“Come follow me and live; Do not be afraid. Believe and trust in me. Your faith will give you strength." - Communion Antiphon ‘Come, Follow Me’
VALPARAISO – Calling it “another stepping stone toward the ministry I long for,” Diocese of Gary seminarian Will O’Donnell publicly declared his intention to pursue the priesthood during the Rite of Admission to Candidacy for Holy Orders at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert J. McClory on Aug. 9 in the chapel at St. Paul parish.
“I have publicly stated that I want to serve God … it’s about letting go and letting Him transform me,” said O’Donnell. “It was a gradual growth, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of parts of me that had to die. I had to get rid of the anxiety, doubt and fear.”
A graduate of St. Mary Catholic Community School in Crown Point and Andrean High School in Merrillville in 2018, O’Donnell entered seminary four years ago and earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy this spring at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minn. He was assigned to St. Bridget in Hobart this summer and, this month, will begin a four-year master’s program in Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
“We are all praying for you to become a priest,” Bishop McClory told O’Donnell in the homily, acknowledging the seminarian’s family, friends, fellow seminarians, priests, deacons and members of the Serra Club of NWI and the Knights of Columbus who gathered. “We will pray that he may cling closer to Christ, bear the burdens of others and that he be made a minister of the Catholic Church who will strengthen his brothers and sisters.”
“During the whole Mass I was feeling an attitude of gratitude,” O’Donnell noted. “The bishop highlighted the amount of support I’ve had … there’s never been a moment since I entered the seminary that I haven’t felt that support from the bishop, the vocations team, and all those who’ve prayed for me.”
Commemorating the memorial of St. Edith Stein, also known as St. Benedicta of the Cross, the bishop called her a “seeker” who had a hunger for the truth that prompted her to study philosophy and eventually led to Christ. She converted from Judaism to Catholicism and “found ultimate fulfillment in Christ,” said the bishop.
“She is quoted as saying: ‘Those who see the truth seek God, whether they know it or not,’” Bishop McClory noted.
Referencing the day’s gospel reading (Matthew 18: 1-5, 10,12-14), the bishop recalled the shepherd who leaves 99 obedient sheep to look for one stray. “We know who’s here, but who’s not here?” he said, calling upon O’Donnell: “That you will go seek the truth and seek God, but (also) go seeking those who are not here, and bring them to God.”
Amy O’Donnell also used the word “gratitude” in speaking about her son, the second of five children. “I feel gratitude for the blessing of Will in our lives and that he’s following God’s call,” she said. “Even as a very young child, he had a very compassionate heart for others. In the next four years, I pray that the Blessed Mother will protect and guide him and lead him where the Lord is calling him.”
“Joyful” was the emotion described by Dale O’Donnell as he watched his son pledge his service to God. “I’m proud of him. He’s a living example of the faith of our family. He was struggling with going to college, wasn’t really sure what he was going to do, but after his Kairos retreat as a high school senior he told us: ‘Jesus is calling me to something and I have to see what it is.’”
The O’Donnell family, which also includes Jacob, 24; Grace, 20; Joseph, 17; and Caleb, 15; live in Crown Point and were joined at the Rite of Admission by maternal grandmother Gerry Paskis.
Diocesan Vocations Director Father Chris Stanish noted that all eight years of seminary studies “are a time of discernment, with the Lord working and refining his call, but this moment is where the seminarian is deep into that discernment … and making a public declaration of their intention to pursue the priesthood.”
Father Ted Mauch, pastor of the O’Donnell family’s parish, Our Lady of Consolation Church at Holy Martyrs in Merrillville, termed O’Donnell’s declaration “a great gift. Hopefully, other young men will open their minds to the idea that God may be calling them. We have a strong Vocations Ministry in our parish, where a family is commissioned at a Mass to take home the Vocations Cross for a week and pray for vocations in a special way, which makes it more intentional.”
O’Donnell revealed that he wants to develop a special devotion to the Blessed Mother. “She has worked to form me, and I plan to consecrate myself to her, because if there’s one person who can support me always, it is Mary,” he said. “I’m learning to imitate her Son, and as the mother of Christ, I want to be close to her.”