SEEK26 Offers a ‘Prime Place’ for Vocations Discernment, Seminarians Say

With nearly 6,000 attendees, the conference becomes fertile ground for listening to God.

(Photo courtesy of FOCUS)

With a unique opportunity to raise awareness of vocations among thousands of young men and women, the Archdiocesan Vocations Office manned a booth at SEEK 26, sparking conversations with those considering God’s will for their lives.

The multi-day, annual Catholic evangelization conference, hosted by FOCUS, was held from January 1 to 5 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort in Denver.  Nearly 6,000 students, young adults, families, parish leaders and others came together to encounter Jesus more deeply through prayer, adoration, sacraments, workshops and fellowship. It is one of the largest Catholic gatherings in the country. This year, SEEK was held simultaneously in Denver; Columbus, Ohio; and Fort Worth, Texas.

Speaking to Denver Catholic at the conference, Father Jason Wallace, the archdiocesan vocations director, said SEEK offers a great chance for young men and women to “set themselves aside and put God first” to discover what he has created them for. The goal of having a presence at the conference was to help young men discern why they would want to be priests, even in this modern age, he explained.

“God created some people to be married, he called some people to be priests, so it’s not so much what I want to do, it’s what God created me to do,” Father Wallace continued. “That was in his mind from all eternity, what he created me for.”

Cooper Eitel, a seminarian at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, said his goal in speaking with potential priests and religious was to initiate a conversation about vocation.

“We have thousands of college students here, so there aren’t many other places with this kind of exposure to just really help foster vocations and get the conversation going for some guys. It’s a very special opportunity for that,” Eitel said.

Will Ives, another seminarian at St. John Vianney, said SEEK had many great talks and plenty of time to pray and to “see what God is trying to communicate to you this day and even for the rest of your life.”

Ives said SEEK also served to show participants that there are others also considering a religious life.

“To all come together, you get to see a bit of the glory of the faith and that you’re not alone. There are many other people like you who are searching for God,” he said.

“It really is just a prime place to see what God is doing in your immediate future, and then, who knows, maybe God’s trying to tell you something for the long term as well. That’s why it’s important we are here to foster that,” Ives added.

Looking back to the beginning of his discernment, Ives said he did not have many Catholic friends and did not know what a priest was or what life in the seminary was like, so giving those with a “semblance of the calling” access to people like himself — “young men who are vibrant and love people and just want to get to know [them]” — is “super encouraging.”   

Eitel said that in addition to providing reading materials and discernment guides, the Archdiocese will direct those who inquire about the priesthood to Father Wallace or another seminarian, “just to have someone on the inside … because it’s not like something you can do on your own.”

“We’re just here to help young men discover if [the priesthood] is what they’re created for, because if they’re created for that, we want them to do it, because that’s where they’re going to be the most joyful and find fulfillment in life,” Father Wallace added.

Ives echoed Father Wallace’s sentiment in the advice he would offer to those people considering God’s will in their own lives.

“Whatever it is that God is calling you to, that is going to make you the happiest you could possibly be,” he said, adding that this calling might not be the one the person or his family might think it is. “I’ve talked to guys who really want to be priests, and God clearly told them in their lives, ‘No, I need you to be a good father of a family, to help the community of Catholics and believers.’ Then other guys — like myself — who never imagined themselves being priests, God can speak clearly in their lives and start moving them in the direction of the priesthood,” Ives said.

Deciding to discern the priesthood is just the first step, Father Wallace said, recognizing that those attending SEEK26 might be attracted to pursuing their path in Denver. But, he indicated, that determination is a discernment all its own.

“God calls everyone to a specific place and time in the history of salvation, so one thing is for a man to have a sense of the calling. The next thing is where he is calling me to,” Father Wallace said, adding it is a “great discovery” based on reason and inspiration. “We have to go with our heart and our mind and ask if God could be calling me to this diocese versus another versus a religious order.”

Ives said the discernment process is nothing to be afraid of.

“Just stay faithful, stay in the sacraments and commit yourself to a life of prayer, and God will make that known, whatever his calling is,” he said. “Just don’t be afraid of it, and don’t make God wait.”

André Escaleira, Jr., contributed to this report.