Called Through the Intercession of Mary

“Indeed, the life of grace includes our relationship with Christ’s Mother, for our union with Christ by grace also entails union with Mary in a relationship of trust, tenderness, and wholehearted affection.” – Mater Populi Fidelis, 2025 document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

As May has traditionally been held as a month of special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I would like to share a story with you about my own relationship with Mary and a unique journey that she walked with me on my path to ordination.

Near the end of my first year in seminary in April of 2018, I realized that I had been encouraging people that I knew to pray our Diocesan prayer for vocations but, in fact, I was not praying it myself. As I began my second year of seminary and was joined by my classmate, now-Fr. Isaiah Schick, we began discussing how we could more consistently pray together as seminarians for vocations in our Diocese. By early 2019, Fr. Isaiah, myself, and now-Fr. Joe Stefancin began praying a rosary for vocations at 2:00 p.m. every Wednesday. We were pleased that in the 2019-2020 academic year this 2:00 p.m. time also worked for our two college seminarians. And so, we five seminarians kept praying.

Continuing this habit into 2020, we discerned that perhaps we should invite the clergy and lay faithful of the Diocese of Superior to join us in praying the rosary. Thus, on January 1, 2021, we began the Called North Rosary Challenge with hopes of offering 1,200 rosaries in 2021. We drastically underestimated the faithful’s commitment to praying the rosary. By the time the clock struck 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2021, 23,235 rosaries had been prayed by the faithful of the Diocese of Superior. And we saw fruits immediately.

Throughout the years of 2020 and 2021 we welcomed four new men to the seminary. One was now-Fr. Julian Druffner, a classmate of mine and a Hudson native. Two of the other men – Carl Oman and Scott Pederson – will be ordained as transitional deacons in two weeks. Scott will be with us here for the summer at Saint Patrick Parish.

Here’s where this story gets personal. For most of the previous 40 years, priesthood ordinations had taken place in early June. This meant that ordinations were typically held after the Easter season. As my ordination to the diaconate neared in 2022, the topic of moving the ordination date to the month of May was proposed and eventually accepted. Not only did this mean that my classmates and I would be ordained earlier, but now our ordination dates would coincide with the glorious mysteries of the rosary, which we had started praying on Wednesday afternoons for an increase in vocations three years prior!

I was ordained as a deacon on the Ascension – the second glorious mystery – and was ordained as a priest on Pentecost – the third glorious mystery. As a bonus, the date of my first Mass as a priest was the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church. It was one of the greatest honors of my life to approach God’s altar for the first time to offer the Holy Mass with love and gratitude for God’s many blessings, most especially the maternal care of Our Lady.

Gracias a Dios.

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