Serra Club President John East, left, presents a Serra Club apron to Father Caleb Scherzinger, who tries it on. The Message photo by Megan Erbacher
By John Rohlf
The Message assistant editor
Four years after first hearing the call to the priesthood, Father Caleb Scherzinger entered the seminary and is now one of three newly ordained priests in the Diocese of Evansville.
Father Scherzinger, who serves as a parochial vicar at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Vincennes and St. Philip Neri Parish in Bicknell, was the keynote speaker for the 2024 Serra Club Vocations Awareness Luncheon at the Catholic Center in Evansville. The program recognizes students for creating projects focused on different vocations, including priesthood, diaconate, religious life, marriage and lay ministry.
“It’s important to look at my story, the story of your parents, the stories of your pastors,” Father Scherzinger said. “And to see really what they’ve done well and maybe some of their struggles. And maybe you can avoid some of that heartache that we went through and help figure out what you’re called to.”
At this year’s luncheon, the Serra Club honored 39 eighth-grade students across 18 parishes in the diocese. There were 439 participants this year, an increase of 50 over last year, according to Serra Club President John East.
Evansville Serra Club Secretary Richard Clements said the Serra Club has gathered for over three decades to encourage awareness of vocations. Accepting our vocation is our response to the call to holiness, which God has planned for each of us, Clements said.
Serra Club Member Bob Smith encouraged the recipients to share their ideas with their peers in their schools. He also urged the recipients to take discerning their vocation seriously.
“I don’t know that it was really ever mentioned a lot when I was growing up,” Smith said. “So you recipients have a real opportunity. Don’t squander that. Please take that really serious.”
Father Scherzinger detailed his path to the priesthood, which started when he heard the call to become a priest during a Teens Encounter Christ retreat during his senior year of high school. After returning home from the retreat, he talked to his parents about the possibility of becoming a priest. At this time, Father Scherzinger decided not to enter seminary and enrolled at the University of Southern Indiana.
While he was a student at USI, Father Scherzinger was involved with the Newman community on campus, where he met other men who were discerning priesthood. He also started going to spiritual direction with Father Jerry Pratt, who is now the pastor at Resurrection Parish. At one of their meetings, Father Scherzinger asked if it was too late to apply for seminary.
“It turned out when I was going to spiritual direction with him, I was fighting with myself,” Father Scherzinger said. “He would just pose questions and I would start arguing with myself. And every time I’d go in, it was like an intense battle with myself. And for once, I finally had this peace in just asking this question. So I ended up applying for seminary.”
Father Scherzinger said as he reflects on his six years at St. Meinrad Seminary, he realizes there have been a lot of blessings that have come from his experience of seminary, including wonderful friendships.
He stressed to the eighth graders in attendance at the luncheon that it can take time to figure out their vocation.
“It took years for me to figure out what I was called to,” Father Scherzinger said. “And it’s the same with married life. People don’t date one day and then they’re married the next. They take time together to learn the values of one another. To figure out is this a relationship that we can live out well together and live a fruitful life as a married couple.”
List of Serra Club Recipients:
Holy Spirit School, Annunciation Parish
Marcos Guerrero
Azyah McNeal
Holy Redeemer Parish
Claire Schmitt
James Dickel
Corpus Christi Parish
Kennady Cormack
Andrew Ulrich
St Wendel Parish
Caroline Ellison
Garett Lintzenich
Kinley Wathen
Holy Trinity Catholic School, Jasper
Ava Ballard
Claire Buehler
St James Parish
Aubrey Sollman
Kate Finney
St Peter & Paul Parish
Reese Bittner
Wren Hasenour
Holy Cross Parish
Jaxon Martin
St Bendict Parish
Coulter Cooley
Caroline Hope
St Philip Parish
Libbyanne Gansman
Chelsea Hutton
Good Shepherd Parish
Olivia Peter
Ava Voelkel
Resurrection Parish
Mikaela Leonard
Samuel Bonham
St John the Baptist Parish
Payton Keller
Ben Rawlinson
Rose Schultheis
St Bernard Parish
Andrew Lloyd
Isabelle Hurm
St Joseph Parish
Colby Brown
Emily Daugherty
Chad “C.J.” Martin
Holy Rosary Parish
Meyer Hermann
Annalynn Hogue
Carter Raben
Christ The King Parish
Ashlyn Sills
Elias Zamudio-Perez
St Boniface Parish
Kennedy Randolph
Baylee Hoon
Serra Club honored 39 eighth-graders representing 18 diocesan parishes at the annual Vocation Awareness Banquet, which coincided with National Vocation Awareness Week, celebrated Nov. 3-9. The Message photo by Megan Erbacher