A civil engineer. A computer scientist. A doctor. An artist.
These were once the career ambitions of the four young men who visited the Diocese’s Catholic high schools Jan. 4-6, meeting students and answering questions about their calls to the priesthood.
“I have never regretted saying ‘yes’ to God; it has been a great journey,” said Diocese of Camden seminarian Ricardo Lozano Cruz, who with fellow seminarians Vincent Asselta, Nicholas Esposito and Michael Leason shared how they discerned a calling beyond such career pursuits, one ultimately discovered through prayer, an open heart and support from family and friends.
Lozano Cruz recounted his life growing up in Colombia, starting a civil engineering career, and then, after an encouraging talk with a priest, deciding to enter the seminary. He said he has “now found a sense of fulfillment in bringing God to his people” through encounters with classmates, faithful and the community surrounding Seton Hall University’s Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange as he prepares to be ordained a transitional deacon this spring.
In-between semesters at their respective locations of seminary study, the four diocesan seminarians joined religious sisters ministering in South Jersey in sharing their vocations stories with students of Holy Spirit High School, Absecon; Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill, and Paul VI High School, Haddonfield.
After a morning Mass at each school celebrated by Father Joshua Nevitt, associate director of the diocesan Office of Vocations, who told students that “when we follow God, we … make a difference,” the seminarians and religious visited religion classes throughout the day.
Asselta, in his first year of studies at Seton Hall’s College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception at Saint Andrew’s Hall, discussed how in high school, he was confident that he “could major in computer science and earn good money afterward.” When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, however, his career trajectory changed.
“I realized that I needed God and meaning in my life. In Adoration, I found him,” Asselta said.
He urged students to do the same, saying, “Go to prayer and be open. … God will guide you.”
Esposito, in his second year at Seton Hall’s college seminary, is grateful for Hammonton’s Saint Mary of Mount Carmel Parish community. An altar server there at a younger age, he was thinking of possibly becoming a doctor or teacher, but his encounters with the parish priests and faithful encouraged him to consider the priesthood.
He urged students not just to pray that they themselves hear God’s call for their own lives – be it married, single or religious – but to pray that their classmates hear it as well.
Leason, a third-year student at Seton Hall’s college seminary, has been enjoying teaching others about God and the faith, just as he did at his home parish, Saint Joachim in Bellmawr. It was his role there as a seventh- and eighth-grade religious education teacher when he first began to consider a life other than one as an artist or storyteller.
This process of discernment, he said, “is listening to the Lord as best you can, asking God what he wants you to do.”
He urged students not to be afraid to talk to a trusted family member, friend or priest for guidance, explaining that doing this has “made me stronger in my faith. I’ve fallen in love with the Lord, and those he has called me to serve.”
Joining the seminarians during the three days were religious sisters from three different communities currently ministering in the Diocese of Camden: the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Infant Jesus; the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Misioneras de Maria Formadora.
Sister Cecilia Nanni Costa, FMIJ, told students “not to be afraid of God. Entrust everything to him – your joys, your problems. Through his vocation for you, he will give you a full and beautiful life.”
Students such as Camden Catholic senior Genevieve McMullen noted the joy and peace of each speaker. “They’re here with open arms to talk about God’s path for all of us. Hearing how they found their own callings was inspiring,” she said, grinning widely.
Paul VI junior Kel Okpar called their visit “a blessing to help us discern.”
High school campus ministers, as well, were pleased with the opportunity not only for students to see how seminarians and religious live faithful lives, but to ask questions about how they go about everyday tasks, their clothing requirements and living arrangements, said Father Logan Nilsen, director of Catholic Identity at Holy Spirit High School.
“This day helps them be aware that there are young women and men giving their lives over to God and the Church,” he said.
Father Nilsen recalled the vocation day he was witness to while a student at Gloucester Catholic High School in Gloucester City. The speakers he met “helped me know I wasn’t alone” in his thoughts of pursuing a religious calling.
The witness given at Paul VI was “an affirmation [for students] that God works in their lives and speaks to them; he has a plan for them,” said Sister Dianna Higgins, FMIJ, director of Campus Ministry.
Pleased that “students got to hear from people that they normally do not meet,” her hope is that now all “have a listening heart to prepare themselves to say ‘yes’ to wherever God calls them.”
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