Laboure Society
“I want to serve God and His people through the various stages of their lives…”
Meet the rest of my class
My name is Harrison Otto. I am discerning a call to serve Christ and His Church as a priest with the Byzantine Metropolitan Archeparchy of Pittsburgh. This is my story.
I was born into a Catholic family in Houston, Texas, but other than simple things like praying before meals, we did not practice the Faith much at home. I was a well-behaved kid, but not especially pious; most of my interests included baseball, Boy Scouts, and video games. I went to college to study aerospace engineering and was fascinated by the idea of a career in space exploration. Towards the end of my first year of college, I had an epiphany that my lukewarm devotion was not enough to keep me from Hell. From then on, I began to practice my faith more intentionally.
Through my university’s Catholic center, I began to study the great theologians and the Church’s rich intellectual tradition. I served at the altar and participated in various religious activities. Eventually, I decided that I desired to directly serve the Church, which led to my serious discernment of a religious vocation.
In my studies, I’d learned about the Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome, and found that Byzantine practices such as icons and the Jesus prayer resonated with me. I’d begun to incorporate such practices into my spiritual life, so decided to visit some Byzantine monasteries. While the Byzantine spirituality and Divine Liturgy spoke to me, I discerned that I was not called to monasticism, but rather began discerning the priesthood.
As I follow God’s calling to the priesthood, I seek others to accompany me on this journey. May we meet so that I can share more? Until then, please keep me and my classmates in prayer, and feel free to reach out to me at HarrisonOtto@rescuevocations.org.
Download a PDF of my story
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