First, I want to express again how happy and excited I am to be here at Mary Mother of God and Saint Andrew’s. I am incredibly humbled to be assigned your pastor after only one year of priesthood. So, as a little introduction.
I was born in Little Rock on March 17th, Saint Patrick’s Day. My parents, Rick and Melanie, are amazing, and they still live in little rock. My parents raised my older brother and me in the faith, they introduced us to our heavenly Father, Jesus His Son, and they taught us how to pray.
My vocational journey defiantly started in my family. As most of you know, my uncle, Father Greg Hart, was a Catholic Priest and the pastor here. He sadly passed away in 2017, but it was my uncle who planted the seed of my priestly vocation. He showed me the beauty of the priesthood and how rewarding it is to serve Christ and His church. Father Greg first asked me if I wanted to be a priest; I was probably five years old. And I said no way; I’m going to marry Rebecca, a girl in my kindergarten class. But I think Father Greg knew, even then, that the Lord would call me, and he was one of the many role models in my life who taught me how to listen to that call. I miss him very dearly, and I’m sure many of you do too.
I didn’t consider the priesthood or my vocation seriously until high school. I went to Catholic High school for boys in little rock, and I enjoyed it. I ran track and was involved in Boy Scouts. I love the outdoors. I like to rock climb, mountain bike, camp, hunt, and paddle. So, if you have a favorite outdoor spot nearby, please let me know. But in high school, I wasn’t a very faithful person. I still prayed my blessing before meals and before I went to sleep. But it was more out of habit than devotion. Sometime around my junior year of High school, I noticed that I was not very happy. I felt an emptiness in my heart, and I was trying to fill it with things that were not satisfying. So, I did probably the wisest thing I have ever done. I asked for help.
I went and spoke with Brother Richard, a Franciscan monk who is the guidance counselor at Catholic High and now a dear friend of mine, and I talked to him about how I was feeling. Brother Richard told me quite plainly that the reason I was feeling so unsatisfied was because I didn’t have a strong prayer life or relationship with God. He encouraged me to spend 10 or 15 minutes in the chapel every day after school and ask God what was His will for my life? After a short time, I started to deeply enjoy my time spent in prayer, and I could feel the Lord calling me to some kind of religious life. So I went back to Brother Richard and told him I wanted to be a Trappist monk. Now, if you don’t know, Trappists are one of the strictest religious orders in the church, many of them take a vow of silence, and they spend their lives praying for the Church and the World. But brother Richard in his wisdom, told me I was too talkative to be a Trappist. He also said that I shouldn’t ignore this desire to serve the Lord and that he would help me discern, or prayerfully consider, where the Lord was calling me.
It wasn’t long after this conversation that I attended the annual Come and See Retreat. A spiritual retreat put on by the seminarians of the diocese for young men who are decerning the priesthood. I had the opportunity to meet some of the seminarians of our diocese. And I was very surprised. Where I thought they would be snobbish nerds who only talked about theology, I was surprised to learn they were just regular guys called to serve the Lord in a particular way. And that really connected with me. I felt myself being drawn to the diocesan priesthood.
But, I still had some fear. I was worried that If I didn’t at least try a regular college experience, I wouldn’t know what I was giving up. So, I decided to go to a small college in southern Colorado for one year. I really enjoyed it, but soon after arriving, I realized that I wasn’t missing out on much. There was a priest there in Gunnison, Colorado, who became a kind of quasi-spiritual director for me. After a few months of us talking and my expressing a desire to enter the seminary. He finally said something like. “Ben, you have been talking about this for months now; it’s time for you to grow a backbone and call your Bishop. Soon after, I signed as a seminarian for the diocese, and eight short years later, I was finally ordained a priest. I am so grateful for my vocation, and I want to thank all of you for being so kind and welcoming as I arrived at Mary Mother of God and St. Andrews.
Now, let me briefly address the elephant in the room. I am young to be a pastor, and it’s going to take some time for this community to adjust to a young pastor after having a very experienced pastor. I have a lot to learn. So I ask you to please be patient with me, as our Lord is very patient with all of us. I don’t plan on making any big changes in the parish. I plan to take the time to learn about all of you, to learn about this community, and St. Andrews before I make any changes, if I make any changes. The only thing you may notice pretty quickly is how my style in celebrating the Mass is different from Father Jim’s. All priests have their own style and preferences, and I am no different. So if you notice me do something or not do something that you are used to in the Mass, please ask me about it. Finally two more things.
In seminary, I was taught, and I believe in, radical availability. Within reason. So please, if you would like to have a meeting or sit down to talk over a cup of coffee, feel free to reach out to Robin in the Church office to schedule an appointment or reach out to me directly by email. My email address should be in next week’s bulletin. And finally, please continue to pray for me. I have been keeping all of you in my prayers as soon as I learned of my new assignment. And continue to pray for Father Jim, that he enjoys peace and relaxation after so many years of faithful service to God and His Church.