The Catholic Spirit

1 week ago | thecatholicspirit.com | Joe Ruff

“Extreme joy,” he said. “Fulfillment and a lot of peace.”A few weeks of butterflies in the stomach had given way to calm confidence, Father Skeate said. He and his newly ordained brother priests — Fathers Stephen Boatwright, Benjamin Eichten, Alexander Marquette and Zachary Ochsenbauer — had fanned out to separate chapels in the cathedral to bless family, friends and others in the congregation. About 2,000 people filled most of the Cathedral for the Mass.

1 week ago | thecatholicspirit.com | Dave Hrbacek

Though the houses have succeeded (boasting a sobriety rate of more than 70%), one part of that landscape continued to trouble him — the ongoing pain suffered by thousands of military veterans, who face the double whammy of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and addiction. For many, it ends tragically. Suicide takes the lives of thousands of veterans who feel there is no way to overcome these two demons.

1 week ago | thecatholicspirit.com | Rebecca Omastiak

“He asked: ‘How many of you young men want to be priests one day?’” said Deacon Marquette, who was a third grader at the time. “That’s where the desire in my heart sort of awakened for the first time and I knew in that moment: I want to be a priest.”That experience served as a guidepost along Deacon Marquette’s path, which includes the 25-year-old preparing for his ordination to the priesthood with four other transitional deacons at a 10 a.m. Mass May 31 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

1 week ago | thecatholicspirit.com | Dave Hrbacek

“I thought of applying to the Air Force Academy,” Deacon Ochsenbauer said. “My oldest uncle, Dave, taught my dad how to fly. And then he (Tom) went on to the airlines. When I was growing up, I thought that’s what I would do. … I wanted to fly F-16s.”But God had other plans for the young man who grew up attending St. Peter in Forest Lake with his parents and two younger siblings. Strong faith experiences and conversations with priests at his parish steered him toward a priestly vocation.

1 week ago | thecatholicspirit.com | Joe Ruff

He will be ordained at age 74 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. “The thing I’ve learned very keenly in the last, well, two years, I guess, is that God doesn’t always draw in a straight line,” Deacon Boatwright said on the May 16 “Practicing Catholic” radio show on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. He grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, with his late parents, Dan and Barb; and siblings, Mary; his late sister, Nancy; and brother, Bill. Each night after dinner the family gathered to pray a rosary.