How to Make a Priest

As the mother of a priest, I occasionally hear comments about “thank you for your son” or “how blessed we are for our son.” I also get asked what we did to have a priestly son. I can honestly say other than having a male child, it was totally the Holy Spirit that made my son a priest.

I recall when we first dropped my son at the seminary the conversation went something like this. “Mom, I am a little afraid I might not fit in. We don't kneel in the living room and say the rosary, we don't spend Thanksgiving at a food pantry; I might not be coming from a Catholic enough family.” I didn't know whether to be defensive or concerned. He did manage to fit in, was ordained, and is a happy associate pastor. As he got to know his classmates he figured out that God doesn't chose the qualified, he qualifies the chosen. (You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.John:15:16)

So was there anything that we as parents did to encourage him?

Our Parish has been a big part of our lives and going to Sunday Mass is as routine as brushing your teeth, at the very least you do it because of habit and hopefully you do it most of the time for a more lofty reason. We always brought our whole crew to Sunday Mass, usually in one of the first few pews, and occasionally to the distraction of the priest when we had multiple toddlers. Not everything we did at church was based in religious practice: church dinners, youth activities, choir, PSR/CCD classes, Catholic school, but all reinforced that we are part of this faith community.

We started praying with our children when they were old enough to talk, we kept it simple and short, usually less than five minutes. But it was every night at bedtime and every mealtime and there were never exceptions. If we were driving and we anticipated getting home late and carrying kids to bed we would pray in the car.

Service has been part of our family life, but again on a simple level. None of us ever went on an oversees mission trip but there were plenty of times when one or more kids went with Dad to bring communion to the nursing home, helped Mom prepare a casserole for a sick friend, volunteered to help with a parish or school activity. They learned that caring for others is a normal everyday occurrence, not a special event.

We have always been open about our Catholic beliefs and discussions at the dinner table about what the Pope said, issues such as abortion and contraception, or even Catholic trivia have always been common at our house. We did not worry about being politically correct, even with guests around; but we did make an effort to be orthodox.

Don't forget the basic part of raising a child; teaching them to be kind, respectful, follow directions, use self control, make good choices. In other words, teach children to love God and follow the ten commandments. This is much easier to say than to do. We found success by setting a good example and consistently expecting our kids to be their best.

I do not know if we did anything that caused our son to be a priest but we are blessed to have raised our children so that we can claim one good, holy priest, one good, practicing Catholic, college financial aide officer, one good, practicing Catholic, computer developer, one good, practicing Catholic, social worker and one good, practicing Catholic, wife, mother and artist. Did we do anything special? Nothing more than doing our best job as parents. The rest is up to the Holy Spirit.