Print Issue: July 17, 2002

Father John Shramko: Dissatisfied With Yuppie Life, He Discovers Priestly Vocation

Soccer is a favorite pastime of Father John Shramko. (Photo by Michael Alexander)

By Erika Anderson, Staff Writer

ATLANTA - As a single man with two engineering degrees, John Shramko had it all-big money, a great truck -everything the world said he needed to be happy.

But he wasn't.

On June 22, Father Shramko finally found his happiness in answering his call to the priesthood at ordination. He admits, however, that the journey was one of great searching.

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, faith "permeated" his family's life. They went to church every Sunday and always prayed before meals. Father Shramko was an outgoing teenager who wanted to be an engineer, just like his father.

"I played soccer, I was very social," he said. "I had a lot of friends and I had a lot of girlfriends. I really just wanted a large family. I always thought I'd have six to 10 kids."

After attending Ohio University and earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree in mechanical engineering, Father Shramko was well on his way to his ideal life. But something was missing.

"I was looking at my life and thinking, 'This is it?'" he said. "I was really searching."

Lax for awhile in attending church, he went back.

Soon after moving to Atlanta in 1994, Father Shramko began attending Mass at St. Andrew's Church in Roswell. He said he was blown away by the preaching of the pastor then, Msgr. Paul Reynolds, and Msgr. Richard Lopez, who at the time was in residence at the parish. He soon began attending a Friday night Bible study.

But it was a serious relationship with a girl that became the impetus for his priestly vocation.

"In 1996, I started dating a girl that was not Catholic," Father Shramko said. "She challenged me on everything, so I had to find the answers. The more I learned about the church, the more I fell in love with the faith."

He began attending an "occasional daily Mass" and started praying the rosary daily.

"I became more solid in my Catholic faith than ever," he said. "By the end of 1996, I was going to Mass every day."

By this time he had moved and had begun attending Holy Spirit Church in Atlanta. One day after Mass a woman approached him and asked him if he had thought of becoming a priest.

"I thought it was nutty," he said. "I'm thinking 'I attended public school all my life, I have two engineering degrees, I have a girlfriend. God doesn't call people like that.'"

In a month's time, four people approached Father Shramko about becoming a priest, including Father Tom Hennessy, at that time a parochial vicar at Holy Spirit.

Father Hennessy said he saw not only a young, unmarried man, but a man with a deep desire to fulfill God's plan for him.

"It was his love of God and devotion to his prayer life that I saw from the very beginning," he said. "He was a good guy who really had the desire to serve God faithfully, whether that meant in marriage, or what he's doing now-in the priesthood."

Despite the encouragement and prompting of many, Father Shramko said he was stubborn.

"I have a thick skull. I didn't want to hear it," he said. "By the end of 1996, I was really struggling. I felt like I was wrestling with myself. But at the same time, the more I thought about it, the more appealing it became."

On New Year's Eve 1996, he made the decision to enter the seminary and broke up with his girlfriend.

"(The decision) was really freeing for me," he said. "I was excited. I figured that if it didn't work out, then at least I knew I gave it a shot."

He never looked back. With his first assignment as a parochial vicar at St. Pius X Church in Conyers this month, Father Shramko is most looking forward to "offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass and hearing confession."

He said he will be compassionate toward those who find confession difficult, as he himself spent eight or 10 years away from the sacrament. Most of all, Father Shramko is excited to combine his two greatest loves.

"I love people and I love God," he said. "I can't wait to bring the two together."

Father John Shramko

Age: 33

Birth Date: March 17, 1969

Place of Birth: Goldsboro, N.C.

Parents: Susan and Bernard Shramko

Siblings: One brother and one sister

Education: Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, 1991, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio; master's degree in mechanical engineering, 1994, Ohio University; master of divinity degree, 2002, from Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md.

Work Experience: Project engineer for a water purification company in Cleveland, Ohio; self-employed for two years; worked at Sprint.

Primary Hobbies and Interests: Soccer, hiking, camping, sports, reading and welding-particularly wrought iron.

Pastoral Internships: Sacred Heart Church, Griffin, summer 2001; parish in Juarez, Mexico, summer 2000; the El Paso Project, Spanish immersion program for archdiocesan seminarians, summer 1999.

Particular Ministries of Interest: He looks forward to being a parish priest.

First Assignment: Parochial vicar at St. Pius X Church in Conyers, a parish of 1,501 families.

Pastor: Father John Kieran