By John Rohlf
The Message assistant editor
For the first time in five years, the Diocese of Evansville had at least three men ordained to the priesthood.
Bishop Joseph M. Siegel ordained Father Phillip Rogier, Father Caleb Scherzinger and Father Tyler Underhill to the priesthood in June of this year. This is the most priests ordained in one year in the diocese since 2019, when four priests were ordained to the priesthood.
Father Tyler Tenbarge, diocesan director of vocations, said all three priests ordained this summer represent parishes in the northern and eastern parts of the diocese, such as St. Isidore in Celestine and Our Lady of Hope in Washington, who rank in the top five of diocesan parishes in producing seminarians over the past 20 years.
“We are blessed that all three men ordained this summer are also fairly young, which means they will have many years for fruitful ministry,” Father Tenbarge said. “They are also all native-born, a sign that our families are encouraging their children to follow God’s call.”
Bishop Siegel ordained four seminarians as transitional deacons in April. Deacons Nick Biever, Keith Hart, Aaron Herrenbruck and Clint Johnson are on track to be ordained to the priesthood in June 2025.
“With four more men on track to be ordained priests in 2025, we will have the largest brotherhood of newly ordained priests in many years,” Father Tenbarge said. “The prayers of so many faithful women and men across the diocese for decades are working.”
The call to the priesthood
The diocese’s three newly ordained priests all heard the call to the priesthood in different ways and at different times in their lives.
Father Tyler Underhill, who is assigned as parochial vicar of St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville, grew up in Washington as the oldest of four children. Father Underhill attended Washington Catholic School.
“I enjoyed my time there very much,” Father Underhill said.
Father Underhill said as soon as he was able, he met with Father Alex Zenthoefer, former vocations director and current rector at St. Benedict Cathedral and diocesan vicar general, and immediately signed up to go to seminary.
“I’ve always wanted to be a priest,” Father Underhill said. “And so as soon I was able to go, I signed up to go.”
Father Underhill said thoughts of entering the priesthood began at a very young age. He credits his involvement in serving Mass in middle school going into high school in his call to the priesthood.
“That was kind of what spurred me on,” Father Underhill said. “Being so close to the altar and seeing the celebration of Mass up front. And the example of my home pastor, who is now passed, Father Gordon Mann. He was just a great priest and a great mentor and example of what it means to be a priest.”
Assigned as parochial vicar at St. James Parish and Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Haubstadt, Father Phillip Rogier grew up in Ferdinand. Like Father Underhill and Father Scherzinger, Father Rogier grew up in a Catholic household. He remembers attending Mass every Sunday and serving 6 a.m. Masses in Ferdinand growing up.
“It was just part of our life,” Father Rogier said. “Never really thought too much about it. It’s like of course, you’re Catholic, you’re from Ferdinand.”
Father Rogier recalled when he was five years old when asked by his parents what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he wanted to be a firefighter, a priest and a fisherman. Father Rogier said he always thought about the priesthood. He struggled with it at different times and realized during his early high school years he did not need to know at that time.
“I didn’t really know until I received the call to orders, the diaconate,” Father Rogier said. “I was like oh, I guess this is actually going to happen after all these years of seminary. But I just acted on faith.”
Father Scherzinger is assigned as parochial vicar at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Vincennes and St. Philip Neri Parish in Bicknell. Father Scherzinger grew up in Celestine in a predominantly Catholic community. He said after receiving his First Communion, he was an altar server until high school and later switched over to being a Eucharistic minister.
“My parents were very simple with their demands of the faith,” Father Scherzinger said. “Which was when we’re at home and we eat, we pray the meal prayer. And then you’ll do one service thing for the church and you give something up for Lent. The faith was very simple for us like that. But in the same way, those were the rules we followed. And so it was a good foundation, and it served me and my siblings well.”
Father Scherzinger said he did not seriously start thinking about the priesthood until his senior year of high school. At a Teens Encounter Christ retreat during his senior year of high school, Father Scherzinger heard the call. He said it was scary at the time because he “never really thought of it before.”
After talking to his parents and his then-girlfriend, he dismissed pursuing the priesthood at the time. It wasn’t until a few years later during his senior year at the University of Southern Indiana that Father Scherzinger decided to apply for seminary. In November of that year, he asked current Resurrection Pastor Father Jerry Pratt, who was meeting with Father Scherzinger for spiritual direction at the time, if it was too late to apply for seminary.
“He just kind of laughed at me, and he said don’t move,” Father Scherzinger said. “Then he took his phone and he took a picture of me and showed me. He said you see how relaxed you are … This is the most relaxed I’ve seen you in my office talking about this. And it was kind of at that moment I was like OK, I think this is what I’m supposed to do. That’s how I ended up at seminary.”
The seminary years
All three newly ordained priests completed at least six years of seminary, with one priest scheduled to complete his studies in Rome starting this month.
Father Rogier and Father Underhill both began their seminary formation at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis. Father Rogier began his studies at Bishop Bruté Seminary in August 2015. Father Rogier then went to St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad for one year before COVID-19. He went to Haubstadt for a full pastoral year before returning to St. Meinrad for three years to complete his seminary formation.
Father Rogier recalls meeting with Father Zenthoefer early in his senior year of high school and applying for admission to the seminary.
“I remember I was so nervous just even filling out the paperwork,” Father Rogier said. “It took me like two months. I was just looking at it every day. I was just pondering and wrestling with every word I wrote … I put so much pressure on myself that wasn’t necessary.”
Once he arrived at seminary, Father Rogier realized he could not let his pride keep him at seminary. He said it had to be God’s will for him to be a priest. He noted the challenges of seminary, specifically the academic work, but stressed he is glad God left him in the seminary on his path to the priesthood.
“You can’t force it. You’re kind of along for the ride sometimes. But you do cooperate and you participate and you have to choose,” Father Rogier said.
Father Underhill began his seminary formation education at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary. He lived at the seminary and took classes at Marian University. After graduation, Father Underhill went to Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy, where he has been for the past four years to study theology. He received his bachelor’s degree in Sacred Theology after three years of education in Rome. He started a license program for a degree in Moral Theology last year and will go back at the end of September to finish his degree there.
“Like a lot of college students, I had never lived away from home before,” Father Underhill said. “So you get sent away and it kind of makes discernment a little more intense because you really have to make a decision. Am I going to continue on or am I not going to continue on? So you already have that intensity and then it was even more intensified going overseas because you can’t get in your car and drive home. It really comes down to you and God.”
After attending the University of Southern Indiana, Father Scherzinger attended seminary for the past six years. Father Scherzinger noted the challenges of going from USI to St. Meinrad. Father Scherzinger’s first assignment at St. Meinrad was a 6-8 page paper, while his longest paper at USI was four pages, he said. The first year was difficult academically and a tough transition to seminary, he said.
“It was a tough transition in just trying to figure out who I am,” Father Scherzinger said. “And I think that’s the whole point of formation is trying to figure out who you are and what you’re called to. And I would say Meinrad did well for me figuring out who I am as a person and creating that confidence.”
When Father Scherzinger completed his first year of the seminary, he made a deal with God that he would go through that summer but if it did not get any better, he was going to leave the seminary. Father Scherzinger said the summer went well, as did his second year of seminary.
“I would say there was at least once or twice each year where I really questioned whether I should be here,” Father Scherzinger said. “Up until probably the fall of third theology, so it’d be my second to last year. That’s when I kind of knew this is what I am called to do. It took some time for me.”
Father Scherzinger thinks the impact of COVID-19 occurring right in the middle of his seminary formation impacted discernment. He believes a lot of seminarians’ discernment was paused.
“It was I have to survive COVID and then we’ll go from there,” Father Scherzinger said. “That’s kind of what happened to me and some of my friends, is, we put discernment on pause until we got through COVID and then we picked it up again. I would say I would have known earlier on if COVID wouldn’t have happened. But it just took a little longer because of all the craziness of what happened there.”
Ordained to the diaconate
All three priests took a step towards the priesthood in 2023 with their diaconate ordinations.
Father Rogier and Father Scherzinger were ordained as deacons in April 2023 at St. Joseph Parish in Jasper. Father Underhill was one of 18 seminarians from around the world ordained in September 2023 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. All three priests said the diaconate in the year prior to being ordained to the priesthood helped them prepare for the priesthood.
Father Scherzinger said his year as a transitional deacon was “probably very crucial.” He thinks his summer assignment at Sts. Peter and Paul in Haubstadt with Father Andrew Thomas helped prepare him for the priesthood, specifically when it came to delivering homilies.
Father Scherzinger admitted that in seminary, the content was fine but he was super nervous. He told Father Thomas he needed to get practice with homilies during Mass. Father Thomas gave Father Scherzinger the homily at every daily Mass and two out of four weekends over the summer.
“I still get a little nervous but that kind of cured me of that,” Father Scherzinger said. “And it was very formative to me to be in a situation where it’s like I had to keep doing it and it just made the world of a difference. And the monks at Meinrad, my teachers, they even noticed that too when I got back that summer did me really well in preparing me for that.”
Father Rogier said his year as a transitional deacon was “a great year” for him. Father Rogier said he does not think it was stressed enough in seminary the graces of the diaconate ordination.
“After the ordination, that evening, just praying the Liturgy of the Hours, it really hit me of my deacon ordination that everything’s really changed. The way that I’m praying. Just saying the words, saying the universal prayers of the church of the Liturgy of the Hours, there’s just a difference. Not just within me but it’s like just the efficacy of the prayers are changed. It’s like there are real graces in ordination.”
Father Underhill was ordained later in the year last year, stating it has only been several months since he was ordained as a deacon last September. Father Underhill said several diocesan representatives were able to travel to Rome to support him during his ordination.
“You’re in this massive church and you see your mom and your dad, parishioners from back home, several of the priests from the diocese, deacons and our own Bishop,” Father Underhill said. “They were all able to come over. And that really was encouraging for me to look out into the crowd and see all these people who have been so supportive over the years.”
Father Underhill said his time as a transitional deacon while also studying in seminary was interesting because he was ordained to the diaconate but still living amongst seminarians. He was able to be the hall deacon of his floor and led prayer with other seminarians.
“It was a great experience,” Father Underhill said. “Even those short few months before priesthood ordination. Kind of a good introduction into what’s coming.”
Priesthood ordination
Bishop Siegel ordained all three as diocesan priests during the Rite of Ordination June 22 at St. Benedict Cathedral.
Father Underhill said his recent ordination is still setting in. He noted on the day of the ordination, it was a hot day and he was “kind of praying not to faint.” He said the adjustment from seminarian and a member of the diaconate to the priesthood has been a gradual adjustment. He said he is “still trying to understand it all.”
“Father Alex (Zenthoefer) is away this week so everything’s kind of on you,” Father Underhill said in August. “So it’s really just kind of an awesome responsibility that you have to kind of step back from and be like what just happened?”
Father Scherzinger said his ordination as a priest has sunk in more than it had the first couple of days after the ordination. For the first couple weeks, “it was like on cloud-nine,” Father Scherzinger said. He anticipates the newness to still be there until the completion of his first year as a priest. He noted he will have his first Christmas, Easter and Corpus Christi as a priest still to come.
“It was funny. I think it was the day after I was ordained. I was in the sacristy getting ready for my first Mass,” Father Scherzinger said. “And the maintenance guy walked through and said ‘Hey Father.’ And I was like what? So still trying to register who I was as a priest.”
Father Rogier recalls eating pizza in Evansville after the ordination with his family when it registered with him they were all there because he was just ordained a priest.
“It was like I can’t believe that just happened. I was holding back the tears,” Father Rogier said.
Father Rogier recalls giving the blessings inside St. Benedict Cathedral after the ordination. He said every time he gave a blessing, he experienced an overwhelming sense of peace.
“It was just so still,” Father Rogier said. “It was like this is such a grace. Thank you, God, for letting me get through this and doing it with this calm.”
The impact of hearing Confessions
All three newly ordained priests specifically noted the impact of hearing Confessions over the past few months as newly ordained priests.
Father Rogier said hearing confessions has been “the most humbling part of the priesthood.” He said in the confessional, people reveal their whole heart before God as Father Rogier is in the place of Christ hearing their confessions and responding to the best of his abilities.
“That was hard,” Father Rogier said. “Because I don’t know if I always have the best thing to say. But I always realize, it’s OK. I don’t have to say everything because what they need is Christ. And if I can say something that will help lead them to him or see a deeper reality or approaching something a different way, great. But at the end of the day, they need absolution. They need Jesus.”
Father Scherzinger said for him, hearing confessions has probably been the most impactful part about his duties as a priest. He said it has been very humbling, powerful and moving to be on the other side of the confessional.
“(That) is where I feel most like the priest is just in those moments,” Father Scherzinger said. “Just being humbled by people trusting in God’s grace and forgiveness in those moments and being willing to come to a priest in the confessional has just been very powerful.”
Father Scherzinger said if there is one aspect where the newness of being a priest has not worn off it has been in the confessional.
Father Underhill said hearing confessions has been a joy, adding it makes him “want to be a better penitent” when he goes to confession.
“Hearing how sincere people are and sorry they are for their sins. That’s been not a shock but just a great joy to be able to minister mercy to people,” Father Underhill said.
Father Underhill said assisting with funerals has also had an impact. He believes it is important to be there and have a funeral Mass to send loved ones off to the Lord.
“I think that’s a great comfort for people,” Father Underhill said.
Advice for current, future seminarians
Father Underhill said one of his keys as he went through seminary that he can pass along to current and future seminarians is to maintain a daily schedule. He said this is especially important for daily prayer.
“I think that’s a good one to make sure you set aside a certain time and the same time,” Father Underhill said. “Don’t move it around because if you do that, then you’re just going to get well, I’ll move it here. Move it here. And eventually, you’re going to move it out of the day. You need to have that set time every day where you set aside for prayer. And some sort of routine daily. I think that helps keep people in line. Keeps me in line.”
Father Scherzinger said he was given the advice upon entering seminary to stick it out for two years. The reasoning was the first year is pure transition and the second year is a year of discernment. Father Scherzinger said he thinks seminarians have to dedicate a decent amount of time to discern whether they are called to the priesthood.
“I’d say be patient,” Father Scherzinger said. “Be open to the Holy Spirit if you’re getting deterred already, going in the gate. Give it a year and a half, two years before making a decision.”
Father Scherzinger also recommended making friends with other seminarians. He said he learned as much from his fellow seminarians as he did from any professor.
“When a guy would come in from college seminary into St. Meinrad, they had been in formation twice as long as I had at that point,” Father Scherzinger said. “And so, they knew more than me. Just being able to learn from my peers was a big thing as well.”
Father Rogier said discussions with fellow seminarians during his time in seminary helped in his seminary formation. He said his friendships with fellow seminarians “are going to be some of my greatest friendships I’ll ever have in my life.” The communal support of seminary is one of its greatest benefits, secondary to prayer, he said.
“The communal life where you have all these brothers going around. They point out to you things that you don’t know about yourself. That’s not always fun,” Father Rogier said. “But then they also, just the discussions. You never know what conversation you’re going to wander into sometimes in seminary.”