The Catholic New World: Cardinal George to ordain 14 men for archdiocese on May 22

First assignment: St. Benedict (Irving Park)

Education: St. Joseph the Worker School, Wheeling; Wheeling High School; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Parents: Frank and Judy (Dietors) Bauer

First Mass: 2:30 p.m. May 23 at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, Wheeling

When Steven Bauer was growing up, he wanted to be a veterinarian. It wasn’t until he was at the University of Illinois that he became involved with the Newman Center and began to take a greater interest in his faith. But even then, he had no clear idea God was calling him to be a priest. After college, he worked as a graphic designer and got involved in his local parish. Taking a step toward ministry, he committed to a year as part of a team of 10 young adults with NET (National Evangelization Teams) Ministries, traveling from diocese to diocese and running retreats for junior high and high school students.

After that year—one he calls the most challenging of his life—he found another job in publishing. “I soon discovered how unfulfilling life in corporate America was,” Bauer said. “I was no longer making a difference in people’s lives by bringing Christ to them, and after an intense year of ministry, I knew that God had greater plans for me than to make magazines.” Bauer said that as he visited different parishes with NET ministries, he was saddened to see how few included a prayer for more vocations at Mass. More prayer, even Holy Hours for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, could help people discern the call, he said. Bauer said his experiences in corporate America will help him relate to parishioners. “I believe I can help Catholics to incorporate a deeper sense of spirituality into their lives, to see God more clearly in their lives, and to bring the light of Christ into the workplace,” he said. That’s all the more necessary in this society’s atmosphere of “secular complacency.” “Because the human person has an innate spiritual quality, many … people are searching for a way to satisfy that hunger in their soul, but do not know exactly how to do that. I hope to be able to work with the parish staff and school faculty to develop some creative ways of re-evangelizing Catholics who have drifted away from the church.”

Matthew Ross Compton, 27

First assignment: St. Francis Xavier, Wilmette

Education: St. Paul Catholic School, New Bern, N.C.; New Bern High School; Mundelein High School; Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich.; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Parents: Gary Ross and Carol Lee Compton

First Mass: 12:30 p.m. May 23 at St. Joseph Parish, Libertyville

Matthew Compton knows exactly when he felt the call to the priesthood. It was Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, at about 7:30 p.m., and the college junior was praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament at St. John’s Catholic Chapel at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Compton was meditating on the words, “‘The harvest is ready but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest,’” a passage from Matthew’s Gospel. “The words seemed to come alive,” he said. “I looked up and asked, ‘God, are you talking to me?’”

But Compton said the beginnings of his vocation journey stretch back to his childhood, when his mother taught him and his brother and sister about the faith and read to them from the Bible before sending them off to Catholic school each day. Such examples cultivate fertile ground for religious vocations, Compton said, and priests, parents and other adults can plant the seed by encouraging young people to investigate all kinds of vocations. “However, fundamental to all of these initiatives is the spiritual renewal of the Catholic Church, all of us praying more, participating with heart and mind in the sacraments and in the life of the church, and living the faith in all aspects of our lives,” Compton said. “The attempt to promote vocations must begin with and be accompanied by the on-going conversion toward God by all Catholics and our response to God’s help in growing in holiness and virtue each day.”

Jose Antonio Delgado, 29

First assignment: St. Agnes of Bohemia

Education: elementary and high school in Peru; seminary at Instituto Pedagógico Superior Salesiano in Peru

Parents: Juana Carola Salas and Jose Arturo Delgado

First Mass: 4:30 p.m. May 23 at St. Agnes of Bohemia

Jose Antonio Delgado’s family tells him that he was always different, even as a child. “I don’t remember this, but they tell me that when I was a young boy, I would make my grandfather cross the street with me to go into church and light a candle to the Blessed Mother,” Delgado said. After high school, Delgado joined the Salesians, a teaching order. He studied for four years, then went back to his hometown to teach for three years before starting his theological studies. At that point, a friend suggested he might want to look beyond the Salesians.

Delgado decided to come to Chicago to explore his options, and he got permission from his order to study here. “They said that if that was where God was calling me, I had to go,” Delgado said. And the doors to come to Chicago—everything from his visa application to his English studies—opened so quickly, he knew this was where God wanted him. “I have always felt you have to bloom where he puts you,” he said.

Delgado said his adaptability will help him serve the diverse population in Chicago, where there are not too many Peruvians. Instead, he will strive to connect with the people he serves, whoever they are. “You have to love what they love, eat what they eat, live like they live,” he said. Only by making strong connections, with people both relational and liturgical, can the church encourage more young people to consider religious vocations, he believes. The greatest challenge for priests is a crisis of integrity of which the sex abuse crisis is a symptom. “It was not just the scandal. Every time a priest breaks the rules of being the connector between God and people, being the bridge, every time a priest places a stop sign between God and his people, that is not right,” Delgado said. “If a priest is not compassionate, I don’t know what he’s doing. That is the big challenge, trying to remember Christ and be compassionate like him.”

Marek J. Duran, 26

First assignment: St. Mary Star of the Sea

Education: Elementary and high school in Poland, seminary in Rzeszów, Poland

Parents: Stefania Jedlowska and Stanislaw Duran

First Mass: 9 a.m. May 30 at St. Mary Star of the Sea

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:5) Marek Duran finds reassurance in this verse, which leads into a passage reminding the reader that though he might feel unworthy, God has a plan for him. Duran said he felt God’s call since he was small, setting up a chapel and playing priest in his family’s home in Poland, getting his two-year-old sister to assist as an altar server. His father worked first on a road crew and then in an iron factory, while his mother tended the family farm and cared for their four children. My family taught me and gave me an example of how to be hard-working, reasonable and respect everybody. Duran was attracted to the “soldier spirituality” of the Jesuits, but the congregation rejected him for health reasons. He entered the diocesan seminary in Rzeszow instead. In 1998, Auxiliary Bishop Thad Jakubowski visited, recruiting seminarians for Chicago. The idea intrigued Duran, but his superiors discouraged him. He won their blessing and came to Chicago in August, 2000.

That will be an advantage in Chicago’s diverse Catholic community, he said. “Because I come from another country I can be a bridge between different groups of people. Furthermore, I would like to study the spirituality of the diocesan priesthood to be able to write and strengthen the morale of the priests which suffered so greatly due to the scandal.” That scandal makes the priesthood challenging, as does the prevalence of non-practicing or ill-catechized Catholics. “What we have to do is to live a simple life-style, and spend more time reaching out and trying to bring people back,” Duran said. Reaching out also will help develop more vocations to the priesthood, he said. “In every vocation story there is a priest involved, since we are able to do something only when we can imagine it.”

Ramil E. Fajardo, 39

First assignment: St. Clement

Education: Ascension School, Oak Park; Oak Park-River Forest High School; University of Illinois at Chicago

Parents: Avelina A. Elizondo and Sinforiano G. Fajardo

First Mass: 12:15 p.m. May 23 at St. John of the Cross, Western Springs

Born in the Philippines and immigrating to Chicago at age 5, Ramil Fajardo began to feel the call to the priesthood soon after—perhaps second grade, he said. But he never told anyone because “it wasn’t cool to be a priest. … I intentionally veered away from the topic because I just didn’t feel right about admitting that pull of the heart.” It was only after graduating from college and embarking on a 13-year banking career that Fajardo was ready to acknowledge his vocation. He had been attending daily Mass and working toward a life of deeper prayer and service with the help of spiritual directors, he said, “but I recognized that there was something ‘more’ to life and that I was missing out on it.”

With the encouragement of Opus Dei Father Fred Piegel and Franciscan Father George Musial of St. Peter’s-in-the-Loop and a “brief but intense chat about vocations” with Cardinal George, Fajardo felt ready to enter the seminary five years ago. More men might consider the priesthood if they received the kind of frank encouragement he got as an adult, Fajardo said, and if the priesthood is portrayed in more positive terms. “It’s the silence that’s preventing men from even being comfortable about opening up about a possible vocation, he said. “(We shouldn’t) view priesthood strictly in terms of negation or lack (i.e., celibacy as a ‘lack’ of spousal relations). Priesthood must be also seen as an outpouring of love, a giving.”

Still, there is a certain grace to having adult life experience before entering the seminary, Fajardo believes. “Although I did not enter the seminary until well after my college days, I realize that, in one way, I was not sufficiently ready to enter studies—after all, it is God who calls and offers the appropriate graces to respond to his call with acceptance and in trust. But even if I was unable to offer my youth in the service of the church, I believe that I can now offer my work experience, my collaborative relations with others.”

Jacek A. Jura, 31

First assignment: St. John Brebeuf

Education: High school and seminary in Krakow

Parents: Zofia Wilk and Kazimierz Jura

First Mass: 3 p.m. May 23 at St. Fabian, Bridgeview

Jacek Jura came to Chicago from Poland by way of East Boston. The fourth of five children, he felt an early call to the priesthood and entered the seminary in Czestochowa after high school. After finishing college-level studies there, he worked as a seminarian and religious education teacher at the kindergarten, elementary and high school levels in Wroclaw and Lublin. In 1998, he felt God was calling him to be a missionary, so he decided to continue his priestly formation in the United States.

Jura went first to East Boston, working at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, before starting his major seminary studies at Mundelein. In the summer 2003, he participated in a clinical pastoral education program at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. “It was … an opportunity to participate in a very real way in human suffering and pain and to focus on pastoral competence through a unique and multidisciplinary approach to spiritual care,” he said. To encourage more vocations, Jura said, priests need to stay in contact with young people, making personal invitations to consider religious vocations and supporting those who show an interest. Jura also sees a role for the Catholic media, in setting forth examples of holy priests and religious.

Robert Korbel, 25

First assignment: St. Priscilla

Education: Elementary and high school in Poland; seminary in Krakow, Poland

Parents: Marianna Mirek and Andrzej Korbel

First Mass: 2 p.m. May 23 at St. Francis Borgia

Robert Korbel was raised on a family farm in Poland, and remembers coming in from work in the fields and praying together. He also remembers interacting with several priests as he was growing up. Both examples contributed to his feeling as a high school student that he might have a call to the priesthood. Still, he wasn’t sure. “I really wanted to study archeology and history more than theology,” he said. But he enrolled in the seminary in Krakow, thinking that if it was a mistake, God would let him know.

“I thought I would stay for one year, and then I could leave.” But after praying and meditating on it for that year, he knew God was calling him. Then, when Father Richard Milek and Father Thomas McQuaid visited and told the seminarians about the need for priests in Chicago, he knew God was calling him here. Korbel said his experience will help him deal with the biggest challenges of the clergy today—overcoming the clerical sex abuse scandal by interacting positively with kids, and working to bring together parishioners from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. “I know some priests are afraid,” he said. “They want to avoid kids. But you can’t do that. Priests need to be in the schools, talking to kids, playing soccer and basketball.”

Korbel has been in the United States since 2000, and now speaks both English and Spanish as well as Polish. But language is not the only difficulty. “In Poland, you have only people from Poland in a parish,” he said. “Here, you have people from Mexico, from Peru, from Poland, from the U.S. Do you have three different parishes in one building? You have to find a way to unite them.”

Thomas J. Mescall, 56

First assignment: St. Terrence, Alsip

Education: St. Leo School, Leo High School, University of Albuquerque, N.M.; John Marshall Law School; Sacred Heart Seminary, Hales Corners, Wis.

Parents: Helen Hughes and the late James Mescall

First Mass: 11 a.m. May 23 at St. Terrence

Thomas J. Mescall has lived a full life by most standards. The oldest of this year’s ordination class, he grew up on the South Side went to college, got a law degree and eventually became a judge in Albuquerque, N.M. He also married and had two children, both lawyers now themselves. But he always felt a pull toward the priesthood—since preparing for First Communion in the second grade—and, after he was divorced, his marriage was declared null. Mescall credits the example of family member and family friends who were priests and religious with developing his vocation, along with the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, New Mexico, Lemont, Ill., and Eindhoven, Netherlands. “Never underestimate the power of prayer,” he said. For Mescall, his call to the priesthood demonstrates the point of Jesus’ parable about the workers in the vineyard. “I’m the oldest candidate in this year’s class but that proves that vocations to priesthood or religious life are meant not only for the young but for all those who are eager and willing to heed the Good Shepherd’s voice, to feed his lambs and tend his sheep,” Mescall said. “Some labors arrive early and others come late but Jesus tells us that the wages are the same.” He brings the same attitude pastoring his flock. “The greatest challenge facing pastors or other clergy is to reach out to Catholics who have fallen away from regular Sunday Mass attendance,” he said. “We have to get our brothers and sisters to participate with our parish faith communities in worshiping God every Sunday. What better way to keep holy the Sabbath? We all have to do our part in loving God and neighbor and I hope God will make good use of my talent in building up the Body of Christ. We’re never too young or too old to do that.”

Octavio Munoz Capetillo, 27

First assignment: St. Agnes, Chicago Heights

Education: Elementary and high school in Aguascalientes, Mexico; Seminario Diocesano de Aguascalientes

Parents: Ofelia Capetillo and Abelardo Munoz

First Mass: 12:30 p.m. May 24 at St. Ferdinand

The same priest who married Octavio Munoz Capetillo’s parents and baptized him as a baby still pastored his parish when he served as an altar boy. The priest, now retired, served the parish for 27 years, Munoz said, and he provided the example that led Munoz to think he might have a vocation to the priesthood. The call came early enough for Munoz to enroll in minor seminary for high school and to do his philosophy studies. In 2001, he came to Casa Jesus, a house of formation operated by the Archdiocese of Chicago for Latin American men, and then was admitted to Mundelein Seminary.

While Munoz does not have the same life experiences as some of his older classmates, he believes his youth offers special gifts for the church. “I am a young, energetic person,” he said. “I see the Archdiocese of Chicago as a very challenging place, but also very exciting.”

Part of the challenge comes from the diversity of the flock—a diversity reflected in this year’s ordination class.

“That can be a challenge, but with people from all over the world, we can also enrich ourselves and each other,” he said. Another challenge is to remind people of the positive face of the priesthood. But neither of those form the central challenge, of pastoring God’s flock. “To be a priest of Jesus Christ, to serve the people—that’s what it is to be a priest.” Munoz said, “Nothing else, nothing less. To live it out … that would be the first challenge.”

Hoang H. Nguyen, 29

First assignment: St. Anastasia, Waukegan

Education: Elementary school in Vietnam, Wheaton North High School, St. Joseph College Seminary

Parents: Chin Tran and Quang Ngo Nguyen

First Mass: 5:30 p.m. May 22 at St. Henry

Hoang Nguyen will be able to understand the trials that many immigrants to America face. The fifth of five sons in a family of five brothers and a sister, he was separated from his father for most of his childhood after his father left Vietnam in 1981 to come to the Chicago area and find work. The family was reunited when Nguyen was 16 years old, and his whole family was able to immigrate.

After finishing high school, he attended the College of DuPage with the goal of becoming a physical therapist. But God, he said, was calling him in another direction. He first heard the call from his grandmother, who often took him to church when he was a small boy and once asked if he wanted to be a priest. At the time, he said, he didn’t understand the question. “That question has remained in my heart ever since,” he said. “Now, I really want to say to her that ‘Yes, I want to become a priest.’”

To encourage other young people to consider priestly or religious vocations, parish leaders must not only discuss vocations with them, but also engage the youth in serving others, whether by working in soup kitchens or visiting hospitals and nursing homes. “By serving others, they will eventually learn and understand the meaning of service, love, and discipleship—a vocation,” Nguyen said. The greatest challenge the newly ordained will face is a lack of trust from the faithful, because of the sex abuse scandal, Nguyen said. “I have to be patient, pray for the church and the victims, and trust the Holy Spirit, who will give me the strength to overcome this challenge.”

L. Jerome Parrish, 49

First assignment: Not determined

Education: Holy Angels School, St. Ignatius High School, Yale University, Cardinal Stritch College

Parents: Maurice Parrish and the late Ione Culumns Parrish

First Mass: noon May 23 at Holy Angels

Jerome Parish has overcome many medical obstacles on his path to ordination. Originally on track to be ordained in 2002, Parrish had what was scheduled to be outpatient surgery to repair a torn muscle on his leg in March of that year. Complications led to cardiac arrest, a stroke and kidney failure, leaving Parrish on dialysis and with neurological damage. After several months of treatment and recuperation, Parrish returned to Mundelein that fall. Then in April and May 2003, Parrish had two more surgeries to repair and replace two heart valves damaged by an infection. He suffered personal losses as well, as his mother and brother died. However, he also got some good news: his kidneys improved enough to allow him to stop dialysis. Parrish now resides at St. Philip Neri Parish.

Edilberto Ramón Jimenez, 31

First assignment: Queen of the Universe

Education: Elementary and high school in Guerrero, Mexico; Universidad Autonoma de Guerrero

Parents: Inocencia Jimenez and Adalberto Ramón

First Mass: 4:30 p.m. May 23 at Queen of the Universe

Edilberto Ramón was a young man of 18, just starting at university, when a strong feeling of solidarity with the poor and the unwanted made him consider whether he was being called to shepherd God’s people. He began to look at other people and his own life from a different perspective, he said, and recalls one encounter with a homeless man as an example. “In the short period of time we shared in a conversation, I realized that it made a difference in his life,” Ramón said. “He was able to laugh and talk about the things he would have liked to have in life. I shared with him all I am and all my being. This has become my commitment to priesthood. Consequently, I read this encounter as a sign to pursue my priestly calling.”

Ramón’s own experiences as an immigrant to the United States and living in a multicultural setting in the seminary will help him minister to all of his parishioners, he said. “My experience of coming from Mexico to Chicago allows me to understand the people who migrate here from different Latin American countries,” Ramón said. “This helps me to understand their reality, culture and needs. This teaches me a very basic element of being a shepherd. A shepherd needs to know his sheep. … I think pastors are facing the challenge of having vibrant and living communities. They also face the problem of how people live and worship together in multi-ethnic communities. I think one of the things I would do to face the challenge is seeing and presenting myself as the pastor of the entire parish community.”

Mariusz P. Stefanowski, 28

First assignment: St. Fabian, Bridgeview

Education: Elementary and high school in Poland; Major Seminary of John Paul II in Siedlce, Poland

Parents: Bozena Bocian and Mieczyslaw Stefanowski

First Mass: 2:30 p.m. May 23 at St. Ferdinand

Mariusz Stefanowski knew from his First Communion that he wanted to be a priest, and from early in his seminary career knew he would like to serve as a diocesan priest in the United States. He came first to a Polish seminary, SS. Cyril and Methodius, in Orchard Lake, Mich. But as he looked for opportunities to serve, the Archdiocese of Chicago seemed the perfect fit, and he transferred to Mundelein Seminary.

“I will serve the people of God and have the opportunity to stay in touch with my native Polish culture,” he said. Stefanowski said he looks forward to serving people from all over the world. “The diversity of cultural backgrounds of Catholics in this archdiocese certainly attests to the very character of the church, namely her catholicity, i.e. universality,” he said. “I think it is a blessing despite the challenges that come with it. The sex abuse scandal presents its own challenges to the newly ordained, he said. “There will certainly be much to work on to regain trust in the priesthood which might have been weakened,” Stefanowski said.

John Zurek, 43

First assignment: St. Michael, Orland Park

Education: St. Bruno; St. Laurence High School, Burbank; Loyola University

Parents: Audrey Romanchek and the late Edward Zurek

First Mass: 12:30 p.m. May 23 at St. Michael, Orland Park

John Zurek credits hotel magnate Jay Pritzker with planting the seed that eventually blossomed into his priestly vocation. Zurek had been working as a sous-chef for the Hyatt Hotel chain when he spent several weeks working in the Pritzker family’s private dining room. While there, he spoke with Pritzker, who told him the secret to his success was pursuing diverse interests and finding ways to give back to the community. The first way that came to Zurek’s mind was to get more involved in his faith, and he began volunteering more at St. Peter’s in the Loop, where he worshipped. “After several years, I found myself having two loves of my life, cooking and the church,” he said. “I had already given myself to cooking, and as I fell more and more in love with the church, I decide to devote myself to that.”

While it took one person to give him the idea, Zurek said he was helped along the road to the priesthood by the example of faithful lay Catholics. “I was very encouraged by seeing people praying in the pews, people praying faithfully,” Zurek said. “The laity are the greatest teachers in the world of how to be a good priest.” He intends to provide a welcoming atmosphere for them in the parish. “My culinary background taught me that the most important thing is to treat people hospitably,” he said. “If one person gets upset, they’ll tell 20 people and you’ll lose 21 customers. If one person is happy with their experience, they’ll tell 20 people, and you’ll gain that many customers. You need to see their needs.”