Vocation Story

   In seventh or eighth grade a priest from the Pallotine order made a presentation to the boys in my Catholic grade school class.  Another boy and I followed up with him and visited his order's high school seminary near Madison, Wisconsin.  My parish priest told me about the high school seminary for the Archdiocese of Chicago, and through that I came to enroll at Quigley Preparatory Seminary South in Chicago.  At the time I did not know whether I was meant to be a priest, but I accepted the advice that if I had an inclination in that direction, a seminary was the place to discern whether or not priesthood was my vocation.  Some of the guys at Quigley did not have much interest in the priesthood, but many did, and it was a positive experience for me in many ways.

   Near the end of my days at Quigley I had to decide whether to continue at the college seminary for the Archdiocese of Chicago.  I had been much impressed by a particular doctor who had treated me for a minor but troublesome medical problem, and with my aptitude in mathematics and science I thought that perhaps a career in medicine would be more what God had in mind for me.  I attended the University of Chicago, seeking a liberal education and a preparation for medical school.  Though I was a good candidate, I did not manage to be accepted into medical school, and I had to find an alternative career.

   Thinking that my calling was in a mathematical field, I began a career as an actuary.  It takes five to ten years to become a fully recognized actuary (requiring the passing of a series of difficult examinations), and the latter part of the training is more business related than technical.  I was inspired by a brother of mine who went to law school to consider further education in business and in law.  I made the leap back into school in a joint business and law program at the University of Illinois.  I then worked in the legal field for twelve years.  In that time I served as a judicial clerk to two Illinois Appellate Court justices in Peoria, Illinois; as an assistant state's attorney in Havana, Illinois; as a transactional associate in a small, downtown Chicago law firm; and as a corporate associate in a medium size, suburban Chicago law firm.

   While legal work was challenging, I knew that God wanted more from me.  A man who had worked for many years before going to the seminary gave a vocation talk at my parish in Chicago.  He rekindled an interest that had been in the back of my mind for many years, viz. in the possibility that I was to serve God as a priest.  After about two years of attending discernment groups, I was thinking more and more about going back to the seminary.  Then through a series of circumstances I could not have predicted, God presented me with the chance to leave my legal position on good terms and enter the seminary, which is what I did.  While I gave the Archdiocese of Chicago "first dibs" on me, they declined to consider me as a candidate due to my age (as I was over 40 at that time).  The Diocese of Rockford was more open to considering me, and has sponsored me at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary near Saint Louis, Missouri, where I needed to take a one year pre-theology program before starting theology studies.

   I am confident God wants me to be in the seminary now.  I know I am called to grow in my faith and in my prayer life.  I hope to be able to do this with the grace of God, and to confirm my discernment of my vocation while growing in many ways.  What I most need to do is to let God control things, by better discerning the will of God for me.  In this way I hope to be good soil that lets the good seed of God's word be bountifully fruitful in my life.