Vocation Story

    I was born in 1963, the third of five children born to Donald and Alice Chernetzki. I have two older sisters, along with a younger sister and a younger brother. We were raised in Villa Park, Ill.. My Dad was from Chicago, and my Mom grew up on farms in Elmhurst, Lombard, and Addison, West of Chicago.  My Dad was a butcher, and my Mom was a homemaker. Mom had cancer for 16 years, until she finally past in 1993. She was my model of faith and fortitude. My father had numerous medical problems and complications, and I took care of him until he past on in January of 2005.

    I worked in automotive shops while attending college and afterward. I started out as a mechanic, then became service manager, and then moved into sales. I sold personal insurance and securities for a year, and eventually sold industrial motors as an inside salesman for 12 1/2 years.

    I've attended or led several different prayer groups over the years. I made my Marian consecration at Marytown in Libertyville in 1992. On Thursdays back in Villa Park, I read at 6:30 a.m. Mass, and had an hour of adoration in the evening from 6-7.

    About 12 years ago, I spent a vocation weekend at Marytown in Libertyville, Ill., and while attractive, it didn't seem right at the time. Then about 5 years back, I spent a weekend in Iowa at a Benedictine

monastery, but I wasn't particularly taken with that way of life. I spent a year of discernment at Marytown as a resident volunteer from August 2005 to 2006.

    I visited several religious communities during that time. The Norbertines in Green Bay were nice, but they didn't suit me. Our Lady of Peace Society outside St. Louis had a hermitage in the woods; I contracted poison oak. I visited the Friars Minor of Mary Immaculate in Italy, and while they offered to make me their first priest in America, I couldn't get my arms around their spirituality.

    My spiritual director at Marytown, Brother Raphael Ruffalo, helped and guided me through the whole discernment process. He is 87-years old, and an exceptionally holy and wise man, who encouraged me to look at diocesan life.

    What attracted me to Rockford? I first noticed the Rockford Diocese when Bishop Doran wrote a pastoral letter on the Eucharist around 1997. It is still one of the finest teachings on the sacrament that I've ever read. Since then, I've seen a steady flow of solid teaching and witness by the bishop that gives a good example to all Catholics, wherever they may be.

    Life as a diocesan priest allows for more freedoms than in religious communities. That flexibility allows for a wider variety of ministries, opportunities, and responsibilities. Overcoming the challenges that arise in our lives is what makes us grow in our faith and holiness, which is what we are all called to do, no matter our walk of life.