By John Rohlf, The Message assistant editor
Later this month, a pair of Diocese of Evansville seminarians will take one step closer to the priesthood when they are ordained transitional deacons.
Seminarians Nathan Folz and Chase Riecker are on track to be ordained to the diaconate April 18. The ordination will be at 10 a.m. CDT at Good Shepherd Parish in Evansville.
Diocese of Evansville Director of Vocations Father Tyler Tenbarge said the whole diocese is excited for the ordination of both men to the diaconate.
“They are both virtuous and holy young men, and their ordination as transitional deacons gives great hope about the future ministry within our church,” Father Tenbarge said. “Many thanks go to Chase and Nathan’s parents and parish communities who have raised them to be good and generous men for Christ.”
Folz: Decision to enter seminary led to ‘overwhelming sense of peace’
A son of Good Shepherd Parish in Evansville, seminarian Nathan Folz currently attends St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana. Folz said even before entering grade school, there was something about the priesthood that he always found fascinating.
“I would play Mass, and I would force them (his family) all to come in and bear with me through that,” Folz said. “And that was even before kindergarten. I’d have the little table set up in the living room and little bread cut out of the Bunny Bread we had at home. And go play the whole Mass. And so there was this idea I guess I was sort of fascinated by it even then.”
Folz said his first serious consideration of priesthood and entering seminary was probably around high school. During Folz’s senior year of high school, Father Tenbarge was assigned as chaplain at Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville. Folz said he observed that Father Tenbarge was full of energy and “just had this joy about him.”
“You could tell that he really cared about the students and he loved Christ,” Folz said. “And when I saw that, I thought, well, that’s something that I would also want to do. Love my life in such a joyful way and in a way that’s helping others. So he was definitely a big impact.”
While he was a student at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, Folz attributes a Mass he attended at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Daylight while on Christmas break in helping him decide to enter seminary and pursue the priesthood. He said the Collect for that Mass was asking that we might see what must be done and have the courage to do what we have seen. As soon as he heard that prayer, he said he knew what that meant in his life and that in that moment, God was speaking to him through that prayer.
Folz then decided to email Father Tenbarge “after five years of discerning on my own without talking to anyone.” Once he met with Father Tenbarge, Folz said he was so relieved.
“I remember leaving that meeting and driving back to Murray State, where I went to college, and on the interstate, there was just this overwhelming sense of peace, like something I hadn’t felt in those four years previously,” Folz said. “And I just broke down crying on the interstate, just with such joy and such peace from finally giving in to God’s plan for my life. Taking that step.”
In looking ahead to the diaconate ordination April 18, Folz said there is an excitement for diaconate ordination, in which he will become a cleric in the church and profess promises of celibacy, prayer and obedience.
He also expressed his gratitude to everyone in his life who helped form him and helped him get to this point, including people in the diocese, parishes he has been at, St. Meinrad and the monks there, as well as his friends and family.
“They have truly been the ones that have supported me and formed me along this whole time,” Folz said. “There’s sort of this sense of gratitude for that.”
Riecker excited to see ‘fruit that the Lord will produce in my ministry’
A son of St. Isidore the Farmer Parish in Celestine, seminarian Chase Riecker currently attends Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to attending Kenrick-Glennon, Riecker attended Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis.
Riecker said after graduating from high school, he participated in an Exodus 90 program with his brother, Cameron, who Chase said was “very much trying to get me more so into the faith.” After around 40 days of the program, Chase said he really had a desire to become a priest.
He said through starting a real routine with prayer and the sacraments, including Mass and going to confession more often, he felt a real intimacy with God and with Christ.
“By day 40-ish, whatever it was, about halfway through, I was like this is totally something I want to do,” Riecker said. “It was just kind of sudden and pretty intense. This is real. This is something I want to go after. I want to strive and I want to see at least.”
After speaking with Father Tenbarge, Riecker spent the 2019-2020 school year living at the House of Discernment. Through living at the house, he grew his knowledge of the faith, he said.
“My experience of the time in the House of Discernment was very formative,” Riecker said. “I took on a lot of new things that I was just kind of oblivious to, like serving and reading at Mass or any of those things. And a lot more service. A lot more (of an) idea of being generous with my time and serving people. And also just seeing the daily life of a priest.”
As of March, Riecker said his upcoming diaconate ordination “still kind of hasn’t set in,” adding that it is shocking. He said through his time in seminary, it feels like he has been in seminary forever, while also feeling like it has flown by. He said in looking at the upcoming diaconate ordination, he is excited for a new direction.
As great as seminary is and as much as it prepares you for becoming a priest of God one day, Riecker said, there is also an aspect where it sort of doesn’t prepare you. He said once ordained as a priest, he is going to be in one general area with a particular people and a diocesan bishop, as opposed to being in seminary when he is away from all of that and in his own formative area.
“I’m going to have to grow into new areas that I probably haven’t exercised too much as a leader, as a minister, as those kind of things,” Riecker said. “And also just being prepared to understand that I don’t know everything and I’m going to have to be ready to have humility learning new things and being able to soak up information…”
Riecker added there is excitement and just the definitive choice of the promises he will profess at his diaconate ordination.
“I’m not really nervous,” he said. “It’s more of just I don’t know what I look like yet in this position, in this role, in this calling, this vocation. But I’m very excited to see what that looks like and the fruit that the Lord will produce in my ministry and myself and others. It’s almost all excitement, which I think is good.”