Laboure Society
“He was calling me to be a priest and to live my faith in a deeper way.”
Meet the rest of my class
My name is Clayton Wise. I am called to serve Christ and His Church as a priest with the Archdiocese of Seattle. This is my story.
I grew up in a small, rural town in northwestern Washington State and was blessed to be part of a close, loving community. I was baptized Catholic and loved the faith community at our small mission church. However, after my dad died, it was difficult for my family to attend Mass regularly. Despite this challenge, I still had a keen interest in the faith, an interest that was intensified upon discovering and attempting to read a Bible that had been left to me by my dad.
In response to this interest, and the questions I raised, my mom decided to send me to church with my paternal grandparents. They went to a Presbyterian church and it was in that church that my faith in the Lord began to blossom. At this new church, I was a sponge. I learned to read the bible, love scripture, and to make friends with everyone. I grew in my faith as much as I could in that church, which I attended up until the age of 17.
Then my faith began to waiver. Brought about by the stresses of becoming an adult, searching for colleges, and, most of all, the Covid 19 pandemic, in the walls of quarantine, doubts began to grow and fester.
At the same time that my faith was beginning to waiver, a friend of mine was becoming Catholic. Through our discussions, and despite my attempts to save him from “the errors of Catholicism,” I was drawn back to the Catholic Church. After some debate and study, I became convinced of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I returned to the parish where I had been baptized, and made my first confession in a decade. Following the absolution, our parish priest said joyfully, “I’m glad you came. Welcome home!”
I dove headfirst into the Faith after that confession. In college, I found my love for liturgy and good catechesis. I became increasingly involved in the parish and served in a variety of ways, despite the fact that the church was four miles away and I often needed to either walk or bike in the cold Washington rain.
When I was younger, in the protestant world, I had dreamed of being a preacher and giving fiery sermons from the pulpit. After returning to the Church, I initially feared the commitments involved with being a Catholic priest. Yet I knew within that I could not simply dismiss the possibility of the priesthood.
I took a job as an administrative assistant in a local parish and it was here that I learned what service really meant. There was a fire in our parish office and I spent months sorting burnt and wet marriage documents in a cramped closet. Even in such less than ideal circumstances, I found that I was happy to be serving the parish. One day, I found an envelope addressed to the former pastor. On learning that he was the current vocation director for our diocese, I was compelled to reach out to him and begin a conversation about discerning the priesthood.
After three years of discernment, I began to see how God was letting me know what he wanted me to do with my life. He was calling me to be a priest and to live my faith in a deeper way. Working in the day-to-day life of a parish enabled me to fall in love with the people and the liturgy. I found my joy serving God’s people through ministry. My greatest joy would be to offer them the Mass and to share Christ’s love for them throughout the peaks and valleys of life.
Please pray for me and for my fellow Labouré classmates on our vocation journeys. Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have at: Clayton@rescuevocations.org.
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