Seminarians gather at convocation to grow in faith and fraternity

Seminarians Aidan Hauersperger, left, and Isaac Siefker kneel in prayer on Aug. 12 during a Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis during the annual archdiocesan seminarian convocation. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

When Isaac Siefker attended his first archdiocesan seminarian convocation in 2017, he couldn’t have imagined that, seven years later, he would walk at the head of a eucharistic procession of more than 50,000 Catholics through the streets of downtown Indianapolis.

Yet that is exactly what he did a month ago at the culminating event of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress held in the city.

Siefker, a member of St. John the Apostle Parish in Bloomington entering his final year of priestly formation at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, was the cross-bearer at the front of the massive eucharistic procession that took place on July 20 in Indianapolis.

He reflected on the procession and the congress during the recent archdiocesan seminarian convocation on Aug. 11-14 at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis. It was the last convocation for Siefker before he expects to be ordained a priest for the Church in central and southern Indiana next June.

As he ascended the steps of the Indiana War Memorial where a monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament was placed at the end of the eucharistic procession, he was able to look back and view those who had been walking behind him.

“It was incredible, so awesome to see all those priests, all those religious sisters in their habits, deacons, bishops, hundreds of seminarians, slowly filling up” the seats in the grassy plaza below, Siefker recalled. “I almost have no words for it. It was truly awesome. Being together with that many other Catholics who all have a strong faith in the Eucharist, seeing their love for the Eucharist, their faith, devotion and piety really strengthened my own.”

Building ‘bonds of brotherhood’

Father Eric Augenstein, archdiocesan director of seminarians, said the congress also strengthened the bonds of the archdiocese’s seminarians who worked together at the national event, noting that it was “one of the unanticipated results of the congress.”

He noticed that strengthened bond during the convocation.

“I think we’ve had that for a while, but it seemed even stronger,” said Father Augenstein, who also serves as pastor of Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish in Indianapolis. “I think I would attribute that to the congress, to the opportunity for our seminarians to work together to support a major event here locally in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.”

The annual seminarian convocation is a time, Father Augenstein said, for seminarians “to build those bonds of brotherhood” before they go off to their respective seminaries for a new year of priestly formation.

At the start of this formation year, the archdiocese has 29 seminarians, with 12 enrolled at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary and Marian University, both in Indianapolis, 16 enrolled at Saint Meinrad and one enrolled at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology in Cincinnati.

Siefker said this last seminarian convocation for him before he is ordained a priest next year was “bittersweet.”

“The convocation is one of the annual things that I always look forward to and enjoy,” he said. “Meeting the new guys is always exciting. It’s good to have days to relax after the summer is over to brace yourself for the coming semester.”

While this convocation was the last one for Siefker, it was the first one for new seminarian John Fritch, a member of St. Martin of Tours Parish in Martinsville.

He graduated in May from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, where he majored in business administration. During his time there, he discerned for more than two years whether God might be calling him to the priesthood.

“When you’re by yourself at a secular university, you feel way more alone,” said Fritch, who is starting priestly formation in Saint Meinrad’s propaedeutic program. “When you get to be in the same room with about 30 other guys who are all striving for the same thing, it helps everyone to feel more encouraged. We’re together in this. There’s a sense of brotherhood.”

Father Augenstein said the convocation can be an important moment for men new to priestly formation

“The challenge for a new seminarian is entering into a group that already exists,” he said. “For them, it’s new and unfamiliar. So, it becomes the role of the more experienced seminarians to be almost like big brothers and to welcome the new guys in, to show them the ropes and invite them into the community.”

‘Better because of them’

Seminarians didn’t just build up fraternity among themselves at the convocation. They also spent time with archdiocesan priests during a cookout on July 20 at Fatima.

One of the priests who attended was Father Anthony Armbruster, ordained a priest on June 1 after six years of priestly formation at Saint Meinrad.

“I’ve had to keep reminding myself that I’m not going back to seminary in a few days,” said Father Armbruster with a laugh. “I kept psyching myself up for packing up and going back again.”

The newly ordained priest is now serving as parochial vicar for SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi Parish in Greenwood and St. Martin of Tours Parish in Martinsville.

Visiting with the seminarians—most of whom he knows well because he was one of them just a year ago—was for Father Armbruster “a nice way to see that movement from seminary life to now the priesthood.”

Father Dustin Boehm, pastor of St. Bridget of Ireland Parish in Liberty, St. Gabriel Parish in Connersville and St. Mary Parish in Rushville, also attended the cookout at the convocation.

He was especially glad to attend because one of the new archdiocesan seminarians there was Jack Fraley, a member of St. Gabriel who was only 8 when Father Boehm began ministry there a decade ago.

Seeing a young man from one of his parishes entering priestly formation is a sign to him that “somehow God has been working” through his ministry.

The first graduate of Seton Catholic High School in Richmond to become a seminarian, Fraley said Father Boehm is “one of my biggest role models, not just in my faith, but in my life.”

In his first year at Bishop Bruté, Fraley will enter more fully into discerning God’s will for him in the seminary’s propaedeutic program.

“If I become a priest, then that will be God’s will,” he said. “If I discern out, I want that to be God’s will, too.”

Father Boehm was gratified to see at the convocation that God was working in the lives of young men like Fraley from across central and southern Indiana.

“Every man here has their own story, their own struggle of saying yes to discernment,” he said. “Whether or not all these guys end up as priests or not, our archdiocese will be better because of them.”

Called ‘to holiness and mission’

Archbishop Charles C. Thompson spent time with the seminarians on Aug. 12 during the convocation, including celebrating Mass and blessing Fraley, Fritch and two other new archdiocesan seminarians—Adam Hermesch and Dominic Pavey.

In his homily at the Mass, the archbishop told the seminarians that any ministry they might ultimately carry out as priests is rooted in the call they received at baptism “to holiness and mission.”

“That should be our focus from the beginning to the end,” Archbishop Thompson said. “For us who are called to be priests, it’s our focus to be shepherds who lead others to fully realize their call to holiness and mission. Know that this is our priority and do not let other things get in the way.”

Acknowledging that the life of a priest can be challenging and hectic, Archbishop Thompson reminded the seminarians before him that “God’s victory will not be denied.”

In chaotic moments of life, he encouraged them to look at a crucifix and remember that “God transformed it into the sign of our victory, the victory of salvation.”

“That is the same God who continues to work in our Church, work in our lives and assures our victory over sin and death,” Archbishop Thompson said. “We just have to keep our priority and our focus on our call to holiness and mission so we can fully realize the joy that comes with being willing to take up our cross with him to share in his victory.”
 

(For more information about the archdiocese’s seminarians and about a vocation to the priesthood in the archdiocese, visit www.HearGodsCall.com.) †