From Submarines to Seminary

Growing up, my family went to Mass twice a year. By the time I was twenty-one I would still call myself a Catholic, but I was by no means practicing and probably disagreed with some Church teachings. Everything changed one Sunday evening when I went to visit a local parish priest. I was going through some difficult times and by the grace of God this holy priest would help me take my faith seriously again. Now, five years later, I’m in seminary, studying for the priesthood.

I met with the priest and had about an hour-long discussion where I explained to him that I had just reported to my first submarine duty and was having a difficult time. I just wasn’t really happy. When I left, he advised me to start going to Mass again and to pray more. I took him up on his advice, but still considered myself in the “30-day trial” version of Catholicism. On my free time I began to start researching questions about the Catholic Church. This would eventually lead me to Catholic Answers as well as countless YouTube videos giving in depth explanations of different aspects of the faith.

As time went on, I continued to meet with this priest and started to take the faith more seriously. This led me to go to confession for the first time in over six years. After becoming a practicing Catholic again, and as I approached the end of my contract in the Navy people began asking me what I was going to do afterwards. It took a lot of prayer and different experiences in my life before I had the courage to answer that question, but as time went on, I became more and more confident God was calling me to study for the priesthood. Today, I’m still growing in the faith, but now as a first-year college seminarian.