The end of January brings with it Catholic Schools week.    Fr. Steven’s home parish St. Thomas More traditionally holds and open house accompanied by a pancake breakfast on this Sunday.

Fr. Steven has been assigned as the chaplain to two local catholic schools.    The first is the grammar school associated with his parish.    While pastor Fr. Ted serves more of an administrative role with the school Fr. Steven is able to serve as the “fun uncle”.

Fr. Steven makes it a point to be there often during the week, greeting the young students when they arrive and seeing them at the end of the day.    One of the joys of working with these young children is that they do not hide their mood.   Whether happy or sad, they leave no doubt to their feelings.    Of course, the young students enjoy asking Fr. Steven any question that pops into their heads.

Fr. Steven has started an Altar Server program at the school.   While the school has had altar severs, Fr. Steven provides a priestly presence.   He also strives to make certain to teach them something new every time they serve.

The local catholic High School offers another opportunity for Fr. Steven.  Recognizing the importance of this time of life, he does his best to be present for the students.   He is also part of committee that is looking at the Catholic Identity of the school.

This was Steven's first Christmas as a priest and it marked his first time attending Christmas mass at a parish other than his childhood parish.   In recent history, midnight mass at our local parish has been a bit of a Caraher family affair with Steven and his brother serving at the altar and his mom playing music.

Now that Steven is a priest, the challenge is to integrate that into our family life.    Even during non-holiday times, Steven's time is not his own in that various emergency events may pop up.

At Steven's new parish, he and pastor Fr. Ted decided to celebrate Midnight mass on Christmas Eve.    Both Fr. Steven and Fr. Ted planned to make this a special mass including lighting by candlelight and chanting all of the mass parts.

One adjustment that Fr. Steven has been making while settling into the life of a priest is how the pacing differs from seminary.   During seminary, everything was a sprint with a definite start and end.    Semesters had beginning and end dates followed by a break period.    In contrast, the rhythm of parish priest life is more of a marathon where the pace is set for the long run.

The Prodigal Son has returned!

Father Steven was invited to speak at St. Thomas More, his home parish.     Pastor Father Mike of St. Thomas More invited Father Steven to speak during our annual 40 Hours of Eucharistic Adoration.

Though a parish priest's life is filled with many activities, priests must work to constantly strive for spiritual growth.

Father Steven's talk preparation flowed out of this ongoing formational work.    Work such as ongoing prayer, reading and reflection provided the root from which the fruit of his talk flowed.

Coming home to St. Thomas More helped form his 40 hours talk.  Reflecting on his personal journey, Father Steven's home parish is where he first heard the call of his priestly vocation and where his love of the Eucharist was kindled.    This is the place where he received his first communion and where he served as an Altar Server.   His home parish is also where he grew in devotion to Mary.

Drawing from the Book of Revelation,  Father Steven's talk calls us back to our first love of the Gospel.     He called us not to let the rhythm and work of life to make us forget that love.

Father Steven has also been called upon to speak at other places most notably another Prodigal Son visit back to his college alma matter IU to speak to address a group of college men.

The past week Father Steven spent 4 days on a convocation of the priests of the Diocese of Gary.    During these convocations Priests of the diocese come together.

These convocations occur approximately every 2 years.    One of the greatest blessings of these gatherings is the confraternity among brother priests.    

The group celebrated mass and prayed together during the gathering.   In addition presentations were made by outside speakers.     One of the outside speakers was a chaplain from Fr. Steven's college parish at Indiana University.

Next month, Fr. Steven will be visiting his Indiana University parish where he has been invited to give a talk whose topic is "Things I wish I knew when I was in College."

Father Steven learned that the life of a priest can often be unpredictable.     Days that were once open can quickly fill up.

Recently, Fr. Steven found that his open day was immediately filled.   One of these items was a funeral.     Fr. Steven discussed how he prepares for a funeral.

The first part of preparation is getting himself ready; praying and deepening his understanding of death.    The second part is preparing with the family member or members.    First it is an opportunity to listen to them about the love and affection that they have for their loved one.   Also, as part of this preparation Fr. Steven makes certain to review the planned readings with them.

As a closing note.    Fr. Steven recommends that we all plan ahead and ease the burden on our loved ones by proactively scheduling as many details as you can for ourselves.   This would help ease the burden and be a tremendous gift to your loved ones.  You can reach out to your parish and get the details that you need.

Father Steven has been at his parish assignment for 2 months and has been settling in to the life of a parish priest.

Along with parish life, Father Steven has been assigned as priest for both a pre-K through 8 grammar school and a local Catholic High School.   Father Steven has been doing his best to be available and getting to know everyone.

We discussed how these assignments came about and ultimately, it is the Bishop who makes these assignments.   It is the Bishop's job to understand the needs of his diocese and know his priests so that can can put them where they can flourish.

One of the promises that Father Steven made when he was ordained was obedience to the Bishop.   There is a beauty to this obedience in that when the Bishop makes his assignments, you trust that is where the Lord wants you to go.

In many ways, this provides freedom.   Rather than stress over what is the right thing to do, obedience allows Father Steven to focus on doing the job well.

Father Steven and Dad both attended the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress the past weekend and shared their experiences.

The 2024 National Eucharistic Congress was the first held since 1976.   This gathering was the culmination of several years of work in coordination with the National Eucharistic Revival.     Eucharistic procession pilgrimages from the North, South, East and West all converged on Indianapolis for the start of the Congress.

Dad had not originally planned on attending but on the Sunday prior to the Congress Father Steven suggested that he drive down for the Saturday session.

Father Steven attended Wednesday through Saturday.   He found a daily rhythm of mass, different tracks of sessions, an exhibition hall and evening keynote speakers.    One of the session tracks was for priests.

Dad jumped in "mid-stream" with the Congress for 1 day on Saturday.    There were many things to see and Dad planned his day to see as much as possible.

A highlight of Saturday for both Father Steven and Dad was the Eucharistic Procession through downtown Indianapolis.

Ultimately, what matters most is what fruit this Congress bears.

The day following his ordination, Steven celebrated his first mass at his home parish.  Numerous brother priests and fellow seminarians celebrated this mass with Steven.

Steven found the mass a mixture of both the surreal and natural.   Natural in that he had prepared for this and surreal in the realization that this had all come to fruition.

The homily for this first mass was given by Fr. Chris Stanish who served served as Steven's first Spiritual Director.    Fr. Chris's homily focused on making certain that the mass never becomes routine.

The experience of consecration impressed Steven deeply and he realizes that he will be processing this meaning for the rest of his life.  Being ordained a priest changes who a person is.    This caused Steven to reflect on the unity of his heart with Jesus and the life-long call to pour out his whole self.

After communion the choir sang for Steven a song that was commissioned for his ordination.    The lyrics of the song come from Prayer of Abandon which Steven prays every day.

Finally, Steven thanked all those who helped and guided him along his path, notably calling out is Mother and Father last.    Steven presented his Mother with the Maniturgium, a cloth used to clear the chrism oil that the Bishop poured on his hands.   And to his Father Steven presented the Stole that he wore while hearing his first confession.

Next up for Steven is his first assignment, which begins July 1, 2024 at Our Lady of Consolation.   Much more to come!


Link to Prayer of Abandon by Saint Charles de Foucauld

https://www.charlesdefoucauld.org/en/priere.php

Ordination Day finally arrived!

The day Steven has been preparing for these last 6 years - and even his last 28 years - came and with it a full cascade of moments, memories and emotions.

Steven and Dad review the Ordination mass itself and various highlights of the day.

Also discussed are particular moments that stuck out for each.     Key among these were the anointing of Steven's hands with the Chrism oil, Steven being vested by Fr. Mike and then concelebrating his first mass.

Another highlight was the welcome embrace from all of his brother priests, young and old.

Steven shares his thoughts and reflections on each of these particular events of his Ordination Day.

Steven graduated from Sacred Heart Major Seminary and with that, ended 23 consecutive years of schooling!

Steven took this time to reflect back on his academic priestly formation which began in 2018 at Mundelein Seminary.

The transition from college where he studied Mathematics to the seminary and Philosophy proved more challenging than expected.    Figuring that the logic and mathematical thinking would easily segue into philosophy, Steven discovered things more challenging.

Steven worked hard and things started to click.   He found that understanding Philosophy helps one prepare for studying Theology.    How you look at things sets foundation for how you look at God.   Philosophy serves as a handmaid to Theology.

Transitioning to Theology was not only a transition in studies but a transition between seminaries as Steven moved from Mundelein to Sacred Heart Major. 

While Philosophy is more "ivory tower" in nature, Theology is based on revelation, what we have received from the Lord.   Mining and more deeply coming to know what we have received from the Lord, it is Faith seeking understanding.

Reflecting on his growth from 2018 Steven feels he has grown in how he looks a the world.   With a more clear understanding of the source of human thought it can only help to unpack the Good News.

Leaving nothing but fond memories of his seminary years, Steven now looks forward towards ordination.