Who makes holy priests?
At St. John Vianney Seminary, three priest-formators share how prayer, accompaniment and daily life help shape Denver's future spiritual fathers after the heart of Christ.
Well, God does, of course!
That’s not the end of the article, though. Seven to ten years of formation can’t just be summed up in one quick quip.
While the Holy Spirit is the one who calls and forms men to become future priests, he doesn’t work alone. There are many others who help seminarians along the way.
These formators — spiritual grandfathers of sorts, fathers to the fathers — minister outside the parish, accompanying seminarians in one-on-one conversations, prayer and daily life. Though hidden, their work is no less meaningful: helping to form future spiritual fathers after Jesus’ own Sacred Heart.
A Surprise Ministry
For many of them, the call back to seminary came as a bit of a surprise. When Father James Thermos was asked to return to St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, he remembers thinking, “Did I not pass one of my classes?”
Assured that was not the case, Father Thermos was invited to serve as a house father and formator. He would later transition into a spiritual direction role, which he continues to fulfill.
When Father John Ezratty arrived in the Archdiocese of Denver, he wasn’t expecting to return to the seminary. But when he was invited to serve as a formator and house father, he found it to be a “great honor” to help form future priests.
Father Brady Wagner, too, said he was similarly surprised when he was asked to return to the seminary only five years into his priesthood.
“I had not thought of doing anything other than parish ministry,” he said, noting how “young” he was in the priesthood. “But I am grateful for the last 10 years on the formation faculty.”
Fathers to the Fathers
At the core of their ministry is a call to a kind of spiritual grandfatherhood. They are responsible for helping future spiritual fathers to grow as disciples of Christ, even to the point of becoming alteri Christi, “other Christs,” as priests are called to be.
That, of course, is a long process. Over seven to 10 years, seminarians spend countless hours in prayer, study, spiritual direction, retreats and ministry. From the 30-day Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola to a month-long poverty immersion, St. John Vianney’s formation helps the men grow in freedom, generosity and holiness as they discern God’s will.
Through St. John Vianney’s unique household model, formators don’t simply meet with seminarians on occasion, but rather live with and among them. That kind of closeness allows them to be a different kind of witness: rather than a far-off authority, they are a real father.
Through this model, Father Ezratty noted, formation “becomes a shared life that truly fosters spiritual fatherhood. Living together means praying together, eating together, celebrating together, laughing together and also crying together. Formation is not something that happens at specific moments, but it is actually lived.”
Along the way, these formators guide, support and accompany the men who will be responsible for souls at the end of those years.
“When a young man first comes to the seminary, I see a heart in love with God, with a desire to serve him and the Church,” Father Ezratty explained. “My hope is that, throughout his years of formation, that love continues to grow and his heart becomes more and more configured with the Heart of Christ.”
In short, he said, he prays that parishioners who one day meet the happy, holy and healthy priests whom St. John Vianney has formed share the same insight someone had upon meeting the seminary’s patron saint: “I saw God in a man.”
“I also hope that he has not only tasted the zeal of Christ for souls but also has developed the virtues to be a good spiritual father, that having learned how to be a son in Christ, he is able to teach others how to receive and live from the font of grace of their Baptism,” Father Wagner added.
Formed as They Form
Just as their seminary ministry may have come as a surprise, these priest-formators have come to see that God is working in their lives even as he works through them in the lives of the seminarians they accompany.
As coordinator of the spirituality year, the year of formation in which seminarians detach from the world in order to dedicate themselves to prayer and discernment, Father Wagner has found himself deeply enriched by his ministry of accompaniment.
“It is often said that if you really want to learn something, teach it. The Lord has enriched my life greatly, deepening my own sense of identity as a Christian, and especially as a priest,” he said. “Living with and walking so closely with the seminarians, mentoring and discipling them, has especially developed my sense of spiritual fatherhood.”
For Father Ezratty, working in the seminary has been a great blessing, too, even showing him more of what it means to be a holy priest.
“If there is something that this ministry has taught me, it is, first, the greatness of the priesthood and the responsibility of being ‘another Christ’ to the people of God,” he told the Denver Catholic. “Second, that ‘the priest is not his own,’ to use Bl. Fulton Sheen’s expression. We become priests for Christ and his Church.”
Eighteen years into his ministry at the seminary, Father Thermos can’t help but look back with a smile.
“I love it,” he told the Denver Catholic. “It is a distinct privilege to accompany men who seek to hear Jesus’ call and respond with all their heart.”
An Encouraging Future
Living and serving alongside other disciples-in-the-making isn’t always easy. Even so, these priest-formators said their work is punctuated by a deep hope and joy.
“They are men of genuine faith and generosity. They have entrusted their unique humanity to Christ so that they might become instruments of grace in the lives of others,” Father Wagner emphasized. “As they grow in their capacity to discern daily God’s will in their own lives, they grow in their ability to help others recognize how the Lord is at work in his daily providence.”
When asked if he would share a moment when he witnessed a seminarian’s growth and felt that hope and joy, Father Ezratty exclaimed, “Oh! I could share a lot!”
He and other priest-formators noted that those feelings are never more powerfully felt than at the priestly ordination of the men they’ve accompanied along the way.
“The emotions one experiences when witnessing those men you have lived with, and you have given your life to, become ‘another Christ’ is hard to explain with words,” Father Ezratty said. “I think that that is the moment when I thank God for the mission he has entrusted to me, and I say to myself: ‘I love what I do. It is really worth it!’”
For Father Thermos, the moment usually hits him by surprise — just as the invitation to this kind of ministry. Nearby when one of those newly ordained priests is preaching, he finds himself moved “by the loving way in which he is addressing those listening. So many times, I can hear the love of God for his people in his words, the tone of his voice and his actions.”
Sometimes, he said with a chuckle, he even finds himself thinking, “When did this happen?!”
Yet, that is how the Holy Spirit so often moves: in quiet, hidden moments of grace. By the end of their time in seminary, the priests Father Thermos sees begin their ministry become something entirely new.
“Completing many years of formation, I see an apostle, ready to be sent by and with Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, to serve his bride, the Church,” Father Thermos noted.
How can you help make holy priests?
A simple question deserves a simple answer. Each priest that spoke with the Denver Catholic was clear: pray, pray and pray some more.
“It is a joy to see so many good young men responding to the call of the Lord, but pray for them,” Father Wagner said. “In the economy of grace, priests and seminarians rely heavily on the prayers of the faithful. As the seminarians are growing into men entrusted with much, they also will be targeted with greater trials. It takes much faith and fortitude to allow the Lord to form a man into a good, faithful and generous priest.”
Indeed, Father Ezratty explained, seminarians and priests are still human and “need encouragement, support, love and understanding, as all of us do.
“So, please, pray for our future priests and, if you meet them in person, make sure to encourage them on their formation journey,” he concluded. “These men look and are young, but don’t forget that one day they will be your fathers!”
Many times, Father Thermos noted, seminarians return to the seminary from an evening or weekend doing ministry and are overflowing with “the joy and life they have received from encouraging interactions” with parishioners across Northern Colorado.
“Thank you so much for ministering to them (and us) as the seminarians (and all at SJV) seek to minister to you,” he concluded.
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For more information on how to support the men in formation to become priests for the Archdiocese of Denver at St. John Vianney Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Seminary, visit archden.org/futurepriests.
