Coming home
FEATURE STORY
A seminarian’s call to Memphis and the priesthood
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rowing up in Memphis, Seminarian John Griffith enjoyed exploring Memphis and serving as an altar server at St. Louis Catholic Church. The Catholic Church and Memphis are the two places where he felt like he was at home. As a child, he loved to visit different churches in the Catholic Diocese of Memphis. It wasn’t just the brick and mortar that called to him, but Jesus, who was present in every one of them. Looking back on his childhood now, it makes sense to him that those two places had a hand in him answering God’s call to the priesthood. “I have a deep love for Memphis,” said Griffith, who is in his third year of priestly formation. “My parents are from here. I have a deep, emotional and spiritual connection to Memphis and its people. I felt, and still feel, at home here. It’s through my connection to Memphis and the Catholic Church here that God called me to the priesthood to save souls in the Catholic Diocese of Memphis.” 8
Growing up in the Church As a child attending Catholic elementary and high school in East Memphis, the Church was the center of Griffith’s education and social life. He had a unique opportunity to observe and learn the duties of a priest when he became an altar server in fourth grade. “I was on the altar a lot as a kid as an altar server and attended Catholic school, so I learned a lot about what a priest did, both behind the scenes and during Mass,” he said. “I thought priests were some of the coolest people in the world.” He volunteered to serve as an altar server at weekly school Masses and during weddings and funerals. Additionally, he played the cello at various Catholic churches in the diocese. In high school, he was active in the youth group at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Cordova. Griffith was interested in the priesthood as a child and teenager, but didn’t mention it to Msgr. John McArthur, who was pastor of St. Louis Catholic Church at the time, when the monsignor asked him if he was thinking about it.
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Griffith left Memphis to attend the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2011 where he majored in finance. He was active in campus ministry and attended Mass regularly through college. Upon graduation, he worked in the finance field in Northwest Arkansas for two years. Even though he continued to attend Mass and be active in his parish in Tontitown, Ark., he admits that he didn’t feel a connection to the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock like he did to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis.
Coming home In July 2017, John made the drive to the Memphis area with his roommate to attend the Men’s Morning of Spirituality Conference at the Catholic Church of the Incarnation in Collierville, Tenn. The annual men’s conference is designed for Catholic men to encourage each other to live for Jesus while gathering in fellowship and worship. Father Mike Schmitz, a priest and director of youth and young adult ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota,
