MERRILLVILLE – Seminarian Collin Van Waardenburg first declared his intention to be a priest at the age of five, and that is still his goal, which is why he happily declared his intention to pursue a vocation to the priesthood during the Rite of Admission to Candidacy for Holy Orders during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert J. McClory on July 11 at Our Lady of Consolation.
“I didn’t think I’d cry, but I did,” Van Waardenburg admitted after the Mass. “After five years in the seminary, this was a really solemn moment. I thought about ordinations, when the candidates lay in front of the altar, and while I’m not getting down on the floor yet, I thought today about laying everything at the Lord’s feet.”
Van Waardenburg said he has learned about his great-uncle, Father Hendrikus Motter of the Society of the Divine Word, who was imprisoned in China and nevertheless served his parish in his 70s. “His quote was ‘Everything is for the people,’ and that’s the kind of priest I want to be.”
Calling the Rite of Candidacy “the biggest thing we’ve ever experienced,” the seminarian’s father, Patrick Van Waardenburg, suggested his son was destined for the priesthood. “When Collin was seven years old, a monk who had been cloistered for 50 years switched places with our parish priest and when he came to say his first Mass, he looked at Collin and said, ‘That boy is going to become a priest.’ I asked him how he knew that and he said that he didn’t know how, but he knew it would happen.
“We didn’t want to pressure him, so we didn’t tell that to Collin until he was 17 and had already approached the vocations office,” added his father.
Mother Candice Van Waardenburg said another “sign” that Collin would be wearing a Roman collar one day was his baptism. “He was the first male baptized by newly-ordained Father John Cummings at St. Augusta in Lake Village, and they say that the first male baptized by a new priest will also become a priest.
As for her son’s plans, she remembers attending a Guardian Angels Mass with Collin at St. Edward in Lowell, her home parish, where he was a five-year-old student. “On the way home in the car, I (casually) asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and Collin said “a train conductor and a priest.”
“I told him that I didn’t think he could be both, so he would have to make a choice, and he quickly replied, “Okay, I’ll be a priest.” Collin said he “distinctly” remembers the conversation after a school Mass, and feeling very sure that he wanted to become a priest.”
His parents agree that Collin, who has a brother, Evan, and a sister, Kali, “will be a great priest. He has already blessed so many people with his prayers and wise words and he will be abundantly blessed by God in his service.”
Added grandmother Henny Van Waardenburg: “He is so personable and easy to approach. That’s why people come to him.”
Five classmates from St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee drove to the Diocese of Gary from their homes to support Van Waardenburg’s Rite of Candidacy. “He is one of the most well-educated people I know,” said Tim Stanczak. “He has a brilliant mind and is hilarious.”
Van Waardenburg will move to Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minn. this fall for Philosophy studies.
In his homily, Bishop McClory called the Rite of Candidacy “a significant marker” on the path to discerning a vocation to the priesthood. “You have prepared yourself,” he said to Van Waardenburg. “You say I’m really ready … and we rejoice in that.”
Quoting Mark 10: 29-30, the same book of the Bible that the day’s Gospel came from, the bishop noted that Jesus told his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”
The bishop added: “Those like Collin, who has set his mind toward ordination, have a sense of deeper love … You have said, Lord, I believe you are calling me.
“I love being a priest; God has bestowed blessings upon blessings upon blessings on me,” the bishop said, “and as we conform our hearts more and more to the Lord, our lives become transformed, and there is more love, peace, joy and blessings He wants to give us.
“If we treasure His commands…the Lord brings forth knowledge and understanding, the Lord opens our hearts more deeply to him,” Bishop McClory prayed. “We say thank you, not just for the future, but for today, Lord. You have a plan for me, are calling me, and my life is going to flourish 100 times – what a beautiful day.”
Caption: Gathered to sing the closing hymn at the Rite of Admission to Candidacy for Holy Orders Mass at Our Lady of Consolation in Merrillville on July 11 are seminarian Collin Van Waardenburg (from right) his parents, Patrick and Candice Van Waardenbyrg, and his grandmother, Henny Van Waardenburg. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)