Meet our seminarians

I had no desire to go to seminary until I experienced a major reversion in my faith while I was in college. My college roommate encouraged me to go to Mass and Confession after having neglected my Catholic faith for many years. Eventually after returning to the Church, I was invited on a priestly discernment retreat. I remember reading on the event poster, “There is nothing that will bring a man a deeper sense of fulfilment than to do the will of God.” On the retreat, I met many good priests and seminarians, and I was moved by the deep friendship and fraternity within the priesthood. Immediately, I felt a desire to associate with priests and be among their ranks, and I eventually applied to the Diocese of Trenton.

For me, being a priest means sharing that same gift of friendship and community that I received in college with the whole world, namely, by bringing the people to an encounter with God, The Most Holy Trinity, Who is Eternal Friendship and Communion itself. The priest does this in the most privileged and exalted of ways by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where Our Lord Jesus Christ becomes truly present under the appearances of bread and wine and intimately unites Himself to all who receive Him in Holy Communion.

If you feel called to be a priest, don’t be afraid. Pray, and trust that God will lead you along the right path.

I was born on a Christmas day in 1995 to a family that fostered a life of prayer and service for others in our household and a neighborhood centered on the chapel devoted to Our Lady of Peñafrancia. I spent much of my childhood there and in our Parish as an altar server then and lector and youth minister until now. In Kindergarten Completion, we were asked to wear the profession we wanted to be. I went up the stage clad in chasuble and stole.
I joined the College Seminary of our Diocese from 2013-2018. After graduation, I decided to work for a while and continue with my discernment. Something felt missing. As St. Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Four years on and fast forward to today, I desire to continue responding to God’s invitation to be His Priest.
Like anyone else, I also enjoy doing things in my free time. I am fond of jogging, biking, or hiking to explore places and take pictures; I go on a food crawl to better understand the history of places, I am a big fan of music bands, and I subscribe to Netflix and chill. Above all, I have always had a heart for community service and volunteering activities

Eventually it came time to confront the feeling in my heart and apply to the seminary.  At that point I was so worried that everyone would be shocked by my discernment; but it turns out, nobody was! Making the decision to seriously discern in the seminary has been a tremendous blessing. I do not know where God will ultimately take me, but I know that this is what I need to do right now.  If you are discerning and are nervous about this call, remember that the path of discerning God’s call is well-trodden and there are so many priests and lay-people who will provide you with prayer and encouragement.

I am a graduate from St. Paul School in Burlington, and Holy Cross Preparatory Academy in Delran, where I lettered in both baseball and soccer. I am the oldest of four children. I have felt the call to the priesthood from a very young age. Priests have always been a part of my life. In fact I have some family members who are priests. While praying in Adoration one day I prayed "What do You want me to do with my life?" In the silence of my heart I heard a voice say "Be My Priest." I was filled with instant joy and peace. That joy and peace has not left me since. Being an altar server since I received my First Holy Communion has helped me to learn what it takes to serve God and His Church. Playing sports and interacting with as many people as possible helps me to understand how to work as a team, I work hard for my goals both on the field and in life, and to better understand people. For me, being a priest means serving God and His Church, but also working to save souls. As St. John Vianney once said, "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. When you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is what priesthood means to me, love and service.

Hello, my name is Brian Leonard, and I’m from Little Silver, New Jersey. I was raised as a Catholic, and I’ve known from a young age that I wanted to build my career around helping people. I’ve considered all sorts of avenues to try and achieve that goal, from working as an emergency medical technician and pursuing medicine, to exploring the possibility of doing social work to help troubled youth. My mind was made up after volunteering with the Knights of Columbus and helping around the church at my university, as the more time that I’ve spent in service to the church and the community, the more I’ve fallen in love with the work. It is my hope that by pursuing the priesthood, I will be better able to care for not only the bodies and minds of my community, but to offer care for the soul as well. I hope to be able to spread the message and the love of Christ, and to provide the care that people need, in both this life and in the next.

I am from Mount Laurel, NJ, and I graduated from Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Moorestown, NJ and Paul VI High School in June of 2023.  While at Paul VI, I was involved in the Ambassador Club and an altar server for school Masses.  I enjoy listening to music, reading and spending time with friends in my free time.  I have felt the call to the priesthood from a young age and the example of many good priests has helped me to understand what it means to be a priest.  Additionally, my experience as an altar server has helped me understand what serving God and the Church means.  I encourage anyone thinking about the priesthood to be open to God's call, not be afraid to take a leap of faith and see where God might lead you.

I am a lifelong parishioner at Saint Katharine Drexel Parish and resident of Burlington Township. Before entering formal discernment, I earned a bachelor's degree in physics at Drexel University and worked in pharmaceutical quality assurance. Through considerable trials, God humbled me enough to hear His call to walk in this direction, with Him, and my life has been radically changed since. I desire that God make use of me and my life as He will, as a conduit to bring Christ to the people of His Church.

I have always been active in parish life. As an Altar Server, EM and Lector I have always been involved in the mass, and while I have never closed myself off to the idea of the priesthood, the last year in particular opened my mind and heart to God’s will, which I intend to follow. I also grew up loving sports and the outdoors.

I am a graduate from Monmouth University with a bachelor’s degree in history –class of 2025! My love of history has taken me to the great historic sites NJ has to offer, from lighthouses to state parks. With the rest of my free time, I enjoy nature walks, riding my bike, or hitting the gym. Also, I always look forward to an outing with family or friends to a restaurant. These days, with my siblings living out of state, time with family has become even more precious to me.

I owe my family a debt of gratitude for instilling within me the Catholic faith. I stopped going to church in high school, and by graduation in 2018 I was depressed. My grandma convinced me the best remedy for my sadness was to pray the rosary, and it worked! After that, my faith was reignited, and I made a return to the sacraments with a renewed prayer life. One day in prayer, I asked God how I could help my family, and an interior voice spoke to my heart with a question, “Why don’t you become a Catholic priest?” My reply was a rock solid “yes!”

From there, I became more involved in the life of my parish. I volunteered to be a sacristan, I served at daily mass, and I visited sick parishioners to bring them our Lord in the Eucharist. Also, I got involved with the Catholic Campus Ministry at Monmouth University. I made great Catholic friends and grew in faith, at the same time!

I first heard the call back in 2020 and, as of today, the call is still there. I want to help my family, but I now understand my family is more than just my blood relations, it is the Catholic church –the body of Christ. To do the will of God is holiness, and I want to submit to God’s will for my life because I know, as a loving Father, he would never steer me back into misery and despair by calling me to serve our family through His priesthood. If this is the path I need to take to fulfill God’s will, then I can express my sentiment in a single word: Amen!

The seeds of faith and calling were planted in me during my years as an elementary student at Saint James School in Red Bank. Granted, the seeds took a long time to sprout, but eventually they did during my time as a high school student at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft. My time at Christian Brothers Academy was instrumental in me starting to heed the call from God that I had as an elementary student. The required Christian service, and the theology teachers I had, primarily Brother Frank Byrne, fostered my love for Christ, devotion to the Blessed Mother, and service to the Church.
After graduating from high school, I briefly attended the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. While there, I grew more distant from Christ and His Church, but fortunately I realized fairly quickly that I needed to reconnect with the Church and further discern the call I had from a very young age.
Once I returned to the faith, I began employment at Saint Benedict’s Church in Holmdel to further discern my call. While employed there, I became involved in all the Parish ministry available to me, such as being a lector and extraordinary ministry to the home-bound. I began to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. as much as I could to emulate the prayer life of a priest. It wasn’t long before I realized the call I felt as a child was real.