MUNDELEIN — Transitional Deacon Hyland Smith will be ordained a priest by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki on Saturday, May 25, at 10:30 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield.
Born and raised a Southern Baptist in rural Greene County, Deacon Smith says he drifted from religion when he was in college and graduate school. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1999, and returned to EIU to earn his master's degree in clinical psychology in 2006.
He was in graduate school when his mother, Janice Smith, a nurse at the Alton Mental Health Center, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer that metastasized in both her lungs. She died in March 2002.
"The witness she gave me during her suffering, continuing to turn to the Lord, taught me how much her faith meant to her," says her son. "I was searching for something, and (Dr. James) 'Doc' and Doris Reid in Greenfield reached out to me and started inviting me to different family things they held."
Smith had gone all through school in Greenfield with the Reid's daughter, Christine, and her now husband, Jeremy. "When I started spending time with the Reids, I saw the way they were living their Catholic faith, how they made their faith the center of their lives, and it got me thinking. It really began to call me."
He read the Bible and started praying, all the time jotting down in a notebook "What I believe/what Catholics believe." He enrolled in the RCIA group at St. Michael Parish in Greenfield, administered by the Reids.
Father Henry Schmidt received and confirmed Smith at the Easter Vigil, 2004.
"I'm here (in his last month at the seminary) because of Father Schmidt," Deacon Smith said. "He had a habit of praying at the end of Mass 'that more young men and women will answer the call to serve God as a priest, brother, or sister.'
"I was sitting there one Sunday in Mass — I had just found a job in my field that I loved, counseling young people who are on probation, to help them prevent their lives from going on a downward spiral — when it hit me. I was being called."
He admits that one of his biggest challenges when joining the church was that he would somehow seem to be denying his mother's faith. "But then it dawned on me, the faith that I have now is the faith my mother gave me. My mom was a very big influence on my life. I believe in the Communion of Saints and that she is one of my biggest prayer warriors in heaven.
"I am really excited to be going home," Deacon Smith said. "It has been a lot of fun up here (at Mundelein). I have made some wonderful friendships. I am looking forward to going home, to whatever parish I am sent.
"I want to help people grow in their faith life. Priests need to teach their people how to pray. To do that, priests have to pray. One of the things that I want to try and focus on, is 'What does that mean? It is more than just saying a prayer.'"
After his ordination, Father Smith will celebrate his first Mass on the afternoon of May 26 at his home parish of St. Michael in Greenfield. He will be assigned to serve as a parochial vicar at Our Savior Parish in Jacksonville.