Print Issue: January 16, 2003

Journey To Priesthood Begins With Christ's Call To Serve

Father Brian Higgin, Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Father Daniel Rogaczewski, parochial vicar at St. Benedict's Church, Duluth, talks to a group of young men during a monthly meeting of The Vianney Club. The club was formed in 2001 for high school and college-age young men exploring a call to the priesthood. Father Rogaczewski was ordained a priest in December 2000. (Photos by Michael Alexander) Father Luke Ballman, parochial vicar at Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, tells Donnellan Pre-School 3-year-olds about the altar in the sanctuary. Father Ballman was ordained to the priesthood on July 14, 2001. Father Luke Ballman, parochial vicar at Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, sits among Donnellan Pre-School students as he talks to them about Jesus and his role as a priest. Father Ballman has served as a priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta for a year and a half. Father Luke Ballman, parochial vicar at Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, shows Donnellan Pre-School students how to genuflect on one knee before the tabernacle as they enter and leave the church. Father Ballman has served as a priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta for a year and a half.

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

ATLANTA-In a world filled with loud voices and dizzying distractions, somehow the silent call is still heard.

That is the experience of Father Brian Higgins, vocations director of the archdiocese, as he reflects on the quality of men who are coming forward at this time to study for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

"I have great hope, but I have reason to hope," Father Higgins said. "This is a time of great grace. Those who are coming through the door right now are men who really want to be priests of Jesus Christ. I see the quality of men coming through the door."

"A lot of people who have a love for the church are stepping forward. The men coming in also have a greater understanding of their faith."

During Vocations Awareness Week Jan. 12-18, Father Higgins spoke at several Catholic high schools and reached out through many forms of media. Diverse prayer cards for vocations have been made available to all churches, along with brochures that are also being distributed at colleges, high schools and Life Teen programs. They speak to those who might be thinking about a call to the priesthood. A new Web site is ready to be launched.

The brochures and school visits "might spark an interest, plant some seeds, answer some questions," said the priest. The prayer cards are "because I believe all vocations work begins with prayer . . . Our people pray for (vocations). We stand at the door and knock."

The full-time director is assisted by a number of priests in the ministry. A monthly discernment group meets with Father Tim Hepburn, Catholic chaplain at Emory University, for Mass, direction and fellowship. A holy hour is celebrated monthly at the Cathedral of Christ the King for anyone considering priesthood or Religious life. Father Dan Rogaczewski also leads a monthly gathering, the Vianney Club, for young students who think priesthood might possibly be God's plan for their life. Father Fabio Sotelo-Pena and Father Dan Stack are assisting in vocations work in Mexico.

The archdiocese has 44 men in the seminary right now, who average 28 to 29 years old. In addition to candidates from the 50 states, there are also from Mexico, Colombia, Ireland and Puerto Rico.

Grateful that there are many candidates, Father Higgins said the archdiocese is, however, more concerned about the quality of the candidates and ensuring that each man who reaches ordination is well-scrutinized, zealous and formed with a realistic and clear idea of the life of a priest.

"We are trying to be very particular. We have to be very particular," Father Higgins said.

"The people who come to us have to be really dedicated to all of the church's teachings and to serving Christ in His people, first and foremost. The best part of the job is accepting someone into the program. The worst part is releasing someone and I agonize over both of them."

How does Christ speak to individuals and what is the process like?

Father Higgins said the call is a mysterious but undeniable one that overcomes worldly attractions, legitimate dreams and aspirations, human hesitancy and feelings of unworthiness.

"It is the most difficult thing in the world to say yes to because it is such a challenge," he said. "None of us are worthy. We are called."

As he counsels men who knock on his door to talk about the possibility, he hears echoes of some of the doubts and questions he once had. He likes to point out in a picture of his seminary classmates, one who used to be a doctor, another an architect, another an accountant.

"We had cars, homes, jobs. We weren't born in these outfits," he said, smilingly pointing to his clerical collar and black shirt.

Father Higgins said he himself once had a maze of objections too, but the still, small voice of the Lord penetrated everything. The voice is not louder, but quieter. It is more compelling, more loving and more irresistible.

"I could only come up with one that stumped them all," he recalled of his list of reasons why he really couldn't become a priest. The reason that overcame his objections, finally, was "because He called me."

"It penetrates all your fears, all your doubts . . . even all your assurances," Father Higgins said.

"You hear it through prayer, through the Mass and through the reading of Scripture," he added. "But you also hear it from family and from friends."

For him the first inkling was listening as a youth to Msgr. Richard Lopez give a talk on the priesthood. Raised in an Irish Catholic family, one of nine children, he had a tremendous respect for the Catholic faith, but he didn't immediately confide his thoughts about the priesthood to others. God kept calling.

Father Higgins chuckled as he recalled. "I had a girl I was dating who was not Catholic, not religious, who asked me, 'Have you ever thought of being a priest?' The Holy Spirit speaks through whatever vessel he thinks you are going to listen to."

Finally one of his brothers challenged him at the age of 27 to give one solid year to pursuing the possibility of priesthood with everything he had. He has never looked back. He was ordained in 1999 at the age of 33.

Father Rogaczewski, who entered the seminary at 34, after graduating from St. Louis University and serving in the Peace Corps, said two conditions are necessary for the vocation to priesthood to blossom--listening to God and being open to the possibility.

"Until both of those conditions are met--you're open and you're listening--you really are not open to a vocation," the priest said.

"Young people should do themselves the favor of doing both when they come before God."

Growing up in a family of four children in St. Louis, he first sensed during a Teens Encounter Christ retreat in college that he was being called by God to a life of service. "I developed an awareness that God was calling me to something more, service for Him alone," he said.

He also had a desire to go to graduate school, to work overseas and to have some experience in the work force. He accomplished those goals before entering the seminary, but felt that God was calling him to something more.

"I could make more of a difference" as a priest, Father Rogaczewski said. "If you have heard confessions for two and a half hours, as I did before Christmas-some people leave relieved of some very serious things in their lives. That is a very powerful thing. You really are there and you get to help people at the most important moments of their lives."

Father Higgins said he often now challenges men who come to him considering the priesthood to do what he did--give it one solid year--and when they do, they are caught up in beauty of serving God and His people with their whole lives.

"I love the priesthood," Father Higgins said. "I am in awe every time I celebrate the Mass. I thank God every day he called me to the priesthood."