Matt Smith-Configuration 2

Introduction/Tell things about you, your family, your Catholic journey

Hello to all who find themselves reading this.  My name is Matt Smith, I’m a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Dubuque, and a parishioner at Epiphany Parish in Mason City.  I went to Mason City High School and am currently attending Loras College in Dubuque majoring in Philosophy and Public Relations.  In my free time I like to go on runs and take care of my plants (I have about 20 succulents as of right now!)  My parents raised me in the faith, so I am a “cradle Catholic” as some say.  I took initiative in my faith when I was in middle school where I started and ran a faith based club on campus.  I continued this ministry in high school and began to get involved in my parish’s youth group and went on various retreats (CHWC and NCYC in particular).  

Where/when did your sense of call develop?

My call to go to seminary developed when I began my freshman year in college at Loras. It is in college where you have to make your faith your own.  I began going to daily Mass at Loras and pursuing friends who desired to know Christ more fully.  The community at college is what allowed me to pursue the call because in high school, the priesthood seemed too counter cultural but at Loras it was something I could talk about with others openly.

Were you invited by others to enter seminary?

Many people expressed their desire for me to enter seminary growing up but I never took it seriously (because it seemed too counter cultural).  I have often heard it said that others see something in you before you see it in yourself, and I think that that seemed to be the case with me.

What was your main motivation in pursuing your call?

The reason why I chose to go to seminary was, quite honestly, to get God off my back.  He had been calling me for quite a while and giving me quite a few signs to pursue seminary so I needed to do something about it.  However, I have found so much joy and fulfillment thus far in seminary and find much peace in giving my life to something, to Him.

Who were/are your biggest influences?

My biggest influence for pursuing seminary is my former youth minister, Chelsie Stevens.  She first taught me what it means to love Christ, and for Him to love me, and she was someone who took the time to authentically invest in me.  Another large influence in my discernment involved my home parish always getting assigned the major seminarians for their internship because this allowed me to see that the priesthood is not a specific type of individual, but rather, that God calls a variety of people with different personalities/talents/quirks/etc.

What advice would you give other men who are discerning their call?

Don’t be afraid.  If seminary and priesthood are something that God is calling you to, then that is where you should be.  

Do not dwell on your lack of qualification or talents, God will use the little you have and make it enough (none of us are qualified to serve Him!)  

Also, if the idea of priesthood is something that keeps coming up in prayer, then God is placing that on your mind and in your heart for a specific reason.