feature story

Coming home

FEATURE STORY

A seminarian’s call to Memphis and the priesthood

Growing 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.” 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.

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,

was the keynote speaker for the conference. His homilies are streamed on YouTube, and he hosts a popular daily podcast called “The Bible in a Year,” which has more than 20 million downloads. Griffith was moved by his words, and as he was driving over the Hernando Desoto Bridge into Arkansas after the conference, he felt the pull to turn around and go back to Memphis.

“It was clear to me, heading back to Arkansas after Men’s Morning of Spirituality, that it was time to come home,” he said.

Griffith prayed for guidance and began to apply for jobs in Memphis. Almost immediately, he was offered a job and moved back to Memphis during the Memorial Day weekend in 2017, just two months after he made the decision to move back to his hometown.

He began to rebuild his relationships within the Catholic Church in Memphis. He became friends with young adult parishioners at St. Michael’s Catholic Church and assisted with youth ministry at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. He sought a spiritual director.

“I was being pulled back to Memphis and its churches,” Griffith said. “I realize now that the calling [to the priesthood] was always there. Things just fell into place when I moved back to Memphis.”

Griffith contemplated why he felt like the Lord was calling him to Memphis and, as part of his discernment, he drove around Memphis on Sundays after Mass to revisit different churches in the diocese. It was in the place where he felt most at home as a child that he realized that God wasn’t just calling him to Memphis, but to its people.

“I would sit in the church by myself after adoration,” he said. “I realized that it’s in the silence where we find Jesus. I began to understand that the aspect of caring about Memphis is intertwined with caring about the souls in the city and the diocese.”

In January 2018, he began the application process for acceptance into the seminary. He was accepted into seminary in June 2018 and began taking classes in pre-theology at the Theological College of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He transferred to Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans in August 2020. Currently, he is three years through the priestly formation process, which will take him three more years to complete.

Griffith had a unique opportunity as a seminarian to live in community with other seminarians in Memphis during the pandemic last year. When Theological College shut down in March 2020 due to the pandemic, Griffith went to live at St. Theresa the Little Flower Catholic Church in Memphis with two diocesan seminarians and Father Yoelvis Gonzalez, pastor of the church.

He says living in community during the pandemic was a positive experience. Father Gonzalez livestreamed Mass on several social media platforms every Sunday in three languages ( Latin, Spanish and English) for the faithful. Since all four men lived together in community, they served Mass together and even sang hymns. They sat down every evening to share a meal together.

“We had a normal Mass set-up with music and even a procession of the Blessed Sacrament during Holy Week,” he said. “I experienced an intimate relationship with the Mass. It gave me a sense of normalcy and was a healthy, community experience for me in the midst of the pandemic.”

Last summer, he was assigned to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Union City, Tenn. He was able to travel throughout rural Tennessee and meet the faithful and assist the pastor with many duties.

Seminarians are assigned to live and serve at different parishes while in formation. Currently, he resides at the Church of the Holy Spirit in East Memphis until he goes back to seminary in the fall.

Advice for those considering holy orders After going through discernment and the formation process, Griffith recommends three things for those contemplating the sacrament of holy orders. • Talk to your parents and be honest • Seek out a spiritual director to help guide you • Attend Mass and confession regularly He admits that he didn’t talk openly to his parents about joining the priesthood, and he wishes he had. “You can’t discern the priesthood by yourself,” he said. “You can’t grow as a Christian by yourself. You need to surround yourself with people who can help you grow and guide you.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRAGG HIGGINBOTHAM IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TALKING WITH SOMEONE ABOUT JOINING THE PRIESTHOOD, CONTACT:

Rev. Robert Szczechura Diocesan Director of Vocations 901.373.1262 vocationsdirector@vocations.cdom.org www.cdomvocations.org BETH SIMKANIN is a freelance writer with 20 years of journalism and public relations experience. She is a parishioner at The Church of the Holy Spirit in Memphis.