Official Website of the
Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
Andrew Schaefer, St. Vincent de Paul Church, Rogers
Attends the House of Formation in Little Rock
I’ve been blessed with parents who were devout in their faith. I come from a family of seven and we were all raised in the faith. The first seed that was sown within me to consider religious life as my vocation was when we visited Subiaco Abbey in the fifth grade. I was fascinated with the routine of the monks and their devotion to God through their work at Subiaco. However, as I grew older, I began to feel a strong call to help others.
My dad was a pediatrician. Witnessing how he impacted the lives of his patients and their parents with each visit (unique to the medical field) left me aspiring to study medicine. Throughout high school, I began to become complacent with my faith.
Although I attended Mass and participated in the sacraments, I did not nurture my relationship with God. I wish I could say I was questioning my faith as that would mean I was actively searching for the truth and answers, but in reality I was indifferent about my faith.
The Lord truly works in wonderful and mysterious ways, at Vanderbilt University, a secular, private university, was where I reinvigorated my faith life. Thanks to the encouragement of another Catholic Arkansan, I begrudgingly went to a Catholic event on campus.
Instead of a small group of quiet Catholics tucked away in the corner of the campus, I was received by a vibrant, joyous community. These students had a joy that I had not seen on the faces of any other students at my university, which prompted me to consider what they had that other students lacked.
As I began to get involved and nurture my own relationship with God, I found that the joy was rooted in the hope of the resurrection and living a life for Christ. Through these experiences and a growing desire to serve others, my pre-med track and classes seemed to have lost their luster. I hesitantly began to consider priesthood as my vocation, but I still had fears that priesthood would not fulfill all the desires I had laid out for my life in high school.
Then, one weekend, I was asked to help lead a retreat at our university. After the vocations talk, I again took my hopes and fears of priesthood to prayer. Before benediction, the priest picked up the monstrance and held it in front of each individual person at the retreat. He held it in front of me, and before moving on to the next person, he kneeled down and said to me, “My call is stronger than your fear.” I was overcome with peace and emotion, as the Lord had answered my prayers through a priest. Shortly after the retreat, I talked to my parents and started the application process.
I am no longer looking to become a medical doctor, but I have realized that with the priesthood you are able to help others even more than within the medical field. Priests are able to help treat the soul and reintroduce God to our lives. They are the hands and feet of Christ and interact with others to help heal spiritual and personal wounds. You can find God anywhere and everywhere, but to me he is most present within others.
At the House of Formation in Little Rock I continue to be amazed by the love and support shown to myself and my brother seminarians by the people of God.
There I earned my philosophy degree, and am now in the final stages of the discipleship stage of seminary. As I work with Catholic Charities of Arkansas, I aim to enact what I’ve learned and truly walk as a disciple of Christ. Please pray for myself and my brother seminarians that we continue to grow in charity and conform our hearts to God’s will for our lives.
If there is one thing I have taken away from formation it would be to always trust in the Lord. No matter the situation, trust that God has a plan and watch as he works in your life.
