Tower Topics ~ Summer 2002

Back to Table of Contents

Outside looking in

When I first came to work at Conception Seminary College, it seemed everyone thought I was an alumnus. Brother Mark Kosiba even went so far as to tell many of the seminary’s major donors that the new director of communications was a former student.

Part of the confusion was that as a kid I spent a lot of time at the abbey as a member of the now defunct Abbey Boys Choir, and once I did attend a vocation retreat here (a precursor to Encounter With God’s Call). About 10 minutes into that retreat I recognized that I was in way over my head. The questions that the other 17-year-olds were asking about God and theology and philosophy and celibacy and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and a plethora of other pious topics quickly sent me to the far corner like a wallflower at the prom. At the first break, I ran to the office of one of the monks I knew and pleaded, “You have to get me out of this before they find me out!” He discreetly talked to the retreat’s director and by lunch I was safely back in the world of teens with short attention spans.

After recovering from the embarrassment and feelings of inadequacy, another feeling came over me. I was impressed. In my morning brush with priestly vocations, I heard young men who talked openly about religion and studies and God. And, unlike back at Stanberry High School, no one snickered. The guys on that retreat, for the most part, demonstrated a level of thoughtfulness and commitment to their vocation that I couldn’t comprehend. Heck, at the time I didn’t even know what a vocation was.

Today I do and I am confident in mine as a husband and father. But still I must admit, sometimes when I hear seminarians in the hallway, or overhear a classroom lesson, I still feel a little like that bewildered teenager.

I once told Father Peter Ullrich that I didn’t think I would’ve been able to get through Conception because of the academic load. He wryly responded, “Oh, I don’t think you’d have a problem with the academics.” (A little backhand hint that maybe I would’ve struggled with formation).

The point is that I wish all Catholics – and non-Catholics – could see just how much thought and work goes into making a good priest. Thanks to recent headlines, my office has been letting people know just how thoroughly Conception prepares seminarians for a life of celibacy, but I am eager for the day when I can tell reporters about the entire program.

I won’t claim to completely understand what drives a young man to enter the seminary and toil for eight years only to forgo a family and become an overworked, underpaid servant to hundreds.

I don’t understand it, but I’ll always respect it.

Dan Madden

Director of Communications

Back to Table of Contents