When Dn. David Orsak graduates from Sacred Heart School of Theology May 2, it will be with the support and influence of the Sacred Heart.
“I didn’t always know it, but it has consistently been in the background, influencing my life,” said Dn. David.
He remembers as a child “playing priest,” pretending to celebrate the Mass with toys and dolls standing in for parishioners.
In the background of his makeshift chapel? A picture of the Sacred Heart; the image that has been distributed for many years by the Priests of the Sacred Heart.
Dn. David wanted to be a priest, but in the way that many children also want to be firefighters, policemen, teachers and doctors.
When he was a child, Dn. David’s family lived in Rome because of his father’s job. While there, he visited the Vatican and the family even had an audience with the pope.
“The church has always been there in the background of my life; but the Sacred Heart, and the Priests of the Sacred Heart have been as well,” said Dn. David.
For years, his grandmother was a benefactor of the community, in particular, to Sacred Heart School of Theology. He didn’t realize the connection until years later when he was a student at the seminary.
Dn. David first formally pursued his vocation as a young adult. He approached the Paulist Fathers but was told to go to college first and continue his discernment. He went to the University of Texas at Austin and earned a degree in structural engineering, then spent approximately 30 years in the field.
Based in Memphis for much of that time, Dn. David said that he was “married to his job” and spent most of what free time that he did have at his parish. Active in prison and music ministry, he was a regular at church functions, so much so that fellow parishioners often said to him, “You should think of becoming a priest.”
Actually, he had been thinking of the priesthood. Or more accurately, he never really stopped thinking about it going back to his childhood days of “playing priest” in front of the picture of the Sacred Heart.
In 2010 he contacted the Diocese of Memphis about his vocation. Although he had taken the first steps toward following his call years earlier, this time, “it seemed right,” he said.
The vocation director put him in touch with Sacred Heart School of Theology, the seminary to which his grandmother had given donations for many years. Although his candidacy with the Diocese of Memphis hadn’t been finalized, he was encouraged to apply to SHST and begin his seminary studies.
Dn. David told his Cursillo prayer group that he had applied to the seminary. He asked for their prayers as he discerned his vocation to the priesthood.
“I didn’t know it then, but the members of the group made a novena to the Sacred Heart on my behalf,” said Dn. David.
On the ninth day of the novena, he learned that he had been accepted as an SHST seminarian. However, it wasn’t until the next year that he found out about the novena.
“Again, the Sacred Heart was in the background, supporting me,” he said.
Midway through his first semester he learned that he had been accepted as a candidate for the Diocese of Memphis. By then he had already begun to feel the support of not only the SHST community but of the SCJs as well.
“I have been very appreciative of the Priests of the Sacred Heart and their presence at the seminary,” said Dn. David. “The SCJs are wonderful role models and their spirituality is felt. There is a pastoral holiness to it, a true concern for the ‘other.’”
Although Dn. David said that he has been influenced by many SCJs, he is especially appreciative of the friendship that he has with Fr. Paul Casper, a retired SCJ living at Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake. Dn. David knew of Fr. Paul from his contact with his Cursillo group in Memphis years ago. While in the seminary, Fr. Paul has been a good friend to Dn. David during his studies and discernment. He, along with Fr. Tom Westhoven, SCJ, will be among those attending Dn. David’s ordination June 7.
“Here I am, graduating from the seminary that my grandmother supported for so many years,” said Dn. David. It is where his family picture of the Sacred Heart came from, the picture in front which he “played priest” as a child.
“The Sacred Heart has been guiding me for so long, it has always been there.”
Dn. David is one of three seminarians from the Diocese of Memphis graduating from Sacred Heart School of Theology May 2. They will be ordained with two others for the diocese June 7.
