Don Woznicki, 41

First assignment: St. Norbert, Northbrook

Education: St. John the Baptist School, St. Joseph High School, both in South Bend, Ind.; Purdue University, Indiana

Parents: Eugene and the late Rita Woznicki

First Mass: 11:30 a.m. May 19 at St. Mary of the Lake, Chicago

Don Woznicki can definitively say that he felt no calling to the priesthood as he was growing up. In fact, he left the church entirely. It was only after 10 years that he found his way back to a church—a nondenominational, evangelical Protestant congregation.

“They really brought me back to my relationship with Christ,” he said. “Then I realized how much I was missing the sacraments, and two years later, I came back to the Catholic Church.”

In 1993, when Woznicki, a chemical engineer, was working as an enforcement officer for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a priest in New York suggested that he might have a vocation to the priesthood. As he explored the idea through the Insearch program, he began to believe that the priest might have been right. “The more I investigated the priesthood, the more I felt that was what God was calling me to,” Woznicki said.

While in seminary, Woznicki has developed an interest in the dialogue between faith and the media culture, working recently to bring a Christian program called “Act One: Screenwriting for Hollywood” to Chicago.

“I’m feeling a big prompting from the Holy Spirit to do work in that area,” he said, but he understands that his first obligation will be to his parish. “That is my ultimate responsibility, to journey with the people and provide the sacraments to them.”

Woznicki will be ordained at a time when scandals involving priests are capturing headlines.

“I feel more for the priests who have been around for a while and have been living a good, chaste life,” Woznicki said.

Seeing so vividly the damage that priests who stray from celibacy can do, Woznicki said, has made him redouble his commitment to an active prayer life and ongoing formation.

“For a lot of us guys, it’s making us look at our celibate commitment and really take it seriously,” he said.

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