Catholic schools plant seed for vocations

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
January 27, 2005

Priests and seminarians from throughout the Diocese of Sioux City have attended and graduated from the Catholic schools in the diocese.

Pat Behm, a seminarian from the Diocese of Sioux City, attended St. Mary's High School in Storm Lake and was given the opportunity to learn about his faith on a daily basis.

"I came to realize that this was something that was important to me," said Behm, who has been in seminary for a year and a half. "Furthermore, I came to understand that knowledge is useless unless it is grounded in a firm faith in Christ."

Behm is attending the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. studying philosophy and Catholic studies. This semester he is at the Angelicum in Rome, Italy.

"I would say I really began to grow spiritually and to develop the idea that I might have a vocation to the priesthood when I was in college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln," said Behm. "However, without my experience at St. Mary's, I probably would not have had the background in my faith to even continue practicing my faith in college."

He commented that he thinks Catholic education is important for a number of reasons. He quoted Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio, by adding that "faith in Christ and intellectual reasoning must never be separated."

"They both seek the truth, which can only be found in Christ," said Behm. "An education that does not educate a student in his or her faith is not fulfilling the whole human person and is therefore not complete. The society in which we live today tries to take God out of our daily lives. Students today need to know that God really does exist, he really does love them and that it is okay to believe in that."

Father Brian Danner graduated from Kuemper Catholic High School in Carroll in 1985. In June, Father Danner will have been a priest in the diocese for 10 years. He is currently serving as pastor at St. Malachy Church in Madrid.

"Catholic schools definitely enhanced my spiritual growth and opportunities for future growth," said Father Danner. "I think it was the priests and religious there that instilled in me the values that I still hold dear to my heart today. It was the trained professionals in the schools that dedicated a sense of care to instill a foundational base for the rest of my life."

Father Danner explained that he was taught by Franciscans from LaCrosse, Wis., Franciscans from Dubuque and through seminary by sisters. He added that there is a sense of dedication and service that they provide.

"Catholic schools provide a unique option to parents that public schools today simply cannot provide through the example of freedom," said Father Danner. "Catholic schools provide an opportunity to be free to pray when we want and where we want."

Father Mark Stoll, a 1984 graduate of Spalding in Granville, noted that his Catholic education "definitely" had an influence on his vocation.

"The presence of priests and religious sisters that were members of the faculty of the school definitely were an influence and an impact on my vocation," said Father Stoll. "Essentially, the examples they provide - ministry to the church, the importance of faith in everyday life - had a significant impact on what I do today."

He has been a priest in the diocese for 12 and a half years. Father Stoll is currently serving as pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish in Moville.

"Catholic education offers the opportunity to instill Catholic, Christian values in our students and in all areas of our life including all the academic fields," said Father Stoll.

Father Nick Becker, administrator at Assumption Church in Merrill, St. Joseph Church in Ellendale and St. Joseph Church in Neptune, is a 1994 graduate of Bishop Garrigan High School in Algona.

"I think that the whole point of a Catholic school is to form disciples. To help people come to the point where they live their life as a gift from God as a response to God for all the blessings he gives us," said Father Becker. "That is the atmosphere of a Catholic school and that was certainly the atmosphere of Bishop Garrigan when I attended."

He explained that he had the privilege of having dedicated religious women, priests and lay faithful as teachers, administrators and counselors. That made the difference to him both in his vocation as a Christian and his vocation as a priest.

"The greatest value is to view the world through the lens of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his church," said Father Becker. "The basic theological virtues of faith, hope and love were regularly taught."

Father Becker was ordained a priest on Sept. 7, 2002.

"I think that a Catholic school can provide that kind of atmosphere that is not only a solid educational experience and not only building character, but above all trying to form witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ," said Father Becker. "It is the best thing that I have seen. I really hope the faithful of this diocese continue to have a commitment to keeping those schools."