Bishop to ordain six to the priesthood on May 23
Editor’s Note: In a little more than a week, six young men are scheduled to join the ranks of priests in the Catholic Diocese of Wichita. Bishop Carl A. Kemme will ordain as priests Deacons Peter Bergkamp, Kyle Demel, Isaac Hilger, Jacob McGuire, Luke Meyerhoff, and Koby Nguyen at the 10 a.m. Mass on Saturday May 23 at Wichita’s Church of the Magdalen.
To better acquaint the diocese’s faithful with the six men who will soon help shepherd and serve them as priests, the Catholic Advance reached out to all of them with a handful of questions (and permission to skip any question that proved a stumper).
Their responses, which have been lightly edited for reasons of space, follow immediately.
What is one interesting, fun, or otherwise notable fact about you that most people may not know?
Something fun or interesting about me is that I enjoy running. I enjoy running the most when I am training for a race. While I was in St. Louis for seminary, I ran the St. Louis Marathon twice. An ambitious goal of mine is to qualify for the Boston Marathon one day.
What stands out to you as you look back on your journey to this point?
What stands out to me as I look back on my journey to this point is how God has slowly and surely prepared me for this moment. As I look back, it amazes me to see how God has guided my journey in these last seven years of seminary. When I first entered seminary, I did not know all that the journey would entail, but as I reflect, I can see God’s hand in it in ways I did not expect.
What has your experience been like as a transitional deacon?
There have been a lot of firsts this year as a transitional deacon: first homily, first baptisms, first funeral, etc. As the title suggests, this has been a year of transitions. I graduated and said goodbye to the seminary in December, and I have spent this spring semester at St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Schulte. I have thoroughly enjoyed this semester, living and breathing the routines of the parish. Spending time in the school, teaching OCIA, preaching, and assisting in any other needs of the parish have been life-giving and very instructive. My favorite part of this semester as a transitional deacon has been getting to know the various families in the community. It is a privileged position to encounter and be a part of so many families.
What are you most looking forward to about being ordained a priest?
The thing that I am looking forward to the most is being a father in a unique and new way. Throughout the years of ministry, I have been able to provide a fatherly presence of sorts, but the fatherly relationship that a priest has with his people is unique. I look forward to providing for the parish as her father by ministering the sacraments, teaching, and being present to the various activities and people that make up a parish family.
What would you like to say to the faithful of the Diocese of Wichita as you prepare to embark on your priestly ministry?
I am incredibly grateful for your prayers and support that have made these past seven years possible. Seminary has provided so much for me and has shaped me to be the man that I am now. Know that you all have a special place in my heart, and I look forward to serving the great Diocese of Wichita for, God willing, many years to come.
What is one interesting, fun, or otherwise notable fact about you that most people may not know?
One of my hobbies is reading. Before seminary, I hardly ever read any books, but during my time at Kenrick, I started reading for leisure. I like novels and history books, and I am usually reading a spiritual book as well. Some of my favorite authors are C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
What stands out to you as you look back on your journey to this point?
What stands out to me is how much I have grown with the Lord on my journey in seminary. In many ways, I am a very different person than I was when I first started applying for seminary as a college senior at K-State. I have matured, learned how to pray, and discovered a great deal about myself, both my weaknesses and my strengths. And through it all, the Lord has been both patient and merciful with me.
I also want to mention the many amazing friends I have made in seminary. The Lord blessed me with great friends in both high school and college, but the friendships that I have made in seminary have been truly special and critical for my discernment.
What has your experience been like as a transitional deacon?
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a transitional deacon. Both of my assignments, Holy Name in Coffeyville and St. Paul Catholic Student Center (at Wichita State University) have been very formative. The pastors that I have served under have been great mentors. The best aspect of being a transitional deacon, however, is the people of God. The parishioners at my assignments have been extremely kind and have continuously encouraged me. My only complaint about my experience as a deacon is that both assignments have been too short.
What are you most looking forward to about being ordained a priest?
Firstly, I would say celebrating Mass. This is the most sacred and important duty of a priest, and it is crazy to think that our Lord will use me as an instrument to change bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. I am also excited, however, to walk with others as a spiritual father. This is something that I have grown to love as a deacon, especially with the students at St. Paul Catholic Student Center.
What would you like to say to the faithful of the Diocese of Wichita as you prepare to embark on your priestly ministry?
Thank you for your support! With your generosity, I have been able to more freely discern my vocation to the priesthood. Thank you also for your encouragement. Many people have assisted me on this journey with their kind words and benevolence. Most especially, thank you for your prayers. Without so many people praying for me, I do not think I would have made it very far in my journey. I have truly been blessed by the people of God, and I look forward to serving you as a priest of the Diocese of Wichita.
What is one interesting, fun, or otherwise notable fact about you that most people may not know?
Something that always amazes people about myself is something that is very ordinary to me. I come from a rather large family, having 12 siblings: Six brothers and six sisters, and then there’s me coming in last for the tie-breaker.
What stands out to you as you look back on your journey to this point?
My journey in finding my vocation has been the greatest adventure of my life: learning so much about myself and the Lord, getting to see so many wonderful places and – above all – getting to meet so many amazing people, both in the diocese and all over the world. It is easy for me to see all these good things that the Lord has given me, and I am more than ready to share them with the people of the Diocese of Wichita.
What has your experience been like as a transitional deacon?
As a deacon, during this new synthesis stage of formation, I have already begun to share my life with the people I have served at St. Cecilia Parish in Haysville. During this year, I have glimpsed the awesome duties of a life dedicated to the Church: baptizing, preaching, praying with and for people, being with the faithful in good times and bad. This has only made me more excited to give my life to the ministry of the Church.
What are you most looking forward to about being ordained a priest?
As a priest, I look forward to performing the sacraments – being a bridge from the Father to the people of this diocese. Above all, I look forward to saying Mass and hearing confessions. These sacraments that fed my own soul with God’s grace, I will be able to make available for years to come!
To the people of God in this great diocese, I would like to first offer my gratitude for all the support you have given me in formation. Without your financial giving, encouragement, and above all, your prayers, I could not have pursued my vocation. Thank You! My excitement continues to well up as I think of the many good people that I have served and will serve, hopefully for a long time. My hope is to follow the example of my childhood pastor, Fr. Ivan Eck, who has lived a holy and healthy life, reaching 70 years of priesthood!
What stands out to you as you look back on your journey to this point?
When I first started seminary, I was very nervous for several reasons: I had never been to Wichita, I hardly knew anyone there, and I wasn’t sure what living in the city would be like. However, both during my time at the St. Joseph House of Formation and during my summer assignments at parishes, I have had the opportunity to meet so many incredible people and have been so warmly received. At this point, I can easily call Wichita home, and I am confident that wherever I am assigned in the diocese, I will be able to call that parish and town home as well.
What has your experience been like as a transitional deacon?
A large amount of my time as a deacon has been spent in parishes, specifically at St. Joseph in Andale this past summer and at St. Francis of Assisi in Wichita in spring. Both have been unique assignments, and each offered plenty of ways to serve as a deacon. I have preached often, baptized several children, and met many people who have helped me better understand how I am called to serve out of love for our diocese.
What are you most looking forward to about being ordained a priest?
Having been at so many Masses and even getting to be a deacon at many, I am very excited to finally offer the Mass as a priest. But I am perhaps even more excited about offering Confession. For the past year, I have been able to preach for the sake of helping people turn more to the Lord. And I am looking forward to finally also receiving people in Confession and helping them know how deep God’s mercy is.
What would you like to say to the faithful of the Diocese of Wichita as you prepare to embark on your priestly ministry?
I have to express my gratitude to the faithful of the diocese for how much they have supported me over the past eight years. Each parish at which I have served has warmly received me and helped me to continue growing. Even when they had no idea who I was at first, they gave me the type of love that one would only expect or hope for from family. I look forward to serving the people who have cared so much for me and for those whom I will get to care for in the future.
What is one interesting, fun, or otherwise notable fact about you that most people may not know?
When I was six years old, my family adopted a baby boy. I was an only child at this point, and was very excited to have a baby brother. However, when it came time to naming him, I like to take credit for his name (Matthew). Initially, my parents intended to name him something else, and I felt adamant that he should have a saint name. Lo and behold, his name is Matthew!
What stands out to you as you look back on your journey to this point?
Out of all the things I have learned or experienced in seminary, the thing that stands out the most is how effective prayers really are. I know there were many faithful souls who prayed for me and made many sacrifices for me during my eight years in seminary (and before too). There were many concrete moments in which I experienced the power of these prayers, whether in moments of great joy or difficulty, while I was at the seminary. It takes many souls to make a priest.
What has your experience been like as a transitional deacon?
Being a transitional deacon this year has been one of great growth in the confidence that the Lord will provide for me in ministry every day. It has been a joy to be in the parish during the summer and spring months, and to grow in this confidence. It has shown me what life as a priest will really be like, and I am very grateful for this privilege. It has been a joy to preach often, administer the Sacrament of Baptism, and many other things in parish life.
What are you most looking forward to about being ordained a priest?
Aside from the great gift of being able to administer the sacraments of the Church, I look forward to having the front row seat to God’s work in his people. In ministry, relationships are a very important way we show Christ’s love with others. Because of these relationships, I look forward to being able to walk with people in their joys, sufferings, and everything in between, and seeing first hand how Christ works in our lives.
What would you like to say to the faithful of the Diocese of Wichita as you prepare to embark on your priestly ministry?
Thank you! My journey to the priesthood could not have been accomplished without the prayers, sacrifices, and stewardship of so many souls. This began long before seminary, during my time in Catholic schools (Blessed Sacrament and Kapaun Mt. Carmel). Knowing the sacrifices of many humbles me, and I am moved with gratitude. Thank you for all your prayers and sacrifices, and for bringing me to the altar of God!
What stands out to you as you look back on your journey to this point?
I recently came across the piece I wrote for the Advance when I entered seminary. I anticipated that the best and hardest part of seminary would be opening up the dark and wounded places in my heart. I was right. Vulnerability to the love and mercy of Christ has been the focal point of my formation. Because of vulnerability and surrender, there have been unanticipated, unimaginable growths in freedom, maturity, and virtue. I hope to continue to cultivate the virtues of vulnerability, humility, surrender, and docility in myself and help the people I serve do the same.
What has your experience been like as a transitional deacon?
My time as a transitional deacon, especially for a length of time in the diocese through the newly established vocational synthesis, has been filled with incredible blessings and graces. From preaching to visiting the school kids, from baptizing to in-depth spiritual conversations and guidance, the Lord has overwhelmingly and mystically shown me his power and love. I constantly find myself in prayer, being dumbfounded, asking myself and Jesus: “Who am I to be so loved? Who am I to be ordained? Who am I to be a part of intimate, extraordinary, and delicate moments of people’s lives? Who am I to one day soon be an alter Christus?”
What are you most looking forward to about being ordained a priest?
Undoubtedly, I look forward to being the minister of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and confessions, where the faithful can come into intimate proximity and relationship to Jesus and receive his love and grace.
Although driving my desire to bring others to Christ through my priestly ministry, I look most forward to the deeper conformity to Jesus. In Mark 3, before Christ sent his disciples out, he called them to himself to be with him. That is what I desire most. To be with Jesus, to be conformed to him in the most intimate and animating part of myself: in my soul.
By receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders, I am transformed and conformed to Christ the priest who makes himself a sacrifice for those whom he loves.
What would you like to say to the faithful of the Diocese of Wichita as you prepare to embark on your priestly ministry?
May God be rich in his love and graces toward all of you! You have made great sacrifices and gifts to support my vocation to the priesthood. I am incredibly grateful and indebted to all of you.
While I can do nothing to return the favor, through ordination to the priesthood, Christ in and through me will be able to match and surpass your generosity, support, and prayers. God is never outdone in generosity! I promise, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, to give you my whole self.
