Ryan Bilodeau Diocese of Providence

My journey towards seminary, like that of my brother seminarians, is a unique one.

My high school years were spent on the straight and narrow path, attending Mount
Saint Charles Academy and dedicating my extracurricular time to the Catholic Youth
Organization Center. This path began to diverge, however, with the advent of my
involvement in politics while an undergrad student at The University of Rhode
Island. With one foot in the classroom and the other working for campaigns,
consulting firms and interest groups, the path on which I traveled brought me
throughout Rhode Island and around the country, all the while away from God.

Thankfully Gods fervent grace threw a fork in the road. It was at fancy cocktail
parties at Bellevue Avenue mansions or conventions in Washington, D.C. hotels that
I heard in the silence of my heart Christ asking me the same question He once
asked two disciples: What are you looking for? Through prayer and with the help
of the priests at Our Lady of Providence, I was able to answer that question in the
form of an application to enter the seminary.

What a great gift it was to enter seminary during the Year for Priests. As I witnessed
priests in a special way strive for spiritual perfection, I was reminded that this
year-long period of strengthening and renewal is ultimately a time not for priests
but for all those whom they serve. In this realization I am reminded of and
comforted by the life that lay ahead of me following ordination.

In the mean time, seminary life allows for great growth and fellowship. Our
program, built on the four pillars of spiritual, human, pastoral and intellectual
formation, immerses us in our faith. Depending on the day, my average schedule
includes prayer, study, apostolic work, and a healthy dose of fun with my brother
Seminarians. In seminary there is a great sense of community and fraternity. We
have constant support in the form of spiritual directors, formation advisers and
professors, and are engaged constantly by the Churchs many facets.

The pearl that is seminary life, however, does not come without great price. The
days can be long and the program intense. To prepare a man to the priesthood,
though, is to spend years chiseling away at and fitting him for the armor of God. Our
modern times and its many challenges require nothing less; The Church needs real
men of God. If St. John Vianney was right in famously saying that The priesthood is

the love of the heart of Jesus, then the office of the priesthood requires that one
traces its every beat.