Deacons Brent Durschmidt, Justin Echevarria, James Ladd, and Dominic Manh Nguyen are all set to be ordained priests on June 22nd, 2024, by Archbishop Alexander Sample at St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Each has shared a brief reflection on their upcoming ordination to the priesthood.
DEACON BRENT
Q: What’s a blessing you experienced during your formation?
A: One of the most important blessings that I received during formation was learning to let go of control because what God has planned for me is better than what I can orchestrate. This is obviously still an ongoing process of growth that will last the rest of my life. My instinct for so much of my life was to run away or try to “fix” my situation or environment when things weren’t going my way. As I have grown, I have learned to accept my circumstances as God’s will for me in that moment and then place myself at his service to be an instrument to make Him present in it. The ways that I have encountered the Lord and grown through that docility have been profound.
Q: What are you most joyfully anticipating in your ministry?
A: The thing that I am looking forward to most in ministry is hearing confessions. I can’t wait to be on the minister’s end watching Jesus change people’s lives through his mercy. In my previous job as a firefighter, one of the things I enjoyed most was caring for people in their most difficult and vulnerable moments. As beautiful as it was though, the care that I provided was limited and temporal. In the confessional though, the level of vulnerability is significantly deeper and the care that I will get to offer is life-changing and eternal. I can’t wait to receive people’s deepest wounds and sins in exchange for the Lord’s tender mercy.
DEACON JUSTINE
Q: What’s a blessing you experienced during your formation?
The various encounters that I had from the moment I set foot on Mt. Angel’s campus in 2017 to now, have motivated me to become a better man and priest. In a way, it feels as though I am “standing on the shoulders of giants.” God and His saints met me in a radically new way, with the Virgin Mary being instrumental to solidifying my vocation in late 2020. I could not see myself doing, or being, anything else but a priest! The People of God, including my family, have been continually inspiring by their support, prayers, letters, and words of encouragement, especially during times of formation that were a struggle. The friendships made along the way I will always cherish. I am grateful to the seminary formation to help me discover who I am and am called to be. The seminarians from my diocese and in the seminary are men who I call brothers, and it is a blessing to know them and eventually work alongside them as brother-priests. We are all different, bringing something good to evangelization. We are encouraged to build fraternity, especially in the challenges we face from our own weaknesses as well as the culture at large. The clergy in the Archdiocese of Portland serve as mentors and spiritual fathers. They give new priests examples of priestly life. When I made the decision to go to seminary, I had no idea what this life would look like. Through all these encounters, I am excited and blessed to serve as a priest in western Oregon.
Q: What are you most joyfully anticipating in your ministry?
Recently, a child in a religious education class asked me, “Do you want to be married?” My response was, “You asked a very important question. Yes! I would love to have a wife and be a dad, and God is going to use that natural desire to help me hopefully become a better spiritual father as a priest.”It is the adventure of the radical availability of the priesthood I am looking forward to. It will not always be easy, and it can stretch a man, yet as a supportive husband to the Church and spiritual father to her children, I am excited to walk with people as we accompany each other in this life.
DEACON JAMES
Q: What’s a blessing you experienced during your formation?
There have been too many to list! In serving in parishes and as a hospital chaplain, I’ve witnessed so many draw closer to Jesus Christ and then witness the profound changes in their lives. To see in others the peace that comes with a life in Christ is a joy without measure. Moreover, in witnessing conversions of heart my own faith becomes even stronger and more vibrant. God is at work in our lives, we just need to keep our hearts and minds open.
Q: What are you most joyfully anticipating in your ministry?
To serve God and the People of God full time in a parish! It is such a privilege to be able to walk with the faithful through the ups and downs in their life and to really be there for them. The core of my vocational call has always been a profound love of God and the people of God. Because I spent so many years in “the world,” a deep understanding of how hard living in the world can be, especially for the Christian Catholic, I want to be there for them through it all.
DEACON DOMINIC MANH
Q: What’s a blessing you experienced during your formation?
One of the abundant blessings during my priestly formation that I would like to share is having more chance of the Eucharistic adoration. Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, TX, where I was sent to study theology, provided three times 45 minutes of Eucharistic adoration weekly. Within my religious community, the Society of Domus Dei, we also have three times of Eucharistic adoration to worship, praise, and give thanks to the Lord. Both Assumption Seminary and Society of Domus Dei inspired me the love of the Eucharist. I felt restful and peaceful at Eucharistic adoration because I offered to Jesus whatever I had in mind. Whenever I went to Eucharistic adoration, I experienced that the Lord gave me a new spirit of trust and peace.
Q: What are you most joyfully anticipating in your ministry?
I am anticipating the most joyful ministry is the anointing of the sick because I can do some works of mercy to one of these least brothers of Jesus. During his public ministry, Jesus had pity on the sick and performed many miracles to heal them. Therefore, doing this ministry helps me to imitate our Savior and Redeemer more deeply so that I can care for and serve those the Lord entrusts to me.
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