When Steve Witt '71 answered the phone one evening several years ago, "it wasn't the Holy Spirit on the other end of the line."
It was Rev. Brian Miclot '70, PhD, at the time a pastor at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Clinton, Iowa. "You need to come talk to me," Fr. Miclot told Witt, who had recently married after leaving the St. Ambrose College seminary.
"You are going to be a deacon," Fr. Miclot said as he hung up the phone.
Answering a call to serve the Church was anything but typical for former St. Ambrose seminarians and alumni, particularly in the 1970s when the Davenport campus was a hotbed for issues of social concern, peace and justice.
It definitely wasn't as easy as picking up the phone.
Yet many such Ambrosians are living today as disciples of God in unexpected, but incredibly fruitful ways.
"When I was a seminarian, the campus was full of guys and professors spreading the good news about God on the streets," Witt recalled. "It was an exciting time to be a student."
But he soon met a woman named Patty and fell in love. And while the life of a priest was no longer an option, saying ‘yes' to Fr. Miclot's suggestion he become a deacon certainly was.
Witt was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Davenport in 1982, serving parishes in both Clinton and Grinnell, Iowa, for decades. He and his wife had three children. In 2001, Patty passed away-and for the first time, Witt felt as if he was simply "meandering through life."
"I knew I wanted to do more than I was doing in the Church, so this time I made the call," he said. It was to Rev. Marty Goetz '88, former director of vocations for the Diocese of Davenport.
"Marty, I have a guy for you," Witt said over the phone.
"Who?" Fr. Goetz asked, excited to welcome a young student into the religious life.
"Well, he's a bit old, and you might not like this-but it's me," Witt replied.
In 2010, Witt began his studies and formation for the priesthood and was ordained in 2013. Today, Fr. Witt serves as a parochial vicar and campus minister at the Newman Center in Iowa City, Iowa, and also is a father and grandfather. Upon his ordination, he joined a very rare group of "second-career" priests among the nearly 40,000 Catholic clergy in the United States.
Rev. Kevin Emge '81, DO came to St. Ambrose with two passions in life-his faith and his desire to help others. "I knew I either wanted to be a priest or go into medicine. Those were the only two things I ever wanted to be."
He entered the seminary at St. Ambrose in 1977, but soon met the woman who became his wife-Mary Rice '81.
"But the Church never left me," he said. The Emges have sent two daughters to St. Ambrose, so their love for the school also clearly remains. Kevin never has forgotten the iconic Catholic priests who educated him during his years in the seminary and who have remained great friends long after.
Emge went on to become an obstetrician/gynecologist in private practice in Des Moines, and about six years ago, became the section chief of anesthesiology at Grinnell Regional Medical Center in Grinnell, Iowa.
"This was a time in my life that everything was changing-and my desire to be of service was growing stronger, so I went to seminary to become an Episcopalian deacon. I get to balance my responsibilities as an anesthesiologist and a chaplain at the medical center," he said.
"Liturgically, the Catholic and Episcopalian churches have much in common. Today I can have the family and career life I desired. I also get to work in recovery ministry and for women's rights, which have always been important to me, and be in service to God. It is truly an honor to do His work. And St. Ambrose played an important role decades ago in guiding me in this direction."
The same can be said for Rev. Ross Parker '91 MOL. As offensive line coach for the Fighting Bees football team while earning his master's, he spent many mornings in quiet contemplation at Christ the King Chapel-not praying for a football win, but rather for guidance as he considered a life in the priesthood.
"This was the first time I had an opportunity to attend a Catholic school," Fr. Parker said from the rectory of Corpus Christi Parish in Council Bluffs, Iowa. "Had I not gotten the coaching job at St. Ambrose, I might not be a priest today."
As a teacher and chaplain at St. Albert, the Catholic high school in Council Bluffs, Fr. Parker is finding new ways to introduce the idea of a vocation to the Catholic Church to the students he works with each day.
"A lot of the kids here are involved in sports, music and theater," he said, "and just as I found at St. Ambrose, there are connections that can be made between these interests and faith today. My students know my history as a football player and coach. It helps them to see that ‘Father' is just a normal person who happens to be a priest. They see that God calls all people, and he does so at times we don't always expect."
That is also true for former seminarians like Kenan Bresnan '71, who came to St. Ambrose in 1965 but left the seminary after one year to pursue a degree in English literature after (and yes, you guessed it) he met the woman he eventually married. After a long career in sales, he became the parish outreach liaison for Catholic Charities across the Diocese of Des Moines four years ago. He travels to more than 80 parishes across the western side of the state.
"I was in seminary for one year, so I knew about four or five years' worth of seminarians at the time," he said. "There were a lot of guys like me who didn't go on to become priests, and many of us are still good friends today. Most of them are involved-in many different ways-with the Church today."
For Bresnan, that means representing Catholic Charities' various programs, including refugee settlements, food pantries and homeless centers, among others. "We reach out to the poor everyday. It is completeness. I wouldn't say it fills a void that I had after leaving the seminary, but it is a natural next step."
Fr. Witt said work like Bresnan's is critical for the Church.
"A vocation today is more than just being a deacon or a priest," he said. "There are disciples that walk among us every single day-men and women who are extending our ministries, opening up new doors, and spreading the word of God in ways that make the Catholic Church a believable institution in our world."
He paused.
"It is not about answering a call. It is about living your life in a genuine, Christian way. That, too, is a vocation to the Church."
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