I spoke with Father Dan recently about his call to the priesthood and his experience since being ordained and I could hear the joy in his voice as we spoke.

When he was in high school, his two best friends, Tony and Chris, were killed in a car accident along with another acquaintance as well as a man in the other car.  That awful, grief-filled time made him think about his life as he never had before.  He wondered, as most of us do, why there is suffering in the world and wondered what really matters in life.  He realized that we need to let go of the petty things, that relationships with people on earth are important and that his relationship with God was important.  He asked himself if he was ready to meet God at that moment in his life.  And he brought all of those questions and thoughts to the Lord in prayer.  He said, “God used that moment in my life to draw me closer to him.  My prayer life deepened dramatically and it was definitely a time of conversion.”

He attended Marquette University with plans of becoming an accountant, meeting Miss Right, getting married, having eight kids, going on vacations and retiring at an early age.  But God had other plans.  As Father Dan put it, “God built up another vision for me  and changed my heart and my desires.”

In the middle of his college years he was at a sort of low point, unsure of which path he would take and confused about what he wanted out of life.  He had many options but didn’t know where he wanted to go.  A friend told him about St. Therese of Lisieux (also known as The Little Flower) and gave him a pamphlet with a novena to her.  He knew nothing about her and his friend told him St. Therese’s promise to shower roses upon anyone who turns to her for intercession. He put the pamphlet in a drawer and didn’t give it another thought.

He came across the pamphlet a few months later when he was cleaning out his drawers and decided to pray the novena, despite his doubt that it would have any great impact on his life.

Over the course of the nine days that he prayed the novena, he went to daily Mass in the basement chapel at Gesu and focused on his desire to know that God had a plan for him.  He described the basement chapel as being very plain, having never known it to have any special decoration.

On the last day of the novena, he arrived at the basement chapel and laughed to himself when he saw three huge vases of red roses there.  He thought it was a coincidence but it definitely made an impact.  There’s a saying that there are no coincidences, only God-instances.  He said, “God wasn’t happy that I didn’t recognize this sign so the next day He slapped me.  I was in my dorm room and got a call from the front desk saying there was a package for me.  When I opened it, I found a single red rose in the box.  Now, no one knew I was praying this novena, I wasn’t dating anyone, no one had any reason to send me a rose.”  These events had a great impact on his life and dramatically changed his inner life.  He had a new-found sense of hope and peace.

His last year at Marquette he began spiritual direction with a Jesuit priest.  He attended World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II who kept repeating his message to the young people there, “Be not afraid!”  Fear had been the only thing keeping him from entering the seminary.  Once the fear was gone, there was nothing holding him away.  He met a seminarian from St. Francis DeSales Seminary and the two became friends.  He gave Dan a tour and introduced him to the other seminarians and priests.  It felt like home and when he wasn’t there, he missed it greatly. 

He was also reading a book at that time called Priests for the Third Millennium by an obscure auxiliary bishop from St. Louis named Timothy M. Dolan.  A few weeks later, you can guess who was named archbishop of Milwaukee!  Coincidence or God-instance?  Dan entered the seminary in the fall of 2004.

I asked Father Dan what he hopes to accomplish in his priesthood.  He said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans - he’ll surprise you!”  John Paul II wrote that a priest is a bridge between God and man and that a priest should preach the gospel, get to know the people and bring them to God, helping their faith grow through his ministry.  Father Dan feels that he’s not sent to a parish to get to know the people, although he feels that’s definitely a blessing, but that he’s there to lead people to God.  He said, “If I can do that in any way through my ministry, then I will have served God well.”

What would Father Dan like our boys and young men to know about a vocation to the priesthood?  “Young males crave adventure.  It’s a myth that the priesthood is boring.  It’s the furthest thing from boring; it’s the greatest adventure God could lead you on!  There is great depth in your relationships.  God asks you to step out of your comfort zone and be daring and strong and to trust in Him when you don’t know how things will turn out.”

And his message to the parent’s of sons?  “Don’t be afraid of a religious vocation.  Parents want their kids to be happy and they have a vision of what their kids’ lives will look like.  Being open to God’s plan is the Paschal Mystery of dying and rising - dying to ourselves and rising in faith in God and His plan for us.  My mom saw the joy in me when I was in the seminary and knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  I think parents experience an incredible growth in their own faith when their children say yes to religious life.”

Father Dan will be serving the people of St. Francis Borgia Parish in Cedarburg as Associate Pastor.