May 31, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Over the last few years, our parish has been blessed to host a number of seminarians. They have done wonderful work in our community, both on Sundays and also behind the scenes. More importantly, though, I think we have all enjoyed the opportunity to get to know so many young men with tremendous faith and the courage to follow God’s calling. I thought I would take the opportunity this week to update everyone on a few seminarian goings-on. First, by the time these words go to press, we will have celebrated the priestly ordination for three men who are well-known in the parish: John Paul Stepnowski, Andrew Vickery, and John Gardiner have all become friends of the St Thomas community, and it will be a lot of fun getting used to calling each of them “Father.” If you run into them, be sure to ask for a blessing! And keep them in your prayers: the early days after ordination are truly joyful, but getting settled as a priest takes some time, so please continue to hold them up in the Spirit. Second, it has been wonderful having Justin Brouillette with us for his year of pastoral internship. We had been planning a farewell bash for him, but as it turns out, the Vocations Office decided to have him stay with us for the summer! It’s rare to be able to put off a goodbye, so I’m glad we can delay the farewell a little bit and enjoy the gift of his presence with us through July. Please keep him and his on-going discernment and formation in your prayers. Third, the Vocations Office has sent us a second seminarian for the summer. This weekend, we’ll have the chance to meet Jonathan Ruscoe. I’ll give him space in a future week for a formal introduction in the bulletin! I hope that everyone feels as encouraged and blessed as I do with the opportunity to get to know so many of our seminarians. The priest shortage of recent years has reminded us of how precious a vocation to the priesthood is, and seeing firsthand how God continues to provide for us is a tremendous consolation. Through the intercession of Our Lady, Mother of the Church, and our holy patron St. Thomas, let’s continue to pray for many holy priests for our diocese! God bless,

Father Jantz