Birds of a feather flock together — and when Deacon Joel Brackett was in college with fellow seminarian Duwan Booker, he probably never imagined that soon, the two would be discerning a vocation to become shepherds over flocks of their own.
A parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers, Brackett’s parochial school education played a pivotal part in his faith formation. But as many young people do, when Brackett went to college, he found himself exploring his faith life and other faith groups on campus.
“I had a couple of experiences and small encounters with the Lord here and there, but it was really when I was at Hendrix College in Conway that I got plugged in with some Protestant groups at the University of Central Arkansas through some guys on my football team. I was playing football at Hendrix. They began to have Bible studies with me and whatnot,” he said. “We eventually went to a big summer program in Florida called Kaleo. There is where I really would say I really began to follow Christ in a personal way. I think this is when I would say I began to revert back to my Christian faith.”
It was at Hendrix College that Brackett became friends with Booker. Surrounded by Protestants eagerly objecting to the faith, Brackett began to wonder if he was in the right faith. But nearly every evening, he found encouragement and curiosity in the presence of Booker. The two sat in their dorm room nearly every night to discuss the Bible and Scripture. Booker, who was a Protestant, would sit down with Brackett to discuss Catholicism, Protestantism and Christian history.
One evening, while the two were studying the Bible together, Booker made a rather prophetic statement.
“I didn’t really know my faith — I didn’t know anything about my Catholic faith hardly. We sat down together and Duwan said, ‘We are either both going to end up Catholic, or we are both going to end up Protestant.’”
A year later, Booker entered the Catholic Church, and Brackett began getting more involved at St. Joseph Church in Conway. It was there that Brackett began meeting more priests and getting to know the seminarians, too. At the end of his sophomore year at Hendrix in 2018, Brackett decided to enter the seminary. Booker followed his example the year after.
Brackett’s decision shocked his family and friends, leading to some tensions in his personal relationships. His sister’s support was immensely pivotal.
“My sister actually was the one who was most supportive of it. She had been really faithful to the Lord her whole life and always prayed for me to come closer to him. She was the first person I told, and she was overjoyed. But on the whole, people were shocked, kind of frustrated and maybe a little confused. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but over time, everyone has become incredibly supportive, incredibly excited for me. I think my family is just as in love with it all as I am, and I can say the same for my friends that I grew up with.”
Brackett’s family, current vocations director Father Jeff Hebert and former vocations director Msgr. Scott Friend were crucial mentors in his religious journey. In many ways, his faith has allowed his family to grow.
“All of the seminarians have become my close friends these past few years. They’re my brothers in this journey. We’re walking together.”
Since January, Brackett has been serving as a temporary deacon at St. Joseph Church in Conway.
“It has been a powerful and meaningful experience for me to be at this parish that is so alive, so filled with faith.”
Prior to serving at St. Joseph Church in Conway, Brackett was assisting Father Stephen Gadberry at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock.
“That was my first experience in the Diocese of Little Rock as a clergyman and as a deacon. I think I learned a lot when I really put on the training wheels, and I still have as training goes on, but I definitely learned a lot that summer.”
As a Gen Z-soon-to-be priest, Brackett has seen and experienced firsthand the challenges that many young people face when discerning a religious vocation.
“I think most people in our country would say that they believe in God and might even use the word ‘God’ and call upon him at times. But on the whole, we are raised in a society that, in many cases, has rejected God, but I think in most cases has really simply forgotten about God and lives as if he weren’t real. Our world lives as if God weren’t a factor in our lives. … Our culture often lives and moves as if God didn’t exist. And so as children, we swim in those waters, we breathe that air, and so we forget about God … probably part and parcel of our forgetting about God or having forgotten about God is the speed at which we live and the busyness that we all sort of live in all the time. There’s hardly any time or energy left to open up our minds and hearts to who is above and wants to break into our lives.”
Weeks before his ordination, Brackett is preparing to see his years of discernment and hard work come to fruition.
“In the seminary, you spend all of your time focusing on the end goal, which is ordination to the priesthood, and then suddenly you’re here and out of nowhere, it’s right in front of you. It’s weighty. It’s kind of daunting. It’s scary in some sense — what is about to be, what I’m about to be given, what is about to be done to me, what is about to be put in my hands. It’s heavy stuff. It’s one of the most essential things in life — the most real. It’s God.”
Brackett advised Catholics of every age to combat the culture of death by spending time cultivating a life with Christ.
“Make regular stops to the Blessed Sacrament in the adoration chapel, if that’s available to you. For just once a day for five minutes or a few times a week for five minutes, just make a little room for little encounters with Jesus in your life. Again, whether that’s making regular stops to the Blessed Sacrament, or even if it’s praying for just a few moments, a few minutes in the morning, or reading Scripture for five minutes before you go to bed. Find little moments to open your heart to God’s heart.”
Joel Brackett, 27
Parents: Kristi and Burke Brackett
Parish: St. Vincent de Paul Church, Rogers
Seminary: Two and a half years at the House of Formation in Little Rock, one year at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio and the final two and a half years at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana.
First assignment: Associate pastor, St. Edward Church in Texarkana and missions in Foreman and Ashdown
Favorite Scripture: Revelation 21:5
