Steven Arisman
Springfield native Steven Arisman has wanted to be a priest his entire life. "I remember when I was about 5, someone asked me, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' and I said, 'A priest,'" says Arisman, who will turn 32 on April 23.
Arisman and fellow Mundelein seminarian Seth Brown will be ordained transitional deacons by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki on Saturday, April 6, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it," says Arisman. "I've been working towards it for a very long time."
Arisman is the youngest of four children of Tom and Elaine Arisman. "My whole life, Mom and Dad were so involved in the church and in the school, I basically lived at the church," says Arisman.
"For eight years Mass was celebrated in the gymnasium of the new St. Agnes School on Amos, before our new St. Agnes Church was completed. Our family always helped set up and take down chairs for Mass. I was so comfortable with being there, it was my home," says Arisman.
Father (later Msgr.) Patrick Wright was pastor at St. Agnes during much of Arisman's school years, including his high school years at nearby Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. "Father Wright was such an inspiration, my model priest — what I wanted to be when I grew up," says Arisman.
He started serving at Mass in sixth grade, and started serving at diocesan liturgies at 17. "This year's chrism Mass was my 18th to serve," he said.
He spent a year at Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis, but dropped out at the end of the year, feeling it was not a good fit for him. He returned to Springfield to work and attend college part time. He waited tables in a restaurant, taught school band part-time at the (then) seven Catholic grade schools in Springfield for two years, clerked in a video store, and was an assistant at St. John's Hospital. All during that time, he was taking one or two classes a semester first at then Springfield College in Illinois and later at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Just when he was offered a position as assistant manager in St. John's Hospital's emergency department, he got a call from Father Christopher House, the diocese's vocation director. Several priests had inquired why Arisman had not returned to the seminary. Arisman said his understanding was he could not return until he had his undergraduate degree. Father House found no mention of that in Arisman's file.
Arisman was sent to Conception Seminary College in Missouri for two years, where he earned his degree in philosophy; then spent three years at Mundelein Seminary where he will earn his degree in theology.
After ordination to the diaconate, he will continue studies at Mundelein Seminary and is expected to be ordained a priest for the Springfield diocese in May 2014.
— By Cathy Locher
Seth Brown
A dozen years ago, when Seth Brown was graduating from Porta High School in Petersburg, he could never have imagined that he would one day be in formation to become a priest. He now knows that a decade — and God's call — can bring many changes to a young man's life. Now a third-year seminarian at Mundelein, he will be ordained to the diaconate at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 6.
"I was actually raised a Baptist and didn't convert to Catholicism until the Easter Vigil in 2004," says Brown. Raised in Oakford, the second of the four sons of Jim and Nancy Brown, he decided to major in religion and also studied philosophy and literature at Illinois College in Jacksonville. It was during that time that he met a priest who gave him spiritual direction when he was drawn to the Catholic faith.
"When I was at Illinois College, I came to know Father John Titus. He was a good mentor," Brown says. "Father Tom Meyer and Father Angel Sierra were also the priests that served at Illinois College and I knew them through the Newman Club. But when I did enter the seminary, it was when Father Titus was vocations director. I think I was one of the last guys he brought in."
Brown graduated from Illinois College in 2005 and went on to work at Country Insurance for two years. "I had actually thought about the priesthood during the time I was going through RCIA," he says. "But for two years, God was preparing me. I wanted a couple of years to grow in faith at the parish level. I attended St. Luke Parish in Virginia, but St. Peter in Petersburg became my home parish."
Brown says he volunteered as a reader at Mass and an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. "I went to Mass several times a week and attended Bible study classes," he says. "Then, I decided to go ahead and apply for the seminary and entered in 2007." He spent two years in pre-theology and then began theology at Mundelein.
About half-way through his theological studies, Brown took a year out of formation and entered the novitiate with the Benedictines at Marmion Abbey in Aurora. "So I was in the novitiate there, but came back (to his studies for the diocesan priesthood) after eight months," he says.
Brown values the friendships he's made while at Mundelein. In fact, he has asked his good friend, Deacon Hyland Smith, to vest him at his ordination. "We started at Mundelein together and for a long time, before I left for a while, we were in the same class," he says.
At the end of May, he'll be returning to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for Deacon Smith's ordination to the priesthood. "I wouldn't miss that for anything," Brown says.
After he is ordained a deacon, Brown will finish the rest of the school year at Mundelein. This summer he will complete a 10-week chaplaincy experience at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind. "Then, of course in the fall, I'll return to my sixth and final year at Mundelein," he says.
Although he is the only Catholic in his immediate family, Brown says his parents and brothers understand that he truly feels called to the priesthood. "I am very lucky," he says, "My whole family is very supportive."
— By Diane Schlindwein