May/June 2013 Issue 13 Ordination to the Priesthood WITH THANKSGIVING TO ALMIGHTY GOD THE DIOCESE OF DES MOINES JOYFULLY ANNOUNCES THE ORDINATION OF OFFICE OF VOCATIONS Vocation Vibes Deacon Fabián Moncada Benavides Deacon Ross Parker Deacon Adam Westphal TO THE HOLY ORDER OF THE PRIESTHOOD THROUGH THE IMPOSITION OF HANDS BY THE MOST REVEREND RICHARD E. PATES, BISHOP OF DES MOINES AND THE INVOCATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT PLEASE JOIN US AT SAINT AMBROSE CATHEDRAL 607 HIGH STREET, DES MOINES, IOWA FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013 7:00 PM RECEPTION TO FOLLOW AT PASTORAL CENTER, 601 GRAND AVENUE M T Father Adam Westphal Holy Trinity, Des Moines on Saturday, June 8 at 9:00 a.m. Father Ross Parker Saint Thomas Aquinas, Indianola on Saturday, June 8 at 5:30 p.m. Father Fabián Moncada Benavides Our Lady of Americas, Des Moines on Saturday, June 8 at 6:30 p.m. and Basilica of Saint John, Des Moines on Sunday, June 9 at 10:30 a.m.
Fr. Dan Kirby, Director of Seminarians June 7 th will be a great day for the Diocese of Des Moines. We will have three new priests to serve the local Church of Southwest Iowa. Our new expectant fathers will be Deacon Ross Parker, Deacon Fabián Moncada and Deacon Adam Westphal. All of these men come to serve the people of the Diocese with many gifts. They come with excitement and loving hearts to help build up the kingdom of God. As we gather at Saint Ambrose Cathedral for the ordination, we come to realize that the three ordinandi become our great teachers. As they present themselves to Christ for His service, all of us are reminded that we are called to serve no matter what vocation God has called us to. All of us are called to say, ʺPresentʺ we have come to do the Lordʹs will. As the ordinandi prostrate themselves on the Cathedral floor, the Church evokes the help of the saints so that the new priests allow the Lord to dominate their life. We pray that our brothers allow the Lord to be the foundation of their priesthood and their life. Through this holy ritual, our professors remind all of us to prostrate ourselves in spirit to allow the Lord to be the bedrock of our life. As they profess their promise of obedience to Bishop Pates and his successors, we too pledge our obedience to our bishop. We pledge to continue to grow in our communion with the Body of Christ, to continue to work together for the glory of God. As the newly ordained receive the gifts of bread and wine by the bishop to celebrate the Mass with love and devotion, so all of us rededicate ourselves to our participation in the Holy Mass. We profess that the Mass is the ʺsource and summit of our livesʺ. Yes, our three new priests on June 7 th will be our great teachers! Why does the ordinand lie prostrate during the ordination? It symbolizes his unworthiness for the office to be assumed and his dependence upon God and the prayers of the Chris an community. It also symbolizes surrender to the will of God. Page 2 VOCATION VIBES
Deacon Ross Parker In the seminary, I grew to be a person that honors the Church. I did pretty well in my studies, but in the beginning I would not raise my hand or say anything in class. Over time I began to realize I do have input and something to say. A priest must have courage to speak up and say the truth; we cannot remain silent. Praying the Liturgy of the Hours was tough at first. It became sort of a discipline that I had to add to my life. As time went on, discipline turned to practice and finally to integration. Like running, it gets easier the more you do it. In my early evaluations I would get comments about being too gruff, sometimes not open or hard to talk to, intimidating. These were sort of hard criticisms for me. I have always considered myself a pretty nice and good person. But it is important to look at how other people see us. Sometimes, unfortunately, we only get one impression. So I had to work on having a little softer edge smiling more, being open, warm, approachable and easy to talk to. The priest is not a priest for himself, he is a priest for you... Saint John Vianney The seminary has lots of diversity. There wasn t a lot of diversity growing up in Indianola. I got to know people from other cultures and learned some phrases in other languages. I became good friends with a couple of men, Tam and Dua, from Hanoi, Vietnam. I taught them how to drive and we played volleyball together. It just takes getting out of our comfort zones and reaching out to people who are different from us. We are called to be priests for all people. What helped me most during my discernment was spending time with God, listening to what He had to say to me, taking what was on my heart and in my mind to God in prayer. I love the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help because it depicts Jesus running into his Motherʹs arms. He flies so fast into her arms that he loses his shoe. This is the same for me. Any time that I am struggling I run to the Blessed Motherʹs arms. Our Lady has helped me in many and varied ways. For anything we need we should always run to Our Lady. After being ordained a priest, of course, I look forward to celebrating Mass. I also look forward to more Baptisms which have been a favorite part of being a deacon. I strive to be an authentic witness to Christ, a man of prayer connected to God. I want to be a living Icon that points to Christ or a bridge as Blessed JPII called it, to be at the service to the people of God, and to serve the common priesthood of Christ s followers. MAY/JUNE 2013 Page 3
Deacon Fabián Moncada Bendavides As ordination time draws near, my heart overflows with a special sense that reminds me of who called me and why I am here! The Blessed Mother of God has been a part of my life in different situations confirming how blessed I am to keep her intercession through praying daily the Holy Rosary. Two experiences come to my mind. When I arrived in Des Moines, I went to Our Lady of Americas parish. I was sitting on a pew in the back when a tremendous peace came to my heart. It was a clear expression of God s will about myself in the Diocese of Des Moines. The second was before World Youth Day 2011 visiting Fatima. Coincidently, I had visited there 13 years before to pray and ask God s will for me. It was a powerful experience to enjoy with thousands of pilgrims from around the world imploring intercession from the Blessed Mother. Walking with Bishop Pates, he asked me if I was ready for the diaconate ordination. Obviously, my answer was YES! Well, that tremendous joyful experience was made real on June 1, 2012 when I became a deacon. I have learned what it means to say Our Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd. A pastor leads with patience, compassion, and courage for his flock. Priesthood is a service that does not end with intelligence and good will, but it is more than that. It is an emotional commitment beginning with the heart. There is no service without love because love is the only way that produces openness in others and opens them to Christ s life. The pastor should live clearly the words of Our Savior: Where your treasure is, your heart also will be. I have always said God willing! because I trust in God each moment of my life. The interaction between the shepherd and the sheep should be personal and unique. In this, my labor as a pastor of souls should be open to love as Christ loves, especially to those blinded by this secular world and stuck in patterns that make them unhappy and isolated. I center my attention to serve, plunging my will entirely into Godʹs Will. I won t count on recognition of my attempts to love and serve. My service requires love especially for those that do not love me, but are part of the people of God. That means dedicated service without conditions and offering a profound expression of Godʹs mercy. Priests make Jesus present through the function of sanctifying, helping us to become holy, especially through the sacraments and above all in the Eucharist. As a providential sign, in the Solemnity of Sacred Heart of Jesus I will be ordained a priest how wonderful that will be! Then, in the Feast of Immaculate Heart of Mary, I will offer Mass of thanksgiving to express joyfully to Jesus through Mary! As a part of the Seminary, the pastoral formation program helps us to live closely with the parish community as pastor. Monthly meetings with my Teaching Parish Committee, four couples from St. Rita parish in Cottage Grove, Minnesota were a marvelous experience for me. I was blessed to receive their friendly and respectful corrections to improve my English preaching! That experience was an essential part of my present and future ministry in the United States. The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. Saint John Vianney Page 4 VOCATION VIBES
Deacon Adam Westphal I was back in Des Moines for Holy Week, and someone after Mass said to me, Thank you for your formation. Your formation is good for us. This statement led me to reflect on the past four years, and how they have prepared me for ministry, for serving God s people. My first year of formation was focused very much on the spiritual dimension of my faith life, on learning how to listen to the voice of God and to follow Him ever more deeply. As I converse with Him daily, I am better able to share the joy of this experience with others, and then to help them to encounter God in their own lives and experience His joy. The first year also emphasized the pastoral care of the sick and dying, allowing me to be a better minister to those who are suffering. These two went really well together. Prayer and suffering are great trainers in the Christian life. The second year of my formation was the most rigorous academically, and this is also the year I helped teach 2nd graders and work with the R.C.I.A. It was great to become better at conveying the mysteries of the faith (both to adults and to children.) The teachings of the faith have their origin in Revelation, and the prayer habits I developed my first year helped me to accept and teach what I learned in my second year. My third year in seminary was focused on preparing me to become a deacon. We studied the rites of baptism and marriage, and prepared to give homilies. Baptism is how we all enter the Christian life, and it is a profoundly spiritual experience for both the recipient of baptism and the minister when the doors of heavenly grace are opened to a soul through this sacrament. Marriage is the vocation to which most of the Christian faithful are called, and to be able to witness this sacrament is a privilege for a minister. For many people the Sunday homily is the only encounter they have with the teachings of the Catholic faith, so it is important to make sure the homilies are prepared and delivered well. My fourth year has been a year focusing on some of the daily pastoral and administrative concerns priests are faced with, and how to navigate the social issues our society is constantly raising. Life is messy, and finding the right way to live life is difficult and can be obscured by influences contrary to Revelation. This fourth year we have been learning how to handle difficult medical situations, irregular marriage situations, and the intricacies of the rite of penance. We have also been preparing to offer the greatest of all possible sacrifices, the Catholic Mass. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life, it is the epitome of the communion of heaven and earth, and there is nothing greater a priest can do for the community than to celebrate the Mass. All of our formation is meant to lead others to Jesus, and especially to Jesus present in the Eucharist, and so this fourth year has been a wonderful capstone to my seminary formation. I look forward to living and working among the people of God, and sharing Eucharist with them. What is the meaning of the laying on of hands? By this ritual, the ordaining bishop and the other priests invoke the Holy Spirit to come down upon the one to be ordained, giving him a sacred character and se ng him apart for the designated ministry. MAY/JUNE 2013 Page 5
Parish Vocational Spotlight Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Vocation Committee A year ago I was asked to breathe life into the vocations committee at Saint Francis of Assisi in West Des Moines. I quickly accepted because vocations are the life line of the Church! I started by asking for others at Saint Francis to support vocations by being on the committee. Then I reached out to the Diocesan Vocations Office for ideas to get us organized and moving. They provide a great website dmdiocese.org/support vocations.cfm that includes over 100 ideas to promote vocations at the parish. The ideas to support vocations are almost endless! Our goal and mission is to help educate and encourage those in our parish to better understand their own calling to vocations. Within the past year, our committee has undertaken several projects. Over 125 parishioners have promised to pray a rosary for vocations on one of the 31 days each month. We send letters and cards to a seminarian from our parish (Andrew Windschitl). In addition, our committee is planning a seminary visit for eighth graders. We invite seminarians and Religious to visit Saint Francis for parishioners to better understand accepting God s call to a religious vocation. I would like to offer my thanks for the following parishioners who have been a great help in supporting vocations at Saint Francis: Dave Dirks, Joe Happe, Ryan Johnson, Dave Kurth, Jason Kurth, Judy Kurth, Luke Monat, Deacon Bill Richer, Nicole Ryan, and last but certainly not least Fr. Bob and Fr. George. A big thank you to all your efforts this past year! ~ Jim Henscheid In what ways has your parish been promoting vocations? Plans for Fall? Any news you want to share? We want to hear about what you ve been doing to promote a culture of vocations in your community. Email the Of ice of Vocations at vocations@dmdiocese.org.thanks for all your hard work and prayers! Cultivating a Culture of Vocations In order for a man to prepare for ordination to the priesthood, he has to engage in a challenging program of priestly formation. This program lasts from six to eight years, depending upon his background. Seminaries address four types of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. All candidates to the priesthood have an extensive academic schedule that includes philosophy and theology. Seminarians participate in a full schedule of spiritual activities, e.g., daily Mass, Liturgy of the Hours, and spiritual direction and retreats. At each level of seminary training, the seminarian prepares for future pastoral ministry in various settings, such as schools, religious education programs, hospitals, prisons and parishes. All of the formation takes into consideration the human person; human growth and development is fostered by community living, workshops and other programs. The formation of future priests includes practical learning, too, for example, preaching, presiding at Mass and pastoral counseling. If you are considering a call to priesthood, please contact me at (515) 237 5050. God Bless, Fr. Joseph Pins Director of Vocations Page 6 VOCATION VIBES
PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR ORDINANDI & SEMINARIANS Deacon Adam Westphal Deacon Fabian Moncada Deacon Ross Parker Andrew Windschitl Ben Tillinghast Colin Priest Dan Gehler James Chester James Downey John Lawrence Joseph Wright Luis Mejia Mejia Matthew Krastel Max Carson Paul Carlson Ryan Andrew Trevor Chicoine Zach Daly Religious Men and Women in Formation from the Diocese of Des Moines Laura Downey (Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist) from Saint Theresa, Des Moines Michael Weitl (studying for the Madonna House in Rome) from Saint Patrick, Audubon Brian Tabor (studying for Society of Jesus Jesuits, teaching at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) from Christ the King, Des Moines Br. David Reising LC (studying for the Legionaries of Christ) from Saint Theresa, Des Moines Br. Robert Nesbit (Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Tulsa, Oklahoma) from Saint Augustin, Des Moines Rite of Candidacy Mass~ Sunday, June 16 You are cordially invited and encouraged to witness four Seminarians profess their intent for priesthood during a Candidacy Mass at Christ the King Catholic Church, Des Moines on Sunday, June 16 at 11:00 a.m. The men are: Ryan Andrew from Christ the King parish, Des Moines, a graduate of Benedictine College with majors in busin ess administration and international business, attending Saint Paul Seminary. Trevor Chicoine from Immaculate Conception parish, Saint Marys, a graduate of Saint Pius X Seminary at Loras College, attending Pontifical North American College this Fall. Ryan Andrew Zach Daly Zach Daly from Christ the King parish, Des Moines, a graduate of Saint Pius X Seminary at Loras College, attending Pontifical North American College this Fall. James Chester from Sacred Heart parish, Chariton, a graduate of Conception Seminary College, attending Saint Paul Seminary this Fall. The Rite of Admission to Candidacy is celebrated when seminarians have developed the necessary qualifications for priesthood and have achieved appropriate maturity. During the rite, the intention of receiving Holy Orders is expressed publicly by aspirants and accepted by the Bishop. It formalizes the plan of the diocese and the candidates to further their studies and formation on the path to the transitional diaconate and, eventually, the priesthood. James Chester Trevor Chicoine Page 7 VOCATION VIBES
OFFICE OF VOCATIONS Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines 601 Grand Avenue Des Moines, IA 50309 TO: EMAIL vocations@dmdiocese.org CALL (515) 237-5014 LIKE US Facebook.com/DMVocations Cultivating a Culture of Vocations T HE 6TH ANNUAL FAIRWAY FATHERS Monday, June 17, 2013 Blank Golf Course 808 County Line Road, Des Moines Young men, 16 years or older, interested in learning more about the priesthood are invited to golf (or mini-golf) for FREE with Bishop Pates, priests, and seminarians of the Diocese of Des Moines. 9 a.m. Shot-gun Start Noon Mini-Golf 1 p.m. BBQ Luncheon Friends of Vocations (New this year) A limited number of spots are available for those who want to support the event and join us on the course. Cost is $85 per person and includes green and cart fees, snacks and luncheon. All net proceeds will benefit our diocesan seminarians. Mini-Golf Challenge (New this year) Priests, seminarians and others interested in priesthood should sign up to join Fr. Dan Kirby, Director of Seminarians, for FREE mini-golf at Noon, then attend the BBQ Luncheon. Everyone is required to register. Registration deadline is Friday, May 31. Contact the Office of Vocations at vocations@dmdiocese.org or (515) 237-5014. For more information and registration forms, visit our website dmdiocese.org/fairwayfathers.cfm.