The Dehon Formation House in Chicago is home to an international, intergenerational, multi-program community of professed SCJs and those discerning religious life with the Priests of the Sacred Heart. The community not only houses the initial formation programs (candidacy, novitiate, philosophy and theology) of the province but also welcomes SCJs in sabbatical or graduate programs. The 2013-14 academic year includes Fr. Gauthier Buyidi of the Congolese Province, and Fr. Antonny Wijaya from the Indonesian Province, who are both doing graduate studies at Loyola University in Chicago.
In their own words, members of the community introduce themselves:
Initial formation
Br. Clay Diaz, SCJ
I am Br. Clay P. Diaz Vlaida, born in Methuen, Mass, on December 19, 1964. I lived most of my early life in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, just to name a few places, before moving to Puerto Rico after graduating from high school in Concord, New Hampshire.
I come from a big family, ten sisters, and four brothers; much of my family still lives in Puerto Rico, though I have four sisters and two brothers who live in the States.
I have been with our community, the Priests of the Sacred Heart, since August of 2003, and have truly enjoyed my time as a religious brother. For me it is and will continue to be a blessing and a great joy to be a part of such a great community. One of the reasons why I joined the SCJs was because of the charism, the love that we have for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but also because Fr. Dehon, our founder, worked with the poor. When I visit our ministries I realize that I want to continue to follow in his footsteps.
I am involved in Port Ministries as a tutor. This is also my last year at Catholic Theological Union; I will graduate in May, 2014. Preparing for my next step in formation, I started my final vow program in September, under the direction of Br. Ray Kozuch.
I speak, read and write both in English and Spanish fluently; I am also fluent in sign language (ASL, American Sign Language) in English and Spanish.
My hobbies are reading, playing piano and guitar, and I am a huge sports fan. And, I enjoy just being around and having a good conversation.
Novice Justin Krenke
My name is Justin Krenke and after three years as a candidate I am now a novice. I am 23 years old and was born in West Allis, Wis., but grew up next door in Milwaukee. I lived with my mom, step-dad, and two older sisters.
I learned about the SCJs from a vocational website that matched people with religious communities based on their interests. After I visited the community on a Come and See weekend I became very interested and decided that this is the community for me.
During breaks from school I have worked in SCJ ministries. Through these experiences I learned that ministry isn’t just about going and helping people and then when you’re done, moving on the next project. Ministry is about making connections with people, talking with them, and learning about and from them. It’s about showing people that you truly do care about their situation and you want to be able to help as much as you can, even if it’s just listening
Now as I have come to learn more and more about the SCJs, how they live, the work they do throughout the country and around the world, and as I have come to grow not only on a spiritual level but on a personal level, I felt that the time was right to learn more and come to a fuller understanding of what it would mean for me to become an SCJ. I am looking forward to the year ahead and I hope to learn all I can to prepare to take my first vows.
Frater James Nguyen, SCJ
I am James Nguyen, 24. I was born in Saigon, Vietnam, but raised in Seattle since I was four. I am the middle of three boys, the oldest of whom is a Jesuit; the youngest just graduated high school. I am a graduate from the University of Washington (Go Huskies!) with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and sociology.
I am back at Catholic Theological Union for my second year in theology after professing my first vows this past August. During my spare time, I enjoy exploring the outdoors on hiking, camping and backpacking trips. I love to travel and my dream is to do a backpacking trip across the Himalayas. This year, I am continuing my ministry with the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society at St. Henry Parish and leading the adult confirmation program at Our Lady of the Snows Parish.
What drew me to the Priests of the Sacred Heart is the charism and spirituality found in Fr. Leo Dehon’s writings. Every SCJ whom I have met shows such passion and hospitality in his ministry. They all express the mission of being prophets of love and servants of reconciliation in their daily lives. I was inspired by Fr. Dehon saying that going out to the world with a Bible is not enough as we should also be carrying a newspaper – or now an iPad – to be of the world.
Liem Nguyen
My name is Liem Nguyen. I am from sunny California: Orange County. I’ve lived there since emigrating to the United States from Vietnam. I was born in 1982. My parents, Dinh and Hai, live in California, along with my five brothers and two sisters. I am one of the youngest in my family.
I have always felt an attraction to ministry and serving God’s people as a priest, and have been involved in my parish. I finally decided to explore my call because of the example of my local pastor and Fr. Francis Vu Tran, whom I met through the national Vietnamese youth group, in which I ministered as a catechist.
Right now, I am a student at the English Language Academy of de Paul University. I am deepening my grasp of English, and learning and working a lot. My goal is to attend St. Xavier University and earn my philosophy degree. When I am not studying, I enjoy listening to music. Instrumental and classical music are my favorites. I also enjoy movies, all kinds, but Pixar is my favorite studio. Music and film are a welcome change of pace right now when I want to take a break from my studies!
Frater Juan Carlos Castañeda Rojas, SCJ
There is no place like home. I have heard that many times and I strongly agree. My name is Juan Carlos Castañeda Rojas; I am 31 years old and I am from the city of everlasting spring, Medellin, Colombia! I love horses, cooking, and spending time with my family and friends.
Since I was a kid I felt that I was called to the religious life. But I never thought that it was going to be a long distance call! In January, 2006, I responded to God´s call and came to the United States to start my discernment process with the Priests of the Sacred Heart.
It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Since my arrival I have felt welcomed. My first challenge was learning a new language, which was not easy. But thanks to all the support that I received in the ESL program at Sacred Heart School of Theology I was able to learn and improve my English.
I moved to the formation house in Chicago in order to continue with my spiritual and academic formation. Here I found people like me who are open to responding to God’s call, here I found friends, but more than that, here I found a home and a new family.
I have achieved many things during my time in formation, I have improved in my communication skills, I have met a lot of really nice people and I obtained my bachelor’s degree from Saint Xavier University. My new challenge is theology at Catholic Theological Union.
Today I am very happy to say that I am an SCJ. Last August I professed my vows; I now belong to a wonderful family. I know the road is not always easy, but I always find the support of the entire community. I am happy to be part of this big family, I am glad to be at home.
And during my novitiate year I came to realize that I have many teachers who teach me every day not just new a word in English but also a new word in the language of Fr. Dehon, the Language of the Heart, through their experiences and their examples of how they live.
Frater Joseph Vu, SCJ
Frater Joseph is in formation, but not in residence at the formation house this year. Instead, he is doing his ministry year in Houston. Before professing final vows, each student must do a year in full-time ministry.
Chicago is my hometown, but I have made the move down south! I am currently in my apostolic year at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Houston, Texas. It is a year for me to experience what is like to live and work at a SCJ parish.
My ministry here at OLG mainly includes working at the school that is attached to the parish. I tutor students from grade 2 to 4 who are struggling and need extra attention in regards to their schoolwork. I also help the teachers with their classes and various after-school activities.
My other ministry at OLG includes helping in faith formation with our high school classes and junior high classes. I have had experience in faith formation before, but a new environment and new people bring about new challenges. I really do enjoy spending time with the youth and helping them on their faith journey.
I am currently in my fourth year of temporary vows. I met the SCJs through my youth group. My vows continually remind me of my dedication to live my life’s intent on being united with the Heart of Christ and to be in community with my brothers.
I am really enjoying my time here at Our Lady of Guadalupe. The workload is considerably more than when I was in school studying, but I love the ministry. The people here are very friendly and care a great deal about the life of the parish. It is really inspiring for me.
Formation team and others in community
Br. Duane Lemke, SCJ, director of the formation program
“…you don’t need much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordinary ingredients. You can start with the world you’ve got.”
The above quote is from one of my favorite movies (Pay It Forward) because it echoes the spirituality of being a Priest of the Sacred Heart. The film has been around awhile. It is about the conviction that we can change the world if we take acts of love we have received and show our appreciation by passing them along to those who need them. That is what it means to be a Priest of the Sacred Heart.
I first met the Priests of the Sacred Heart in my home parish on the plains of South Dakota. They served the parish for decades, ministering to my family and others: passing along God’s love to the settlement and native populations of the Cheyenne River reservation. One of them, Fr. Joe Ford, witnessed the marriage of my parents and later baptized me, soon after my birth in 1972. I don’t remember being baptized, but I do remember the many SCJs over the years –– as well as others –– who cooperated with God in creating a parish that was alive with community, meaningful liturgy, and gospel challenge.
For the first 18 years of my life the Priests of the Sacred Heart influenced me, and when I graduated from high school, I considered joining them. I wanted to be like they were: men alive with the Spirit, God’s love, and mission of the gospel. But, the time was not right. Instead, I went to Bismarck, ND, to earn a bachelor’s and master’s from the University of Mary. Upon graduation from the university, the question again arose: “Am I called to be a religious?” I again recalled in a more profound way the influence that those many Priests of the Sacred Heart had on my life and faith. I felt called to join them.
I was accepted as a candidate, and entered the SCJ formation program in Chicago following my graduation. Over the course of three years I learned more about what it means to be a Priest of the Sacred Heart, a calling that can be summed up in “paying God’s love forward” to people and society. During this time I also earned master’s in Pastoral Studies from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
My first vows as a brother were roughly 15 years ago. I’ve been called to forward God’s love to others in many ways since then. I’ve been a youth minister and pastoral associate on and near the Lower Brule reservation in South Dakota. I’ve been part of the faculty and support staff of St. Joseph’s Indian school, also in South Dakota. For the past seven years I have been a member of the formation team in Chicago, working with our youngest, and prospective, members. I am beginning my fourth year as a member of our provincial leadership [Provincial Council]. All of the above have given me the chance to pass on in some way what I’ve experienced of God’s love. I hope I have done so.
So, that is me. Now I ask you to take a few moments to consider your own life. How has God shown love to you? Who are the people who have loved you, and how? And then, look at the world you’ve got around you, both individuals and groups. Who are those to whom you can pass along the good you have experienced? At this point, the Sacred Heart prompts us to respond: “Here I am.”
Fr. John Czyzynski, SCJ, novice master
My name is Fr. John Czyzynski and that in itself is a story. The U.S. government knows me as Richard. My family and Cleveland friends call me Mike (my middle name). John is my “religious” name (we used to take a new name, but now we emphasize religious vows as an intensification of our baptism so now guys use their baptismal names). I took St. John Bosco as my patron when I became a novice. I remember our novice director telling me: “if you are half the priest he was, you’ll be all right.”
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and that city, which was named “the most miserable city to live in the United States” is precious to me. After grade school I left home to pursue my vocation with the Priests of the Sacred Heart. We had our own seminary system and I am grateful for the formation and education I received at our high school seminary in Donaldson, Ind., novitiate in Ste. Marie, Ill., college at Kilroe Seminary in Honesdale, Penn., and theology at Sacred Heart Monastery (now Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis.). I was asked to do graduate studies and earned a master’s in classical languages and a licentiate in theology at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and a licentiate in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. I also had a year of special training in spirituality and spiritual direction at the Institute for Spiritual Leadership in Chicago.
The ministries I have been involved in are all connected with the formation of others preparing to become priests and/or religious. I taught Scripture for five years at Sacred Heart School of Theology, but most of my ministry has been in spiritual formation and spiritual direction. I truly find fulfillment in this ministry. This is what I believe God wants of me and what God has formed me to be.
For fun I play golf. I dabble in collecting coins. I enjoy watching old movies. I taught myself to do counted cross stitching and it provides me with a way of making a truly personal gift for friends and family.
Currently, I am the director of novices (novice master) for the province. Since we operate as a team, Br. Duane and Fr. Tim are associate directors for the men I work with as I am an associate director to each of them for the men they work with. We have a great formation team and we each have responsibilities for the specific group we head up: Br. Duane with the candidates, Fr. Tim with the men in temporary vows, and myself with the novices.
Besides all that is part of my life as a formation director and member of this community, I have found that I have become more involved in a kind of “street ministry” with the poor and the homeless persons who come to our door or whom I meet in our neighborhood. I gather clothes for them, offer them food, funds for transportation, make them aware of other resources that are available to them. Sometimes I just listen to what is going on in their lives.
What attracts me to the SCJs is that I believe that our founder, Fr. Leo John Dehon, took the heart of the gospel of Jesus and said: “this is what our community is going to be about.” Jesus’ life was spent in loving, available obedience to His Father. Jesus came to this earth to “show us the face of God” as Joseph Ratzinger (now pope emeritus) said in his book about Jesus. Jesus spent his life doing the will of the Father so we could come to believe that we have a God who loves us tremendously and wants us just to love Him back and to show that love for Him by showing love for one another, especially those of us whose condition in life makes it so difficult to believe that we have a God who loves us.
When I left home, I did so because I believed God wanted me to be a priest. I feel I grew into understanding what it meant to be an SCJ religious. Now I don’t know how else to live. This is where God wants me to be and I am truly blessed.
Fr. Tim Gray, SCJ, formation director
My quiet, uneventful boyhood life in the Detroit suburbs was jolted loose in 1961 by an “apparition;” an SCJ named Fr. Justin Guiltnane came to our grade school to give a vocation talk and filled me with the desire to become a missionary. So at the age of 13, I left home for the minor seminary and the saga continues 50 years later.
I never actually became a missionary, but I have traveled far, not only in miles, but in culture and spirituality. I have had a very interesting life.
After spending what seemed like way too many years in the seminary, I felt called to drop my initial plans for graduate school and a teaching career. Following my ordination in 1978, I began parish ministry.
I had the chance to spend four years in an SCJ parish in Toronto, which opened up my experience of living in other countries, and other SCJ provinces. In 1984 I responded to an invitation from Fr. Mike Burke, then provincial superior, to study Spanish in Mexico. For almost 30 years, most of it in Houston, Texas, my experience among the Hispanic people has truly been a conversion experience for me and has deeply affected my spirituality and my pastoral action.
I find the SCJ community a very affirming and challenging place to look at the world from the “underside,” from the point of view of the poor and marginalized. My contacts with many SCJs from other provinces, especially in Latin America, affirms the ability of our Dehonian charism to cross cultural and language barriers, and bring about justice and reconciliation between peoples.
It was a bit surprising to me, after my sabbatical in 2011, to be given the opportunity to serve in the formation community. It has been so much fun. The young people, full of enthusiasm and idealism, remind me of my own youthful days, and keep me from getting stale. The presence of graduate students from different countries also makes the house a very interesting place to be. I keep involved outside the house by celebrating Mass (in Spanish, of course) at local parishes, and also working with immigrants. I look forward with hope toward the future of our province, and of the whole SCJ congregation.
Fr. Antony Wijaya, SCJ
“I want to be a superman”. That was my thought when I saw my uncle’s ordination (Fr. Halim, SCJ). It was just the simple thought from the mind of a six-year-old boy who did not really understand the symbol of vestment. Instead, I translated it into the superhero world. That was a part of my vocation story, being a “superman”.
Now, I am not a superman, but just an ordinary man. I was born in Tanjung Karang, Indonesia, on February 21,1980. I entered St. Paul Seminary in 1999 and joined with the SCJs two years after. My vocational path: one year in novitiate, four years in philosophy, one year of pastoral ministry, two years of theology, one year as a deacon, and finally ordination to the priesthood on July 20, 2010. After my ordination, I spent just one year in St. Stephen Parish, Jakarta, as associate pastor, before I left to the United States.
With the generosity of the U.S Province, I am studying for a master’s degree in sociology with a focus on medical sociology. It is my hope that I can continue and eventually pursue a doctorate in sociology.
Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ
I was born in Boston, Mass., and raised with six siblings. Within two weeks of graduating from high school I joined the US Air Force. During the following four years, I maintained a nuclear weapons carrying aircraft, among other things.
A few years after the Air Force, while traveling the country as a contract worker in the military industry, I had life-changing experience of God. At that moment, I became crystal clear that I was of God, as was everyone and everything else. Now I knew that everyone and everything was holy and worthy of reverence.
In seeking a lifestyle that would enhance that experience, I joined the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Shortly thereafter, I was amazed to find that my desire to fully give of myself was completely consistent with the spirituality of the Priests of the Sacred Heart — I come to do you will, Oh God.
For over 30 years I ministered at the 8th Day Center for Justice, a Catholic, faith-based NGO working for social change. During these years, I let go of many of the presuppositions with which I was raised. Again, I find this to be fully consistent with the spirituality of the Priests of the Sacred Heart: to establish the reign of the Heart of Jesus in souls and societies.
I retired from full-time active ministry in 2012 but continue to be involved to a lesser extent in justice and peace activities. Community life continues to be good.
For all this I give God thanks.
Do you feel called?
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