Sioux City native to be ordained a priest

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
June 24, 2004

A native of Sioux City will soon be ordained a priest to serve in the Diocese of Sioux City.

On June 26, Matthew Hewitt will be ordained by Bishop Dennis Schnurr of the Diocese of Duluth, Minn. at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

Hewitt grew up in Sioux City as a member of Sacred Heart Church and attended Sacred Heart School and Heelan High School.

"I had thought about priesthood in grade school," said Hewitt. "In high school, I was unsure and started thinking about other career possibilities. I really enjoyed my accounting class."

He attended Creighton University in Omaha and earned degrees in accounting and finance.

After college, Hewitt spent three years in Portland, Ore. working for a CPA firm. While there, he was involved in a local parish and helped with the youth group, Knights of Columbus and was a liturgical minister.

"It was through their (the Knights of Columbus) encouragement that really got me thinking about priesthood," said Hewitt. "It was flattering at first, but after a while I just wondered when they would open their eyes and see that I had already chosen the path for my life. They ignored my rejections and refusals of it and kept at it. That seed started taking root and I started thinking about, what do I want to do for the rest of my life?"

He noted that the thoughts would not go away and he prayed about it for a year. He realized that he was not going to make up his mind at that point but wanted to formally take a look at the possibilities.

He contacted Father Brian Hughes, the vocation director for the Diocese of Sioux City, applied to the seminary and was accepted.

"In diocesan priesthood, you serve in a territory for your life," said Hewitt. "Sioux City was always my home in my heart, even though my parents had moved to Cedar Rapids when I was in college. This is the community that fostered my faith and if I was going to give back to a community serving the Lord, it would be Sioux City."

Hewitt spent his first two years at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana where he studied philosophy.

"I went in with some apprehension, not knowing what I would find," said Hewitt. "God continued to work in those new experiences that I had in seminary and those new relationships and continued to nurture and feed that vocation. I grew in confidence, faced many doubts and fears and pervaded through prayer and trust in the formation staff."

He then traveled overseas to North American College in Rome to study theology for four years.

"It was exciting," said Hewitt. "It was very different in one sense because of the culture and the language. In another sense, for me, it was being in a large city - a very urban, very loud, very busy city. For a Midwestern boy, it was a challenge. There are many opportunities there, many treasures there and lessons to be learned about our faith. It is the capitol of Catholicism."

Hewitt added that it was exciting to be close to the Holy Father. He was given the opportunity to serve Mass for Pope John Paul II.

"I met many great men over there that are now fellow brother priests that I keep in touch with," said Hewitt. "I could not walk this journey alone, and they have certainly been there to walk with me."

He was ordained to the transitional diaconate last August at Sacred Heart in Sioux City and then returned to Rome.

"Through God's grace, I have made it this far," said Hewitt. "I feel very fortunate and blessed to be able to be ordained a priest for Sioux City. I am very elated, excited and nervous. The people have been so good to me. People are just so generous and they offer so much encouragement. It fills me with a sense of peace, calm and deep joy to be able to answer this call. I am looking very forward to it."