However, I met so many happy priests and deacons over the years that I began to think of the life of a priest as a good life indeed, and I began to feel more comfortable with the possibility of entering into that life. Still, I went to college trying to put off answering the call to the priesthood for “later.”

I became a leader in the Byzantine Club at my college, as I had grown up learning about the Byzantine Catholicism from my mother’s side of the family. The club sought to bring the beauty of Eastern Catholic traditions to our college campus, and even hosted the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, an incredible liturgical hymn, during the fifth week of Lent. When I began altar serving on weeknights, I couldn’t see myself being away from the altar long-term, as it was the most fulfilling place in the world for me.

By my junior year of college, I knew that I could no longer put off answering God’s call to the priesthood. Day by day, I was being drawn ever closer to my vocation. I decided to enter the only Byzantine Catholic seminary in the nation, in response to God’s calling for me to worship Christ through the beauty of the Eastern Catholic traditions.

As a Byzantine Catholic priest, I’ll be able to minister to the laity by offering both spiritual and practical assistance on a daily basis. I look forward to dwelling at the altar all the days of my life, and to entering into the beauty of the Divine Liturgy. I especially look forward to offering Reconciliation and spiritual direction to my parishioners. Above all, I seek to continue following the path of the Lord, and to join the long lineage of men who have devoted their lives to Christ as His priests.