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Seminarian Spotlight

We reached out to the two seminarians who will be ordained for the diocese of Albany by Bishop Scharfenberger on June 18, 2022 to ask them about their journey to the priesthood. Please keep these men in your prayers as they make final preparations for their ordination!

Deacon James O'Rourke

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When do you feel closest to God?

I feel closest to God when I minister to God’s people. Having been a deacon for several years, a hospital chaplain, and a family service associate for Diocesan Cemeteries. I have had multiple opportunities to see God working in His people. As people of faith there are times when we desperately need the Lord’s guidance and assistance. When I’m used as a vehicle for that assistance, I believe that I am living up to plan that the Lord has for me.

 

How did your journey to the Priesthood begin?

My priesthood Journey began in 2006. I was torn between discerning priesthood and serving as a deacon permanently. I entered aspirancy for the diaconate, commenced studies at St. Bernard’s and followed that path to ordination and for several years afterward. The call to priesthood was ever present and confirmed by several parishioners and priests in my diaconate experience. I eventually approached Fr. Ligato and Bishop Scharfenberger who suggested I apply and enter aspirancy for priesthood at the St. Isaac Jogues House of Discernment.

 

Who inspires you the most?

The priests of the Albany Diocese are most inspirational to me. Over the years in my diaconate assignments I was blessed with the opportunity to work with several wonderful priests. Their hard work and prayerful attention to those they minister to has been most encouraging to me. Their support of my ministry and priesthood aspirations have motivated me to accept the challenges that priesthood may bring.

Deacon Russell Bergman

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When do you feel closest to God?

Every time when I'm able to be present and make the connection that God is working in my life.  That can be in quiet prayer when God speaks to my heart in just a single word or two.  It comes in meditating on Sacred Scripture, particularly when I'm preparing for a homily and examining several different angles and nuances in the text and trying to connect them to life today.  It also comes in recognizing God working through others, when a kind word or an unexpected meeting with a person at just the right time moves beyond any coincidence.  It also comes in the beauty of nature, like in the radiant colors of a pre-dawn sky that shines to brightly but so briefly, and displays the beauty of creation.  God feels close in sacraments too, particularly when baptizing a child and bringing a new life into the light of Christ.

How did your journey to the Priesthood begin?

With much persistence from the Holy Spirit.  It was something I had considered in my youth, learning about the faith and the role of the priest in religious ed.  The first serious consideration, however, came during my confirmation classes.  I was blessed with a very gifted and engaging priest who helped me to better appreciate my faith, what it meant to be a Catholic adult, intentionally living the faith.  It led me to explore the vocation more closely and contact the vocations office at the end of high school.  In college I became involved in the Newman Center, and became an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and I started taking philosophy classes in the event I wanted to go further in studying for the priesthood.  I eventually got a bachelor's in philosophy, but by the end of my undergraduate study, I had had enough of school.  I focused on getting a job, then a home of my own, which followed over the course of the next several years.  Less than a year after buying my home, I found myself unemployed, and started to reassess where my life was going.  I felt something was missing.  I felt called to be in a relationship, which led to my being married.  I was blessed to be married for over a decade, but it was not meant to be, and ended in divorce and annulment.  I loved being married, and learned much about myself and relationships, and have come to appreciate the sacrament of matrimony more deeply having experienced it in good and bad times.  While re-assessing and rebuilding my life after the end of a significant relationship, the call to the priesthood, which had been dormant inside me, came back to me in a powerful way.  I started praying more intently and sincerely that before, and while going through divorce mediation I started seriously discerning.  I contacted the vocation director encouraged me to attend some discernment events, and I kept making steps forward in the formation process.  As a serious discerner, I became part of the house of discernment for two years, where I joined other men who were also taking a serious look at the priesthood, of various ages and backgrounds.  I got a spiritual director who helped me individually, and to his credit, was cautious but encouraging, while I was still going through the divorce and annulment process.  Over the course of two years, I continued to discern the call, I worked through the painful but healing process of annulment after the divorce.  Once I received the declaration of nullity in January 2018, I was able to complete my application to the priesthood and seminary.   Thankfully, I was accepted in March 2018.  I still had a job and a house, but with God's help, I was able to sell my house quickly, and leave my job about a month before I was able to begin seminary in August 2018. 

Who inspires you the most?

From all my pastoral assignments, the parishioners I've met over the years are inspirational.  There are so many committed, sincere, faithful people that reinforce my vocation and hope.  I've also been blessed to have had many great pastor supervisors over the years that have given me different perspectives on ministry and balancing practical responsibilities and spiritual discipline.  I'm inspired by all the people who live their faith in quiet, unassuming ways, not looking for any recognition or attention, but intentionally living for others in the words they use and the way they speak.