2010 Seminarian Pilgrimage to Colorado

My brother seminarians and I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a pilgrimage the 2nd week of August to Colorado with Archbishop Naumann and our vocation director, Fr. Mitchel Zimmerman. Additionally, Fr. Brian Schieber the Pastor of Most Pure of Mary in Topeka, Vicar for Priests and co-director of seminarians, met up with us as well. The retreat was a tremendous opportunity to get to know the men who are currently in formation at the other seminaries and a chance to meet the new men just beginning the seminary this Fall. We have five new men who were accepted to begin formation this year and one man who transferred in from the Diocese of Wichita last Spring. We have a total of thirty-one men in formation currently, three of those men are deacons who will be ordained to the priesthood in the Spring of 2011. Attached above is the new seminarian poster which you can click on to see the updated pictures of all the seminarians and where they will be studying.

Before reaching our permanent destination of Camp Saint Malo in Allenspark Colorado, we stopped off at a couple of shrines and churches in Kansas. Just one hour south of Kansas City in Mound City is the St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Shrine (1769-1852 Feast Day Nov. 18th). Born into a family of great wealth and political connections, St. Rose dedicated her life to educating children, caring for the sick and toward the end of her life, evangelizing the Native Americans. Although she never mastered their language, she was known by the Pottowatomi tribe as the "Woman-Who-Prays-Always".

Our next stop was to Pilsen, hometown of Fr. Emil Kapaun, an Army Chaplain who died while in a North Korean Prisoner of War Camp in 1951. The Cause for the Canonization of Father Emil Kapaun was opened in 2008 and will be submitted soon to the Congregation for Saints in Rome. Many of you are probably aware of the miraculous recovery of the high school pole-vaulter whose family and friends prayed unceasingly to Fr. Kapaun for his intercession to our Lord, after a near death accident. Here is a picture of the interior of Fr. Kapaun's hometown church, St. John Nepomucene.

St. John Nepomucene Church
Pilsen, KS

Our final stop in Kansas took place in Victoria at the St. Fidelis Church or better known as "The Cathedral of the Plains". This church is a definite must see for anyone traveling through western Kansas. We spent the night with the Capuchin Franciscan Friars who have a friary attached to the church and who oversee the parish. It is always incredibly awesome to think back to the turn of the century and how the early settlers to this state sacrificed many years to build these magnificent churches. All the amazing work was done without automatic lifts and power tools. Every family was responsible for carrying rock to help build the church. Fathers and grown sons of some families are recorded as hauling as many as 70 to 80 loads of stone. Here is a nice picture of the nave and the sanctuary.

St. Fidelis Church
Victoria, KS

We arrived at the Camp St. Malo Retreat Center finally and this was the same location The Venerable Pope John Paul II visited during the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver. The retreat center is just a few miles from Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. It was reaffirming to my vocation to be able to witness the sincere joy of my brother seminarians outside of the masses we serve together throughout the year. The daily holy hour and liturgy in the little St. Malo Chapel was very powerful. The homilies Archbishop Naumann delivered were incredibly insightful and it was a holy and spiritual experience that I will continue to reflect on in prayer.

Retreat Center

Stone Chapel Exterior & Interior

Another highlight of the pilgrimage was the opportunity to tour and celebrate mass at The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver. The French Gothic Basilica is the mother church for the Archdiocese of Denver which serves about 500,000 Catholics and 144 parishes in northern Colorado. The stain glass windows were very impressive and this window pictured below depicts the formal proclamation by Pius IX of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. The lower portion portrays eight Church fathers who wrote and preached about Mary Immaculate.

Click Pictures to Enlarge

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
Denver, CO

We got a chance to visit the St. John Vianney Seminary as well. This seminary was actively used for formation by the Archdiocese of Kansas City Kansas from the '50's until the early '80's. We transitioned to the current seminaries in St. Louis and Chicago due to our former and current archbishops going to each of these respectively. We had our holy hour and daytime prayer with Archbishop Chaput of Denver and his Auxiliary Bishop, James Conley. Archbishop Chaput was born in Concordia KS and is half Native American from the Potawatomi tribe. Bishop Conley is a native of Overland Park, KS and a convert to Catholicism. Here are interior pictures of the main chapel.

St. John Vianney Theological Seminary
Denver

We had one free day which I used to hike up Longs Peak with Fr. Schieber, Trent Schmidt and Tom Hornbeck. It took us about six hours to climb up to Chasm Lake and back down to the base. The lake we stopped at was 11,800 ft. above sea level (Kansas City is about 1,000). It is a great hike and it got a little technical towards the top where we stopped for lunch. It was a great experience to spend some time with my fellow seminarians and to learn more about Fr. Brian's ministry.

We begin our Fall Quarter on Labor Day and our annual week long silent retreat begins August 30th.

God's Blessings Always,
Jeff

Summer Pastoral Internship 2010

The Spring Quarter at Mundelein Seminary concluded on May 21st and the first year of formation went by in a flash. Along with my brother seminarians, I'm very thankful to all the benefactors who make it possible for my advanced education and formation at Mundelein. In addition to receiving a wonderful initial submersion into philosophy, I really benefited from my one-on-one work with the young adults at the juvenile detention center. I will have another field assignment in the 2011 school year, but it will be in a different area of service.

Upon the completion of the Spring Quarter, I moved directly into my pastoral internship assignment at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Kansas City, KS. Attached is a picture of the interior of the church which was constructed in 1927, with the actual founding of the parish in 1907. Fr. Harry Schneider is the Pastor and in addition to assisting him at weekend/weekday masses, I'm shadowing him on his multitude of weekly duties which have included anointing the sick, serving in funerals, leading communion services, wedding preparations and many others. As a fun fact, I served as an altar boy for Fr. Harry when he was at Holy Name Parish in Topeka back in the early '90's. Fr. just celebrated 36 years as a priest and I'm very blessed to be assigned to such a reverent and experienced priest.

Additionally on the weekdays, I'm working at Catholic Charities in the Refuge and Migrant Services division. Refugee & Migrant Services assists families and individuals that flee their home country in fear of their lives. Catholic Charities is a subcontractor of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This Refugee Program will receive over 250 primary clients throughout 2010 who have been granted refugee permission to come to the United States. This division resettles refugees upon initial entrance into the US with the goal to have them living on their own within six months. Most of these men and women are from Nepal, Bhutan and Burma. The sub-division that I'm assisting in is called Match Grant and focuses on refugees achieving early self-sufficiency through an alternative to public cash assistance. I work directly with these families in areas such as initial reception, accessing social services, cultural orientation, general transportation, English tutoring and any tools that might help them to become independent.

Thanks again to all the family members, friends, Serran's, fellow Knights of Columbus members, and former business acquaintances who have contacted me with their support as I transitioned into the seminary this last year. I'm so grateful for having nearly ten years of working in the business field and I'm confident that God will allow me to tap into those experiences to serve the needs of His Church.

Please send me an e-mail if you are going to be in the Kansas City, KS area and would like to tour the Cathedral of St. Peter, or join us for a Mass. Mass times can be found here http://www.cathedralkck.org/schedule.html.

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you always.

Jeff

Winter 2010 Update

I hope that everyone is off to a joyful new year and having a blessed Lenten season as we prepare ourselves for Easter! We just finished the Winter Quarter up at the seminary and it's time for a short break before the final ten week Spring Quarter that will run through late May. Here is a picture of one of the few sunny winter days and the statue is of St. Paul.

Classes have been excellent and transition into life as a seminarian has been wonderful. Coming from a business orientated background, I wasn't sure how I would handle all the philosophy courses, but they have been very engaging. Once again, we have two years of predominantly philosophical courses prior to entering the four year school of theology. It's interesting to begin to see how the philosophical way of thinking documented by so many great minds can be applied to the way we live, speak and write in today's era. "History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme." Mark Twain

The 3rd year men in the school of theology have been over in the Holy Land on a ten week pilgrimage-study program. Our archdiocese has one man, Nick Blaha, who attended the trip and I look forward hearing all about it in the Spring Quarter. The pilgrimage is an optional part of our masters in divinity curriculum and the goal of this program is to gain a greater understanding of the land of Jesus, learn more about the various Catholic rites, obtain a deeper appreciation of the other Christian churches, increase the understanding for people in need, and further confirm our call to a vocation to religious life.

One of my brother seminarians and I spent the first part of this week at the St. Benedict Abbey in Atchison, KS. This monastery was founded in 1857 and is part of the Benedictine Order started by St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547) in Italy. The college currently has an enrollment of over 1,500 students. This was the first time I have had the privilege to stay at the Abbey and I really enjoyed getting to know the monks as well as becoming familiar with their "Rule" of pray and work. The day began at 6:20 AM with vigils and morning prayer in the Abbey Church pictured here. Additionally, we met for daytime prayer at noon and for evening prayer at 6:30. Per one of my previous blogs discussing the Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours) from which these prayers are prayed from, monastic orders typically pray these throughout the day in community. The parish or diocesan priest typically prays these prayers alone or with another priest(s) that may be in residence at the rectory. The prayers in the Divine Office are primarily comprised of the psalms taken from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament. They were written in a conversational format and this is why monasteries built out part of the church with seats that face each other. Finally, night prayer was prayed in community in the Cottage Chapel next to our rooms at 7:30. Grand Silence was then in effect where the community didn't talk until after breakfast the following morning.

Below are some additional pictures from around the monastery and Benedictine College.

Click on Pictures to Enlarge

The Abbey
The Cottage where we stayed is the dark brick building on the right

My Guest Room in the Cottage

The typical room for most of the monks too.

Rear view of the Abbey Church

The "Raven"
As legend has it a raven would bring the saint food during his time as a hermit in the mountains near Subiaco, Italy. The bread was also poisoned and given to Saint Benedict by a jealous priest. The wonder-worker and prophet Benedict knew the bread was poisoned and commanded the raven to take it away.

The Refectory
(Dining Hall)

St. Benedict's Church on SW side of Campus

Built in 1866

Marian Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes
Located on the Benedictine Campus

Picture of MO River behind the Abbey facing the NE

NCYC 2009

Friday, November the 13th, marked the end of the Fall quarter up at Mundelein Seminary and a brief break to travel home for Thanksgiving. The Fall quarter is the only period without a holiday break during the first nine week session.

Upon my return to Kansas, my brother seminarians and I met up in Kansas City to participate in the 2009 National Catholic Youth Conference. The convention was held at both the Sprint Center as well as Bartle Hall. I would have to say the highlight for me was the Eucharistic Procession that I had the honor to serve in as one of the two thurifers. The thurifer is an acolyte or server who carries a thurible that burns the incense. The use of incense was used in the Old Testament liturgy as far back as the time of Moses as an offering to God. The Catholic Church still uses incense or the fragrant smoke symbolizing our prayers to Heaven and veneration. The picture here (which you can click on to enlarge) depicts my position in front of Archbishop Naumann purifying the way as he holds Jesus in the monstrance during the Eucharistic Procession through downtown Kansas City.

Nearly 22,000 high school kids from across the country lined the streets and followed us from the Sprint Center over to Bartle hall. As I walked down the street, I began to think about how many wonderful kids there truly are today trying to persevere and live a Christian life in the midst of all the negative news that continues to bombard us through the media. We must never forget that even in times when the media portrays all of the darkness in society, the fruits of our works in charity with each other will shine even brighter in that darkness. You and I must be those bright lights.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

In Christ's Peace,
Jeff

As always, please drop me an e-mail if you do not receive this blog update directly and would like to be added to the distribution list.

----More NCYC Pictures Below----
Click on Pictures to Enlarge

Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus

Thousands of National Catholic Youth Conference participants marched in a processional Friday from the Sprint Center to Bartle Hall.

Above: Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas

Above: Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph

Seminarians from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas (from left to right) Nathan Haverland, Jonathan Dizon (center) and Trent Schmidt

Above: Sisters from the Religious Congregation of "The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick" chatted in the 191,000-square-foot thematic park called the "reign forest'' in Bartle Hall

Above: Young people from around the country in Kansas City for the National Catholic Youth Conference were welcomed with a concert at Kansas City Live! in the Power & Light District

Hats were a common theme with some states even having the same theme to make it easy to identify those that had traveled from the same parts of the country.

Ave Bonus Amici

The title above is Latin for "Greetings Good Friends".

Last week marked the halfway mark for the Fall Quarter here at Mundelein Seminary. The written examinations went well and I think my seminarian brothers all shared this same feeling. As you would expect, we also have many oral presentations as well as oral examinations throughout the year, which are excellent formats to ensure that we interiorize the academics that we are expected to know. Transition to the seminary continues to be a very positive and blessed experience.

Fall is upon us once again and as the leaves die and fall to the ground, the autumn colors remind us how beautiful death truly is ultimately. Not in a negative way, but when we die to bad habits and sins and rise up a little bit each day to a more prayerful life. I think it is my guardian angel that often reminds me that God doesn't expect us to be saints overnight but to make steady steps to become more holy each day.

The town of Mundelein celebrated their centennial anniversary yesterday and since the town is named after the founder of our seminary, Cardinal Mundelein, the celebration was held here. Cardinal Mundelein donated the funds for the first fire engine in the mid-'20's so they changed the name of the town to honor him. It had many names before, but due to his financing for this first fire station, the name stuck. Of course it was in his interest too because he wanted protect the seminary from any major fires. As a fun fact, the seminary has some 30,000 people annually besides seminarians passing through for retreats, workshops, and other training.

Now that I have been in formation for a little over a month and a half now, I thought I would share with you what I do each week and why I'm so slow to get my blog updates out.

Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday (Mornings): Arrive at the main chapel at 6:15 for a holy hour of adoration and then pray Lauds (or Morning Prayer) with the community at 7:15. As you may or may not know a Catholic priest upon ordination is expected to pray the Divine Office each day. It is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church to be recited at certain times throughout the day. Anyone can and is encouraged to pray it though. Furthermore, you quickly become aware of the "Feast Days" or the days set aside to remember important saints and events through the course of our faith. From the time of Mary's birth all the way through today. Mass is at 7:40 and then we have breakfast. This is our routine except for Wednesday mornings which has exposition of the Blessed Eucharist from 7:00 to 8:00 AM. We are expected to have one hour of adoration alone with Jesus each day and I find that the morning is the best time for me.

Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday (Mid-Days): Except for Wednesdays, I have two or three classes from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. Between those classes, I typically study at the library and as you can see from the picture, it is an absolutely awesome atmosphere. During my admission boards, it was clearly communicated that seminarians spend a minimum of 20 hours a week in study; this is definitely true and not a problem when you are passionate about learning the faith. This picture is the new addition that was added in 2002 at a cost of $11 million thanks to donations from major benefactors. The original library was constructed in 1929 and is just as beautiful. Notice the busts of some of the popes near the ceiling.

Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday (Early Evenings): I mentioned Lauds previously and Vespers or Evening Prayer is prayed early evening. Depending on the day we pray this as a community, within our smaller community we live in or with our KCK diocesan brothers one night a week.

Monday evenings we have formation programs which have included lectures on topics such as spiritual direction, how to prepare for our field education assignments, being effective Eucharistic Ministers for hospitals/retirement homes/jails, etc. just to name a few.

Finally, Wednesday's are mostly dedicated to Field Education to prepare us for our pastoral work in the future. My assignment through the spring quarter 2010 is to go to the Lake County Juvenile Center and meet with the teenagers awaiting their trials or convicted by the court. Those kids convicted of a crime have to spend a few months locked up there as well as go to class until they are released to a guardian. We do have to wear clerics on this mission. Unlike many adult prisons, the teenagers are still open to listen to you and haven't been hardened by the system or lost hope yet. It is always interesting as I walk in each week through the metal detectors and briefly say hi to the kids awaiting their hearings. I have to keep moving to the secure lock down area, but I can see the anxiety on their faces and many turn to the floor for what I’m sure is a prayer to the only one that can ultimately help each and every one of us in the end.

You would think the weekends would be wide open but we always seem to have an event going on like praying at one of the abortion clinics on Saturday mornings, chopping wood to raise money for the women’s shelter, going out to speak at parishes about seminary life or our vocation stories, as well as assisting at special functions we host here at the campus all the time.

I will sign off with a beautiful quote from Mother Teresa that I encourage each of you to meditate on after you finish for a few minutes.

The fruit of SILENCE is Prayer
The fruit of PRAYER is Faith
The fruit of FAITH is Love
The fruit of LOVE is Service
The fruit of SERVICE is Peace

I hope all is well in Kansas City, Topeka, Perry, Lawrence and all the surrounding areas of northeast Kansas that each one of you are reading this blog at.

Please send me an e-mail if you “do not” receive this update from me directly and would like to be added to the distribution list.

In Christ's Eternal Peace,

Jeff

Greetings from The University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary

First off, I want to thank everyone who has sent me such nice e-mails inquiring about my transition so far into the seminary. I'm always deeply inspired to hear of all the prayers for vocations to the priesthood and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't the grace that has flowed through all the holy men and women that I have been blessed to have met over the years. Be assured of my prayers for you too.

I have only been here for just over three weeks, but it seems like it's been three months. I haven’t woken up in the middle of the night yet wondering where I was at, but I’m not really surprised when I really meditate on it, because I whole heartedly have tried to put everything in God’s hands and give this time to Him to discern what I truly hope is His will for me. I know I will continue to miss the weekly contact with so many wonderful relatives, friends and fellow parishioners back at home, but I hope this blog will be an effective way to keep in touch until the future unfolds a time for us to meet up again.

The current enrollment on the campus is 185 men. Depending on your education from college, you enter the seminary as a pre-theologian or a theologian. The pre-theologian I (PT-I) is the level I entered at due to graduating from a state college with just a bachelor’s degree. If you come out of a college seminary, you get to skip the two year pre-theologian formation and go straight to the final four year theologian program.

My PT-I class has 23 men from all over the country plus Poland, Cuba, and Vietnam. There are a total of four Kansas City guys in my class as well. Additionally, we have eight guys in formation here at Mundelein that include one in PT-II, a 2^nd & 3^rd year pre-theologian and one Deacon to be ordained as a priest in May 2010. If any of you haven’t been able to go to a celebration of the sacrament of Holy Orders, I would greatly encourage you to try and go this spring.

After going through a week of orientations, the second week consisted of a silent retreat. This was a new and wonderful experience for me. It was an amazing opportunity to spend five solid days in silence to allow for prayer, reading, relaxing and some exercise before the 1^st quarter of classes began. The seminary sits on close to 500 acres that overlooks a large private lake. The picture attached is the the boathouse that just finished a major renovation. If you click on the picture and look closely, you can see the sisters touring it on the far right pier. There is also another 200 acres adjacent to the seminary that is leased to a group to run a 1^st class golf club the founder of the seminary, Cardinal Mundelein, built. Legend has it that the Cardinal's Dr. instructed him to get more exercise, so he built a private golf course on the seminary. I will be doing a blog on the history of the seminary and begin providing you with some tremendous pictures in the near future.

The retreat did have a lot of structure and was led by one of the vicariate bishops of Chicago, the Most Rev. Gustavo Garcia-Siller. The theme of the retreat was “The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”. It is really amazing how much we all depend on our computers, phones, TV’s, radios and other gadgets and I found it really challenging to fast from e-mail and texting my friends by the 2^nd day. I was blessed to spend a little private one-on-one time with Bishop Gustavo during the sacrament of reconciliation toward the end of the retreat. I just remember entering the room and then floating out afterwards. Bishop Gustavo had spent time with Mother Teresa before her passing on to her eternal reward, and he offered me some breathtaking thoughts of wisdom which touched me very deeply.

Well the first week of classes are now behind me and the last two days were very special as well due to spending some time with our former and current Archbishops of Kansas City Kansas. The former bishop of our Archdiocese, His Excellency James Keleher, is teaching my catechism class this fall and will be staying near us in his old stomping grounds of Chicago. As a side note, Archbishop Keleher grew up in Chicago and was the Rector for Mundelein seminary in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. Archbishop Naumann sits on the board here and comes up for the annual board meeting which takes place on the day of the Mass of the Holy Spirit (9/11/09 this year). It was a real honor for my diocesan seminarian brothers and I to to join them both for dinner this week and engage in conversation with two outstanding leaders of the Church who have benefited our Archdiocese in so many ways.

Finally, I will sign off with a short prayer from Saint Thomas Merton (1915 – 1968) that does a nice job of summing up how I feel as I begin this journey to the altar.

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

May this message find you all in God's grace and in good health.

In Christ's Eternal Peace,

Jeff