Pastoral year provides seminarians practical experience

	Seminarian Michael Quesada, left, assists Father Patrick Donohoe during baptism at Holy Family Parish, as part of Quesada’s formation into the priesthood. Holy Family Parish

"There is a lot of work involved in my priestly formation. The demands are quite extensive, but there is so much grace and joy in working toward the goal of priesthood and service within the Church,” said Michael Quesada, a seminarian for the Diocese of Corpus Christi who lived his pastoral year at Holy Family Parish this year.

His year working at Holy Family provided a positive experience that will help him “in serving others as a Holy Priest,” Quesada said. The parish provided him an occasion for “tremendous growth” in his path to the priesthood.

Born on March 17, 1966 in San Antonio, Quesada’s family moved to Corpus Christi and registered at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Parish where they attended Mass every Sunday and the children attended religious education classes through graduation from high school.

Quesada, along with twin brother Patrick are the youngest of five children. There are two older brothers, Oscar and Manuel Jr., and his sister Gloria, the first-born. Quesada credits his parents, Manuel Quesada and Alicia Valdez Quesada, with providing him a firm spiritual upbringing.

“My parents are responsible for placing the seed of faith within me in my early years,” Quesada said. “From the time I can remember we always attended Sunday Mass. I also attended weekly catechism classes all the way into twelfth grade. I have to say that my parents were the strongest advocates for my early formation. I have them to thank for my early formation.”

Despite a solid foundation in the faith, his call to the priesthood came later in life. He graduated from Calallen High School in 1984 and worked as an assistant controller at a condominium complex on Corpus Christi Beach. He worked in the accounting office doing much of their books, payables, receivables, hiring, etc.

In 1998, while working at the condominium complex, he received his call to the priesthood. He was 33-years-old when he began to hear the calling; it was “so vibrant and strong that…I had no choice but to respond,” Quesada said.

“My call was directly inspired by the Lord,” he said.

When he first began to hear the calling, Quesada approached his pastor Msgr. Morgan Rowsome at St. Peter’s. “He was the first person I revealed it to and the first person to direct me on what to do,” Quesada said. His first spiritual director, Ray Saenz, also guided him when he first received the calling to the priestly vocation.

Quesada is now enrolled at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston after receiving a bachelor in philosophy from St. Joseph’s Seminary College in Covington, Louisiana. He will begin his third year of theological studies in the fall and will be ordained to the transitional diaconate, “God willing,” in June 2013 and the priesthood in 2014.

An important part of priestly formation for a seminarian is spending a year at a parish to get real world experience. This is called the pastoral year, and it is usually done between the second and third years of theological studies.

“The Pastoral Year is similar to an internship allowing the seminarian to further develop their pastoral skills by being intricately involved in a parish community while under the supervision of the parish priest,” said Father Joseph Lopez, JCL, Chancellor and Vocations Director for the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

At this time in his formation, a seminarian has acquired sufficient theological training, and now needs practical experience on applied ministry. The year at a parish also affords the seminarian the opportunity to assess which area of theology he may want to pursue in his remaining years in the seminary.

Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey assigned Quesada to Holy Family Parish to do his pastoral year under the tutelage of pastor Father Patrick Donohoe. In addition to Quesada, David Bayardo and Freddie Villarreal are also completing their pastoral year. Bayardo is under the wing of Father Paul Hesse at St. Pius X Parish and Villarreal is working and learning under the supervision of Father Peter Martinez at St. Paul the Apostle Parish.

“My pastoral year has helped to solidify the calling that God has initiated in me, helping me to realize that this is exactly where I need to be,” Quesada said.

He said, working at a parish has allowed him to use the four pillars of formation—the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral—in his work, and in his own formation. “Each of them hinges on one another but they are directly related to the foundation of the human pillar. It is also a great cooperation with the grace that God gives me,” Quesada said.

It is one thing, Quesada said, to learn about philosophy and theology in the classroom, but a completely different thing to actually see it in motion within the setting of a hard-working parish. The support provided by Father Donohoe, the parish staff and parishioners has made Quesada’s experience very rewarding.

“It has been an invaluable experience and I thank God for placing me with such a strong pastor and staff whose love and guidance have and continue to contribute to my future as a strong advocate for holy life and a life dedicated to God and His Church,” Quesada said.

“Michael entered fully into the pastoral year process and used this time for personal spiritual growth and exercising real pastoral ministry,” Father Donohoe said. “Overall, Michael did very well. He had several bumps in his ministry at the beginning of his time at Holy Family, but he learned very quickly to adapt and to improve his pastoral skills in dealing with people.”

Father Donohoe said that Quesada learned that “sometimes it is far more effective to accompany someone on the journey of faith than to just tell them the answer to a question.” That the call to be a better priest is not just knowing the answers, but to be willing to journey with the people of God. He also learned that to be a good priest you must balance your personal life and health with the duties and demands of parish life.

“Michael is a great guy and it was a pleasure for me to be his mentor during his pastoral year. As I was teaching and reflecting things to him, I was finding my own life and priesthood being rejuvenated as well. It was a great experience for me as well. I look forward to the day that I can call him a ‘Brother Priest’,” Father Donohoe said.

“I had a joyful year of working at La Sagrada Familia, Holy Family Parish, with Father Donohoe as my guiding pastor,” Quesada said.

Quesada is currently working in Metairie, Louisiana at East Jefferson General Hospital completing his clinical pastoral education. The next step in his formation is for the bishop to accept him into candidacy for the diaconate and then the priesthood.

“It is an exciting time where I am finally seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel. But I do realize that with ordination, there will be many more challenges ahead of me to face,” Quesada said.