The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
Spending the weekend at a college seminary helped seven Arkansas teens realize the seminarians there were just like them.
Ryan Haslauer, a junior at Catholic High School in Little Rock, said, "I went in expecting them to lecture us and have it no fun, just praising God all the time."
Instead, he said, the seminarians were friendly and funny, and he was relieved to see how much he had in common with them.
"They joked around like me, played games like me, and just made me feel like I belonged," Haslauer said. "Now after the visit I really feel like I could see myself going there."
Haslauer, along with five others from Catholic High and one from St. Agnes Church in Mena, attended a "Come and See Weekend" at Saint Joseph Seminary College in Covington, La., March 30-April 1.
Most seminaries offer events like these for young men who might have a call to priesthood. Saint Joseph offers them three times a year, while Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas hosts them annually. Diocese of Little Rock seminarians attend both of these schools.
Msgr. Scott Friend, diocesan vocations director, said these weekend retreats help young men realize the reality of seminary life.
"It helps them to see that the seminary is not a strange place. They learn that seminarians are regular guys," he said. "Sometimes guys think priesthood is so far beyond their level of holiness. They misunderstand what holiness is and what a spiritual life is."
Msgr. Friend said he regularly takes potential seminarians on visits to seminaries. Because Saint Joseph is a college seminary its Come and See events are open to high school sophomores, juniors and seniors.
He took three others to a similar event at Holy Trinity in February. Two were in high school and one was already in college.
Many just assume they have to be sure about the priesthood by the end of high school and if they're not, they decide not to enter seminary, Msgr. Friend said.
"You're not supposed to be 100 percent sure before you go in," he said. "At the college level at least, they're still discerning, so the seminary's really a place to discern a vocation to the priesthood. You go because you feel there's a possibility that you're being called."
Chuck Ashburn, vice principal at Catholic High, chaperoned the high school students at Saint Joseph's Come and See Weekend. Father Erik Pohlmeier, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Hot Springs, also went, along with diocesan seminarian Jason Sharbaugh. Sharbaugh is currently serving a pastoral year at the Hot Springs parish. Msgr. Friend joined the group on the second day of their visit.
Ashburn said Saint Joseph seminarians led the weekend for the high school students. The schedule included a crawfish boil, games, talks on discernment, prayer and academic life, adoration, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and an Emmaus Walk, which allowed each student one-on-one time with a seminarian to ask questions and seek advice.
Highlights included joining the Benedictine monks of Saint Joseph Abbey for evening Vespers and Palm Sunday Mass, he said.
Ashburn said 40 total high school students participated. The seven from Arkansas included Haslauer, Martin Siebold, Luke Hall, Jonathan Fili, Joseph deOrbegozo, Stephen Elser, all from Catholic High, and Austin Blanton from Mena.
"The students really got what it was like to be a seminarian," Ashburn said. They also prayed before the Blessed Sacrament.
"A come and see weekend is a great weekend," he said, and he will encourage Catholic High students to attend next year as well.
Martin Siebold, 17, a Catholic High senior, started the application process to become a diocesan seminarian and said he hopes to attend Saint Joseph this fall.
He said he seriously considered priesthood after a Search retreat in March and the Come and See Weekend just confirmed how he was feeling.
"I thought the experience was amazing," he said. "It showed me that I can relate to the seminarians already there. We have so much in common."
Siebold said the Emmaus Walk gave him time to really connect.
"It gave me a chance to really talk to a seminarian and experience his story as well as share mine," he said. "I would recommend a 'Come and See' trip for anyone."
Msgr. Friend said there is a lot of maturing that needs to happen in college, along with developing a prayer life. Seminary formation is designed for that purpose. Even if a young man attends college seminary and decides not to be a priest, he's still received a great education in the process.
"Not only is there academic formation there, but there's spiritual formation, human formation and apostolic formation, it's all there," he said. "It develops them into good, fine, Christian men."
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