Seminarians for the Diocese of Bismarck

My Story

Growing up I did not have much of an interest in the priesthood at all.  After graduating from high school in 1997 I attended Bismarck State College for two years before moving to Fargo to attend NDSU.  Throughout my high school and college years I slowly drifted away from the Church and eventually I was not practicing Catholic faith and had stopped going to Mass completely.  However, God had a surprise in store.  When I was 23, and still going to college after changing majors twice, a very good friend of mine gently persuaded me to start attending Sunday Mass with him.  I eventually began to attend with him each week and began to think seriously about the importance of the Eucharist and Confession in the life of the Church and in my own life.  The question that brought me back to the Church was this, “What is happening on that altar and what is the Eucharist?”  As I sought out answers to this fundamental question, God drew me closer and closer to His heart and their revealed to me his merciful love and the beauty of His Church.  During this time I had begun going to the Confession regularly with a priest in the Fargo Diocese.  I recognized that God desired something from me, but I was unsure of what it was.  I set a lunch meeting to talk with this priest and we began to meet every couple of weeks.  To my surprise after one of our meetings he asked if I had ever thought about being a priest.  This question shocked me.  It was the first time anyone had ever asked me if I felt a calling to the priesthood.  Thankfully I did not ignore his question, but took it very seriously.  Soon after I attended a live-in weekend at Cardinal Muench Seminary in Fargo and God, in His goodness, revealed that He desired me to enter the seminary.

I entered the seminary in the fall of 2003 and I have not looked back since.  After one year at Cardinal Muench, Bishop Zipfel sent me to the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, OH where I currently am in second theology.  As I have moved forward in my seminary formation the Father’s free gift of love in Jesus Christ continues to amaze me and I am incredibly thankful to God for my vocation to serve him as a priest.