Thursday, August 12, 2004
By Brian LesterSpecial to The CS&T
If you were hit by a water balloon while walking to class at Temple University in the late 1980s, Father Steve McDermott wants to offer a big apology. You were very likely the victim of the Sigma Pi fraternity slingshot, which was used to launch the balloons from the roof of the fraternity house onto unsuspecting students.
Today, as parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist Parish, Manayunk, Father McDermott restricts his dealings with water to baptisms and sprinkling rites. The same goes for two of his friends from the fraternity, Philadelphia priests Father Paul Stenson and Father Mike Spitzer.
On July 29, 140 young adults gathered at Finnigan’s Wake, 3rd and Spring Garden Streets, for the third installment of the Theology on Tap series to hear Father McDermott, Father Stenson and Father Spitzer share their stories of how God led them to conversions at Temple University and, eventually, to their ordination as priests.
None of the three speakers had instantaneous, “St. Paul-style” conversions, they said. Each was led in a unique way over a number of years. But there is the common factor in their journeys: Mary led each young man to a life committed to her Son.
Father Stenson was the first to join the fraternity and the first to leave. Although when he arrived at Temple he “just wanted to party,” he soon found he wasn’t happy. Through the prayers of his mother and sister, Father Stenson was eventually led to a prayer meeting.
“If they’re all weirdoes I can’t stay,” was Father Stenson’s promise to his sister before walking in. Eventually he joined his family on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. After returning from the pilgrimage, Father Stenson was filled with a great desire for prayer and the sacraments, and consequently began to fall away from his involvement with his fraternity.
Father McDermott and Father Spitzer had joined the fraternity some time after Father Stenson. His disappearance from the fraternity house left them wondering. Though they both had started to practice their faith at that time, each still had his feet firmly planted in the secular world.
Father Spitzer said many times [after he started taking his faith more seriously] he’d be up in his room praying a rosary, then go downstairs for a while to join a party, and then find himself back up in his room at the end of the night praying.
Through some providential occurrences, Father McDermott and Father Spitzer were also able to go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. That is when the Lord truly won the battle for their hearts, they said.
Father Stenson and Father Spitzer entered St. Charles Seminary, and were ordained together in 1998. Father McDermott took a more circuitous path, spending five years working for the Keswick theater, and three years as a theology teacher at Archbishop Ryan High School before entering the priesthood. He was ordained in 2003.
“God uses absolutely everything!” said Father McDermott. “At the Keswick theater I was in charge of concert planning — everything from when the truck pulled up early in the morning until the end of the show. But now, instead of coordinating Johnny Cash’s band, I’m directing the lectors and altar servers.”
Father Spitzer and Father Stenson, who took marketing and public relations classes at Temple together, are now using their degrees for a holy purpose: “Selling the Good News.”
All three priests noted that even their not-so-Christian experiences in the fraternity are used for good.
“You can’t shock me in the confessional,” said Father Stenson.
“When someone has lived the party life and then come to faith, I think it gives them some credibility in a really skeptical world. They can truly say they tried to find pleasure there and found it empty,” said Mary Borneman, a parishioner at Our Mother of Good Counsel, Bryn Mawr. “You can tell they are really fulfilled and happy as priests. You can’t easily dismiss that kind of witness.”
Father Stenson is currently parochial vicar at St Katherine of Siena parish in Northeast Philadelphia. Father Spitzer is pursuing a doctorate in Moral Theology in Rome.
This summer’s Theology on Tap series is sponsored by the Office for Youth and Young Adults. Rosey Stracquatanio, Assistant Director for Young Adult ministry, coordinates the series with the help of a team of volunteers from several parish-based Young Adult ministries.“Theology on Tap is about meeting people where they are. This program is designed to reach out to everybody, from someone who hasn’t been to Mass in years, to active Catholics interested in learning more about their faith, to someone who is just looking to hang out and meet new people,” Stracquatanio said.
“The goal is to offer topics relevant to young Catholics in today’s world, where we can openly discuss the fullness of the Church’s teachings and how we can continue to live them out.”
Find out more about Theology on Tap by visiting www.oyya.org/yam and click on yam events.
Brian Lester is the former chair of Young Adults of St. Katherine and St. Isaac Jogues (YASKI) and works as a human resources consultant in center city.
If you were hit by a water balloon while walking to class at Temple University in the late 1980s, Father Steve McDermott wants to offer a big apology. You were very likely the victim of the Sigma Pi fraternity slingshot, which was used to launch the balloons from the roof of the fraternity house onto unsuspecting students.
Today, as parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist Parish, Manayunk, Father McDermott restricts his dealings with water to baptisms and sprinkling rites. The same goes for two of his friends from the fraternity, Philadelphia priests Father Paul Stenson and Father Mike Spitzer.
On July 29, 140 young adults gathered at Finnigan’s Wake, 3rd and Spring Garden Streets, for the third installment of the Theology on Tap series to hear Father McDermott, Father Stenson and Father Spitzer share their stories of how God led them to conversions at Temple University and, eventually, to their ordination as priests.
None of the three speakers had instantaneous, “St. Paul-style” conversions, they said. Each was led in a unique way over a number of years. But there is the common factor in their journeys: Mary led each young man to a life committed to her Son.
Father Stenson was the first to join the fraternity and the first to leave. Although when he arrived at Temple he “just wanted to party,” he soon found he wasn’t happy. Through the prayers of his mother and sister, Father Stenson was eventually led to a prayer meeting.
“If they’re all weirdoes I can’t stay,” was Father Stenson’s promise to his sister before walking in. Eventually he joined his family on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. After returning from the pilgrimage, Father Stenson was filled with a great desire for prayer and the sacraments, and consequently began to fall away from his involvement with his fraternity.
Father McDermott and Father Spitzer had joined the fraternity some time after Father Stenson. His disappearance from the fraternity house left them wondering. Though they both had started to practice their faith at that time, each still had his feet firmly planted in the secular world.
Father Spitzer said many times [after he started taking his faith more seriously] he’d be up in his room praying a rosary, then go downstairs for a while to join a party, and then find himself back up in his room at the end of the night praying.
Through some providential occurrences, Father McDermott and Father Spitzer were also able to go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. That is when the Lord truly won the battle for their hearts, they said.
Father Stenson and Father Spitzer entered St. Charles Seminary, and were ordained together in 1998. Father McDermott took a more circuitous path, spending five years working for the Keswick theater, and three years as a theology teacher at Archbishop Ryan High School before entering the priesthood. He was ordained in 2003.
“God uses absolutely everything!” said Father McDermott. “At the Keswick theater I was in charge of concert planning — everything from when the truck pulled up early in the morning until the end of the show. But now, instead of coordinating Johnny Cash’s band, I’m directing the lectors and altar servers.”
Father Spitzer and Father Stenson, who took marketing and public relations classes at Temple together, are now using their degrees for a holy purpose: “Selling the Good News.”
All three priests noted that even their not-so-Christian experiences in the fraternity are used for good.
“You can’t shock me in the confessional,” said Father Stenson.
“When someone has lived the party life and then come to faith, I think it gives them some credibility in a really skeptical world. They can truly say they tried to find pleasure there and found it empty,” said Mary Borneman, a parishioner at Our Mother of Good Counsel, Bryn Mawr. “You can tell they are really fulfilled and happy as priests. You can’t easily dismiss that kind of witness.”
Father Stenson is currently parochial vicar at St Katherine of Siena parish in Northeast Philadelphia. Father Spitzer is pursuing a doctorate in Moral Theology in Rome.
This summer’s Theology on Tap series is sponsored by the Office for Youth and Young Adults. Rosey Stracquatanio, Assistant Director for Young Adult ministry, coordinates the series with the help of a team of volunteers from several parish-based Young Adult ministries.“Theology on Tap is about meeting people where they are. This program is designed to reach out to everybody, from someone who hasn’t been to Mass in years, to active Catholics interested in learning more about their faith, to someone who is just looking to hang out and meet new people,” Stracquatanio said.
“The goal is to offer topics relevant to young Catholics in today’s world, where we can openly discuss the fullness of the Church’s teachings and how we can continue to live them out.”
Find out more about Theology on Tap by visiting www.oyya.org/yam and click on yam events.
Brian Lester is the former chair of Young Adults of St. Katherine and St. Isaac Jogues (YASKI) and works as a human resources consultant in center city.
