Milwaukee Catholic Herald – Vocations 1-16-03

HIGHER CALLING — Nate Reesman, pictured in the Saint Francis Seminary chapel's choir loft, is in his second year of seminary studies. His interest in the priesthood began while an undergraduate at UW-Madison, where he was involved in campus ministry. Today he serves as a link between college students and Saint Francis Seminary. (Photo by Sam Lucero)

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ST. FRANCIS — Campus ministry transformed Nate Reesman's involvement in his Catholic faith — from a Sunday obligation to an everyday commitment.

A 1997 graduate of Burlington High School, Reesman enrolled at UW-Madison to pursue a degree in political science. Along the way, Reesman, the son of Richard and Kathy Reesman of St. Mary Parish in Burlington, began attending Mass at St. Paul's Catholic Center, located on the university campus. By his junior year, Reesman was leading Bible study groups in dormitory lounges and making plans to launch question-and-answer sessions on Catholic Church teachings and traditions for UW-Madison students.

By the time he graduated from college in December 2001, Reesman's backpack was stuffed with a resume of religious endeavors. His experiences at St. Paul's Catholic Center solidified a desire that germinated while in Madison: a vocation to the priesthood.

"My work on campus became sort of a means for me to see if seminary and priesthood were really what God designed me to do, if I possessed the gifts that were going to be needed for a life in ministry," he said. "Every experience I had, I found myself saying, 'God is showing me something about myself, what he wants me to do.'"

Today Reesman is a second-year seminarian at Saint Francis Seminary. Not only is he taking a full load of classes that all his fellow seminarians take, he was hired last fall by Fr. Bob Stiefvater, director of vocations for the Milwaukee Archdiocese, to make connections with college students on behalf of the seminary. Essentially, Reesman has resumed the campus ministry role he so enthusiastically fulfilled as an undergraduate.

"He is very comfortable about working on college campuses, and is able to follow up (on contacts with prospective seminarians) in a way that I can't," said Stiefvater.

"We have about 100 or so people, with varying degrees of interest, that I'm supposed to keep in touch with," said Reesman. "I want to be able to go out and be a presence to students, as a way of getting them to get in touch with this place. My initial thought was to try and start some small discussion groups about vocations and discernment, which is where I'm still trying to go."

Reesman said he's focused his visits with students from Marquette, UW-Milwaukee and Cardinal Stritch University, with some work at UW-Madison.

According to Reesman, small Christian communities, such as the Bible study groups he helped lead in Madison, are an effective way to get young people involved in their faith. "It's in those small groups where a lot of conversion would take place, and a real connection with the faith," he said. "My faith grew right along with everybody else's."

Reesman knows from experience that religion on campus is often met with resistance. Those who are open to it don't always find a welcoming community.

"I think for people at that age in college, what they really need to hear is that another person in their age and situation is interested in faith and is willing to share their story and willing to take a risk to believe in something," said Reesman.

Through the efforts of Catholic students like Reesman, young men and women — whose lives were being formed through their collegiate experience in Madison — "could see that it really was OK to be a Catholic on that campus, which is not always an easy thing to do."

Reesman believes young people want a church that isn't watered down; that really challenges them to be better than themselves and bigger than themselves -- and to be holy." The church also needs to let youth know "that it's OK to believe," said Reesman. "It's OK to take a stand and be counter-cultural with their faith.

"I guess what the church needs to do is to have a message that is clear: this is what salvation is and this is what faith is. Don't be afraid to be a witness to church and to Christ everywhere you are, on campus, at home, or at your job," he added.

Reesman will participate in a clinical pastoral education program this summer and a parish internship next fall. He'll return to the classroom his fourth and fifth years. Following ordination to the transitional diaconate in 2005, he anticipates ordination to the priesthood in 2006.

Reesman admits that being a seminarian in 2002, while the sexual abuse scandal unfolded, was difficult.

"It was an interesting year for all of us (seminarians), and every one of us dealt with it a little bit differently," he said. "I never got to a point where I was questioning either my vocation or this seminary. At this moment in history, the church needs priests more than ever and God has graced us with the opportunity to go out and by our example and our presence and our person, I guess you can say mend what's been broken. I try to look at it in those terms. It's not always easy to do, but I think in the end it's all that you can do."