We’ve had three major events the last few months. Dcn. Lawrence was ordained a transitional deacon, Br. Damien made final professions, and Fr. Paul was ordained to the priesthood. Keep reading to hear from these Friars!
Dcn. Lawrence Hogue
The actual moment when Bishop Dolan laid his hands on my head, I felt a lot of warmth coming from his hands. As he
took his hand off, then prayed the prayer of consecration, the heat kept coming down into my body. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, so I think that was the Holy Spirit!’
I did my first Eucharistic procession, holding the monstrance, during our Pentecost retreat. I was trying to pay attention to Jesus, like when he wanted me to move and stay in front of someone. It was so beautiful to hear the testimonies afterwards, of like, ‘Jesus was right in front of me when one of the Friars called out for a healing of elbows and my elbow got healed’ or one lady who forgave and had all this oppression lifted.
I know that so many people have been praying for me. It's very humbling because I know that it's because of all of this that I'm where I'm at. The church has invested in me to be a sacred minister and I'm trying to cooperate with grace, and to really be able to serve as best as possible.
The Natives didn't have pastoral care consistently for almost 30 years. I want to see the Lord's love come and heal that, but also at the end of the day, if we can introduce them to Jesus, and they can receive eternal life, He'll take care of all that.
The Lord has quite a love for the Natives. They're the people that I will spend my life in service of. I'm just so grateful to be able to do that.
Br. Damien Van Amerongen
For the Mass of my final promises, I walked in with my baptism candle lit. I attend seminary through the Diocese of Phoenix and my fellow seminarians were cantors for the Mass. I was touched by my classmates singing.
For the profession itself, it was really emotional when I hugged my family members and went up to the sanctuary. There was so much peace. I did feel like the Lord had prepared my family to beautifully enter into the sacrifice alongside me, and I felt their joy.
The vows are built off of the baptismal promises and it felt like I was renewing my baptismal promises. After that I blew out my baptismal candle, which was a sign of me laying down my life by my own will.
I felt a lot of sobriety and clarity as I read that I will live poverty, chastity, and obedience for the whole of my life, and follow the statutes of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit with all my heart.
For one of the post-communion hymns, a group of boys from St. Peter High School sang one of the traditional Mary songs of the Pima. I learned all the words in English for my capstone project. It was cool to feel that connection to the people.
When I was discerning religious life, I found the Friars online. I saw that they do Native American ministry, and that just spoke to my heart. On my initial visits to the Friary, meeting the people, and the beautiful things that their culture and personalities had to offer, I felt like the Lord was calling me to do this ministry.
Fr. Paul Graupmann
I have a particular devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. At St. Thomas the Aquinas Church where I was ordained, there's a huge image of Our Lady receiving the Body of Jesus. It was one of the first things I saw after I was vested. I felt Our Lady's presence and her blessing over my priesthood.
Celebrating my first Mass as a priest was one of the greatest experiences of my entire life. Words can't articulate how incredible an experience that was!
I'm the parish administrator of St. John the Baptist Mission, doing more of the behind-the-scenes stuff for St. John's. It's been an opportunity to be with the people who are already committed to the mission at St. John’s, to pour into them.
There's a level of comfort that comes with being a priest, being a father. A lot of it is attentive listening and praying for people after
talking with them. Priests are needed because there's such a pastoral demand. Yesterday, I did an emergency anointing because Fr. Elijah was doing another anointing, and Fr. Antony and Fr. Peter Teresa were gone. There's ministerial demands that only a priest can do.
To be Catholic is to be a part of the sacramental life of the church. Ideally we'd have 20 more priests, and every mission would have a daily Mass and an hour of confession every day. In order to build a culture of living the sacramental life, the sacraments need to be available. We want easy access to the spiritual treasures of the church, and that comes down to the priests being available.
The support from donors has been awesome through this whole journey. Through the gifts they gave, I was able to go through seminary and learn what I needed to learn in order to be a priest. Every vocation is tried, and my own vocation had its own trials and tribulations. The gift of donors’ prayers has been so important to strengthen and persevere in this great calling the Lord has for me. I got to walk with these donors. They've been walking with me. So thank you to everyone who has supported my journey! I’m praying for you as well.