‘No two days are alike’
STATESVILLE — According to Father Thomas Kessler, pastor of St. Philip the Apostle Church, “no two days are alike” in the priesthood. Father Kessler, a native of Allentown, Pa., celebrated 35 years of priestly ministry May 12.
He recently shared some insights about his life and his ministry with the Catholic News Herald.
“I am a cradle Catholic,” he says. “My deceased parents were devout Catholics. By God’s grace, my 10 siblings and I have followed their example and have kept the faith.”
Father Kessler remembers that he thought about the priesthood during the second grade and again around the ninth grade.
“When I was 19 to 21 years old, I worked as a structural steel salesman in Philadelphia. I went to daily Mass and felt that I was called to the priesthood,” he recalls.
He studied for four years at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. “I then studied four years of theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., where I received a Master of Divinity.”
Father Kessler was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Allentown on May 12, 1984, by then-Bishop Thomas Welsh of Allentown.
Upon his ordination, Father Kessler served as a parochial vicar of a parish in West Reading, Pa. He then spent five years as a missionary in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
When he returned to the U.S., he served as an administrator at Notre Dame High School in Easton, Pa. He was then named director of pastor formation at the Major Seminary of St. Paul in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis in St. Paul, Minn.
Father Kessler’s assignments in the Diocese of Charlotte over the years include serving as administrator of St. Dorothy Church in Lincolnton; parochial vicar of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte; pastor of St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem; and pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe.
Father Kessler says what he loves most about his priestly ministry is “the diversity of the vocation. No two days are alike.”
What has he learned over the course of the past 35 years ministering as a priest? “A lesson that I have learned is that one never stops learning. Each day is a new adventure and a gift from God.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Deacon Jonathan TorresCHARLOTTE — The COVID-19 pandemic has forced seminaries to close and send seminarians back to their home dioceses, including those from the Diocese of Charlotte.
The diocese’s 11 seminarians who have been studying in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, and in Rome are now continuing their coursework online, and the 26 men enrolled at St. Joseph College Seminary are continuing with virtual classes through Belmont Abbey College.
Two of the diocese’s transitional deacons, scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood June 20, recently talked with the Catholic News Herald about their current circumstances.
Deacon Jonathan Torres recently returned from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, and is staying near St. Mark Church in Huntersville with fellow seminarians Camilo Salas-Bowen and Kevin Tran. Besides taking classes through video conferencing, he has been helping out at the parish, assisting at Mass and offering Benediction after Eucharistic Adoration.
“It’s been a bit surreal, especially in my final months before my priestly ordination,” he says, having to shift gears especially during the final months of study before his priestly ordination.
“I had imagined leaving seminary in May with more finality or closure, so this sudden move back to Charlotte has been jarring, to say the least. Things like my graduation, and celebratory events that we do at the end of every year, have been canceled, which no one would have ever expected. Yet here we are.”
“However,” he adds, “I can say that being back in Charlotte close to my family and friends and getting to be with the priests at St. Mark’s has been a great blessing.”
Deacon Jacob MlakarDeacon Jacob Mlakar returned March 24 from the Pontifical North American College in Rome, after restrictions put in place by the Italian government forced the seminary to send its students home.
He is also continuing his classes online through platforms like Google Meet and Zoom, as well as video-chat platforms so the seminarians can communicate with their formation advisors. The shift from in-person to online classes has gone surprisingly smoothly, he noted, joking that “these universities sometimes seem to function like they’re still in the Middle Ages!”
“I think they have largely risen to the challenge, though, and they have gained some great new capabilities in the response to this crisis,” he said.
He is helping out at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, but said it is sad not to see people at Mass.
Having seen firsthand the terrible pandemic in Italy before returning to Charlotte, Deacon Mlakar said he has “constantly found myself turning to God with the words of St. John Henry Newman’s celebrated poem”:
“Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home –
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene – one step enough for me.”
“I think the virus can help all of us grow in our abandonment to God’s loving providence. It has certainly helped me trust Him more; a grace for which I am most thankful as I continue to prepare for priestly ordination,” he said.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Support our seminarians
Easter weekend, April 11-12, is the annual Seminarian Education Collection in the Diocese of Charlotte. Please give generously to further the studies of our future priests. Donations can be made directly to your parish online or you can mail your donation to your parish. Please mark your donation: “Seminarian Education Collection.”