Bearing fruit: College seminarians gain pastoral skills through program

Aaron Thomas, a third-year seminarian at Bishop Bruté College Seminary at Marian College in Indianapolis, participates in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22. As part of his supervised ministry, Thomas served as a co-bus captain on the archdiocesan pilgrimage. (Photo by Katie Berger)

By Sean Gallagher

College campuses on Saturday mornings are ordinarily quiet places. Students might not stir from their dorm rooms until close to lunchtime at best.

But by 7 a.m. every third Saturday of the month, Aaron Thomas, a third-year seminarian at Bishop Bruté College Seminary at Marian College in Indianapolis, is already at nearby St. Michael the Archangel Church preparing for the monthly Helpers of God’s Precious Infants pro-life Mass.

Assisting with the eucharistic liturgy, sponsored by the archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry, is part of Thomas’ supervised ministry.

“He meets me at seven o’clock to set up [and] unlock the church,” said Servant of the Gospel of Life Sister Diane Carollo, director of the pro-life office and Thomas’ ministry supervisor.

“He learns that service means much more than just appearing [at] the altar. We both do grunt work [together].”

This is the first academic year that the college seminary, now in its third year, has had an organized supervised ministry program.

The program is a component of the college seminary’s pastoral formation of its seminarians, which is integrated with three other spheres of priestly formation—intellectual, human and spiritual.

“It’s really [supposed] to give them an experience of ministry,” said Father Robert Robeson, rector of the seminary.

“They’re sort of in the formative stages of developing skills for ministry. So it’s supposed to help them gain an experience of ministry and to get some feedback on how they’re doing, on what their strengths are, but also on some of the things that they need to work on.”

Father Robeson said that Bishop Bruté College Seminary has not had a supervised ministry program until now for a couple reasons.

First, establishing all the various programs needed for a seminary has taken a lot of time.

And second, the Holy See-approved U.S. bishops’ fifth edition of the Program for Priestly Formation calls for only third-and fourth-year college seminarians to be involved in such formal ministry programs. Bishop Bruté College Seminary only now has its first third-year class.

“This year’s supervised ministry for me has been a great example of what the priesthood is all about, namely sacrifice,” said Thomas, who is also a member of St. Andrew Parish in Richmond.

But the sacrificial aspects of his ministry extend beyond waking up early on Saturday mornings.

Earlier this semester, Thomas helped lead the archdiocesan pilgrimage to the annual March for Life in Washington.

During the fall semester, Thomas had to balance taking 21 credit hours of classes and carry out his obligations to the seminary community as well as being responsible for the other tasks of his ministry assignment, which included leading the archdiocesan Pro-Life Youth Council’s activities.

One of those events was a social activity where Thomas and the council members visited elderly residents of the St. Paul Hermitage retirement facility and nursing home in Beech Grove.

The event was billed as a 1940s-style movie premiere. The youths and the residents shared a meal and watched a movie together.

For Thomas, who helped organize the event and dressed in a tuxedo, it showed him a broad view of the Church.

“The Church is not just the youth. And it’s not just the elderly,” he said. “But for the Church to really stay together, we need both parts to connect to one another.

‘We need both the young people to keep the Church vigorous and alive, but we [also] need the wisdom of the elders to bring us back to the essentials of life and the joy of living.”

Dusty Brahlek was struck by Thomas’ joy as she has ministered alongside him as a member of the pro-life youth council.

“He’s so upbeat and willing to do anything,” said Brahlek, a member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis.

“He’s very eager, and there’s always a twinkle in his eye.”

As a former “conservative Baptist” who came into the full communion of the Church last Easter, Brahlek said her previous views of the priesthood were focused on men who “weren’t very friendly or approachable people.

“And then here I meet Aaron, and he’s easily one of the most approachable people I’ve ever met.”

The primary goal of the seminary’s supervised ministry program is to help its seminarians move forward in their vocational discernment and priestly formation.

But one of its hoped for secondary effects has been to raise awareness about vocations in the communities in which they minister.

“One of the first times that I met Aaron, we ended up talking about vocations,” Brahlek said. “It was encouraging to see somebody my age who is ready to devote himself.”

Another third-year seminarian in supervised ministry is Andrew Proctor, a member of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood.

He is ministering to many of the Hispanic members of St. Anthony and Holy Trinity parishes in Indianapolis in their confirmation and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) programs.

Although he has been studying Spanish for a while, Proctor said the ministry experience has helped him become accustomed to Hispanic culture.

It has also helped him grow in ministering in a public setting.

“It’s been a really good experience for me because I’ve had to give several talks, and I’ve had to learn different ways to share my faith with the various people that I’m ministering to,” Proctor said.

Another secondary effect of the seminarians’ ministry is that it has given archdiocesan priests opportunities to interact with the young men in priestly formation.

“As a priest, since we are so busy, we don’t often get a lot of opportunities to connect with seminarians,” said Father John McCaslin, Proctor’s ministry supervisor and pastor of St. Anthony Parish and administrator of Holy Trinity Parish, both in Indianapolis.

“And so I think it’s good just … to answer their questions and listen to their experiences.”

The opportunity to have seminarians in formation in Indianapolis, within an hour’s drive to dozens of parishes and archdiocesan agencies, was an important factor in establishing the Bishop Bruté College Seminary at Marian College three years ago.

The hope that was there at the start is beginning to bear fruit.

“I think the growth that we’ve all experienced, being here in Indianapolis, is amazing,” said Thomas. “I think we have the hands-on contact with the people that we will be serving. It gives us a great chance to begin now to serve them in whatever capacity we can.” †