By Aaron Herrenbruck
Special to The Message
Second Philosophy, St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology
Home parish: St. Clement Parish, Boonville
Growing up, I had a very loving and faithful Catholic family. I have two brothers and a sister. She just brought into the world my first nephew! So, I am officially an uncle and am super excited about it!
I first considered priesthood when I was going into my freshman year of high school. That was a very brief time of consideration, as I became much more interested in girls and the idea of the married life, but the idea and call of the priestly life obviously stuck with me.
In college and high school, I did a lot of different clubs and sports outside of school. Soccer and 4-H were my biggest interests in high school, but college is where I first took spiritual retreats more seriously. Purdue University’s Boiler Awakening was an interesting and exciting experience, which allowed me to get to know the Catholic Community at Purdue and immerse myself with like-minded, faithful people.
I finally decided I would go to seminary toward the end of my sophomore year at Purdue. I just decided that it was not time quite yet and went ahead and finished out my degree at Purdue and then headed to seminary the next semester.
When I finally got to seminary, I was shocked by how normal and fun the people and the place was. I was not expecting there to be so much room for individuals who share the same interests as me. I was also surprised how much the lifestyle would fit me and challenge me to better myself.
My grandma was the first person who told me I would make a good priest. She saw my curiosity for the faith and my genuine attempt to better understand it.
I would say the most helpful thing to encourage vocations is to plant the idea within an individual but not to the extent of annoyance. God will take care of that himself.