The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
This section includes stories of the seminarians that will be ordained to the priesthood this month and what this journey to the priesthood has meant to them. They include:
Ordination Mass: Saturday, May 28th at 10:00 a.m., Christ the King Church, Little Rock. A holy hour will take place Friday evening at CTK.
FORT SMITH — A 2013 car accident almost ended Joseph Chan’s life, but God had other plans for the seminarian. Throughout his two-week coma and lengthy recovery, which included 18 surgeries, Chan remained determined to follow God’s will. While in a coma, he dreamed of a dense white cloud in the sky and saw a hand piercing the cloud reaching out to him.
“God came to me,” he said. “I prayed to be enlightened by God’s More... 
JONESBORO — In the journey to priesthood, Stephen Gadberry has learned to enjoy living 100 percent in the present moment. It has been his favorite part of the journey.
“I have to find Christ in whatever I am doing,” Gadberry said during an e-mail interview from the North American College in Rome. “Good times and bad. For better or for worse. Whether I am interacting with a beggar in the streets of Rome or reading a More...
For most of his life, Mario Jacobo has been in a foot race with God. Though he heard God’s voice at different times showing him the path to the priesthood, Jacobo’s life ran its course — finishing high school, volunteering as a youth minister and as leader of the parish council at St. Clement Church in Calhoun, Ga., and then as a manager at a carpet store.
But through it all, God was running beside him More...
For all of the Church that is steeped in tradition and ritual, there still exists the room and opportunity for individual experience and expression.
That’s one of the over-riding lessons Norman McFall takes from his studies at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana in preparation for his May 28 priestly ordination in the Diocese of Little Rock.
“One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about St. Meinrad is it’s not a cookie-cutter seminary,” he said. “They work More...
Taryn Whittington was the typical college student — study for years, earn a diploma and start a career. After earning his master’s degree and doctorate from Baylor University in Texas in 2008, his “journey to the other side of the desk,” was complete, becoming a teacher at Malone University in Ohio.
“I already kind of struck out on that path … living an independent adult life,” Whittington said.
But after four years, God turned the proverbial desk. He called Whittington More...
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