What’s it like to be a seminarian today?

This piece from a paper in Salt Lake City profiles one seminarian — who, it turns out, is the son of a deacon:

“Whether you’re new or almost finished with your seminary education, you’re always very sensitive to the feeling, the question: ‘Am I supposed to be here?” said Christopher Gray, a seminarian at Mount Angel Seminary, Oregon, studying for the priesthood for the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

Gray’s face and his gifts are familiar to many of us. A graduate of the University of Utah with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in Spanish, Gray put in four years as a staff writer and information technologist for the Intermountain Catholic. During those years he not only edited the monthly Utah Católico and managed the IC web site, being recognized twice by the Catholic Press Association for excellence, he also developed the paper’s streaming video program and its podcast, “His Own Words,” with Bishop John C. Wester. Gray worked closely with his mother, Maria-Cruz Gray, director of the Diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry, and his father, Deacon Forrest Gray of the Diocesan Office of Continuing Education for Deacons.

In the diocese for his first visit home since entering Mount Angel Seminary in August, Gray shared his first impressions of seminary life.

“Everyone has an interesting story about a crisis of faith or a conversion experience,” Gray said. “And everyone is acutely aware of a personal stop sign that says, ‘Is this for me? Am I for this? It’s like living in a pressure cooker.”

Gray’s university degree put him into the seminary’s theology program, the first year of which is pre-theology studies. His formation, he said, isn’t limited to his instructors, his advisors, his classmates, and the seminary faculty, who are all together all the time. “Everyone there forms us. Even the lay students who study at the seminary.”

Gray said he doesn’t pretend to understand yet all of the undercurrents of seminary life, “but it’s obvious there’s a lot going on there, and that’s exciting.”

“I arrived at the seminary in a car packed, modestly, I think, with just what I though I would need. We were met by seminarians at all levels of study who helped us unpack the car and carry everything up to my room in Anselm Hall. One of the men carrying my things was a deacon.”

Their week of orientation began with the Liturgy of the Hours. Later, their first week of classes began with Mass, a lecture by Abbot Nathan Zodrow of Mount Angel Abbey, a picnic, and evening prayer.

During his first week at Mount Angel, the seminary and abbey were installing new bells in a tower named for the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. Gray documented the installation photographically.

Like the abbey, the seminary’s hours are marked by the bells calling the monastic community to prayer seven times a day.

“We live in community,” Gray said. “We learn about being a person from the people around us. And we learn what shape prayer takes, and what brings sanctity. Now, we are building relationships.”

Gray said most of the men in Anselm Hall know his door is always open for those who drop by. “There is no television, which is fine with me because I was never much interested in television. Some of the men in Anselm Hall have had military experience. We have men there from Portland, Bend, Yakima, and cities and towns in California. All of us study with men and women from religious orders, and lay men and women.

“Being around such a diversity of people seeking sanctity has given me a sense of forward vision,” he said. “I find myself asking, ‘What does the Lord want me to do?’ Ideas come later.”

So early in their studies, Gray said, they are learning first how to be good people, “to build on our good qualities. We’re just beginning. Later, we will learn more about the pastoral aspects.

Gray said the seminarians who have reached the diaconate stage of their studies have been very helpful, showing leadership to the new-comers. “They’ve been much more open, talking about their faith experiences.”

For a 26-year-old man who never had any trouble multi-tasking, Gray said he is grateful the seminary has allowed him to focus. “I can actually direct my thoughts to just one thing at a time.”

There’s much more at the link, so check it out. And keep this young man, and all seminarians like him, in your prayers.