John Schmitz

Vocation John Schmitz

It?s been fifty years since I donned the vestments at my ordination to the priesthood. There are memories, and triggers that bring back emotions that had been buried, but upon reflection I find that they never went away. My days in the seminary were pre-Vatican II, with the Council beginning its deliberations shortly before my ordination. It was a different world then, and there was vibrant hope for change. For some the change was the undoing of sacred traditions, while others welcomed the aggiornamento promised by Pope John XXIII, and when that did not come soon enough, we sought other paths for our lives. Experiences often fade into the forgotten, but writing them gives a new lifetime. Reading them often evokes other memories.