BONUS 23 - Answering the Call: Father Andrew Hamilton & Father Christopher Pujol

Bonus Episode — Answering the Call: Father Andrew Hamilton & Father Chris Pujol

Have you ever wondered why a perfect God would create anything at all? In this conversation, we explore how the logic of love—revealed in the Trinity—turns that question from a puzzle into a personal invitation. One of us shares the journey from seeing liturgy as “just a show” to discovering how Scripture, reason, and prayer reveal our true identity: made in the image and likeness of God. That realization reshapes our desires, redeems suffering, and makes real transformation possible.

The other reflects on a quieter call to priesthood—set aside for years while life offered other paths—until grace and freedom met in a wholehearted yes. Together, we talk about the slow work of discernment: why readiness matters, how seminary life nurtures vocations, and how faith and reason work hand in hand to open us to truth, goodness, and beauty.

This conversation isn’t just for those discerning priesthood—it’s for anyone searching for purpose, rebuilding faith, or trying to understand how love and meaning fit into the story of their life. We offer reflections, practical steps, and encouragement to trust where the seeds of your own calling might be taking root.

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Jordan Whiteko, Father Andrew Hamilton, Father Christopher Pujol, Vincent Reilly, Cliff Gorski, John Zylka, Sarah Hartner

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
You're listening to the Catholic Active Podcast.
We discussed the act that Jesusperformed that stunned his
disciples.
Great to be back, Jordan.

SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
You don't know us by now, you're never gonna know.

SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
I'm Jordan Waco here with Father Hamilton and Father
Poojo.
You guys mentioned telling yourstory of conversion uh many
times.
But for our listeners who maynot have heard that yet, why
don't why don't you guys tell usthe story?

SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
It's always said that you should have a vocation
story that's like a 45-minutetalk, a 15-minute talk, and then
an elevator speech.
So I'll give you something.
Yeah, give us the elevator.
Give us the elevator speech,please.
Because we're running out oftime for our beautiful
listeners.
Certainly.
So in in my own life, I wasraised Catholic.
I didn't understand why thechurch did what it did.
To me, kind of the liturgy,everything else just seemed like

(00:52):
a show.
I didn't have the understandingbeneath the church.
There was no real interiorconversion.
We talk about in other episodes,circumcision of heart
transformation.
So I started to believe in whatthe world believes in, which is
more of the world fixes, themore of our problems.
And so as I kind of went thenoff to college and I started
really to just contemplate thebig questions of life, what am I

(01:13):
made for?
Does suffering mean anything?
Can it be redeemed?
Is this world just all fornaught?
Then I started looking into bigphilosophical questions and
started studying more and moreand went from really being at
that time an agnostic, notknowing if I believed in God or
not, but living as if God werenot real, no bearing upon my
life, to then saying, okay, whyam I created?

(01:36):
And the only thing that madesense to me across all of the
religions was because I made itin the image and likeness of
God, which is from earlyGenesis, which made sense of
everything for me.
I was always told as a kid aboutGod.
God is love, about the Trinity,right?
Which is a unique teaching thatcomes to us through
Christianity, that God is notjust one in one person, but one

(01:59):
being in three persons, whichshows forth creation.
Because the question really thatwas posed in my own mind is why
would we have anything aroundus?
If God's perfect in and ofhimself, why would he create?
The only way God creates is thatif he loves and that his essence

(02:19):
is love and wants to give to theother for the goodness of the
other.
And so when I understood that asthe basic principle of
Christianity, now I could startto look into Christianity.
I could start to pray again.
I could start to live a morallife that was changed.
So once I understood the true, Iwas able then to start living
the good, which then set me upto try to then live the
beautiful.

(02:40):
And I said to myself, afterpraying for a while, what's the
most beautiful thing I could dowith my life?
It's to get other people thatwere in my position who don't
understand anything, who arelooking more to the world and to
the false gods of this world toturn back to the one true God,
to know him, to love him, and toserve him.
And so that's what I've decidedto do as a priest.
I think the best way to get thatmessage out there and to serve

(03:02):
the needs of the church today.
How many floors does thiselevator reach?
That was like probably theEmpire State Building.
Okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
No, only halfway.

SPEAKER_01 (03:10):
Does anyone else wondering that?
Now yours.
Your turn.

SPEAKER_02 (03:15):
So for me, I think that I always had an inclination
of being drawn to the church andbeing a priest.
But it was something that Inever really talked about.
And so Father and I entered theseminary the same year, but in
different, different levels,different years.
And I remember early on in someof those vocation promotional
dinners and things we'd go to, Iwould always, there would be

(03:38):
group pictures and they wouldalways want to promote vocation
events.
And I'd be like, I'm not inthese pictures, I'm not here,
don't tell anybody that I'mhere.
And it was really in collegethen that I came to an
understanding that when the Lordcalls, if we don't respond, then
that there's a problem there.
And so as I continued throughoutcollege, you know, I had

(04:02):
different internships, jobopportunities that I really
enjoyed.
But it wasn't the fulfillmentthat when I thought about the
priesthood or went to prayer ortalked to priest friends that I
knew I could have in life whenif I would respond to the call.
And so I think it took a longtime of maturity really to be

(04:25):
able to say yes in freedom tothe to the choice of entering
the seminary and ultimatelybeing called by the church to be
ordained a deacon and a priest.
Um I think that uh if we look atSaint Paul, if the Lord called
him earlier in his life, heprobably would not have been

(04:48):
able to respond.
But it took a period of time.
And so vocations take time tomature, take time to take root
within us.
And so that's why when we enterthe seminary, then it takes so
long before you're ordained apriest.
And we have to remember that theword seminary comes from that
Latin word for seed bed, wherethose seeds are planted.

(05:10):
And so those seeds were plantedin me by my family, by great
priests.
Um and it just took time forthem to grow and to come to
fruition.

SPEAKER_01 (05:22):
We are now at the top of the Empire State
Building.
Now we gotta go back down.
That's a good view.
Thanks for listening to theCatholic Accent podcast.
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