His fingers hover over the piano keys, the drumsticks stand poised, the
guitar strings held firmly. Three vocalists inhale deeply, and the music
begins. Fifty, no seventy teenagers sing. The Eucharist is
processed to the monstrance flanked by the rising smoke of the incense, the
deacon and his humeral veil. Knees bend, heads are bowed, and prayers are
lifted.
This is the picture of ministry for seminarians, a singular instance of
pastoral experience in priestly formation that took place at St. Mary Catholic
Church in Mount Angel. As one of the four pillars in Blessed Pope John
Paul II's Pastores Dabo Vobis, pastoral formation invites seminarians to
numerous off-campus service sites where lessons are cultivated in
responsibility, interpersonal relationships, and "progress of the
ministerial self," according to the seminary's Pastoral Formation Blue
Book.
Pastoral ministry field education assignments vary and include religious
education programs in parishes, meeting with residents of assisted living
centers, volunteering at food banks and homeless shelters, and tutoring and
mentoring youth. To understand pastoral ministry is to see seminarians in
action.
Seven seminarians played out the scene described above on November 28,
leading the middle and high school youth of the parish in a night of
contemporary praise and worship music and Eucharistic adoration. Emilio
Gonzalez, seminarian for the Diocese of
Fresno, arranged the event in coordination with St. Mary's staff,
and he played the drums.
 |
| Emilio Gonzalez |
Pastoral ministry brought about many similar encouraging moments this
autumn. Joseph Paddock, a seminarian for the Diocese of Helena, spent Friday evenings
at St. Andre Bessette Catholic Church of Portland with their program called
Evening Fellowship. There he aided in preparing a meal, serving dinner,
conversing with the homeless, and creating a safe environment for many Portlanders
living on the streets.
"You know they live this really hard life, and they come up there
and in a way it transforms them for an hour and a half," Paddock said.
"It's really neat to develop relationships with some of the people.
We trade stories."
 |
| Joseph Paddock |
In the autumn leading up to the elections, Paddock found himself trading
just such stories with a typically quiet patron. The man turned
immediately to politics, asking Paddock which presidential candidate he
favored. When Paddock responded by saying he was weighing the issues, the
man animatedly and staunchly advocated for a particular nominee. Paddock
decided the opportunity was golden to work on attentive listening.
"I told myself, 'I'm going to try to understand what's driving what
he's saying,'" Paddock said. "I want to kind of see the
presidential election through his eyes. And as an extension to that,
through the eyes of the people who are living on the streets of Portland."
Pastoral ministry often provides fresh eyes to seminarians. Martin
Moreno, a seminarian for the Diocese of
Tucson, hesitantly began leading Scripture study at MacLaren Youth
Correctional Facility in Woodburn this year with incarcerated 15 to
25-year-olds.
 |
| Martin Moreno |
"Going into this ministry, I was absolutely terrified and nervous
mostly because I had never worked with incarcerated youth," Moreno said.
"But they're just regular people who have made poor decisions.
They have a thirst for God. They like to be there. They all
have dreams and goals they want to achieve."
Moreno and his ministry partners, Robert Sullivan of the Diocese of Monterey and Stephen
Saroki of the Diocese of San Diego,
discussed the upcoming Sunday's Mass readings and met one-on-one with youth.
Most youth come to see their time at MacLaren as an opportunity to change
the direction of their life, Moreno said, and for the 10 or 12 in his group
each week, faith drives and inspires their ambition.
"When we think of prison, we often think it's God-forsaken, but it
really is full of hope," Moreno said.
So
are the seminarians in pastoral ministry there.
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