With humble gratitude, I thank the entire Parish Community for your prayerful support of my vocation. One year ago Msgr. Osborn accepted my discernment papers for a second time; the first being forty-five years earlier under the tutelage of Father Nadrach. The year passed quickly—I was commissioned here at Saint Ann last August and entered Sacred Heart Major Seminary later that month. One miracle after another has brought me to the conclusion of my first year of studies.
Altering career direction in one’s late sixties is a challenge no matter what the vocation. Fortunately, the priesthood is not a career: it is a way of living and a commitment to the Lord in service to Him as High Priest under the direction of Pope, Bishop and mentor priests. This first year brought not only the predictable challenge of learning the course material but also the challenge of relearning how to study as well as how to live with brothers a third my age. In two Semesters the program covered thirteen areas of study including: Evangelization and Catechesis; Church History I & II; Synoptic Gospels; Church Fathers; Christology; Method & Pentateuch; Theology; Theology of Trinity; and finally the Desert Pilgrimage. Through your support and the graces of the Lord, I had a good outcome to this year of study. It is now with a great joy in the Lord that I can say I am a second Theologian studying for the Diocese of Kalamazoo. This is not my work alone but that of the Lord and all of you here at Saint Ann. I am so very grateful to be a member of this Community.
Your prayers and the daily graces of the Holy Spirit gave me the energy and love to face each day offering every sacrifice to the Lord in the name of our Parish. Returning from the Holy Land I presented to Deacon Mike a very special sacramental for our Parish. It is a small expression of thanks for all the prayers and support I have received from you all. May the love you show me continue to give you multiple graces in the Lord.
There is no greater witness of these graces from the Lord than by the growth in our great academic program, the many groups and organizations that minister to church and community, the great improvements and additions (like our new organ and grounds expansion), and our advance to 24/7 Adoration. This growth is possible only because we are walking with the Lord (under the guidance of Father Marotti).
In the next week or so, I will be given my parish assignment for the Summer. I hope to make it back here as often as possible to share with you in the Holy Eucharist. Know that my prayers are with you and continue to be with you, especially before the Blessed Sacrament. May the Lord ever watch over and protect you. May He continue to give you the graces intended by the Father from the beginning of time.