Vianney Club To Have New Location, New Priest

ERIKA ANDERSON, Staff Writer

Published: September 9, 2004

ROSWELL—The Vianney Club, the vocation discernment group for high-school aged young men, has a new face and a new location.

Father Kevin Peek, chaplain at Blessed Trinity High School, will assist vocations director Father Brian Higgins with the group. Father Peek will be taking over for Father Dan Rogaczewski, who has a busy teaching schedule at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta but will continue to help as much as he can.

The group will also change locations and will begin Saturday, Sept. 11, to meet at St. Peter Chanel Church, 11330 Woodstock Road. The club will continue meeting on the second Saturday of each month, from 10 a.m. to noon.

The Vianney Club is in its third year of existence, Father Higgins said. Currently there are five seminarians who came from the club. But Father Higgins stresses that this group isn’t just for young men who think they might become priests.

“The goal of the Vianney Club is really two pronged. First, I think it’s a big misconception that it’s just for guys who think they are called to the priesthood. One of my biggest hopes is that young guys come to learn more about their faith and their vocation—even if they’re not called to the priesthood,” he said.

But secondly, the club does serve those who may have a priestly vocation.

“Before, if young guys in high school would call me and say, ‘Father, I think I might be called to the priesthood. What do I do now?,’ we didn’t have anything for them,” he said. “This is a place where they can find guidance.”

Each meeting begins with Mass at 10 a.m., followed by breakfast. There is then time for discussion and questions and answers, and the sacrament of reconciliation is always available. Father Higgins said that they often bring in guest speakers, such as Religious order priests, so that young men interested in the priesthood can explore all the options.

Father Higgins said he is excited that Father Peek agreed to help lead the Vianney Club meetings and is hoping that it will continue to grow and help high school boys deepen their faith.

“Father Kevin is so dynamic, and so well liked and known just in his six short years of being a priest,” he said. “I think teens know him as someone that talks to them and not down to them, and he’s been a phenomenal hit everywhere he’s been (assigned),” he said. “I’m just thrilled he said ‘yes’ to this.”