New priests begin their ministry after May 31 ordination |
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Written by LAURIE STEVENS, Chronicle Writer
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Friday, 06 June 2008 01:00 |
TOLEDO—Bishop Leonard P. Blair ordained two new priests for the Diocese of Toledo in a celebration May 31 at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Father John A. Miller, 35, is the son of James and Valeda Miller of Marywood St. Gaspar del Bufalo Parish, and Father Eric J. Culler, 28, is the son of Dennis and Victoria Culler of Lexington Resurrection Parish.
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Father John Miller, left, and Father Eric Culler, seen at the
Pontifical College Josephinum at the beginning of May, were ordained as
priests of the Diocese of Toledo May 31 at Rosary Cathedral. (Chronicle
photo by Laurie Stevens) |
In an interview the week before their graduation from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, last month, the men reflected on the experiences that brought them to the priesthood.
Fr. Culler is eager to fulfill the calling he first recognized at his confirmation, when he received a Bible as a gift and began reading it from the beginning to understand the faith.
“I had a great desire already for adventure, and for the transcendent — for being able to be a mediator in some way between invisible spiritual realities and the realities of earth,” he recalls.
He also had a strong desire to serve people, which he originally thought about doing through some means of technology — by becoming an aerospace engineer or designing an invention to solve problems like hunger, energy or transportation.
“But as I considered it, I saw the deeper needs people have for salvation, ultimately. They have to know, love and serve God, and to serve their brothers and sisters on earth,” says Fr. Culler.
“If they’re not connected with that calling to do that, then technology, any invention, won’t be able to change the world,” he continues. “We have to change the human heart, first.”
As a priest, Fr. Culler believed he could assist people with this conversion.
He graduated from Lexington High School and attended the University of Dayton to study philosophy and German. In college he continued to feel the Lord calling him to the priesthood, and so he went on to the seminary.
As he delved into prayer, service and study, he felt at home in the community of seminarians.
“It was though everything converged to say this is where I should be, because I was giving my all to God, and I was finding fulfillment in that,” says Fr. Culler.
As Fr. Miller looks back on his path to the priesthood, he notes there are two steps: “One is to hear the call, and two is to answer.”
Growing up on a farm near the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue, Fr. Miller says he was blessed to have many good witnesses to the priesthood.
“When I think of what the priesthood is about, I go back to my younger days, and I see all those priests that I knew,” he says.
He considers those to be powerful years of formation that “visually informed” him about the things a priest should be.
The priesthood was one of many things he considered as he graduated from Seneca East High School, and he says it remained in the back of his mind — “and sometimes the forefront” — throughout his college years.
After attending Heidelberg College and graduating from Ohio University, he landed his first job with a degree in chemical engineering.
“I had my own plans for life, and all of that was going very well,” says Fr. Miller. The last thing on his “check sheet,” he recalls, was marriage and children.
But thoughts of the priesthood persisted, and for a time he felt called both ways.
“That can be frustrating,” he adds. “And I realized, my prayer life was good, but I had to intensify it. Because God is the one calling, and God is the one who has the answer.”
Patience and prayer, along with “trust in the goodness of the Lord,” ultimately helped Fr. Miller make his decision.
“We grow in the process, and we are able to say ‘yes’ to something, that we couldn’t have before, or say ‘no’ to something, that we weren’t able to say before,” he reflects. “So we grow in our relationship, and as we’re doing that, we’re able to say more and more, as Mary, — ‘yes.’ ”
Fr. Miller was 27 years old when he decided to enter seminary, and he had been working as a chemical engineer for more than four years in a job he enjoyed.
“I wasn’t sure I could really quit my job, but when it finally came time to doing it — handing in those resignation papers — it was all grace,” he says.
Since then Fr. Miller has not looked back, and he is eager to begin his ministry as a priest of the diocese.
Over their years of formation, the men have found support from family — whom Fr. Culler credits as their foundation — and from friends and people they have met in their pastoral assignments.
“They remember us in their prayers, and that’s as important as anything: because we don’t do this alone,” says Fr. Miller.
They gained valuable experience as transitional deacons in the past year, with Fr. Culler assigned to Holy Name Parish in Columbus and Fr. Miller assigned to St. Michael Parish in Worthington.
Fr. Culler also completed his pastoral internship year at Bellevue Immaculate Conception, and gained other experience in his formation by working at Willard St. Francis, Toledo St. Adalbert and St. Hedwig, the Catholic Club, St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Catholic Charities in Columbus and Ohio Dominican University campus ministry. He received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree and a Master of Divinity degree from the Pontifical College Josephinum.
Fr. Culler celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving at Lexington Resurrection June 1, and he celebrates Masses of thanksgiving June 7 at 4:30 p.m. and June 8 at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. at Bellevue Immaculate Conception.
Fr. Miller completed his pastoral internship year at Toledo St. Patrick of Heatherdowns, and he worked at Sandusky St. Mary and Holy Angels, Lima St. Rose and St. John, Upper Sandusky Transfiguration of the Lord and the Children’s Hospital in Columbus during his years of formation. He received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree and a Master of Divinity degree from the Pontifical College Josephinum.
Fr. Miller celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving at St. Gaspar del Bufalo June 1, and also celebrates Masses of thanksgiving June 8 at 9 a.m. at Sorrowful Mother Shrine and June 22 at 10:30 a.m. at Sandusky Holy Angels.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 August 2008 08:46 |
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