ICC Student discerns the priesthood

By Anthony Sperando

COM 360

Profile Story Assignment

      

        Alex Miller, shown in front of a statue of Mary, is currently discerning the priesthood.

            Becoming a priest in today’s society is not an easy task. There are many different factors that could stop you from following the path you may feel God is calling you to. Alex Miller, a 20-year-old Illinois Central College student from Mendota, Ill., is attempting to go against the grain.

            After attending TEC, Teens Encounter Christ, a youth retreat in high school, Miller began to ask God what he wanted him to do now.

            “He lead me to the Church, so I became Catholic,” Miller said, who was raised as a Lutheran. This wasn’t the end of the road for Miller, though. He began to believe following a vocation into the priesthood, was the answer.

            “It feels like the natural next-step. I still don’t feel like I’m doing his will yet,” Miller said.

            When he came to his decision after much thought and prayer, Miller contacted his pastor, who then called Monsignor Brian Brownsey, the vocation director of the Diocese of Peoria. Miller was told he may receive a call from Brownsey in a week or so, but the call arrived the next day. Brownsey instructed Miller to come down to Peoria and have lunch with him.



 They decided Miller should wait an extra year, before joining the seminary, since he had just become Catholic not too long ago.

            “The whole point was for him to grow, mostly academically,” Brownsey said. “He’s been going to class and getting his work done.”

            Miller, now living in Peoria, is working on staff at the St. Joseph Newman Center on Bradley University’s campus and also at Mt. Hawley Country Club as a waiter, all while attending classes at ICC.

            Despite the consequences of this life choice, Miller said the decision has only made sense.

            “I’m more excited about my future than I was two years ago. I had no idea what I wanted to do. The idea of the priesthood was in the back of my mind the whole time, but I finally decided not to smother it with a pillow,” Miller said.
             Miller has had an effect on the students he has interacted with at Bradley, as well.
             "I think its really bold of him. For him to explore his faith that deeply and to willingly jump into what God has called him into. It has set a good example for others," Nick Maggiore, a Catholic sophomore Bradley student, said. 

            According to Miller, many other seminarians have found the choice to be very liberating. Miller says he barely gets stressed anymore.

            The path from here will be to attend the seminary once Miller gets accepted, which he will find out in August. Once he hears back from the Bishop, who makes the decision, he will travel to Winona, Minn. to attend the seminary located there for three years. After those years in Minnesota, he will then attend the seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. for four additional years.

            A seminary can be easily compared to a normal college university. The students attend typical classes and earn a degree. This is important because they will need to be able to speak to educated people when they become priests one day. The seminarians need to expand their intellectual capacity. Pastoral formation is provided through learning how to be a leader, how to reach out to people and how to make people feel at home.

            “These couple of men are in charge of 1,000 people at one time,” Miller said, when talking about a typical priest’s responsibility at their home parishes.

            Along with the academic and pastoral formations, there is a spiritual formation provided.

            “You need to pray and need to have a prayer life. If you’re not praying, eventually you’ll be a horrible priest,” Miller said. Lastly, there is a human formation. This includes having control over emotions and physical nature, such as maintaining diet and also having physical and emotional chastity.

            After this seven-year process, the seminarians are then invited into the priesthood and are assigned to parishes, dioceses or elsewhere in the world. There is also the possibility during the process that the seminarian decides this path is not right for him.

            “As long as I am doing God’s will, I will be at peace. I will be engaged in the parish wherever I go,” Miller said. “If I end up being called to the married life, I will do my best to raise my family and the best dad I can be. I never knew my dad, so that makes me want to be the best dad I can be. I want to be the best father figure for whoever I’m with.”