Peter Binder-Configuration 3

St. Joseph, Marion/Mundelein Seminary

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

My name is Peter Binder and I was born and raised in Decatur, IL in 2000. I have three siblings, all of them a number of years older than I. My parents raised all four of us as Catholic and I attended Catholic school for all of my elementary and middle school years at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Decatur. However, immediately prior to starting high school in 2014, my family moved to Marion, IA to be closer to my elderly grandparents. We joined St. Joseph parish Once there, I attended Xavier High School for my high school education. Throughout my time at Xavier I developed a great love of music, learning to play the organ and singing in choir. Having finished my time there, I enrolled at Iowa State University in 2018 to study mathematics. After spending a successful and good year there, I decided to enter discernment as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 2019. I was sent to study at St. Pius X Seminary in Dubuque, IA, taking classes at Loras College. At the moment, I am a fourth year college seminarian at St. Pius X, double majoring in Philosophy and Mathematics.

Where/when did your sense of call develop?

Having come into a stronger and more active embrace of the Catholic faith in my late years in high school, I was well seeded to begin to gain a sense of my call. Although I had some inklings of it in high school, I was still very much bound by a sense of earthly success. My focus was on getting a useful degree in college in order to land a well-paying job with good mobility. As I studied at Iowa State, however,I found that this end was ultimately empty. Although I found beauty and joy in my mathematical studies and in my long devotion to music, I soon saw that those alone could not satisfy the longing which was laid up in my heart. At the same time, I had begun to seek the truth more deeply in philosophy. This love of wisdom spurred me on to love of truth in Christ. However, as Plato lays out in the Gorgias, if one loves truth, one cannot hoard it. The lover of truth must desire for others to share in that truth. Thus my call was laid out for me: a desire for a transcendent commitment and a desire to share the truth which lay at the heart of that commitment.

Were you invited by others to enter seminary?

Yes! I remember a couple of invitations in particular. After a Sunday Mass at my parish, a man approached me in the parking lot. He said that it had seemed to him that I had been praying deeply during Mass and he wanted to know if I had thought about the priesthood. This was in the beginning of the summer before my first year of college, in 2018. I do not remember how I responded or even what I had been praying during Mass. However, I still remember his simple question, a humble invitation to seek the will of God.

Finally, a couple of weeks into the spring semester of college in 2019, I received an email from Fr. Kyle. Fr. Seda, the vocations director for the Archdiocese, was coming into town later that week. Fr. Kyle wished to know if I wanted to meet with him. To this invitation, I finally said yes and, after meeting with Fr. Seda, began the process to become a seminarian for the Archdiocese.

What was your main motivation in pursuing your call?

I can describe my motivation under two movements, one of dying to the world and one of living in Christ. In the first, I recognized the insufficiency of the world and its offerings. As I have described, I was drawn towards some sort of transcendent end. This side of my motivation was greatly developed through music and philosophy, especially the music of Charles Tournemire. These two disciplines taught me to look beyond what is immediately apparent. I began to recognize that my happiness could not lie in worldly achievement. However, this negative movement could not be complete without a complementary positive movement, that of life in Christ. For me, my motivation to this life lies in the desire to direct others to Christ and His truth and love, as the heart to the fonts of water described in Psalm 42. Having found myself in Christ, what could be left but to share that greatest treasure, that summum bonum with all of those that God calls!?

Who were/are your biggest influences?

The number of those who influenced me in my pursuit of my vocation are innumerable, whether they be the priests who showed me the joy and holiness that could be found in the priestly life or if they be the professors in life who taught me a love of wisdom which reaches beyond the concerns of the modern world. However, I would like to particularly focus on my Catholic friends from high school. As we developed in that faith together, we pushed each other further in our devotion and love of the Lord. Having maintained ties throughout college, we now are supporting each other through prayer and brotherhood as each of us attempts to discern our vocation.

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

Pray and trust in God! When He says, "Do not be afraid", trust in that! It's very easy to run away from seminary or run away from just considering the question of the priestly vocation. If you are serious about discerning, just contact the Vocations Director and take courage. If we trust in the providence of God, all will be well!