):
media, the media of the timebeing printed word on on
newspapers and pamphlets.
Uh so um a good good uh patronsaint for for Media Day.
Uh so uh we'll pray now umasking um the intercession of
Saint Mar uh Saint Mary, SaintUh Maximilian Maria Colby and uh
and Mary our Blessed Mother.
(05:31):
Uh we'll ask the um help andprotection of uh St.
Michael the Archangel.
Uh I've shared on the Hallow appthe last few years now, the
something called St.
Michael's Lent that uh thatHallow's doing right now.
So if you're not familiar withit, you can check it out there.
But um we'll ask uh we'll praythrough the intercession and ask
the help of uh St.
Michael the Archangel, name ofthe Father and of the Son, and
(05:53):
of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Saint Michael the Archangel,defend us in battle, be our
safeguard against the wickednessand snares of the devil.
May God rebuke and we humblypray, and do thou, O Prince of
the Heavenly Host, by the divinepower, cast into hell Satan and
all the evil spirits that wanderthe world seeking the ruin of
souls.
Amen.
Saint Michael the Archangel,pray for us.
(06:13):
Saint Maximilian Maria Colby,pray for us.
Mary, Mother of the Church, MaryImmaculate, pray for us.
In the name of the Father, andof the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.
Amen.
SPEAKER_05 (06:24):
Okay, so we've been given some questions and we want
to get to get to know you guys alittle bit more.
I guess, I guess the kind of theperspective we're coming from is
um for people who might not haveuh an idea of what actually goes
on in seminary, um, you know,and also people who might be
discerning um the priesthood orseminary.
(06:45):
Um so that's kind of where we'recoming from.
But we have some fun, some funquestions, some serious
questions.
So where do we want to start?
SPEAKER_03 (06:51):
Maybe just before the questions, uh our
seminarians can introducethemselves a little bit more
than just uh what year you're inor where you're from, but uh
maybe just tell us a little bitabout yourself, where you grew
up, when you first thought aboutpriesthood, and maybe uh what it
was like from that first thoughtto now being in the seminary.
Brian, why don't you start usoff?
SPEAKER_00 (07:10):
Right, yes.
So I'm from St.
Luke Parish in Long Valley,which is kind of way, way out
there at the very edge of thediocese.
SPEAKER_03 (07:16):
Looks a little like Ireland out there.
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
It does.
I like it quite a bit for thatreason.
Um when I first started thinkingabout priesthood was really when
I went through what was thencalled RCIA in my home parish
because I was not raised aCatholic.
But uh I went through theprogram at the parish, I
received my sacraments at theEaster Vigil when I was a
freshman in college, and fromthere it just became a logical
(07:38):
thing of discerning priesthood.
And it's funny that we're herein this room because in this
room I did a lot of mydiscerning because the former
vocation director, uh Father EdRama, we would have first
Saturday days of discernment,and at that time they were held
here, so we would sit in thisroom a lot and fraternize and
discuss discernment.
So it's fitting that I'm back inthis building.
SPEAKER_03 (07:56):
You said um in your first year of college you
received had you been baptized?
SPEAKER_00 (08:01):
I had been baptized as an infant, and then there was
no follow-up.
SPEAKER_03 (08:04):
I was not raised in the So you received communion
confirmation at the EasterVigil, I imagine?
SPEAKER_00 (08:08):
Yes, and made uh first confession shortly
beforehand.
SPEAKER_03 (08:11):
Right.
Uh and uh and where were youstudying in college at that
time?
SPEAKER_00 (08:15):
So at that time I was actually studying locally at
the County College of Morris,right in Randolph.
And then after I did two yearsthere, I transferred down to
Loyola University in Marylandand got my bachelor's there.
SPEAKER_03 (08:27):
And uh did you do some missionary work?
SPEAKER_00 (08:31):
No, I did not do any missionary work.
I did a lot of work with theKnights of Columbus down in
Baltimore.
However, I didn't do anymissionary work per se.
SPEAKER_03 (08:40):
Um but uh you continued to nurture your faith
while you were living away atcollege, and uh uh did you find
a community of faith there thatuh where you worshiped?
SPEAKER_00 (08:50):
I did.
There was a very strongcommunity of faith there, and
funnily enough, one of thepriests on campus, it's a Jesuit
college, so we had Jesuitpriests there.
We had a discernment group ofmyself and five or six other
young men who were studying atLoyola who were discerning, and
we would meet once a month inthe Jesuit residence, have
dinner, and pray and justdiscuss and talk about what we
(09:11):
were reading, how ourdiscernment life was going.
And I also got a spiritualdirector when I was down there,
which was very good, and thathelped me get to where I am now.
So it's been a fun path.
SPEAKER_03 (09:22):
And then you connected with the vocation
director, Father Rama at thetime, and then little by little,
next thing you know, you were inthe seminary, right?
SPEAKER_00 (09:28):
Yes, I'd been in touch with um Father Ed and then
Father Charlie when he was madethe assistant vocation director.
And yes, I got the application,spring of my senior year, and
filled it out and was accepted.
Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_01 (09:42):
Great.
Michael?
Yeah, so I'm originally fromMarstown, born and raised.
Um grew up going to St.
Virgil's, St.
uh Resurrection Parish inRandolph for a little while, and
then uh stent in uh Assumptionof Marstown.
Um when I grew up, grew upCatholic, kind of credo
Catholic, um went to SouthCarolina.
(10:04):
My parents moved down south andI moved with them to South
Carolina.
And uh when I moved down toSouth Carolina, I really started
to discern like the road thepriesthood and decided I think
it's it's only best if I apply.
So I applied originally to theDiocese of Charleston, South
Carolina.
Uh I was accepted by the Dioceseof Charleston, and um during my
(10:28):
time of discernment in seminary,during my year down there, I had
some thoughts of you know, maybeuh what do I is this right for
me?
Do I is this uh really where Ifeel called at the time?
Um I left seminary for uh abouta two-year time period, um, was
in a relationship and thendecided to reapply to uh to the
(10:49):
diocese of Patterson this time.
And uh was in contact withFather.
Come back home, exactly.
Come back to where I'm born andraised.
Uh was in contact with FatherRama and Father Charlie, and uh
praise be to God again, wasaccepted back up to uh my home.
SPEAKER_03 (11:04):
So right, I think it's important for people to
know that uh um each eachthere's similarities to a
vocation story, uh uh and andthings that would be the same
classes and years that you haveto go through.
But for some, they enter theseminary and they go through and
they get ordained.
Uh from many others, uh theymight go to the seminary, say,
(11:25):
I'm not so sure.
Yeah.
Uh take some time away and findthemselves back in the seminary,
as was the case with yourself,right, Michael?
SPEAKER_01 (11:32):
Exactly.
Yeah.
It was uh it was a great, youknow, time of discernment away,
but I realized like I felt theLord's calling me back, and um
praise be to God, I'm back.
SPEAKER_03 (11:39):
So Jay's got some questions.
SPEAKER_05 (11:41):
Yeah, so Michael, maybe a good one for for you.
Um so here's a question formaybe for a discerner.
So, what if you have agirlfriend and you're thinking
about the priesthood?
SPEAKER_01 (12:32):
Um that's a really good question.
I think it's important just topray um and to spend a lot of
time with the Blessed Sacrament,um and really just discern what
the Lord is calling you to do.
Because both marriage andpriesthood are beautiful
vocations.
Um, both are important vocationsto the life of the church.
Um but it's really importantjust to discern and see where
(12:54):
the Lord is leading you.
And if if the Lord leads you topriesthood, he'll make it clear
to you like he did for me.
The Lord made it very clear thatthis is where I was supposed to
be.
And um same thing with marriage.
If it's if you know a young manis called to marriage, the Lord
will make that clear as well.
SPEAKER_05 (13:08):
So great.
And Brian, here's one for you.
So what cool experiences doseminarians have?
SPEAKER_00 (13:15):
Cool experiences seminarians have.
I think the opportunity to livein community with a lot of young
men like yourself that areseeking out God's call and have
said this initial yes and are atthe seminary is great because
it's a great support system.
You're there with each other,living in community, and you
know, these are your brothersthat you live with, so you can
(13:36):
talk to them about just aboutanything, and it's a very very
good sense of community, Ithink.
And also, you know, you praytogether, which is nice because
oftentimes when you're out inthe world you don't have the
opportunities to pray together.
Oftentimes you pray more byyourself.
So when you're with a group witha ha with a house of twenty some
odd guys, it's nice praying incommunity for sure.
SPEAKER_05 (13:57):
Yeah, one of the questions is do you feel lonely?
SPEAKER_00 (14:01):
In the seminary, no, you don't feel lonely because
you're living in a hallway withten other guys that you all have
the same hope in theory, whichis you all won't be ordained
priests one day, God willing.
So the loneliness is not there,I would say, in the seminary,
because you have that strongcommunity life.
Sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (14:20):
Bishop, do you have anything?
SPEAKER_03 (14:21):
Uh well, uh to say that Brian, um, when you say
cool experiences, and there's ummany different types of
experiences in the seminary asin life, uh, but you know, the
church is always looking at umhow are we doing with uh
encouraging guys, um, supportingguys, forming guys who feel they
(14:45):
may have a call, and from thestart of the process to uh a
decision about whether a guy'sready to be ordained a deacon
and ordained a priest.
Uh and the church has kind ofadded a wrinkle in the last uh
few years.
Uh they updated something calledthe program for priestly
formation, kind of the documentin Rome that um outlines the
formation in a certain uh partof the uh world really, um, and
(15:08):
uh so the United States.
And uh in the most recentrevision, the church said
there's a need for guys to spendsome time upon entering or
applying to the seminary, beingaccepted for the seminary,
before they start the formalclasses, and uh there's a lot of
formation in something that'snow called the propodudic year,
(15:30):
right?
And uh, Brian, uh one of the uhhighlights would be that uh
because we live in such a worldwhere we are often bombarded by
technology, uh the church saysmaybe it would be good to take a
fast or sometime away from beingbombarded every day by
(15:50):
technology.
And so I think uh you had aboutsix days a week where you didn't
have a phone, right?
Was it last year, right?
Or the year before last year.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
So the structure was the s the basic structure of it
was you would have your cellphone from Saturday morning to
Sunday evening.
Okay.
Sunday evening after dinner, youhad to turn in your phone and
your laptop, and then MondayMonday through Saturday morning
mass, you would not havetechnology, so you were kind of
removed from the world.
(16:19):
And it forces you to learn to bepresent in a way that we I think
have lost a little bit.
You know, we're so bombard withtechnology, we're so
interconnected, whichinterconnectedness can sometimes
be a good thing, but then it canalso sometimes pull us away from
the moment.
So one of the goals of the PropDudic year was to make us more
present in the moment.
And when there's no technologybetween you and the guys that
(16:40):
you're living with, your theconnection with that with them
then becomes different becauseyou're all experiencing this
kind of isolation from the worldat the same time.
SPEAKER_03 (16:48):
And you know, thinking about it myself and
talking to other bishops, uh,what there was a concern, okay,
it's another year really, addedon to that time of formation.
Uh and you know, can how whatwould the reaction be to guys
who have phones as many of us doall the time, uh being with and
um I think to my surprise andthe surprise of many, maybe the
(17:10):
guys themselves, uh so many ofthe guys have said, oh, this is
great.
Would you say that that many ofthe guys felt that the the break
from technology was a was a goodthing and and something that
they uh welcomed rather thanthan resisted.
Would you say that?
SPEAKER_00 (17:26):
Yes, I would say that a great deal, and to the
surprise of many, because Iremember when we all first
reported, when we all firstarrived, there was a lot of
anxiety around it.
Oh, when do we have to turn ourphones and when do we have to
because it's it's foreign to alot of us now living without the
technology.
And sometimes it's that fear ofthe unknown, sometimes it's that
fear of not being able to callor text someone right then,
right now when we want to.
(17:48):
But you found after the firstcouple of weeks, after the first
month, two months, that guysreally adjusted to it in a very
good way.
And they enjoyed it quite a bit.
Prior lives benefited, theybenefited in growth of virtue
and holiness just being in themoment, not being elsewhere
mentally.
SPEAKER_05 (18:05):
Michael, how far along are you in seminary?
SPEAKER_01 (18:07):
I'm going to my uh first philosophy year.
So technically my first year offormation.
SPEAKER_05 (18:13):
Okay, so you're through the propade year and
okay.
SPEAKER_03 (18:16):
So when a guy has finished his undergraduate
degree, um it it uh Michael wasin the seminary previously, so
he didn't have to do thepropadeic year.
Uh right now, as it stands, if aguy's never been in a seminary,
they would do a propodudic year,then two years of philosophy and
four years of theology, right?
Okay.
Uh so um uh you're just you'reback now to start again.
(18:39):
Um uh maybe talk a little bitabout that time away, um, yes,
in a relationship, but alsoworking.
And uh uh I believe you were inthe um hospitality industry, no?
Yes, yeah.
Uh what would you say from uhhaving left the seminary now to
go back to the seminary, thatworking experience uh taught you
or helped you to appreciate interms of your own faith life or
(19:01):
even your discernment or makingthe decision to go back to the
seminary?
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
Yeah, I think um spending the time away and
having kind of living in thereal world as it is, um, was a
beautiful thing.
Uh having a job, having a careerreally.
I was a manager at a hotel andand I could have certainly
continued that job going forwardin a very long-term way.
Um, but I I think it was reallybeneficial for me to live on the
(19:24):
uh outside of the seminaryformation for a while and see
how um the vast majority ofpeople live their lives going
forward, right?
Uh having a job and um I love aboss and having a boss and
sometimes also being thebiggest.
SPEAKER_03 (19:43):
Right, right.
And sometimes being the boss,right?
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Uh but it was a beautiful experience for me.
It taught me a lot of leadershipqualities.
Um taught me a lot of just howto um manage the everyday life
of uh the normal population,everybody outside of formation
and priesthood.
SPEAKER_03 (20:02):
So uh we got two of our other seminarians coming in,
but maybe Jay, one question eachuh for the guys uh one one for
Brian, one for Michael.
SPEAKER_05 (20:11):
Here's a good one, Michael, for you.
I hope for you.
Uh what if parents don'tencourage the priesthood because
they want grandkids or want asuccessful career from their
son?
SPEAKER_01 (20:22):
Yeah, I think um if the parents aren't super um I
think it's common, right, wherewe live in a world um where
parents want grandkids, andthat's a beautiful thing, it's
an important thing.
Um but I think that as a as aman uh when you when you get to
the point of discernment um youneed to kind of take control of
(20:43):
of your own direction and whereyou want to go in life.
And um kind of saying, like,mom, dad, I I love you, um, but
I love you so much that I wantto do this for you.
Like I I uh the the life of aseminary and the life of a
priest is a beautiful life.
Spending so much time withpeople and and ministering to
people um that that a man kindof just needs to say, Mom, dad,
(21:06):
I love you so much, but but thisis where the Lord is leading me,
and just following the Lord andwhere He's He's asking you to go
uh is a really important thingto do.
SPEAKER_05 (21:14):
That's great, it's beautiful.
Okay, so Brian, we're gonna havea little fun.
So I'm gonna throw a couple atyou and you you let me know
which one you wanna answer.
So can you play video games?
SPEAKER_00 (21:24):
Yes.
Okay.
SPEAKER_05 (21:26):
Do you pay taxes?
Do you pay taxes?
SPEAKER_00 (21:32):
Uh do I pay taxes?
SPEAKER_05 (21:35):
That's a question for Father Charlie.
SPEAKER_00 (21:37):
That's a question for the vocation director.
SPEAKER_05 (21:39):
Are you worried about making money?
SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
No, I'm not I'm not really worried about making
money.
Now, don't get me wrong, moneycould be a lot of fun.
But um, when you're entering theseminary, God willing to be a
priest, you know, you're notdoing it for the lifestyle.
You're doing it because you wantto live in imitation of Christ.
Now, do I have nice jackets, youknow, nice shoes, all that kind
of thing?
Sure, but I'm not terriblyinterested in making that much
money because in the priesthoodit's just a giving of yourself
(22:05):
fully to the church, to theLord.
SPEAKER_03 (22:08):
And just before we uh each of you had the
opportunity, I believe, to spendsome time in a parish this
summer and get a littleexperience of living in the
rectory and working.
Uh Brian, where were you?
SPEAKER_00 (22:19):
I was at Holy Spirit Parish in Pequanic with Father
Caesar Haramillo.
And uh a highlight from thesummer, something that uh A
highlight from the summer, umgetting the chance to do stuff
stuff with the school, with thevacation Bible school, which was
really an interestingexperience.
And also just the privilege ofliving at a parish, getting to
know people and Just the trustpeople place in you as a
(22:41):
seminarian, I thought was areally beautiful thing.
And Michael?
SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
I was at St.
Catherine Usina and MountainLakes.
Father Parisi.
Father Parisi and uh and the dogscout.
It was beautiful.
It was an amazing experience.
I think Vacation Bible school,like Brian said, was a beautiful
experience.
Uh spending some time with kids,but also for me, I had the
opportunity to see the life ofsome baptisms and some weddings,
(23:04):
which was really beautiful fromthe side of priesthood and
seminarian life.
SPEAKER_05 (23:08):
So last question for both of you.
Do you have friends outside ofthe seminary?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
You can have those.
SPEAKER_00 (23:16):
And thank God for that, right?
SPEAKER_03 (23:17):
It's uh uh we all need a day off and sometime uh
to get some rest and relaxation,right?
So well, Michael, Brian, thankyou very much uh for being with
us today and uh for your yes dayby day to uh try to ask the Lord
to show you his will, and if itbe um priesthood, uh we'll be
praying for you and ask everyoneto pray for you and uh uh thanks
(23:39):
for giving us the time today.
SPEAKER_01 (23:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (23:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (23:42):
Thank you.
Okay, so we're gonna go to greatjob.
SPEAKER_03 (23:45):
Well done.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (23:45):
Two more guests.
We'll be right back.
Okay, and we're back with two ofour other seminarians.
Welcome.
SPEAKER_04 (23:59):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (24:00):
So uh can you tell us who you are and and maybe uh
what year in seminary you are?
SPEAKER_04 (24:05):
Absolutely.
My name is Eric Hosenbein.
I'm from Morristown, home parishof Notre Dame at Mount Carmel,
Cedar Knowles, and I'm goinginto my second year of
pre-theology at ImmaculateConception Seminary at Seton
Hall University.
Trying to remember all that.
SPEAKER_07 (24:23):
Originally from Nan Olive, grew up going to uh St.
Jude's in Bud Lake.
Uh now I live in uh Morristownafter a little bit of traveling
for college and work.
Um, and my home parish now isthe Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary.
And I am entering my first year,the Propodudic Year at a St.
Joseph Seminary.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (24:41):
Well, welcome, thanks for being on.
Bishop, where do you want totake the conversation?
SPEAKER_03 (24:46):
Um as we discussed with our uh two previous guests,
uh uh Brian and Michael, uh, wetalked a little bit about the
Propodudic year and thatprocess.
Uh Eric mentioned pre-theology,that's another word for uh time
of studying philosophy.
So uh again, propodudic yearfirst, then two years of
philosophy, and then four yearsof theology.
Uh please God, leading to umordination as a deacon the year
(25:10):
before you would be ordained asa priest.
Uh so again, thank you, Sean andEric, for your yes day by day,
um, but also uh for being withus here today on Media Day and
on our podcast.
Um, as the other guys did, maybejust uh you told us where you
were born and raised, uh, butmaybe just tell us a little bit
more about yourselves uh uh uhgrowing up uh and when maybe you
(25:33):
first thought God could becalling me to be a priest and uh
what it was like from that firstthought to uh talking to a
vocation director, applicationprocess and being in the
seminary.
Maybe right.
SPEAKER_04 (25:46):
Um so I grew up in Morristown, I grew up grew up in
the public school system, but myparents sent us through the CCD
faith formation program at NotreDame, and we were just Christmas
Easter, you know, mass family.
Um so I didn't have thatpersonal relationship with
Christ yet, but I kind of knew,you know, the rhythm and the
(26:07):
kind of the crater Catholicstuff.
I went to an OperationAppalachian trip that so many
parishes go to.
I was kind of really introducedto other people who had, you
know, I think just a bit moredeeper personal relationships
with Jesus.
Um and then I started joiningyouth ministry, started going to
Sunday Mass.
(26:28):
Um, priesthood was not on mymind.
Uh I go off to Virginia Tech tostudy engineering, and I think
it was just the right place atthe right time.
And the Lord, I got introducedto many great friends and people
and good chaplains and just goodmentors.
SPEAKER_03 (26:45):
Where campus ministry programs?
SPEAKER_04 (26:47):
Campus ministry, Newman House.
Um, it was just a good location.
And I was introduced to dailymass, adoration, frequent
confession, and building up theprayer life.
And slowly but surely the Lordworked on my heart where a year
or two go in, and I'm reallythinking about the priesthood,
thinking about what does Godwant for me in life, what is he
(27:10):
asking me to do, what's hiswill, um, and what are the signs
that he's telling me in prayer,through conversation, through
friendship.
Um, so after my freshman year, Icame back home, contacted Father
Ed, who was in Morstown at thetime, first Saturdays here, and
I said, What do I do?
What is this whole thing?
I have a lot of questions.
I, you know, I'm getting thesesauces, these feelings.
(27:31):
Help me with this.
And he helped me, he guided me,he answered my questions, he
said, okay, now go back andpray, and we'll we'll catch up
in six months and let's do thesethings.
Um and it just turned out that Ithink the Lord was leading me,
and we started building arelationship, and by the end of
my four years of college, I knewI had to, I just had to apply,
(27:54):
otherwise, I'd be regrettingsomething for the rest of my
life.
Um, so I applied and I I got inand I went right from college to
my property here at St.
Joseph Seminary.
Um, so you're you're building arelationship, hopefully.
And and you hopefully make itflourish.
And that ISCs, as I found withvocation directors and events
(28:14):
and talking with theseminarians, it it helps you get
a sense of the call and what'sreal and what's not real, and
oh, this is this is authentic.
And as Christ called the men onthe the shores of Galilee, he's
calling men today, and he'scalling to serve here in in our
home area of New Jersey, believeit or not.
Um so it's it's beautiful, youget over the fear, and and you
(28:37):
you appreciate and you lovesolely day by day the will of
the Lord.
So that's a bit of my story.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (28:46):
Yeah, as far as mine, yeah.
I also grew up um Catholic.
Um went to C C D at uh St.
Jude's, and um my my family wasa little similar where we would
go every Sunday, and then Inoticed kind of as I got a
little older towards highschool, we stopped going to mass
as frequently, and I like Iwasn't like very much practicing
my faith um through like collegeand my um young adult career.
(29:07):
And then I had um sorry, where'dyou go to high school?
I went to high school at uhMount Olive High School, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (29:12):
Mount Olive High School and and then college?
SPEAKER_07 (29:14):
Uh yeah, and then college was um University of
North Carolina, Wilmington.
Um and high school I was uh veryinvolved in um our like TV
production program.
We had a very robust thing wherelike um every like um television
production.
Yeah, television production.
So like uh we had our own TVchannel, MO TV, Mount Olive
Television.
And um on like Mondays,Wednesdays, and Fridays, we
(29:34):
would some of us in the clubwould get to school early to
actually run a live news show.
It was like five minutes, butum, we would do like live cuts
with like some commercials andlike PSAs sometimes, and like I
like really like that world oflike you know crafting stories
and going out, kind of likegetting a scoop and like you
know, just showcasing likepeople and maybe like uh the
things they're doing, differentlike clubs or like initiatives.
(29:55):
Um and so I was drawn to that,and so I went to uh film school
to pursue that.
SPEAKER_03 (30:01):
University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
Wilmington, yes.
Right.
And studying film.
Yes.
You were gonna be a filmmaker.
SPEAKER_07 (30:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Uh yeah, I had uh when I uh cameout of school, I had dreams of
being a producer.
Um I always like the logistics.
SPEAKER_03 (30:14):
And you worked in the field then after college,
huh?
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (30:17):
For um six years I worked with a video production
company right outside of uhPhiladelphia.
I moved there for the work.
SPEAKER_03 (30:22):
Do you remember the first time you thought that the
Lord could be calling you topriesthood?
SPEAKER_07 (30:28):
Yeah, um, yeah, when I started um going back to mass
and like um practicing my faith.
SPEAKER_03 (30:34):
When was that?
SPEAKER_07 (30:35):
That was uh April 2023.
Oddly enough, um, my friend andhis fiance now wife, um, they
invited me to go to one of theirSunday services.
They went to a church um inPhiladelphia, and uh when I went
there, I I saw you know peopleworshiping God, of course, as
you do, uh, on a Sunday.
And uh I I hadn't had thatrelationship with um with God
and Christ in so long.
(30:56):
And like uh it was a wake-upcall, like, wow, like I I've
been missing this.
Like I I want to go back andactually, you know, talk to God.
And so um, you know, I wasraised Catholic, I knew that you
know I had to go to confessionbefore I could receive the
Eucharist and Mass.
And so I went to confession thenext Saturday, and it was a
really healing experience.
Uh it really just um I I feltactually healed by like um
(31:19):
confessing my sins after um solong, and it was um it made me
realize that God's mercy is sogreat and that his love was
there for me, and I was like, ohwow, like you're like real, and
like I now like I owe youeverything.
Like, and so I I I went on thislike rapid like journey of like
self-catechesis and then uh uhjoining all these uh young adult
groups, like uh St.
(31:40):
Paul's like the walls, whatever.
Right, right, and uh uh justgoing to mass, praying, going to
adoration, and you know, thevocation question you know
inevitably came up.
Yeah, it was actually umMonsignor John Hart at um
Assumption, who was the first uhpriest to ask me if I uh ever
wanted to be a priest, and uh heasked me after a daily mass
(32:00):
during Lent in 2024, and I waslike, oh no.
SPEAKER_02 (32:08):
You got the wrong guy.
SPEAKER_03 (32:11):
But no, but um we don't choose him, he chooses us,
right?
SPEAKER_07 (32:14):
So yeah, once he um he asked me like uh the question
never really went away, and Ihad come to a few uh first
Saturdays actually in this roomwith uh Father Charlie and
Father Ed Rama, um discernedlike kind of discerned like a
little bit, and then I was like,eh, I don't think it's for me.
And then you know, tried to likedate here and there, and just
(32:34):
nothing ever took off, andpriesthood kind of kept calling.
And uh a year later, um lastyear in 2025, I was at a more
spiritually mature point where Isaw the beauty of the vocation
of the priesthood as well aslike uh the married life, and uh
I was like, okay, I can kind ofsee myself going either way.
And then um once I had gone to afew discernment events, I read
(32:56):
uh To Save a Thousand Souls, um,and then you know, ironically
enough, I I had actually gone ona date with um a woman and I was
I told her, I was like, Oh yeah,I'm uh discerning the
priesthood, I just want to beopen about that.
And she's like, Oh, what's thatlike?
And you know, I talked about it,and this is funny.
Uh she ended up like kind oflike pulling back like from our
communication after that date.
And I thought, like, oh, I musthave done something wrong here.
(33:18):
Did I do something stupid?
Like, did I just make somemysterious words?
Yeah, so like um I ended uptalking to her on the phone like
a week after, and I was like, Ohyeah, like uh it just feels like
you pulled back a little bit.
I had a good time, like justwanted to see if there's
anything wrong.
And she was like, Well, when youwere talking about like uh you
know the priesthood andeverything, it seemed like your
head and your heart weren't onthe same page.
And I was like, Oh, like and Iwas like, Yeah, I didn't even
(33:40):
realize that.
And then um Yeah, so like and itwas like a f a week or so later
I read The Save a ThousandSouls.
I'm just reading about whatpriests do.
SPEAKER_03 (33:48):
Save a thousand souls, a book written by a
vocation director about the lifeof priesthood, uh life of a
priest, and uh it covers a lotof um uh ministry and uh prayer,
and uh it's uh been a help tomany who are um discerning.
Jay had some questions.
SPEAKER_05 (34:05):
It's so great to hear the connection, how all of
you have been involved with St.
Paul and South of Walls here atthe Young Adult Ministry.
And now might be a good timejust to push the vocations.
Uh so uh check the show notesfor information about the
vocations uh office.
SPEAKER_03 (34:20):
And the first Saturday, especially for those
interested in vocations andcontacting the vocation office.
Um, Father Charlie Lana, ourvocation director, and um uh I'm
not sure if the first Saturdaystill takes place here or it's
someplace else now.
SPEAKER_04 (34:34):
Takes over in um Father Ed's Paris.
SPEAKER_03 (34:36):
Father Father Ed Rama was the previous vocation
director.
He's now uh pastor in MountHope, uh St.
Bernard's, uh, and he uh hoststhe first Saturday now.
But uh but yes, Jay, as you'reright.
Uh that's um I want to sharethat.
SPEAKER_05 (34:49):
And uh yeah, give a call, email, reach out.
Um so uh so we know you'reallowed to have friends.
We've established that from theother guys.
So um what are what are somecommon questions that you get
from your peers or friends orparents or whoever when when
when you first enter theseminary or when you're thinking
(35:11):
about it?
Um Or when you're in seminary,like what's a common question
you get?
SPEAKER_04 (35:17):
Yeah, you get a lot of questions, you know, just the
practical, like, what do youstudy?
What do you do?
You know, it's yeah, it's a lotof philosophy, it's a lot of
theology.
But seminaries also uh allowed aformation in a good way.
Uh you're not just do this, dothat, don't do this, don't do
that, you know.
Um there's a lot of formation ofthe interior heart where you
(35:39):
kind of you opened up yourselfand you allow the Lord to
transform you as he walked withthe disciples for three years in
ministry.
They were transformed by thepresence of Christ, and you walk
in that path.
You know, another title for wehave many titles in the church.
You can get very That's anotherthing.
A lot of people are just kind ofclarify pre-theology,
(36:00):
philosophy, property, whatvocabulary, oh yeah, yeah.
So another term is discipleshipand configuration.
So discipleship is you'relearning to disciple and follow
the Lord.
And then your last years offormation are configuration,
configuring yourself to Christ,the high priest as a priest is.
Um so that's a very that's a bigthing.
(36:23):
And then just people are open.
So a lot of practicals of whynot marriage?
You know, Sean was talking aboutit.
You have two beautifulvocations.
You can live a life, you canhave a career.
Um is your priesthood a career?
And the you know, thepriesthood's a it's it's a
supernatural calling, it's asupernatural fatherhood of
laying down your life for yourchildren.
(36:45):
Um you know, the curator ofalways talks about this.
Your your parents should be yourfamily.
And if you God willingly liveout your vocation, whatever God
is calling you to be, you willbe fulfilled in every way uh
possible.
Um and it's especially mostespecially for religious life
and the priesthood um and forparents, you know, even through
(37:08):
you know the thick and thin ofit, and the late nights and the
you know the the diaper changesand everything, the
pre-sacrifices in so many waysthat he gives himself to the
family.
In seminary, you learn that abit.
You go to summer assignments,you know, you got your late
night studies, you got yourpapers, whatever, but you learn
to to pray, to form yourself,and to configure yourself, to
(37:33):
give yourself to the church.
And it's it's kind of there'snothing like it.
You know, I sometimes say it'slike the army, you know, there's
a regiment schedule, you gottawake up, breakfast is at 6:30,
you know, 7 a.m., you gotta behere, you gotta do that, and we
have another guy who's in thearmy.
Um, but it's kind of more thatwhere you're giving yourself in
(37:53):
totality of I'm laying around mylife.
So it's a unique call and it canbe challenging sometimes, but
you know, guys, and they everyguy says this.
They look back at the year orthey look back at the years and
they say, Wow, how much the Lordhas changed me.
Same way in a marriage, in arelationship, having kids, how
much the Lord has changed me.
(38:14):
So seminary is a process ofthat, and it's a beautiful
process.
SPEAKER_03 (38:19):
So Sean, uh, you've just recently, I think, had the
experience as you described theconversation with the woman that
you were dating, uh, but also umyou've been breaking the news
right over these last few monthsto uh parents or family members,
family friends, everybody.
What have been some of thereactions?
As Jay said, some of thequestions, uh seminary, what
(38:41):
does that mean?
Priesthood?
Yeah, uh any uh anything thatstood out in terms of telling
somebody, people you workedwith, what you're gonna do next
and and what their reactions orquestions were?
SPEAKER_07 (38:50):
Yeah, um a lot of it um did center on like marriage,
like are you gonna be able toget married?
And it's like, oh no.
SPEAKER_04 (38:56):
Like um marrying the church.
Yeah, marrying the church.
SPEAKER_07 (39:00):
Yeah, actually, um I was thinking when you were uh
you were talking to Eric aboutlike uh this one line I read
from like a vocational likediscernment book, because I was
trying to like discern how todiscern when I was like going
through the discernment process,and there were a lot of
conflicting things.
SPEAKER_03 (39:14):
Figure out how to figure things out, yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (39:17):
Yeah, and one line was like uh if you if you um if
you're like uh something alongthe lines, if you're going out
with like a like a great womanand like or a great girl, and
you're just like why would whywould you like shift paths?
Um and I kind of realized thatum my woman, so to say, was kind
of like the church.
Like I started to fall in lovewith the church when I like was
getting involved in all theseministries, teaching like
(39:38):
confirmation classes, and I waslike, oh okay, like this this
path is like in front of me.
Um and I feel more drawn to likeserving in this capacity um as
like you know a priest would.
So that's kind of uh kind ofwhere my heart went.
Um but yeah, to go back to thequestion, yeah, um, a lot of it
is around that, or just like youknow, how are you gonna like,
you know, what are you gonna dofor money, where are you gonna
(40:00):
live?
And um, you know, uh everyseminarian's like living
situation is a little different.
SPEAKER_05 (40:06):
But um Who was the first person you told once you
had a clear was it clear, like,okay, I'm gonna be a priest?
Yeah, um or go to the seminary.
SPEAKER_07 (40:14):
I told my family, like um I told my dad actually
when I was like discerning, andI I I wasn't like sure I wanted
to be like go down like the pathto like seminary, but um I
remember him saying like I thinkthat might be good for you, and
that was like very encouragingum to hear.
Um but yeah, I probably told myfamily first and then some of my
uh my close friends that I keepin touch with.
SPEAKER_03 (40:33):
But and your family's been supportive?
SPEAKER_07 (40:35):
Yeah, they've been supportive, praise God.
Yeah.
Um yeah, I I haven't gotten anyresistance.
Um Eric, how about you with yourown family?
SPEAKER_04 (40:43):
Uh there's a lot of questions at first.
I remember I told a lot of myfriends I was part of a
discernment group where we readto save a thousand souls in
college.
So some of my closer friendsknew and and were familiar with
the journey, but but God blessmy parents, uh, they they just
didn't know a lot.
What is seminary?
Philosophy.
And and you know, parents wantthe best for their children.
(41:06):
And I was still in college atthe time.
I was going for engineering, andI was saying, I think I may want
to leave this and go do this.
And any good parent would say,Well, what if that doesn't work
out?
And it was very real.
What is this philosophy?
How is that gonna work out?
Um, but over time, you know, asthe seminarians formed, so are
the parents.
(41:26):
There's a formation process forthe parents, and I see that with
every seminarian, their parents,the Lord works on their hearts
tremendously as the Lord workson the seminarians' hearts as
well.
And I could I've seen that in myparents over the past three,
four years.
So there's a lot of questions atfirst, a lot of what is this?
What's going on?
SPEAKER_05 (41:47):
We know you're Catholic, but this is whoa, man,
this is like you're crossing theline your way out there.
Next level.
SPEAKER_04 (41:53):
But you know, God bless my you know, my parents,
and I'll give a good example.
Recently, they my dad and mybrother went to the ordination
of gender and Father Lucas.
So he's at the cathedral for thefirst time, and it's a different
mass.
You know, there's a lot ofdifferent parts and different
rituals than a normal Sunday.
And I encourage any parent orseminarian or someone thinking
to go to an ordination mass, goto cathedral, see what kind of
(42:16):
happens, see what you know thebishop does, and the man who
lays on the floor.
So he has to have the mass.
And afterwards, he said, I havea lot of questions.
So I finally catch up with him,you know, a day or two later
after the first mass ceremony atthe parish, and he said, So this
is like a wedding day.
Yes, it is.
It exactly is a wedding day.
Good, good, good work.
It's even a party.
It literally was a party.
(42:38):
And he said, So I should invitethe family.
I said, Yeah.
And so, okay, I'll rent on a busand we'll go to the cathedral.
I said, Oh my gosh, look atthis.
I don't have to, you know, andand I was like, I would never
have imagined that three yearsago.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (42:51):
Um, enthusiasm.
SPEAKER_04 (42:53):
Yeah, you know, and just you know, enthusiasm and
just the oh my god, it's like hecan, you know, he sees it.
And that's the type of, youknow, if you give the Lord an
opportunity and you give it outto him, he'll work.
He'll he'll work.
And it's it's beautiful to seethat.
SPEAKER_03 (43:09):
Question was earlier about um what are some cool
things that uh seminarians getto do.
And uh uh one of the cool thingsI got to do as a seminarian in
1993, I believe, um, was go toWorld Youth Day in Denver,
Colorado, with then St.
Pope John Paul II.
Uh and uh I met Eric.
(43:30):
Uh you were still, I think youwent, you traveled with the uh
with the university, right?
Uh I was with the university.
We met uh we met, I think, inFatima uh when uh but you got to
be part of World Youth Day uh inin Lisbon with with Pope Francis
three years ago now, I guess.
And uh were you um did you wereyou at the Eucharistic Congress?
Yes.
So um uh and uh maybe talk alittle bit about those
(43:53):
experiences.
SPEAKER_04 (43:54):
Yeah, talk about cool experiences.
Um I I remember preparing forthat World Utah trip, and I was
like, well, you know, I could,I'm in college, but the money
and you know, there's otherthings I want to do in the
summer.
And then my chaplain was said,no, you're gone.
Like, come on now, like no, no,no, no, no.
This is for you.
Ask your mom.
(44:14):
I was like, my mom's not gonnasay yes.
Like, only two weeks and you'relike, no, no, no, no.
So I said, Fine, I'll ask her,you know, I'll be a good
obedient, you know, uh student.
And I asked her, he said, No,no, no, this will be good for
you.
You should go.
In fact, here's my credit card,you're signing up.
I was like, okay, here we go.
So I had a blessed opportunityto go there.
If you get, you know, you gottagive another an opportunity, and
and I think you'll be surprisedwhat he'll bring you and where
(44:37):
he'll send you.
So And that one year, I wentwith the Diocese of Richmond,
World Youth Day, and we that onecalendar year, so we started out
in Lourdes.
We did a week kind of in Lourdesgoing across Spain, and then we
met up in Fatima, and sureenough, there's the Diocese of
Patterson.
I said, What are the odds?
Um, and earlier that spring, Iactually had another opportunity
(45:03):
to go to Mexico and I went toour lady Guadalupe.
And then that same summer, Iended up going to Ireland and
seeing Our Lady of Not.
Wow.
So, you know, and I asked Marythat year, I said, I want to go
closer to you.
And she said, Alright, here wego.
We got Lords, we got the wholetour together as a whole.
So I was like, oh my goodness.
(45:23):
Um, you know, not everyone hasthe same experience, and the
Lord will send you places that,you know, it's different for
everyone.
Um, but asking you shallreceive, and you know, it's just
it's part of the process of yougive yourself over to the Lord,
you think of Matthew, follow me.
(45:43):
I don't know if you had any ideaof where he was going or where
he'd be ended up and off toIndia and all these type of
things and and stuff, but um andwe're experienced hopefully a uh
a Eucharistic revival uh here inthe United States.
SPEAKER_03 (45:58):
Uh and um we saw that beautifully in uh
Indianapolis, uh, where 70,000,60 or 70,000 came together.
Um uh anything stuck out fromthat experience?
SPEAKER_04 (46:10):
Um world you think was great for the Universal
Church, but the Eucharist ofCongress was, I think that was
the spark for the guy in theturning of the American church.
You know, you think about pastrecent decades, and I think
we're building it up again.
And I think Pope Leo has helpedconfirm that a lot of just the
fact that he's an American Pope.
That Eucharist Congress, Ithink, was very special because
(46:33):
it kind of said we're back.
The American Catholic Church iswe're on the high roll again.
I don't know why I keepsnapping.
Um we're we're we're upstreamagain.
Um and you saw the beauty ofmany parts of the country, not
only you'll physically cometogether, but many voices of the
church coming together.
That was very spiritualities anddifferent voices.
(46:58):
And you remember Mother OlgaOlga, yeah.
And just walks of life,different vocations coming
together to speak about thebeauty of the Eucharist, the
importance of it, and how welove the church in the United
States of America.
So it's just a great experiencefor me to see all that, see
(47:20):
different seminarians, seedifferent priests, um, and it
becomes like a little family inthe Catholic world.
You know, it's it quicklydwindles down and get to know
people, hang out with them, umand and and you know, praise the
Lord in Lucas Oil Stadium.
It was a beautiful adoration,confession, mass, just it
(47:42):
doesn't get much better thanthat.
SPEAKER_05 (47:44):
Sean, what inspires you in your either in your
studies or as you look forwardto the day, God willing you
become a priest, what what givesyou joy or what are you looking
forward to?
SPEAKER_07 (47:56):
Um there was actually like a uh prayer card
that our vocations director, uhFather Charlie, handed out to us
maybe like a month or so ago.
It's a litany for priests andseminarians, um where uh at the
end of like the litany, it'slike um kind of like uh going
through all the things like apriest would do in a service,
like for every confession I'llhear, um Jesus love them through
(48:17):
me, you know, for every like umsoul I'll reach out to, Jesus
love them through me.
And um when I when I've readthrough that at times, um I've
gotten very excited for like theprospect of what everything a
priest does to to be a shepherd,to be like a a fisher of men.
Um so I would say that thosethings um when I think back to
(48:38):
that and like what my ministrycould look like if I'm a priest,
God willing, um, that doesmotivate me for the path ahead.
SPEAKER_05 (48:45):
Beautiful.
SPEAKER_03 (48:45):
All right, so we have we have some maybe one more
each, or final.
Yeah, what do you think?
SPEAKER_05 (48:50):
Uh yeah, lightning round.
Uh okay, here's a good one.
Do you do you sit around andstudy and pray all day?
SPEAKER_04 (48:58):
Yeah, there is there is a good amount of prayer and
study.
There's also a lot of goodcommunity and recreation.
Um it's a it's a you know, theeveryone says this.
The years go by quickly, but thedays are long.
The days are full.
You're up pretty early, andsometimes you're up late at
night, but they're veryfulfilling days where you've
accomplished a lot.
(49:18):
And it's a good feelingsometimes when you look back and
say, look at how much I studied,prayed, learned about the
church, learned about myself,and ran around and did all these
things and met all these people.
Uh so a lot can go on in theseminary.
You'll be surprised.
And what what do you eat at theseminary?
SPEAKER_05 (49:33):
So what?
What do you eat at the seminary?
Oh.
Um Do you have special seminaryfood or seminary?
SPEAKER_04 (49:42):
You'll um sometimes they like to do there's always
taco Tuesdays like constant atSt.
Joseph's.
Um we do a lot of, we have a lotof bagels.
We're at we're at Seton Hall, soit's a Jersey seminary.
So I tell all the otherseminarians I know, I'm like,
well, we got the we got the goodbagels at my seminary.
Do you cook at all?
We do a little cooking.
Um that's more of a fraternitything.
(50:04):
So, you know, both seminariesfor us, there's the university,
they have chefs.
SPEAKER_03 (50:10):
And that's but okay.
SPEAKER_04 (50:10):
The propodeudic program is is that part of the
uh there's a little cooking partof that, but also we sometimes
need a bit more of a homegrownmeal.
So some guys will just like,hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna do this
dish.
Oh, St.
Joseph's Day.
So we did all the St.
Joseph Italian dishes and justhad a good time.
We'll go out to dinner um justfor some good fraternity.
Um, you know, some of the someof the best conversations happen
(50:34):
over meals.
Yeah.
So you just kind of get downafter prayer into the refectory,
and you know, there's alwayslike a salad bar, there's always
options, whatever.
So sometimes you gotta getcreative of some guys will bring
down an avocado, so I'm makinglike a breakfast avocado wrap or
whatever.
Um it's always the funsometimes.
SPEAKER_05 (50:52):
Sean, any final thoughts on uh behind the
curtain of seminary?
What you're looking forward to,right?
SPEAKER_07 (50:57):
I haven't gone behind the curtain yet.
I'm like looking forward to it.
Um my first day of seminary isgonna be in less than two weeks.
Um so I'll get to hear all theuh see whether it's somebody's
really like for yourself, right?
You'll enjoy it.
Yeah, very much looking forwardto it though.
SPEAKER_03 (51:13):
Well, thank you guys for uh being with us today
again, and but your daily yes tothe Lord.
Uh you'll certainly be in ourprayers uh yourselves, uh
Michael and and Brian and all ofour seminarians and uh Father
Charlie for his work and uhthanks for for being with us
today.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (51:28):
Thank you, Bishop.
Thanks so much, and also shoutout to Catalina for putting this
day together.
And uh all right, we'll leave itthere.
Okay.
So, yeah, thanks again forjoining us, and thank thank you
all for joining us and being apart of this podcast.
Please subscribe, comment, andleave a positive rating.
Get to know us better byfollowing Bishop Kevin's
Instagram and beyond the beaconon social media.
(51:49):
Read the bishop's weekly columnon beaconnj.org and get in touch
if you have a question for thebishop or a podcast topic idea,
and discover our other podcasts.
See you next time.
SPEAKER_03 (52:00):
Thanks, everybody.
Thanks, guys.
God bless you.
Take care.
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