Fr. John Brown, S.J.

My heart is grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of God in this very special way as a priest. From the beginning I know that God has been calling me deeper and deeper into a life that requires me to give Him all of my liberty – my memory, understanding and will. Nothing makes me happier. My hope is that God will use that to His glory and continue to shape me in His obedient service. Along the way I have found so much support from so many people that I cannot help but persevere in hope, knowing Christ as the model for all that I want to imitate.

The closer I get to ministering as a priest, the less my own concerns seem to matter. I find myself each day looking outward, along with Christ, at the love in the world, the desire, the hope, the pleasure and joy. I also see the hatred, aversion, sadness and anger. My job as a priest will be to help shine the light of Christ on all of these things, drawing everyone into His infinite goodness – and to be swept up in Christ along the way myself.

This is defending and spreading the faith. I am overjoyed that, through the Church and my life consecrated to God in the Society of Jesus, I can preach and educate, console and inspire, bond and forgive – all finding Christ's Body and Blood at the heart of any act of charity and worship.

Johnathan Brown, S.J.

Fr. Paddy Hough, S.J.

Ever since I was a young boy I have thought about the priesthood and about following the path of those men who I later found out were Jesuits. Born into an amazing Catholic Cultural life in the north of England in the shadow of the ancient Jesuit School of Stonyhurst College was fertile ground for my vocation to grow. As a young boy, of about 11, I remember service at the funeral of our parish priest at the time, and asking myself, who will take his place. This was the first inkling that I had that God had called me to the priesthood and to the Society of Jesus.

If historians ever delve into my life then they might conclude that it was hard to imagine another path for me. The farm that I grew up on had once been run by the Jesuit brothers. Hopkins had visited it and written poetry about the farm buildings that I grew up around. Jesuits were everywhere, stories of saints and martyrs were made visible in the yearly round of feasts and processions where relics of these Saints were brought out for all to see: ropes that tied martyrs to stakes, corporals that once held the host of the final mass of these courageous English Jesuits, were frequent reminders to me to seek for some greater glory.

So, yes, I have long desired to be a Jesuit and a priest. Edmund Campion has been a favorite of mine and his simple statement before death that he had simple tried to freely preach the Gospel, minister the sacraments, educate and reform and confound the errors of the time has always rung in my ears as a Mission statement for my priestly life.

I love the liturgical life of the Church in all its history, richness and power to bring solace and strength to people wherever they may be.

The tradition of the Jesuits has encouraged and allowed me to bring the perennial message of Christ and his Church into people's lives. Personally this has been through music and athletics, teaching and traveling, and I have felt that these long years of formation have born great fruit for others and for myself. Yes, the long years of formation peel off the layers that hinder you from being the man you were created to be. That is why I have come with confidence to this moment of ordination to trust that the deepest exchange that goes on between Jesus and myself, a relationship developed in prayer, will bear fruit for others as a Catholic Priest in the world today.

John Patrick Hough, S.J.

Fr. Jeff Johnson, S.J.

Priesthood, for me, means assisting people in their relationship with God. Depending on the situation, people are in a variety of places in their relationship with God. I can best be of service when helping people to discover how they can deepen that relationship and come to rely upon God through Jesus. This facilitation can take shape in many ways.

I am most grateful for my ten years of formation within the Society of Jesus. I have been placed in many different situations with many different people who all have a similar question regarding their relationship with God. The question is, namely, how do I deepen my relationship with God and how do I live my life out of that relationship?

Sometimes the situations have been difficult. Last summer I did a chaplaincy training program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Many times I was called upon to enter the hospital room of a person in critical condition. Often the person was dying and was surrounded by their families and loved ones. At moments like these, the big questions of life seem to surface frequently. Often questions of faith, religion, and God came up. I was there not as the answer-man, but as a minister. There is a big difference between the two. The answer-man comes in with answers to all the questions that rightfully belong to God to answer. The minister helps the person find how God is answering their deepest, most intimate, questions. As a priest, I hope to be a good and faithful minister for God, not the guy who has all of the answers.

Fortunately not all of ministry is done in such grave circumstances. While working at St. Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill, Mass., I've had the opportunity to preside at several baptisms of children. Most often the children are very young – a few months to only a few years old. This is a joyous time in the lives of the parents, godparents, and families. Baptism marks the beginning of a child's deepening relationship with God through Jesus. The parents clearly see this as a beginning of something truly extraordinary, and the church is filled with happiness and joy. These are wonderful responses to the initiation of a relationship with God. God, for God's part, is joyful, and so are the parents and families.

But most often, being a minister for God means accompanying people in their everyday experiences. I have been privileged to accompany two people this year as they make their way through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. They are making the year-long retreat in the midst of their everyday lives. Here God shows up in a quieter more subtle way that God does at the deathbed or the baptismal font. For most, God is a steady, reliable presence, a gentle source of strength and courage. Sometimes, God invites these people to live more deeply in Christ. In all that I have done and look forward to doing, I hope I am a priest who helps people find God.

Jeffrey Johnson, S.J.

Fr. Aaron Pidel, S.J.

My path to the priesthood began at home in Augusta, Georgia. My parents had moved there from Rochester, New York – without job prospects – in order to join an ecumenical, charismatic community. The conviction that God comes first, that He provides for those who do His will, permeated my family as well as the families of my childhood friends. I also remember well the interest our circle showed in the priests who passed though Augusta: our hope that they would be close to God and close to us, that they would teach us how to pray, and that they would preach the Gospel undiluted. And as I came to know more families and friends, both before entrance (while studying at Franciscan University) and after entrance (while teaching at Jesuit High School New Orleans), I came to realize that this hope, though oft unexpressed, is everywhere.

My own sense of priestly calling grew very much out of these "domestic churches" and remains, in many ways, directed toward them. Given my background, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I felt drawn specifically to be a priest in the Society of Jesus. According to the Jesuit ideal, a priest leaves the comfort of the familiar in order to follow Christ on mission; he enjoys great intimacy with God and draws others into this intimacy; he renounces worldly ambition and is, therefore, free to speak with Christ's own boldness. This image continues to motivate me today.

Now that the day has arrived, I find myself sincerely grateful to God for the gift of a priestly vocation in the Society of Jesus. Though aware of my own unworthiness, I also feel the joy of being placed with Christ in this special way, the privilege of being called to bring Christ to others, and the simplicity of a life that knows but a single purpose. Deo gratias.

Aaron Pidel, S.J.