My phone rang as I was walking around the block. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon during the spring after the pandemic began in 2020. I answered the call and heard the unmistakable voice of Bishop Michael Burbidge. “Jim! I have some good news,” Burbidge reassured me. “I have accepted your application to be a Seminarian of the diocese. This should be a joyous day for you!” 

I hung up the phone and immediately began to pray, thanking Jesus for calling me to the seminary through the Bishop. I remember one of the things I said to Jesus that day, “If it be your will, help me to become a good shepherd. Call me, and I will answer.” 

I still live by that hope.

That began a long journey of seminary formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. I have spent many hours with my head in books and my eyes glued to Word documents trying to crank out papers. I have spent a great deal of time at various ministries around the seminary to help prepare me for pastoral work. I have built strong, hopefully life-long friendships with my seminarian classmates at the Mount. And I have spent countless hours, in silence, before the tabernacle where our Lord dwells, begging Him for the grace to someday be a good priest.

It has now been more than four years since that initial phone call with the Bishop, starting my seminary journey. This April, assuming the official call of the Bishop that will confirm my discernment, my fellow Youth Apostles brothers, Eric and Sean, and I will be ordained to the transitional diaconate and, finally, one year later in 2026, to the ministerial priesthood. 

Please continue to pray for us as we make final preparations for the sacrament of Holy Orders.