Thomas Schnaufer-Discipleship Stage

Introduction/Tell things about you, your family, your Catholic journey
My name is Thomas Schnaufer, and I am the fourth of eight children of Bernard and Carol Schnaufer. I am from Marion, IA. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to homeschool from first grade through high school. My parents were careful to educate us in Catholicism as part our school curriculum (as well as throughout the course of normal life).

We have been attending St Wenceslaus and Immaculate Conception for 12+ years. We frequent both the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I think it is pretty cool how we have the Extraordinary Form, the Ordinary Form English, and the Ordinary Form Spanish unified into one parish community.

After graduating high school, I attended Kirkwood Community College for a year and a half to complete my gen eds. I then transferred to Iowa State and did another two years to earn a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Upon graduating from Iowa State, I worked for little while as a staff engineer for HR Green out of their Cedar Rapids office.

Where/when did your sense of call develop?
My parents had often talked about the possibility of some of their children being called to priesthood or religious life, so I “had it on my radar” all along. I also served for the Extraordinary Form for many years, so that may have helped make the idea more relatable. But it wasn’t until the start of my sophomore year of college that I started exploring it more carefully by seeking the guidance of some of the priests in my life, attending discernment events, etc.

Were you invited by others to enter seminary?
I was asked if I had considered seminary a handful of times or so. One occasion that particularly sticks out to me was fairly early in discernment for me. I had shelved exploring priesthood about a month before this, but then three separate times in the same week someone brought up the question to me. I took that as a sign that I should probably continue exploring it seriously.

What was your main motivation in pursuing your call?
I think God is asking me to go to seminary to continue discerning whether I am called to be a priest, and as I want to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33), I choose to respond to that invitation.

Who were/are your biggest influences?
Obviously my parents have been most formative in making me the person I am today and teaching me to know God and pursue his will. In addition, however, I have been blessed to have a number of great priests in my life. Fr. Chris Podhajsky was my pastor for many years and was a great example to me of a priest who is a loving father to his people and works tirelessly to serve and teach them.

Fr. Kyle Digmann walked with me in my discernment when I was at Iowa State and challenged me to grow. Fr. Aaron Junge guided me through the latter part of my discernment as well as guided me in the spiritual life. And finally, both Fr. Aaron Junge and Fr. Dennis Conway have been role models for me since they came to Immaculate Conception and St. Wenceslaus.

What advice would you give other men who are discerning their call?
One piece of advice that was helpful for me personally was this quote from Fr. Jon Seda, “discernment is not about A to Z, but A to B.” When you are just a layman living an ordinary life, the question “Am I called to be a priest?” can be somewhat daunting. But you do not need to answer that question yet. All You need to answer is “What is God asking me to do right now?” God will eventually lead you to priesthood one step at a time if He wills it.

For example, if you are just asking yourself if you might be called to be a priest for the first time, go on a discernment retreat or have a chat with your local pastor and start the exploration process. But do not get ahead of yourself. You don’t need to know definitively in the next week or even in the next year.

Perhaps you have been meeting regularly with your pastor, talking to the Vocations Director, and going on some discernment retreats for a year or two. If at that point you still think you might be called to this, it may be time start the application process for seminary. But again, do not get ahead of yourself. You do not need to be certain that you are called to be a priest before applying for seminary. Continuing to discern is an important aspect of seminary.

Though she may not have known it, Anna discovered the essence of discernment in Frozen II and summed it up quite nicely in her song: “Just do the next right thing.”