News

New priest ready to let God work

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

When is a man ready to be a priest?

Certainly not when you enter the seminary, according to Fr. Joel Sember, who was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Green Bay on June 30.

"You're never completely ready," said Fr. Sember, 27. Even after three years of training at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and preparing to return to the diocese next week, he doesn't feel he's completely ready.

	Related articles in this issue: • Bridging the Gap by Bishop Zubik -- For them, we are grateful • Three join order of priesthood at Cathedral (includes photo) • New priest considered vocation at young age (Fr. Kysely) • Why I want to be a priest (Fr. Ben Sember) • New priest said friendship started vocation (Fr. Ben Sember)
	Previous articles: from June 22, 2007 issue: • Bishop to ordain three from August 25, 2006 issue: • Three take next step on path (includes photo) August 11, 2006 issue: • Three seminarians will be ordained as deacons (includes photos of the three men) April 29, 2005 issue: • 'Like a herd of sheep, all hungry for pasture' (by Ben Sember) • Smoke became the main topic in Rome (by Joel Sember) April 15, 2005 issue: • Seminarians among faithful to mourn pope June 25, 2004 issue: • Celibacy is a great treasure for the church and for others (by Ben Sember) January 9, 2004 issue: • How one person made a difference for a seminarian August 9, 2002 issue: • 'Seeing the pope was best part of whole trip' (by Joel Sember) January 11, 2002 issue: • How Scripture guides our seminarians April 13, 2001 issue: • 'I had to check priesthood' (Ben Sember) December 8, 2000 issue: • Sacraments attract seminarian (Joel Sember)

"You're ready now to let God work through you," he said. "But do I have all the answers? No, I'll never know all that."

Not that he hasn't learned a lot of answers along the way since entering college seminary at St. John Vianney Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.

"Every step on the way has taught me a lot about myself, about God and about the priesthood," he said in a phone interview from Rome as he completed final exams before ordination. "After a couple years in the seminary, I felt I was ready to be ordained, that I'd learned everything I was going to need to know. But now," he paused and chuckled. "Perhaps now, I feel less ready than ever."

He is, however, very happy and excited and eager to get into pastoral work after his first Mass, which was on July 1 at Most Precious Blood Parish, New London. His happiness is something he believes is the key to a healthy vocation, and something that parents should remember about religious vocations.

"I'd tell parents that if they really want happiness for their son or daughter, I can guarantee that, if God is calling someone to religious life or the priesthood, that this is the way of life that will make them the most happy."

He said his own parents - James and Marion - have supported both him and his twin brother, Ben, who was also ordained June 30. Neither twin is a cradle Catholic. Their father had been raised Catholic but was not active for a number of years; their mother was Presbyterian. However, when Joel and Ben were 12, the family joined the church.

Joel said his parents always had "an active faith life," but he himself was not immediately attracted to the Catholic religion.

"At first, I was pretty put off by the Catholic church," he said. "The idea of having to obey some pope, and the idea of praying to saints, it all seemed kind of strange to me. It was something I struggled with and I started to ask a lot of questions."

Those questions led to more question and they ultimately "led me deeper and deeper into wanting to choose the Catholic faith."

Along the way, he learned an important lesson: God doesn't interrupt.

"My generation is in a bit of a hurry," he said, "and expect things to be instant. And so we might say a few words to God, listen for 30 seconds and say, 'Well, I guess he's not talking to me.' But God works very slowly. ... He'll wait and let us talk. And wait until we're good and finished before he'll respond." It's a lesson Fr. Joel still struggles with. There were a lot of things to wrap up before his ordination and, at times, it could seem a bit overwhelming.

"In every case, I found that when I stopped complaining and actually asked for God's help, things go amazingly well. You'd think that I would actually think about this in the first place!"

He said that he found his deepest sense of peace about the Catholic faith when he discovered the Blessed Virgin. "It happened when I realized that she was a faithful Christian, like the rest of us, and that she probably spent a lot of time in the pews praying and asking questions."

As he prepares for parish work - something he's eager to begin - he remembers all the parish people who have helped him prepare for the priesthood. There was the parish of his teen years - Sacred Heart in Sherwood - and that of his college years: St. Mary (now Good Shepherd) in Chilton. There's St. Bernard in Appleton, where he gave the seminarian appeal last year and which send him letters and runs regular bulletin updates, There's St. Mary in Menasha, where he lived during his CPE (chaplaincy preparation) at Theda Clark Hospital in Neenah. There's his current home parish of Most Precious Blood, New London, where he did formal pastoral work as a seminarian.

And there are many others he's had contact with over the years.

"Each parish is different and unique," he said. But they do share one thing, he added: "The people in the parishes have been really welcoming and very supportive, which gives me a lot of courage as a new priest." He also says that he's learned that many people in the parishes "have a deeper sense of faith than I do."

He said having his brother, Ben, with him through all the years of seminary has been a great asset. "He's been there to encourage me when I needed it. And to tell me to quit complaining when I needed that too."

Now as the two prepare to go their separate ways after ordination - Fr. Joel into parish work and Fr. Ben back to Rome to study canon law - Fr. Joel will rely on three things to get him through any difficult times that lie ahead: prayer, daily Mass and confession.

And, of course, the people: those who have helped him and those whom he now hopes to be able to help in return.

"People need to know that God is with them," he said. "And they need to be encouraged in their walk with the Lord, to listen to him, to pray and to speak their hearts to the Lord, and to know that he is always listening."

(Fr. Joel Sember has been assigned parochial vicar in Oshkosh at the parishes that will become Most Blessed Sacrament and St. Jude on July 14. He will also serve in campus ministry at the Newman Center at UW-Oshkosh.)