St John Vianney Seminary
2115 Summit Ave
St Paul, MN 55105
United States

I first felt the call at 11 years old while serving mass on a Sunday night and during the consecration and the priest raised the chalice, I saw the smile on his face, and I saw how happy he was with his life. Through that, God put the thought of priesthood in my head and I’ve had it ever since. After that I wanted to be a priest and I thought that theology and philosophy were the only things worth studying. When I got into high school, I still loved studying theology and philosophy but became more open to whatever God wanted. I got into a relationship and through that I found that I was called to fatherhood, but I was not sure how. I ended the relationship going into my senior year and started taking the thought of priesthood more seriously and I applied to the seminary. It was a rough year, but I kept discerning with my pastor Fr. Steve Mattson at Church of the Resurrection and my high school chaplain Fr. Paul Erickson at Lansing Catholic and the desire for seminary grew. The advice I would give to men is do not ignore the call and come to seminary because whether or not you will be a priest, you will become a better man for your bride.