June 8, 2011

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES DEANERY — On May 5 four seminarians from the Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary’s Seminary visited with students in the junior sacraments classes at McNicholas High School to discuss their vocations. First year seminarians Ethan Moore and Peter Langenkamp spoke with Paula Yerke’s classes, and Father Adam Puntel, who was ordained May 21, and second year seminarian Matt Feist spoke to Andrea Wiederhold’s classes.

First year seminarians Peter Langenkamp and Ethan Moore explain to juniors at McNicholas High School how they felt called to enter to the priesthood. (Courtesy photo)

Yerke said McNicholas invites the seminarians every semester when the juniors study Holy Orders. She said the main purpose is for the seminarians to tell their story of how they were called to the priesthood.

“I want my students to see that they’re regular people and that choosing a career in the church is a viable option,” Yerke said.

Langenkamp, who attended public schools in Coldwater, did not make the decision to enter the seminary until after he’d completed his undergraduate degree at Ohio Northern University. He applied for graduate school at the University of Notre Dame, was accepted and offered a $30,000 scholarship. During Holy Week 2010, though, he learned of a seminary weekend, so he decided to give it a chance.

“I had felt a restlessness before, but felt God had called me to stay in school. This time it felt different,” he said, noting that he decided to enter the seminary after the weekend.

“Any vocation is ridiculous unless viewed with eyes of love. Everyone has a vocation in Christ, and to embrace that is to live a life that is truly full. Jesus was so generous, and I hope in my work to someday be generous as well,” he added.

Junior Kim Kollsmith, said the seminarians were “really fun, accepting, and willing to talk about religion without forcing it on us.”