Tower Topics ~ Summer 2002

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Minister with courage, speaker tells graduates

Drawing on images of Holocaust survivors and the frightened Apostles in the days following the crucifixion, Father David Belt on Pentecost Sunday urged Conception Seminary College graduates not to be imprisoned by fear in the wake of recent scandals in the U.S. Church.

Father David Belt encourages the graduates
in his homily.

In his homily at the May 19 Mass of Thanksgiving and Graduation, the pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Norfolk, Neb., assured the graduates that they face “bright, promising, yet uncertain futures.”

“The beautiful thing about being called into service is that God will never call us and then leave us abandoned,” he said. “From the moment of baptism, he will give us every gift and grace we need to be faithful to him and his people.”

Standing in line for the last time at Conception.

Eighteen graduates received bachelor degrees, four received certificates for completing the pre-theology program and three more earned certificates of completion for the Language, Culture and Church program, which prepares non-English-speaking seminarians for service in the U.S. Church. Of the 22 senior and pre-theology graduates, 21 have decided to continue with advanced theology studies or enter religious life next year.

Father Belt, who celebrates the 12th anniversary of his ordination this year, said the past several months have been important in his growth as a priest.

Graduate Chris Baer and Abbot Gregory chat with well-wishers.

“I don’t know if this has been the best year of my priesthood or the most difficult,” he said. “It began with the tragic events of September 11 and then it continued with the scandals that have rocked our beloved Church, the scandals that have rocked the Archdiocese of Omaha, and even a scandal that has rocked my own parish of Sacred Heart. In a month I will have to testify against a former associate who is being charged with criminal activity.”

Seminarians Richard White and Gary Kastl pose for a photograph
with graduate Joshua Allee.

It all took its toll during lent, he admitted. “It got to the point that I was pushing family members, friends and parishioners away. I didn’t have the energy or the strength to do my work.”

He recalled that on the Monday of Holy Week, fear and self-pity got the best of him.

“I didn’t want to get out of bed,” he said. “I was trying to think of a way to cancel all my appointments, to get out of my commitments.”

Chris Reising celebrates with his family.

It was in the writings of the famed Jewish psychologist, Dr. Victor Frankel, a survivor of Dachau concentration camp, that Father Belt said he found answers.

Recounting a passage from Frankel’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Father Belt told of Jewish prisoners, who on the day of their liberation by allied soldiers, walked out into the sunlight, blinked nervously and then returned to the dark of their prison barracks.

Andrew Broom receives a congratulatory hug from his grandparents.

“How sad that was,” he said. “A bright, promising future awaited them, but they went back to the dark of the barracks because they were afraid of what was waiting out in the world.”

“How curious it is,” he noted, “that on this feast of Pentecost we celebrate the birthday of the Church, a birthday that took place in a locked room, within a group of frightened people. It is a mystery and a miracle that that handful of frightened people became the foundation on which this great church was built.”

Graduate Viet To of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston

He challenged the graduates to be bold and courageous in living out their faith. “Never allow ridicule, hardship or pain to prevent you from being a minister of the Lord, Jesus Christ.”

“Do not be like the survivors at Dachau,” he said, “but rather like the Apostles, filled with the fire of the Spirit, ready to go out in the world to proclaim that it is through our brokenness, through our woundedness, that the glory of Christ shines forth.”

Father Benedict Neenan, president-rector, Abbot Gregory Polan,
chancellor, Father Samuel Russell, dean of students, graduation
homilist Father David Belt and the Conception Seminary College
Class of 2002.

The graduating seniors were: Joshua Allee, of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph; Max Christian Baer, of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau; Stephen Chojnicki, of the Diocese of Tulsa; Anthony Dickerson and Christopher Riehl, of the Diocese of Knoxville; Justin Graves, of the Diocese of Dodge City; John Lovell, of the Archdiocese of Chicago; James Maeder and Christopher Reising, of the Diocese of Des Moines; Brother Aloysius Nguyen and Brother Lawrence Nguyen, of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix (CMC); Anthony Ouellette, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas; An Phan and Bernard Starman, of the Archdiocese of Omaha; Joseph Shetler, of the Diocese of Jefferson City; Viet To, of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston; and Andrew Broom, who attended Conception without diocesan affiliation.

Those receiving pre-theology certificates include: Jeffrey Goettemoeller and Steven Rogers, of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph; Brother Patrick Nguyen, CMC; and Stewart Parker, of the Diocese of Jefferson City.

Receiving LCC certificates were: Manuel Cerón and José Rausseo, of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, and David Chávez of the Diocese of Salina.

Justin Graves and Anthony Ouellette were named to “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.” Chris Baer earned High Academic Achievement in the senior class for the highest grade point average, and junior Trevor Wedman won the Bailey/Bales Award for Excellence in Philosophy.

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