Samuel Bagyo Jr.

Although he now calls St. Paul Parish in Highland his home parish, Samuel Bagyo Jr., will be far, far away from his birthplace when he is ordained to the transitional diaconate. “I hail from the Republic of Ghana in West Africa, south of the Sahara, from the Upper West Region, which is in the Northwestern section of country, from a village in the Lawra District called Zambo,” he said, adding that he is from the Diocese of Wa, which is part of the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province.

“I come from the Samuel Bagyo’s family, a very large extended family,” he said. “The name Bagyo means to ‘choose the best among the lot.’”

His late parents, James and Grace, raised their seven children in the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church. “We had a happy childhood and a nice neighborhood where we lived with people of all religious beliefs such as Catholics, Pentecostals, Evangelicals and Muslims.

“As a family we began the day with Morning Prayer and where it was possible to morning Mass. We ended the day by having night prayers that included the recitation of the rosary,” he said. “Sunday Mass was compulsory for all in the family. After church, my parents would ask each one of us the reading and what we heard from the sermon.”

Following the death of his parents, Bagyo’s aunt, Juliana Kala (who is also the mother of Father Paul Kala of the Springfield diocese) stepped in to help raise him. “I owe her a great deal of gratitude for her presence in my life and pray for the blessing of God upon her life,” he said. “She has prayed for years, hoping that I will continue to say ‘yes’ to the call to become a priest and her prayers have been answered.”

Bagyo, who is 32, studied in Catholic “basic” schools and he and his brothers went to minor seminary for their high school education. Eventually Bagyo obtained a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy/psychology from the Salesian’s college seminary, Don Bosco Higher Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences. After college he taught French and catechism, and later worked in a psychiatric hospital. His final work in Africa was teaching catechism and helping with youth ministry.

“St. Paul Parish in Highland has been my home and family since I arrived in this country,” he said, adding he relied on the magnanimity of pastor, Father Charles Edwards and Father Kala, who was assigned to St. Paul from 2010-2012. He said he is both “humbled and grateful” to the parish family for all the good will they have shown him over the years. “I have always felt a sense of home and family at St. Paul and I remain grateful to all,” he said.

Bagyo will be vested by Father Edwards and then will be doing a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Greenville Health Center in Greenville, S.C., this summer. “I am looking forward to having this experience and training which will go a long way in equipping me with the necessary tools for ministry to the sick, in life-death situations and in bereavement of families.

“I am looking forward to becoming a transitional deacon to the glory of God and the salvation of souls,” he said. “I humbly accept this noble task of serving at the table of the Lord and serving the people of God through his word, unworthy that I am.”

Adam Prichard

When he thinks about his own personal journey to the transitional diaconate, Adam Prichard, 29, has one saying that often comes to mind: If it is God’s will, then it will also happen in God’s time.

Born in the Netherlands, where his father was stationed in the Air Force, Prichard says his family moved a number of times, making it difficult to name a specific “hometown.” However, they eventually settled in Effingham, where he was a member of Sacred Heart Parish and graduated from Effingham High School. He relocated again in 2005, this time to Quincy, and joined Blessed Sacrament Parish.

“After moving to Quincy I recommitted myself to school, doing some studies at John Wood Community College and even spending two years at Cardinal Glennon College Seminary in Shrewsbury, Mo., before finishing up my bachelor of arts in philosophy and theology at Quincy University in December 2010,” he said.

“Throughout the years, I have felt a call to the priesthood; it came, I thought about it for a day or two, then I discarded it. When I entered the college seminary, it was with the intent to discern further.” At the end of two years, Prichard said he had decided that God wasn’t calling him to the priesthood.

But God wasn’t finished. “There were a few times when the thought came to me; however I rejected it more firmly. Over time, after multiple questions from others, about whether I would ever think about re-entering the seminary, I came to the conclusion, the answer, that if God called me I would answer.

“Well, after the weekend of July 4, 2011, when I had spent some time at the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville, Mo., I discerned that God was calling me back,” he said. “I was on the road on the Monday; it hit me like a ton of bricks, so I pulled over at the next exit and called the Office for Vocations. Now three years later, here I am and I can say, because of my experiences, both in seminary and out of it. I firmly believe that even though God was still calling me to the priesthood, it was not the time or place for me to continue at Cardinal Glennon.”

Supporting Prichard in his spiritual journey have been his parents, William and Patricia Prichard, his two older brothers and his sister and their families, a number of friends and four priests in particular. “They are my current pastor, Msgr. Michael Kuse; my pastor for the majority of my time at Sacred Heart, Father Dan Bergbower, now in Edwardsville; the vocations director at the time I first entered seminary, Father John Titus; and our current director of Vocations, Father Chris House.”

Prichard has asked Father Kuse to vest him at his ordination; after which he’ll complete his CPE at Heartland Health in St. Joseph, Mo. He’ll then return to Mundelein Seminary for his final year of theology and looks forward to his priestly ordination in 2015.

Martin Smith

Mt. Zion native Martin Smith says it is through the encouragement and the lessons he has learned from several good priests that he has come to the diocesan seminary.

The son of Jerry and Faye Smith, he said his parents actually remember when he first seemed interested in the priesthood. “I am the youngest of six children and my parents told me that when I was a young child, about 5 or 6 years old, that I would always ‘play’ Mass at home on Sundays.

“However the first time I really recall thinking about being a priest was when I was in the eighth grade. I was home sick from school and I watched the funeral Mass of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on television,” he said. “As I saw all the many priests and bishops gathered there, I remember thinking that there was something special about this man’s life, and all the priests gathered there, something different than anything else in the world. A life lived entirely for Christ and his people.”

After his high school graduation, Smith spent from July 2001 to July 2005 serving in the United States Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, with a tour in Fallujah, Iraq from 2003-2004. He then studied history and economics for three years at Illinois State University and entered the seminary in 2009. “Also during my time at ISU, I worked as an auxiliary police officer in Mt. Zion and later at the Illinois Raptor Center in Decatur, volunteering to work with birds of prey, especially owls,” said Smith, who is 31.

While he was in the Army, Smith began to once again consider the priesthood. “Especially during the Iraq war, I would write back and forth with my childhood pastor and my greatest mentor, Father James O’Shea,” he said. “He would write to me and encourage me in whatever challenge I was facing.

“Once I returned home Father O’Shea was the first priest to invite me to discern a vocation. During the years that followed I developed friendships with other priests who would serve as mentors for me: Father John Titus, Father Joe Molloy and Father Chris House. Through the prayers and encouragement of those priests and countless others, I entered the seminary.”

Smith was the Springfield diocese’s first graduate from Bishop Simon Brute college seminary in Indianapolis. “My time in the college seminary under Father Bob Roberson was one of the most joyful, and peaceful time of formation,” he said. “It prepared me well for the past three years at Mundelein, which have been a great joy, too. I have made close friends from throughout the United States.”

Smith has chosen Father Molloy, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Decatur, to vest him at his diaconate ordination. “Father Joe is a mentor for me and is one of the most compassionate, caring, merciful and loving priests that I know. I hope someday to be a priest with the priestly virtues he radiates.”

This summer, Smith will be completing his CPE at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He’ll be staying in Glen Carbon with his “old friend and a wonderful priest” Father Al Allen, who has recently been appointed pastor of St. Cecilia Parish.

“A vocation is supported and encouraged by many,” he said. “In addition to my close mentors mentioned earlier, I want to thank the many priests, parishioners, family and friends who have helped me along the way. Especially my mom and dad, Father Dave Hoefler, Father Don Wolford, Father Barry Harmon, to name a few.”

Smith says he appreciates his home parish, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit, and the faculty and students at Sacred Heart and St. Anthony grade schools in Effingham, where he served an internship.

Soon after his ordination, Smith will be celebrating something else with his family. “I have 15 nieces and nephews, with one more, a new nephew to be born in May,” he said. “He will be my first baptism.”

Jason Stone

Jason Stone is a lawyer, a musician, a convert to the Catholic faith and now, at 42, a seminarian for the Springfield diocese.

Stone grew up in Sullivan, where his father, Paul L. Stone and his stepmother Sandra K. Stone still reside. His mother Annet Hlava and her husband Nathan Stein live in Florida. “I am the oldest of five; brothers Matthew and Ben Stone and half-siblings Kate and Nate Stein,” he said.

A graduate of Sullivan High School, Stone went on to get both his bachelor’s and his juris doctor from the University of Illinois and to then be admitted to the Illinois bar in 1996. “I practiced law in Quincy at Lewis, Longlett and Lannerd, LLC, for 12 years,” he said. He also worked as an organist at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hannibal, Mo., and then at St. Rose of Lima in Quincy.

Stone’s road to the seminary was a winding one. “I was raised in the Methodist Church. After having drifted away from the practice of faith in college, I found my way to the Episcopal Church and a retired Episcopalian clergyman became to me a picture of what a priest would be like. He was an influence on my path to the priesthood.

“I was received in the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in 2007 at Blessed Sacrament in Quincy,” he said, explaining that his call to the religious life “(was) not a flash of lightning or anything like that, but an idea from the back of my mind that kept coming back after I chased it away.”

Stone studied philosophy at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary from 2009-2011 and then began studying theology at Mundelein Seminary. “I have indeed made good friends at both seminaries where I studied, and I am happy to say that the faculty in both places have been examples to me.”

Father David Zimmerman, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Paris and St. Aloysius Parish in North Arm and dean of the Decatur deanery, will vest Stone at his diaconate ordination. “I spent my pastoral internship quarter last spring and the summer with him,” he said. “I learned much from him about the priesthood and about the Christian life in general.”

This summer, Stone will be doing his CPE at the University of Louisville Hospital in Louisville, Ky., before returning to Mundelein this fall for his fourth year of theology.