On the Friday of Easter Week, April 21, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will ordain three men to the transitional diaconate for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. The ordination will take place during 6:30 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Recently, Robert “Rob” Johnson, Aaron Kuhn and Mark Tracy took time to share their thoughts on their upcoming ordinations.
Rob Johnson
A third-year theology student at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Rob Johnson is a native of Illiopolis and calls Resurrection his home parish. He attended both grade school and middle school in Illiopolis and then graduated from Sangamon Valley High School in Niantic before moving on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned a bachelor’s in biology with a minor in secondary education.
It was during his college years Johnson began to consider his vocation. “I’ve been lucky to be around very good priests in all different stages of my life,” he says. “During my college years, I started to think about how attractive the life of a priest was and my desire to be a priest grew a lot after college when I worked for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I had many signs pointing me toward the priesthood but I didn’t know for sure until a couple of years into seminary when I went on a 30-day retreat, during which I had a very clear moment in prayer that this was what God wanted me to do and this is the life that will fulfill me the most.”
Johnson, who recently turned 30, is the son of Doug and Patty Johnson. He has three sisters: Jen Moffitt (husband Justin), Amber Jensen (husband Jason), and Julie Johnson; and a brother Ross Johnson. He is an uncle to John, Caroline and Anna Moffitt; Will and Jack Jensen; and Thomas Johnson.
Johnson says he has “a lot” of priests that he considers to be mentors. “Father Luke Spannagel and Msgr. Greg Ketcham were both at the Newman Center in Champaign when I was there and have both continued to be great mentors to me throughout the years. Father Bill Miller is pastor of my sister and brother-in-law’s home parish in Galesburg and has become a close family friend.”
He lists Mundelein’s Bishop Robert Barron, Father Jim Presta, Father John Kartje, Father Ed Pelrine and Father Gus Belauskus as mentors, as well as Father Connor Danstrom and Father Scott Harter, who were fellow students at Mundelein “who are close friends and trusted mentors as well.”
From the Springfield diocese, he lists Msgr. Jim O’Shea, Father John Titus and Father Peter Harman as priests who are both mentors and men who are great models of the priesthood.
Finally, he has picked one other mentor, Father Chris House, to vest him at his ordination. “Father House has become a good friend and mentor over the past several years,” he says. “He was vocation director when I joined the diocese and also spent a year on faculty at Mundelein Seminary, during which time I got to know him well. I’ve grown to trust and love Father Chris — and his example of hard work and faith were what made me want to ask him to vest me at my ordination to the diaconate.”
This summer the newly-ordained Deacon Johnson will be staying and working at Holy Family Parish in Decatur. “I’m not sure all that I will be doing there, but am excited to get to know the people there and serve as a deacon in our diocese.”
Aaron Kuhn
Aaron Kuhn, 38, grew up in Mendon and continues to be involved at St. Edward the Confessor Parish in his hometown. He lists his current home parish as St. Francis Solanus in Quincy. He attended grade school at St. John the Baptist in Quincy, high school at Quincy Notre Dame and then earned a bachelor’s in business management and a M.B.A. from Quincy University.
“I seriously considered the priesthood in high school some 20 years ago, but ultimately decided not to go that route,” he says. “I went to college and worked for a number of years, but the priesthood never left my thoughts or my prayers. I continually felt called to a priestly vocation and I am grateful for the many opportunities that were given to me and the many great priests and others in my life that continued to gently encourage my vocation to the priesthood.”
Kuhn has work experience in foodservice management, college bookstore management and with the Knights of Columbus. His last job prior to entering the seminary was at the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois as a parish financial coordinator in the Office for Finances.
The son of Barbara A. and the late Thomas J. Kuhn, he has seven siblings: Myra Kuhn, Father Melvin Kuhn, Marvin Kuhn, Myron Kuhn, Anaise England (husband Derek), R. Robert Kuhn and Matthew Kuhn. He also has three nephews: Thomas, Daniel and John England.
Kuhn, who is a seminarian at Mundelein Seminary, says he has been fortunate to know many good priests. He says about 10 years ago now-Bishop Carl Kemme, bishop of the Diocese of Wichita, was a priest from the Springfield diocese who encouraged him to “seriously consider the priesthood once again.” Also from the Springfield diocese, he mentions Father John Beveridge, Father Jeff Stone, Father Tom Meyer, Father Charlie Nelson, Father James Neuman and Father Lou Schlangen as great mentors. He also lists Franciscans — Father James Wheeler, OFM, Father Kurt Hartrich, OFM, Father Albert Haase, OFM, and Father Don Blaeser, OFM — as being influential in his life. Finally, he mentions his seminary instructor and spiritual director Father Gus Belauskas and Father Christopher Ciomek, who is a good priest friend and his former seminary formation advisor.
He has chosen his oldest brother, Father Kuhn of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D., to vest him at his ordination. Deacon Kuhn will serve his first Mass as a deacon on Sunday, April 23 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Edward in Mendon.
This summer he will be serving as a deacon at Holy Angels Parish in Wood River. “The diaconate can simply be described as service,” he says. “Service to the church, the diocese and to the people of God.”
Mark Tracy
A third-year theology student at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Mark Tracy is looking forward to his ordination to the transitional diaconate. A native of Mt. Sterling, he calls Holy Family his home parish.
Tracy is the son of Jim and Jill Tracy of Mt. Sterling and he has two brothers Rob Tracy (wife Natalie), and Ben Tracy (wife Annie) and a younger sister, Kelsey Tracy. He also is the proud uncle of two nieces, Sloane Tracy and Molly Tracy.
He attended St. Mary Grade School and Brown County High School before being accepted to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Later, of course, he was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and began his studies at St. Meinrad.
Tracy says he has two priests who have been especially important mentors in his life. “(I would say) Father Tom Henseler because he was our faithful pastor in Holy Family for almost my whole childhood,” he says. Another mentor is Msgr. Greg Ketcham, “who was my pastor in college.”
Deacon Paul Koch, who was ordained to the permanent diaconate for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois on June 16, 2012, will vest Tracy at his ordination. “I chose Deacon Paul Koch to vest me in the upcoming deacon ordination because he and his wife, Charlotte, have always been great witnesses of following Jesus Christ in their lives,” he says. “Deacon Paul and Charlotte were members of my home parish growing up and Charlotte was even my kindergarten teacher and principal at St. Mary’s.”
Tracy is no stranger to serving in the Springfield diocese and other places as well. He completed his clinical pastoral education and hospital chaplain service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Additionally, he served at St. Boniface Parish in Edwardsville and Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield. Finally, he spent time over summer breaks working in the diocesan office in the Vocations Office and in the Pro-Life Activities and Special Ministries.
This summer the newly-ordained Deacon Tracy, who is 27, will be assigned to a parish in the Springfield diocese.
Note: Coverage and photos of the deacon ordination will run in the April 30 edition of CATHOLIC TIMES. Also, another young seminarian, Dominic Rankin, is a student at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and is set to be ordained to transitional diaconate in late September. His biography will run at a later date.