By Thea Jarvis

When Father Bruce Wilkinson was growing up on the windy streets of his native Chicago, his two greatest loves were classical piano and architecture.

“For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an architect,” said Father Bruce, who at age 26 is assistant pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Decatur.

“I even fantasized about becoming a concert pianist. The priesthood was a big decision for me.”

Indeed, Father Bruce Wilkinson’s convoluted journey to the priesthood is the stuff vocation directors’ dreams are made of.

Born to a strong family of practicing Baptists, Father Bruce was nevertheless not baptized in his parents’ church. He declares that his lack of enthusiasm was more a concern about the deficiencies of organized religion than a rejection of God.

“God was always present to me. I knew he was there,” Father Bruce reflected. “I was just struggling to come to terms with my relationship to him.”

In Chicago, most of his friends were Catholic, so he was not unfamiliar with that religion. “We lived in a predominately Catholic neighborhood--about eight out of eleven of my close friends were Catholic,” he said.

But the real move toward the Catholic Church came at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where Father Bruce, then a student of architecture, took turns visiting the churches and synagogues of his friends. St. Anthony’s Church in the southwest part of the city was last on his list.

At St. Anthony’s, Father Bruce “felt very close to God. It was friendly, but mysterious. It amazed me to see the ritual. After going to all those churches, I knew I was interested.” It seemed to the searching student that in this church “God was the center.”

After being received into the Catholic Church at St. Anthony’s, where Bishop Eusebius Beltran was then pastor, the step to the priesthood was a short, though memorable one.

“I talked to Bishop Beltran once the first thought came. It was a big question at first,” remembered Father Bruce, “but everything else fell to the side once I started thinking about it.”

Two models helped the young priest reach his decision--Bishop Beltran and the Catholic pastor of his neighborhood church in Chicago.

“I tried to see myself in terms of what they did, what they talked about. Their gospel values, living the gospel, the way their faith was communicated in the celebration of Mass,” all combined to convince Father Bruce that the priesthood was his calling.

Such a conviction had been reached on his own. When he informed his parents that “I’ve thought about this for a year and this is what I want to do,” they were understandably taken by surprise.

“My parents’ initial reaction was ‘what did we do wrong?’ But then they became very excited and happy for me,” he smiled.

This past summer, the Wilkinsons joined their son in Atlanta for his ordination to the priesthood at the Cathedral of Christ the King. It was a proud moment for the entire family.

At Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Father Bruce’s first official assignment, he has found his community “very supportive, more concerned about me than I expected.” Being treated as an “authority figure” has taken a little getting used to, as has “being called ‘Father,’” he said.

On the other side of the ledger, Father Bruce noted that “not many Catholics have seen any black priests. This is an expectation that most white priests haven’t encountered.”

No stranger to discrimination--in the seminary he was the only black and was sometimes the butt of cruel racial jokes--Father Bruce feels that you can’t run away after you have encountered prejudice.

“You have to attempt to work with the situation. You can express anger over it, but you must help people understand that it’s not Christian. Jesus calls all of us to do that, whether black or white.”

Daily celebration of Mass for this newly ordained priest is a strengthening experience in which “you take time from your normal routine and bring yourself before God with others who share your beliefs.”

Not one to be somber about his relationship with God, Father Bruce sees the liturgy as a “time to worship God and have a good time doing it!”

It’s an awesome feeling. God is present before you on the altar, inviting you to come to him. It’s wonderful to know that God is using you through your ministry to produce this.”

Father Bruce is an expansive, friendly man who brings his own personal style to whatever he does. Visiting the sick and elderly, working with young people, helping out in the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society, he combines enthusiasm and gentleness in reaching out to others.

“There really isn’t anything I don’t like doing,” he said of his parish routine. “Some things are difficult--like hospital visits--but coming away from the experience I find I know myself and how I relate to God better.”

Father Bruce expects that his natural enjoyment of people will enable him to stand by his priestly commitment.

“I don’t know how I’ll react in 20 years or so, but I enjoy the freshness and variety people bring to each other. Because of that I don’t feel I’ll stagnate in my ministry,” he said. “Lay people have a lot to do with how a priest feels in his ministry.”

The fact that vocations to the priesthood have diminished in recent years will call such laypersons “to become more involved in the life of the Church, in the spirit of Vatican II,” Father Bruce observed.

Such changes “will require priests who are left to do more,” but will also free priests from tedious administrative work and allow them to share areas like religious instruction, home visitation and counseling with qualified lay people, he stated.

“If I had a lot of administrative work to do I couldn’t go on St. Vincent de Paul cases. Here the laity are helping me deal effectively with people.”

Lay participation also gives the priest the freedom to pursue his own continuing studies, without which, according to Father Bruce, “you can become stagnant,” without fresh ideas or a familiarity with current theological thought.

For young persons considering the priesthood today, Father Bruce advises that they contact someone with whom they can openly discuss their feelings and questions.

“A young person needs someone to talk to about it,” he said, remembering his own decision not so very long ago. “Most young people think about it but don’t have anyone to talk to. The priest must be the role model, ready to discuss his priestly vocation and share his feelings and faith. Parents need to be open, too, and while they might not understand the call completely, they should be encouraging. Everyone has to do their part.”

For Father Bruce Wilkinson, alive with enthusiasm and love for his own calling, such counsel flows freely and sincerely. What lies ahead is unsure just as it is in any life choice, but he is ready for the future because he has already taken the most difficult step--the sublime risk.

Such risk-taking is at the heart of this young priest’s own faith life and has given him the courage to make a total commitment of service to the life of the Church.

“Jesus calls us to take risks. He never promised a Christianity with safety,” he said, a knowing smile playing on his face. “If our own Lord was led to die on a cross, we know it’s not a safe harbor. It’s part of the Christian life to risk everything.”

And this life, for Father Bruce and others like him, goes on...