← Dominican Sisters Open Mic
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- [00:00]
Father Seamus Kettner
I didn't consciously. But, like, in here, in my heart, I kind of. I can't trust God and I can't trust my parents and I just have to trust myself, you know, that's not a good place to be. I was anxious, I was unfulfilled, I was restless and I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. And I was just. I was angry, too. You throw that in the mix, that's a bad combo. That's a bad day, Right? You know, and you're 21, and I remember kind of having this thought, like, well, everything I've done isn't working, so now I gotta just try anything else. Her persistence, her annoyance, if you will. Right. Like, it's like, oh, my goodness, like, for her sake, I gotta go.
- [00:47]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
You gotta go. So she stopped asking you the question. Welcome to Open Life Media. I'm so happy to have with me a wonderful guest who we're going to introduce to you for the first time and Father. I just know you as Father Seamus. So is that your first or last name?
- [01:18]
Father Seamus Kettner
That is my first name. It's an Irish Gaelic name meaning James. And then my last name is Kettner. K E T T N E R. That's a German.
- [01:27]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Well, that's an interesting combination. Well, I'm sure we'll find out what all that means as we go throughout here. So as we begin here, if you would kindly start us on in a prayer, that would be awesome.
- [01:39]
Father Seamus Kettner
I'd be glad to, sister. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father, we just thank you for this time to bear witness to your saving grace, to your Son's death and resurrection. And Lord, you have called your apostles and disciples to share testimony, to share one story of coming to encounter you and to bear witness to you. And so we just ask for an outpouring of grace and the Holy Spirit upon this conversation that we may boldly proclaim your good news and share the good deeds at work in our lives with joy, with surrender, and with peace in our hearts. We pray for our blessed Mother's help and guidance in this time, that we may just use the words wisely in which God wishes to speak through us. And we ask this in Jesus's name. Amen.
- [02:34]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Amen. Thank you, Father. Well, for those of you who are new to openlight Media, you may just found us here. What we do is we produce educational material, inspiration material, and we also, like, find ways to make connections with other people. So I think here, as we're having this conversation, I believe you're going to find it very inspiring. And if there's anyone out there know, you think, how could this handsome young man become a priest? And how did that vocation come about? You know, and so young, the youth and everything that we see. And I find that, you know, so inspiring myself. You know, many years ago when I entered religious life, I was only 18 years old at that time. Well, and then I'm a lot older, but you're not going to know how old I am now. That's going to be our secret. Right? Okay. But here, just really just in this local Ann Arbor area is really alive with the faith. And it's amazing to think that here he's been a priest for a couple of years and this is the first time we've actually met, you know, and, and we'll be able to sit down and, and have a conversation together. So what I'd like to have Father do is to share with you all how God, you know, you've heard me when I've talked and maybe in other times with, with Dr. Villa when we talk about this beauty of gradualness and how God really works within our lives and very slowly and gradual. And I think the call to it wasn't like we. And all of a sudden say, I'm going to be a sister or I'm going to be a priest or I'm going to marry this person. It's a gradual process. So perhaps you could maybe go back to. And tell us your. The gradual process of God calling you really, to the. To your vocation, to the. To the priesthood.
- [04:22]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yes, I love that sister, you know, with that, that law of gradualness, you know, you know, being an. Half an Irishman. Anyways, you know, Seamus, I love to tell a good story, a few stories, you know, but then my German, you know, ethnic heritage with my dad's side, I like to be, you know, brief and to the point, you know, so it's quite a contradiction at times.
- [04:41]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
You must be battling a lot, right?
- [04:43]
Father Seamus Kettner
I know battles all the time, you know, like, I know it takes me a lot to get to the party, but then when I get to the party, I don't want to leave, you know. And, you know, my vocation is kind of like a story of that, right? You know, battling with the Lord at different times. As you mentioned, that when I look back and reflect now, after many years of like, initially beginning to discern, I'm just like, yeah, God was at work in small details the way he prefers, I would say, you know, in a small, subtle way to the whispers. But I was a little resilient, you know, or a little resistance at first, not recent resistance and hearing that. And so it took, you know, a moment that we'll get to, but I'll just start, you know, by, like you said, our diocese of Lansing. It's a beautiful diocese to be part of here in Michigan. You know, I grew up not too far from Ann Arbor in Pinckney, you know, small little town there. I attended St. Mary's in Pinckney, you know, but I, in my own vocation story, I like to share bits and pieces of my, my mom and my dad's story as well. You know, my dad with the German heritage, the, the Dutch other side of him too, heritage. He's from the west side of the state near Holland, and was born into a Missouri Synod Lutheran faith tradition with his mom and his dad and practiced the faith more or less pretty regularly until college. And my mom, she was born in this area in Farmington Hills, Michigan, raised to an parents Irish Catholic tradition. But, you know, she, they stopped practicing as a family, you know, when she was a young teenager. And then, lo and behold, in God's providence, my mom met my dad at Thomas Aquinas College on the west side of the state. And their first date, I like to say, was playing basketball. One on one, they're both athletes. My dad was on the baseball team and my mom was on the basketball team. So they love playing sports and my dad was score keeping that, you know, one of the games. And that's how they, they got to talking. And so, you know, my mom had me, I think she was about 30. They got married and had me about when she was 30, my, my sister, my younger sister, Mackenzie, when she was 32. But at that time in their life, they still hadn't began practicing regularly their faith. And it wasn't until thinking about sending my sister and I to grade schools when it started to kind of register with them, like, we gotta, we gotta maybe do something about this. And, you know, Pinckney's not too big of a town. It had, you know, the public school, Pinckney public school or St. Mary's and so I was very grateful. You know, when I look back, that, that, that pastor Father Ken Coughlin said, oh, you guys are more than welcome to come to school, but, you know, have you got your kids baptized yet? You know, and, and that was the whole beginning of the faith journey was, was when they began to speak to him.
- [07:49]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Wow. And I recall, though, you Said that they both like basketball and St. Mary's picnic. We used to play them in, in school and they've always had a good basketball team.
- [07:58]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [07:59]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
And I don't know what it's like today, but they were always a big rival of us, you know. So how did you play basketball when you were there?
- [08:05]
Father Seamus Kettner
I did.
- [08:05]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [08:06]
Father Seamus Kettner
I did. You know, I remember my mom was coaching and. Okay, so I was a gym rat. You know, I was there first, second, third, fourth grade before I could even be on the official team. And then fifth grade is when I began to play and played up until eighth grade. Played through my high school years as well.
- [08:21]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay, so you play. Okay, so now you went St. Mary's so wait, wait, wait, you're baptized? So how old were you when you're baptized?
- [08:29]
Father Seamus Kettner
1997. It was Pentecost Sunday.
- [08:33]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
John Paul II's birthday.
- [08:35]
Father Seamus Kettner
St. John Paul II birthday.
- [08:37]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [08:37]
Father Seamus Kettner
You know, I, I love to. That's my claim to fame and, you know, hide under His Holiness. Pentecost. I was four and a half. I was going to be five that August. So people ask if I remember it. I wish I could be like Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face, where like, she vividly recalls memories from 2, 3, 4 years old. I, I'm not that bright. I don't, I don't have that vivid of a memory. But I do have a picture of it that I keep in my, my daily prayer journal. It's just gratitude, a visual gratitude reminder that like my, in a special way, my, my walk to the, to the Father's kingdom began that day. Became adopted, spiritually speaking. I had a seal on my soul, marked forever. And the spiritual twin is my sister. You know, they. People joke about having Irish twins, you know, but my sister and I share the same baptismal birth date, you know, and so I, I don't like to understand.
- [09:35]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
That was all the sacraments of that time.
- [09:38]
Father Seamus Kettner
So, no, they waited out. So I was almost five. So then. Okay, second grade. First grade goes on. Second grade goes on. And regular preparation for first confession. Okay, second grade. My first Holy Communion, May 5th, uh, 2001. And, uh, you know, and then, you know, yeah, go through St. Mary's all the way up until eighth grade.
- [10:03]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [10:04]
Father Seamus Kettner
Before going off to, to Catholic Central Novi.
- [10:08]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Did you play bad? Did you play basketball there?
- [10:10]
Father Seamus Kettner
I did.
- [10:10]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [10:11]
Father Seamus Kettner
Football. And football. I only played freshman year.
- [10:14]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah, okay. I was gonna say that place is
- [10:16]
Father Seamus Kettner
90 guys on the freshman team. You know, and I was scrawny, skinny little guy and, you know, just trying to Fit in. I, I always found sports as a mean to, you know, just find friendships and, and be part of a group, you know, and. And basketball was, I would say, my real passion. I loved it, you know, more than football, you know, and perhaps I, you know, I look back at. I idolized a little bit too much, you know, it. It's funny, even in Catholic spheres, you know, where we can put other things or people on the throne, you know, and when I reflect back and, and look back into my own life, you know, with the light of the Holy Spirit, I. I realize, you know, my emphases was, you know, on things that, you know, a little, you know, that weren't on God ultimately.
- [11:07]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
So let me ask you this. At Catholic Central, I know when you walk in, the first thing you see there is the chapel.
- [11:12]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [11:13]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah. So did you. And then you've got that shield on the floor that no one is supposed to step on, Right?
- [11:18]
Father Seamus Kettner
That's right.
- [11:20]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah. So how. How was that? Like, if you look back, having the Blessed Sacrament or like Jesus there in the present, you know, in their school, right there at the center.
- [11:30]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [11:30]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Would you think that. That there could have been any seeds cultivated at that time? You may or may not have known, or just an awareness or what do you think about.
- [11:39]
Father Seamus Kettner
And this is where, like, the law of gradualness, right? Because I'm humbled in saying this, like, you know, Sister, I. I like to pray a hour every day in my priesthood, you know, and I do my best, my best to do that, but I can honestly say, you know, I didn't walk into that chapel on my own volition, my own will, a single time in those four years, you know, I, I was hardened. You know, I think, you know, there's moments of suffering in all of our lives, and I think a particular wound that I was carrying at that time, you know, my. My parents, you know, unfortunately divorced when I was going into seventh grade.
- [12:25]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [12:26]
Father Seamus Kettner
And that really hardened me towards God. You know, it's. It's. I, I say that I didn't consciously, but, like, in here, in my heart, I, I kind of. I. I can't trust God and I can't trust my parents, and I just have to trust myself. You know, that's not a good place to be.
- [12:49]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah, that's hard. I mean, I understand the same thing, but just when I was one year into religious life, my parents divorced, you know, and I, I totally understand what you mean by that pain and the suffering. I mean, it's. It's hard because oftentimes they Think, you know, as you get older, you're going to be resilient or you can move through it, but it's like everything just kind of splits open for you, you know, and at that time I, I had to like lean in more, you know, to our Lord and, and to trust him. But I feel like even the fact that you're saying you understand that, that hardness. But that was a way to protect yourself in a way.
- [13:30]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [13:30]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
You know, because that's a very important time in your life and you had
- [13:34]
Father Seamus Kettner
to, you know, grit through it, right through it, stress through it. It's funny. And that we'll get to that too perhaps later in the story about a priest eventually coming at like the age too, you know, 12, 13, you know, and, and he, he shed light upon that reality as well, you know, because, you know, you go into an all boy, all male Catholic sphere, a good school, right. Like, you know, men like we're, you know, we, we like adventure. We like, you know, identifying ourselves through the work that we do, what we achieve. Right. I think that's just part of our challenge as men. You know, we shy away from like just being present or who am I really? Right. But like, what have I done? What have I achieved? How can I make myself known? And, and that's where like, I think those 9th through 12th grade years I was really looking to do was to find an identity. And in the two ways that I, you know, more or less in those years found that was through academic achievement and in my, in sports, playing sports, playing basketball in particular. So I'd work hard, right? I, I studied. You know, my mom said, how much money am I spending to go to Catholic Century? You know, work, you know, you gotta, she always, mama, discipline, discipline, discipline. You know, you gotta work hard. So she instilled that into me in, in the classroom as well, on the court. And you know, I was blessed to. In the first two years, I, it was more of a challenge come from Pinckney going to Wixom. 35, 40 minute.
- [15:09]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Can you say that was not an easy. That was a. You had to be dedicated and to do that every day.
- [15:14]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah. Yep. I drove for my sophomore year on. So I could, could drive through, through South Lyon to just make it a slower ride. But yeah, it was a challenge in a different way, you know, but after two years I felt much more, you know, within the community, you know, fellows were coming from, you know, LGC, St. Mike's All Saints or like they knew each other too. So trying to find that, that connection with Other young men. You know, it took time. You know, God was there.
- [15:45]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
I was like, that's what he was working. Even though you may not have walked in there.
- [15:49]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [15:49]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
As you're walking past, he's starting to till the soil of your heart. You went there and then where was the next. Where was the next step on this beauty of graduates?
- [15:59]
Father Seamus Kettner
I went down to the dark side.
- [16:01]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [16:01]
Father Seamus Kettner
I went down to Ohio.
- [16:02]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Oh, boy. Okay.
- [16:04]
Father Seamus Kettner
After I graduated 2011, I went to that place. I did not go to the Ohio Unit State University, but I still went down to Ohio. You know, I went down to a small Lutheran liberal arts school called Wittenberg. You know, it's in Springfield, Ohio, technically, like 20, 25 minutes from Dayton. Okay, so south.
- [16:27]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
South of south.
- [16:28]
Father Seamus Kettner
Okay, yeah, good. Three, three and a half hours, probably from here in Ann Arbor. You know, I, I received a pretty helpful scholarship that, you know, made it, like, very reasonable, you know, to go there. My mom said, you know, Seamus, I paid for your high school. I'm not paying for your college. You know, I laugh at that now. I wasn't so happy going down to Ohio, but I look back and, and it was. God was leading me there. You know, it's a liberal arts education, right? So I remember that first semester, you had to sign up, you had to for a religion class or for a philosophy class. And I said, oh, I'm definitely not taking the religion class. You know,
- [17:20]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
you've done it. You said, I got it. I got it down, right?
- [17:24]
Father Seamus Kettner
Know it all, hear it all, see it all. And I, I, I'm not taking a religion class. I'll take this philosophy class. Oh, God, he. A sense of humor. You know, he knew because, you know,
- [17:38]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
it gets you to start thinking. Yeah.
- [17:39]
Father Seamus Kettner
Start thinking.
- [17:40]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah.
- [17:41]
Father Seamus Kettner
Do we have a soul? Do we live forever? Why is there evil in the world? Why are there so many world religions? What is truth? You know, the soul question is what really for some reason piqued my interest, right? Like, do we live forever? You know, I took a, you know, one class led to another. I thought I was gonna be a study psychology and work in therapy in some way or another, but, you know, I was just going to minor in philosophy. This about my sophomore year at this point, and. But one, you know, the mysteries of self and soul, you know, the human person really being a mystery. I can't even figure out my own self, you know, how can I figure out somebody else, you know? And this is where philosophy just, it's, it's fascinating the wonder and awe that can come with it. When approached, approached humbly about truth. And so I flip flopped from a psych major in a philosophy minor to a philosophy major to a psych minor, you know, about my sophomore year. And, you know, at this time, sister, I gotta be honest, I. So I had those identities to lean on in high school. Being a good athlete, being a good student. You know, the student part was still, you know, there for me and as a college student. But the, you know, I still. What's. What's my identity? Who am I? And, you know, I was falling into temptations, biting into the culture of what makes us happy, right? The carefree lifestyle, you know, not treating women with dignity and respect, you know, going to parties and trying to find amusement. You know, and so that's like. When I look at that, that was a part of my. My story that I, you know, just list thinking of college students now, right? Like, just thinking there's nowhere else to go to find friendships. Because deep down, that's what I was looking for. Right?
- [19:52]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [19:52]
Father Seamus Kettner
I was looking for friendship. I was looking for people to. To live with. I was looking for joy. I was looking for God, ultimately. But, you know, it. I. I couldn't. The way I was navigating, it was not. It didn't seem to be working, but the, you know, the. The kind of. The pivot. And this. This was a. This was a pivot moment my junior year, you know, you're starting getting closer to graduation. I didn't know what I was going to do with the philosophy major. You know, discerning vocation was not. That hadn't. There wasn't even a thing on my radar. And all I knew is that I was miserable, to be honest. I was anxious, I was unfulfilled, I was restless, and I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. And I was just. I was angry, too. You throw that in the mix, that's a bad combo. That's a bad day, right? You know, and you're 21. And I remember kind of having this thought like, well, everything I've done isn't working, so now I got to just try anything else. And, you know, I remember calling my mom. I just went to my, you know, this. You know, on campus, they had this guest speaker from Ireland saying, come and. Come to Ireland and study abroad for a semester. And this was like, whoa. Like, my. There's something like, in my heart, my mind saying, like, yeah, go, go. And this is out of my character. You know, I'm a man, like, discipline. I like my. My regular Rhythms.
- [21:25]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
The German side.
- [21:26]
Father Seamus Kettner
The German side.
- [21:27]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right now, now the Irish side is starting to call you right
- [21:32]
Father Seamus Kettner
from across the Atlantic. And my mom has the Irish heritage, so I remember calling her, I said, ma, like, I think, I think I should go to Ireland for a semester. She jokingly said, you know, Seamus, you just want to drink Guinness, don't you? I said, ma, that's only half true, you know, I'm 21 anyways, you know, but I joke, but she, she really sensed like, I think you should do this, Seamus. And, and so it, like within two months from October, you know, to December, like I was, I was going to Ireland and I was just like, wow, how did this, you know, transcend? How is this happening? But God was, was moving. He was behind this, you know, this script, if you will. Before leaving, a very important, you know, event occurred. The priest, you know, that had baptized me, Father Ken, the priest that had absolved my sins for the first time, Father Ken, the priest that had given me Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time, you know, the priest that saw me confirmed, you know, was this priest that sensed, right, like I was away from the Lord, even not practicing the faith. I would say for like four or five months. He reached out with my ma's, you know, guidance as well, and, and gave me two things, you know, he gave me a rosary, which I had never prayed on my own. I'd been around it, our family. We weren't the rosary a day praying type of family, but I was around it. And then so he gave me that, he blessed it and a green one, nice Celtic one. And then he said, two, you gotta go to Our lady of Knock Knock. I'd never heard of her sister. You know the story?
- [23:16]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
I don't know the story. I know of it, but I don't think I know the story. I do. I'm ashamed. I'm a little embarrassed to say I don't know the story behind it.
- [23:23]
Father Seamus Kettner
Well, it don't because it's like it's a quieter known, right. And you know, it's not as well known as Fatima Lords, our delayed Guadalupe. And so I don't feel as bad that I had no idea what he's talking about. You know, I was like, our lady who, you know, But I get over there, you know, in that January of 2014, and I'm, you know, living with, with other Americans that are just in this exchange program, more or less. And I remember meeting a couple non denominational Christians who really witnessed to me their faith. They read their Bible every day. They journaled, they prayed, and when they went to the pubs, they weren't acting like fools. You know, they. They had a drink or two and they handled themselves with class. Jordan Beaver and Lena Gonzalez, I remember them both. And I was really, it was a witness for me. God was showing me something. You know, my mom would Skype me every week. Seamus, have you been to knock? No. Seamus, are you, are you planning on going, Mom? No. Seamus, I really think you should go to knock. You know, I would just was like, mom, stop asking. But her persistence, her annoyance, if you will, right? Like, it's like, oh, my goodness, like, for her sake, I gotta go.
- [24:44]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
You gotta go. So she stopped asking you the question.
- [24:46]
Father Seamus Kettner
So she just stopped.
- [24:47]
Narrator/Announcer (Open Light Media)
Did you know that the Sisters of Mary offer more than just this podcast? Our apostolate, called Open Light Media, offers a wide variety of resources for faith formation, virtue education and catechesis development. One of the programs that we're really excited to be able to offer is called Raised in Grace. It's the only Catholic social emotional learning program that explicitly integrates faith with modern neuroscience. Raising Grace is for both adults and children, and it invites them to participate in their own neurodevelopment with strategies based on cutting edge neuroscience. To learn more about race and grace and Open Light media, please visit openlightmedia.com or click the link on this description. Where faith meets learning. You'll find us at Open Light Media.
- [25:45]
Father Seamus Kettner
You know, so it was 12 months in or 12 weeks in. You know, I was only there for another couple weeks. You know, January, February, March. This is April. April 4, 2014. I'll never forget the day. It was a Friday in Lent and miracle I even got there. I mean, it's a long bus ride. I'd printed off the wrong timetables. It was for April, not for March. You know, this crossover bus helped me. This, this other. The Irish people are great. I don't know if you ever been there?
- [26:13]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
No, no.
- [26:14]
Father Seamus Kettner
Friendly help you, help you get to the bus station. If you won't make this crossover bus, I'll drive you there. It was just like, wow, thank you. But get to Our Lady a knockout. And you know, I went to, I heard church bells as soon as I got off the bus and I was in Mass. I thought that was a good sign. Go to Mass. And I remember receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. The way the priest presented the body of Christ, the manner, even the speech in which he said it. The body of Christ. He fully believed that was the body of Christ. And I heard that. And I was convicted of that. Convicted so much in the sense of like, really, I need to go to confession and I need to confess my sin. And so I remember leaving mass that Friday afternoon, Friday evening and looking at the, the timetables for, for confession and they had them at 11 o' clock the next morning and, you know, staying in a little hostel with, with these sisters, you know, they, they're so friendly, you know, oh, you know, your little lady would help me out, get the breakfast at this, you know, you know, the Lord is close to you, you know, I'm like, who? Where? I, I, this town is so small. Rink a dink. Little, small village really, you know, not much to it. I'm like, I don't, I have no idea why I'm here, you know, but I am. And I go to Mass that Saturday morning before the 11 o' clock confession appointment. I knew I had to get to and I knew who I wanted to go to for confession. That same priest, right, that, that said the body of Christ in a manner in which he fully believed it. So I wait around, you know, I'd see him show up. There's two or three other priests hearing confessions and I wait for this other priest. I waited till everybody else went because I knew I might take a while and I'm so glad I did because, you know, that confession, I lost track of time, to be honest. It was probably just 20, 30 minute confession because he was not in a rush and I could tell you verbatim. But I'll just share, as you mentioned earlier, you know, at the last question he asked me was Seamus, how was your early life? And I was 21, you know, I was 12 when my parents had divorced. But that was never like, you know, that wasn't something I talked about, right. Like, that wasn't something that I would go to and share my heart with. You know, I was guarded, I was resilient. I was like, I'm a man, right? I can't share what do you. So I really, when he first asked it, I just played it off. I said, thinking like, I wasn't physically abused. You know, I wasn't sexually abused as a child. Like, my parents fed me, I had never went hungry for days. I, they provided me with education at clothes, right? Like, like, what does he mean, how was my early life? I said, father, I don't know what you want me to say exactly. I guess he said, I don't know, was there any suffering, any trial that. Yeah, you know, he's just gently probing and to the point of like, I finally, I finally just said, I said, father, I guess if there's one thing, you know, I, you know, I struggle when my parents divorced when I was 12, and then to add on top of that, I, in my high school years, you know, I was so mad at my dad, I didn't speak to him for almost four years, from my freshman year of high school to my freshman year of college. And for me to share that at that time, my life, like, was like, that's huge. Thank God for the seal of confession, right?
- [30:09]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [30:09]
Father Seamus Kettner
But now I freely share it because, you know St. Paul, right, boasting in your weakness, boasting in your sufferings. And he says something I'll never forget. And you confirmed it. You know, just, it is from the Holy Spirit that he says, seamus, those are very transformative years of your life. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 years old. And I think you've been a little too hard on yourself, a little too self critical. And you know, for penance, you know, I just want you to say three Hail Marys, one for your mind, your body and your soul. And I just remember, I was like, really? That. That's all you want me for, for do for penance? He's like, yes, that's all I want you to do for penance. And I remember leaving there with this just sense of peace, right, washing over me, you know, I didn't see Jesus, he didn't. The clouds didn't open up from the high heavens, but there was within me a peace that I knew I couldn't give to myself. Like I had tried for many years, many years. And now that is something else that's coming from someone else. And I just kind of scratched my head leaving that confessional like, like Our lady who. What is this plate? Like, where, where am I?
- [31:32]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
You know, she's knocking, knocking on your heart. Knocking, knocking on your heart, right?
- [31:37]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yes. So I, I'd love to. So I went into the museum after, you know, this, with this piece, Our Lady. Yeah, Our lady knocked like August 21, 1879, right? She appears to 14 or 15 witnesses from the age of 75 all the way to five, you know, to the Irish, on a Thursday evening in August, rainy, of course, and in a small village town. And, you know, they all very clearly see her as well as St. John the Beloved and St. Joseph, her spouse. And not too far in the distance is an altar with a lamb. And, you know, she really appeared with her family, her spiritual son, whom Jesus entrusted with beloved and her spouse, St. Joseph. And then her Son Jesus. And they, the scholars and the theologians marvel, you know, at, as, as to why Mary didn't say anything. Right. It's this, it's a silent apparition. She's just pointing at the, the eucharistic table, the Lamb signifying the body of Christ. And some would say, well, we know the answer. The Irish people would have just argued with her. They would have just told her, we don't know if you know that blessed. You know the, the Irish love language to, to banter and to, to wrestle and speech. Right. Like you just can't meet an Irishman without at least a little argument. Right. But so she, she went speechless. She, she went just pointing to Jesus, the healer of body and soul, the healer of families, you know, feeding us with his body and his blood. You know, this is just after the potato famine in 30s and 40s, people were physically starving. And her point and Our Lady, Our Mother reminding us that like, yes, that. But we're spiritually starving too, you know, seek my son.
- [33:42]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
So I'm struck by that because it's like you think, if you want to think about Our lady of Knock, but also like knock.
- [33:48]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [33:49]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
You know, that what, what drew you to that priest was the way in which he said body of Christ.
- [33:56]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [33:56]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
So she's in the background. I mean it's like she almost had her, her hand on you like in the background pointing you like to this priest and then you felt this call to confession and then to the same priest, you know, who. The way in which he said body of Christ. Yeah. And then giving you three Hail Marys, which is like how beautiful is that? You know, and that just, it's just like she's has her. It's like Our lady has her. She's, she's been guiding you all along and, and holding you without you even probably knowing it.
- [34:36]
Father Seamus Kettner
I know, I know.
- [34:38]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
And you think about, I, I'm going back, I'm sorry to Catholic Central. But you, you know, you guys are the Shamrocks, right? So that's even that other same little Irish connection with the Trinity. And yes, all those years we, there's
- [34:52]
Father Seamus Kettner
a game winning basketball shot that I had and you know the tradition to sing Mary Alma Mater was always done at the football games.
- [35:01]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [35:02]
Father Seamus Kettner
Every single one. And you know, I remember is my, you know, senior year against Orchard Lake St. Mary's I was blessed to, to have a game winning shot over Alan Robinson, who is a phenomenal athlete, you know, eventually played NFL football, you know, a great receiver and, but we, we sang the Mary Alma mater hymn after that game. And you know, I got, I was so I, I. People don't believe it, but I do. I. Because I like to talk a little bit, but I'm an introvert, I'd say, by nature. And I was so. I didn't want the attention. So I was already in the locker room. I didn't even know, you know, I had ran back in the locker room with a few couple teammates and, and, but we. They're singing this song. Mary Alma mater Mary our sweet mother. Right. And she was, she's always been there in the background.
- [35:56]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yes.
- [35:56]
Father Seamus Kettner
Pointing me, leading me, caring for me, you know, in a very real way. But like the Lord, she's gentle. She's not going to force her entry into your life.
- [36:08]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
That's that quiet pointing. Okay. So then you're drawn. So at some point, this must have been what kind of opens the knocking. Knocking opens the heart.
- [36:18]
Father Seamus Kettner
I even at the very last thing I did in knock was there's a prayer, intention, board. And I knew being three miles away from home and writing an anonymous letter that nobody and nobody was ever going to read this and know it was for me. So that's when I wrote an intention about discerning my vocation.
- [36:41]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [36:41]
Father Seamus Kettner
You know, like thinking like there is something had happened between that Eucharist and that confession about like, am I called to that? Right. Like undeniably. It's kind of like I put it like this, like Father Ken giving me all those sacraments as a young. I was attracted to him, right. Like to his joy of his priesthood. It would always make me have a second glance, but I just don't know if I had ever thought like me though. I never made that connect, like to me, to do that for others. And I, I'd say it wasn't until I was 21. At that moment, I'm like, okay, like I, I can't deny that. Right. Like, if I tried to deny it, it'd be like denying my hand is right here. Right. It was something so real. And so I wrote that intention, you know, I, I got back into my senior year of, of college. You know, I was in a relationship with the young woman too. So that, that complicates discernment, right?
- [37:42]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
A little bit. Yeah.
- [37:43]
Father Seamus Kettner
You know, you pushing that to the side, you know, Lord, wanting what you want. I, I was going to get my degree that, that May of 2015, which I did. But the, I couldn't deny that the Lord is persistent. He's gentle, but persistent. He kept knocking. He kept like Inviting. So there's just no peace. Right? Like.
- [38:04]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [38:04]
Father Seamus Kettner
There's no peace in the relationship. So that's when I finally. I broke off the relationship and began talking to the vocation director that spring of my. My senior of college. And. And then in the summer is when he told me, you know, it would be a little. I was too late to go into seminar right away.
- [38:26]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
So. Okay.
- [38:27]
Father Seamus Kettner
They had me live with the priest, you know, the same priest at Father Ken. That's him.
- [38:30]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Oh, how wonderful.
- [38:31]
Father Seamus Kettner
I lived with him for a year to begin my decision.
- [38:33]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [38:34]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [38:34]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Wow.
- [38:35]
Father Seamus Kettner
While working at Tropical Smoothie
- [38:38]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
in Picnic. Was he still in Picnic at the time?
- [38:40]
Father Seamus Kettner
Clio, Michigan.
- [38:41]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [38:42]
Father Seamus Kettner
Just north of Fl. 10 miles north of Flint.
- [38:44]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [38:45]
Father Seamus Kettner
As a sign with him at St. Charles and Helena. It's right off 75 there. And then you got the Tropical Smoothie on the. On the west side.
- [38:53]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay. So then after that year, did you. Did you go to Sacred Heart or where did you.
- [38:57]
Father Seamus Kettner
So then I. I began to get into regular prayer. I made a Marian consecration, you know, that August 15th, okay. 2014, and then renewed it August 15th, 2015, using Father Mike Gately's 33 days glory.
- [39:12]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [39:12]
Father Seamus Kettner
That was huge for me.
- [39:14]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [39:14]
Father Seamus Kettner
Because like you said, Mary had been in the background. But now reading that book, I had a little knowledge of that. Explained to me what she was doing. She's leading me to the Lord, leading me to the sacraments, leading to my vocation. So that just. I mean, talk about spiritual consolation. You know, I remember that like, that was just like, wow, Cloud. Cloud nine. Right. Like the delight of being in spiritual constellation. And especially with. It's like it's such a first time, you know, you're. You're coming in from a desert, from a big journey, and you're just being dosed with grace. And so, you know, that was the beginning of my time with Father Ken. And then I began to discern. I was like. I never even thought about religious life. So I actually made a visit with the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.
- [40:02]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay.
- [40:02]
Father Seamus Kettner
Okay. Felt so much peace about that. Discerned, you know, after a retreat, my first retreat, simple three, four day retreat. That's it. The Lord wants me to go, so I'm gonna go. So I. I was a postulant, a year novice with the Marian Fathers and then one year of temporary vows.
- [40:22]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay. But that formation must have really been. I mean, you can't, you can't change that. I mean, that must have been such a. Once you get that pattern down when you. So now it's probably just a part of your DNA, you know, as you go into the seminary. So after you left there, then you discern that you.
- [40:43]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [40:43]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Diocesan. Okay.
- [40:44]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah. Those fathers and brothers are great. You know, they.
- [40:47]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [40:48]
Father Seamus Kettner
I love their, their ministry, their devotion to Mary, you know, it fits so well.
- [40:52]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [40:52]
Father Seamus Kettner
I was very. It was hard to me to wrestle with the Lord a little bit, like why he wanted me to leave.
- [40:57]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah.
- [40:58]
Father Seamus Kettner
When the community was so great. But you know, it's like kind of like the being a runner like you. You know, they tell you to go when you go into a running store, you don't think about the brand, you don't think about the price of the shoe. You put it on with your eyes closed and you feel the shoe.
- [41:12]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [41:13]
Father Seamus Kettner
And it was like. Yeah, it's just, it was a little tight, little snug of a shoe. Not by much, but like, you know, as discernment progresses, you can. The little notches. Right. God can begin speaking more subtly. And my heart was just moved at a, at a parish, at a setting like that.
- [41:33]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Wonderful.
- [41:34]
Father Seamus Kettner
And so that's when I reached back out to the vocation director, Father John Linden, at the time and, and then would have began that August of 2018, Sacred Heart major Seminary.
- [41:46]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Okay. So then you had had, you had had the philosophy and then the theology and all of that. So what year were you. When were you ordained?
- [41:57]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yes, I. Those seminary years, those desert years.
- [42:00]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
I was going to say that's when you needed the resilience. Right?
- [42:03]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [42:03]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Fortitude and all the virtues that go.
- [42:05]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah, yeah. And the, the discernment, the retreats, you know, we had a 30 day retreat that was really blessed, you know, and, and that's when I, I'd say like when I tell young men share about in their vocation years, the discernment years, that 30 day retreat was really like the, the moral certitude that I felt called to be a priest. I was 27, seeing my friends being married, starting to have family and kids. How beautiful and wonderful that is. But my heart still being, you know, moved to, to be a. A priest. So theology 2, 3, 4, June 10, 2023, I was ordained a priest. Very grateful.
- [42:42]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
So grateful. Oh, that's so wonderful. And then you've been here in Ann arbor at, at St. Francis.
- [42:49]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yes, yes. St. Francisi Parish. You know, that I want to, you know, the best day of my life. I mean, other meme born.
- [42:58]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah. Right. Okay, go ahead.
- [42:59]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah, I got being, you know, on that floor, laying down my life in a physical gesture, you know. And then being, you know, lifted up and. And then Bishop lays your hands on your head and he says the consecratory prayer. And then the priests, you two dear priests, to me, my spiritual director. And then Father Ken, right? I remember him placing. Father Ken, placing the stole over my shoulders, and I just received the gift of tears, right? I buckled, right? Like, I mean, it was something like, you know, again, baptism, confession, first Eucharist, seeing me confirmed, you know, placing the stole, the priestly stole on my shoulders, I was like, you know, the Lord, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The washing of that peace, and then the. The love, really like that, the love of God, like, vocation is a gift, pure gift, you know, And I was just so moved with God that day. I'm so grateful, you know, and that's why I'm grateful anytime to testify to share the good works of God in our life. Right? It's a. It's a time and opportunity to. To recall, to ponder like Our lady always pondering these things in her heart, you know, And I very, very grateful for that day. Very grateful. The Holy Spirit moving me to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Ann Arbor. Got a wonderful school there, Pastor Father James. Very grateful.
- [44:40]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah. So as you're talking, I'm thinking about Father Ken, you know, what a wonderful, you know, Father, spiritual Father, you know, he's been. Been to you, you know, and that. That, you know, and you think about. I mean, I. This was my experience too, you know, when. And of course, our relationships with our parents, over time after that, they divorce. You know, there's the healing and all that. Over time that takes place. But we still need people that are going to help nurture that spiritual part. And. But then I keep noticing on your wrist your consecration to Mary. So if you could just share here, just at the end, just what. Your consecration, your love. I mean, I keep kind of. I'm also. I'm kind of seeing in my mind when you're talking about, even with Our lady of Knock, it's almost as if she's been in the background just pointing you to her son all along the way, you know?
- [45:37]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yeah.
- [45:37]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Yeah.
- [45:38]
Father Seamus Kettner
You know, when St. Louis de Montfort, in his consecration to Mary, when he says and leads us through that devotion, you know, he makes it clear the end is God. The aim is God. Yes, you are giving yourself to him. Your body, your soul, your possessions, your interior and exterior goods, everything, your whole self, your whole heart. And when we humbly recognize how hard that is, you know, that's A good place to be and to do any, to ask anyone to help us and do that. Like, there's no better person to ask than Mary.
- [46:15]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right.
- [46:16]
Father Seamus Kettner
You know, the mother of God, the one who did consecrate herself perfectly to his divine will at all times through the gift and the grace of her immaculate conception. You know, I remember reading that. It's a lot, it's dense, a little bit. You know, Father Mike Gately opened up a little bit more with 33 days
- [46:34]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
to morning Glory and whose birthday you were baptized on. John Paul II talked about how he had to read it twice, remember? Yeah, right.
- [46:43]
Father Seamus Kettner
Yes.
- [46:46]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
If you've ever tried to read True Devotion and you've had struggle, don't worry, you're on. You're in the Good, good. It's a struggle club. It's good, right?
- [46:53]
Father Seamus Kettner
And keep going. Give it a second try, a third try, you know, because it's so rich. I, you know, what does Mary do in our spiritual life? I mean, there's so many. I love speaking of her, about her, just because I know how much she's helped me. But she, what I say, she tunes our ear to hear the voice of the Lord, right? She, she removes obstacles that we struggle with. She, she clears our vision, right? She's a windshield wiper. She's just a servant. She's a humble, humble, humble handmaid doing anything for us, to help us see and to hear the Lord. And it's, it's a mystery like how God chose to use his Immaculate Mother to do this. But, you know, with that consecration, you know, I, I took it as seriously, as good as the first time. But like, what I love about is I renew it every day. First thing upon rising, I, I get on my knees and I make my act of consecration prayer. It's really in essence a promise to, to try our best to live out our baptismal vow.
- [48:04]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Right?
- [48:04]
Father Seamus Kettner
Right is to avoid and reject evil and to choose good to choose God. And again, when we're humble enough to like, not like, that's hard. Every day, every moment of every day, the just man falls seven times a day, you know. And so she, she, she teaches us humility. She teaches us to rid ourselves of self reliance, I think, and to totally depend on God at all times. I still have so much to learn in that, like, I still try to pick myself up from my own bootstraps, you know, work harder, so to speak.
- [48:37]
Sister (Host from Open Light Media)
Thank you. Thank you so much, Father. And I appreciate you coming. And I'm certain that anyone who's watching or listening there's no way you couldn't be moved. And to know that this is how you know this beauty of gradualness, this, even the fact that, you know, you may have spent those years in high school walking past the chapel. There was the knocking, you know, this knocking. Our lady of Knock. And God is continually looking for us because he loves us and to bring us back into relationship with Him. So thanks again, Father, and thank you for listening, and God bless you all, and we'll see you next time.