Preparing to Become an Instituted Lector
This weekend is an important weekend for me and for my classmates at the North American College. On Sunday morning, we will be Instituted Lectors by His Excellency Paul Loverde, Bishop of Arlington. Seminarians at the North American College go through several ministerial steps as they pray and prepare for Holy Orders. The first, Admission to Candidacy for Holy Orders, is required of all seminarians of the seminary before we arrive in Rome. The second step is to be Instituted to the Ministry of Lector, which takes place during the first year of theology. During a seminarian’s second year, seminarians are then Instituted to the Ministry of Acolytes.
In preparation to this next step in my priestly formation, one of the faculty members gave all of us a great formation conference on Thursday about the importance of “being the voice of God” to the people in the pews. I am really looking forward to this new responsibility within the seminary. Until now, I have only lead the recitation of the Holy Rosary, served as a waiter, and sung in the NAC Choir. However, I will soon be able to serve the community in this special way.
In other news, exams are about a week away. Please continue to keep me in your prayers in the coming weeks. It will be nice to have these first rounds of oral exams done. However, I will just need to focus on one exam at a time.
The seminarians here have also been fervently praying for the many men, women, and children who are suffering from the devastating earthquake in Haiti. My home parish, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, has been sponsoring an orphanage in Southern Haiti for the last few years. While the earthquake did not immediately affect them, they are now facing a serious issue of trying to get food to their center. Since the roads and infrastructure have fallen apart, there is a great concern that the 600 children living at the orphanage may be out of food in less than three days. While speaking to Mrs. Wynn’s 5th Grade class at All Saints Catholic School via Skype, they shared their concern for the children in Haiti and asked me to pray with them for Fr. Marc and all of the children at the Orphanage. If you are interested in reading Fr. Marc’s updates from Haiti, please visit http://pwojeespwa.blogspot.com/.
From the Seminary
When I started the seminary in 2007, I wanted to make sure that I could stay connected with the people from my home parish, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Fortunately, my pastor, Fr. Thomas Boyer, allowed me to periodically put a short letter in the Sunday Bulletin in order to keep everyone up-to-date with how I was doing in the seminary and with priestly formation. While I wanted to stay connected with the many great parishioners from St. Mark’s, I also wanted young men and families to see the steps that men go through on the way to the Sacrament of Holy Orders. I did not have any idea of what really happened at a seminary and I want to help others realize what great places a seminary can be for a young man to consider God’s call for them as a Catholic priest. I am so fortunate to have been open to this vocation and I want to help other young men possibly realize their own vocation as a priest.
To that end, I have continued to write letters for the Sunday Bulletin at St. Mark’s Catholic Church. I will try to post the letters on this site as I send them to St. Mark’s. It is such a wonderful journey that I am on right now and I am so happy to share it with others.
Here is my first letter to St.Mark’s since arriving in Italy.
My home parish is St. Mark's in Norman, Oklahoma.
———————————————
Dear Fellow Parishioners,
Greetings from the “Eternal City” of Rome! It is hard to believe that I have already been in Italy for seven weeks. I have been blessed with so many wonderful experiences that have drawn me closer to Jesus Christ, the High Priest. Most of my time has been occupied with learning the Italian language because I have to pass an Italian proficiency exam in one week and all of my classes will be in Italian. While learning a new language is difficult, knowing that I am not doing all of this for me, but that I am doing it for God and His people, strengthens me. You have all been in my prayers since I started this new chapter in my priestly formation. Specifically, I was blessed to pray for our pastor, Fr. Thomas Boyer, and all of the parishioners of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church at the tomb of our patron, St. Mark, within the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, Italy on August 15th (The Feast of the Assumption of Mary). In fact, I have been keeping an online journal of my experiences in Italy in which you can access atwww.brianbcatholic.org. You will all continue to be in my thoughts and prayers.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Brian Buettner
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State
Europe
brian@stmarkscatholic.org
Arrivederci!
Cake at Reception.
After the weekend Masses at my home parish, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, Fr. Boyer held a reception in my honor to commemorate my upcoming move to Rome. The reception gave me the chance to meet many of the parishioners from St. Mark’s that I did not know, but also gave me a chance to say “farewell” to many of my friends from the parish. I have been a member of St. Mark’s for about fifteen years and I already know how hard it will be to not be able to pray in the beautiful sanctuary for the next two years. However, my prayers will be with the parish family that helped shape me into the person that I have become.
A few words after Mass to the parish
I am planning on keeping everyone at St. Mark’s updated with what is going on with me in Rome by writing letters for the Church bulletin and also through this blog. I know that everything will really begin to speed up in the coming months, but I at least have the intention of keeping everyone up-to-date!
I am now five days away from flying to Rome, Italy. My main priority today is to obtain a new Driver’s License. More to come later!
