It was a moment Father Warren Harvey had waited 37 years to see. A Black seminarian was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Little Rock.

The trailblazing priest was ordained in 1988 and has been the only Black diocesan priest. On May 15, Duwan (pronounced Dwahn) Booker was ordained a transitional deacon during a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock.

“It means a great deal,” Father Harvey said. “He brings with him a tremendous amount of compassion and love, and he brings with him the whole gamut of our culture coming from his background…. It is almost now like I can breathe easy.”

Booker, a member of St. Bartholomew Church in Little Rock, was raised in Fort Worth, primarily attending Baptist and Pentecostal churches, and played football at Hendrix College in Conway from 2015 to 2019. His friendship with fellow player Joel Brackett led him to the Catholic Church. He converted in 2018 with Brackett as his sponsor.

“It was the notion that this is the Church that our Lord established, and I found it to be true,” he told Arkansas Catholic of his conversion. “Whatever reservations I might have had were put to the back whenever I realized that the Church is true, so I submitted myself to truth, regardless of whatever cost that may have incurred upon me personally or socially.”
When he entered college, he considered joining the FBI or pursuing a career as a lawyer. After being a part of the Warriors for a couple of years, he turned his attention to becoming a football coach. But soon after his conversion, he felt a calling to the priesthood, like Brackett.

After earning a degree in philosophy and religious studies, Booker entered the House of Formation in Little Rock in 2019. He began studying in the theology program at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio in 2020. In 2022, he transferred to St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana.

Joining Booker, 28, at his ordination Mass were his parents, LaDarius and NaKeisha Chambers of Fort Worth, and two of his siblings, London and Landon, as well as extended family members and friends. Also in attendance was Warriors head coach Justin “Buck” Buchanan.

Booker said his family was accepting of his decision to become a Catholic priest after he completed two years in the seminary.

“Initially, there was some tension there, just because the only things my family had really heard or known about the Catholic Church were really negative as it relates to the news and the scandals…,” he said. “After my second year in the seminary, my mom told me that she didn’t know everything about Catholicism but that she could see the change that it was having on me, … and that she believed I was a better man, a better brother and better son. From that point, everything was quite harmonious.”

As the only Catholic person in his family, Booker said he will have the sensitivity and understanding when working with people of different faiths.

“The book of Ecclesiastes talks about there being a time for everything under the sun, and so the Lord allowed me to experience the fruitfulness and richness of all of these other traditions at certain points in my life,” he said. “But it’s not something that I stowed away or destroyed by virtue of my Catholic faith, but it’s something that I cherish. I cherish the good.”

The Black Catholic community participated in the Mass, including the choirs of St. Bartholomew and St. Augustine Church in North Little Rock and members of the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver.

This summer, Booker will minister at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Lake Village and its missions in Crossett and Hamburg.

2024 was like a breath of fresh air for the Catholic Church in Arkansas. With more than 600 new Catholics entering the Church at Easter, the celebration of the National Eucharistic Congress, continuing updates from the Synod on Synodality and the ordination of two new priests, Catholics in Arkansas had plenty to be thankful for this year. 

Here are our top seven stories that summarize a memorable 2024. 

Father Joe goes to Rome 

As sessions and focus groups for the Synod of Synodality continued in Rome, many clergy members weighed in with their own perspectives. Soon, new rounds of listening sessions were announced when U.S. bishops realized there was still much ground to cover. Cardinal-designate Timothy Radcliffe, who has been serving as spiritual adviser to the Synod of Bishops on synodality, urged Synod members to find peace in the results, whatever they may be. 

Arkansas found itself in the spotlight in the spring when Father Joseph Friend, pastoral administrator of Holy Cross Church in Crossett, Holy Spirit Church in Hamburg and Our Lady of the Lake Church in Lake Village, was one of five American priests chosen to attend one of the new meetings, which had the theme “How to be a synodal local Church in mission.”

“It was incredibly joyous,” he said. “That is the one word that keeps coming up. Joyous and thankful. It is pretty insane that a parish priest in the Delta would ever have this experience to witness the universal Church like that.”

Father Friend was chosen to attend because of his involvement in the diocesan and national synod process and his experience in rural parishes. Hundreds of parish priests spent three days praying and discussing their experiences of synodality and discernment in parishes and dioceses before having a two-hour dialogue with Pope Francis May 2.

The results of their discussions and contributions from bishops’ conferences were used in preparing the working document for the second session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality in October.

Read the full story here.

685 new Catholics 

During the Easter Vigil Mass, 685 people entered the Church through baptism or by making a profession of faith. This coincides with reports from the Vatican showing an increase in the number of Catholics around the world. 

Many of these individuals told Arkansas Catholic why they were becoming Catholic. 

“I’d been a Protestant for most of my life, and at one point, I went through a really bad time,” said Daniel Earnest from Mary Mother of God Church in Harrison. “I drive a truck, and was parked at a rest stop in Chattanooga when I met a Dominican nun. I talked to her for a while. When I got back in my truck, I felt illuminated again, like the light had come back on. I started researching, and now I’ve made a change for the better. 

“I remember a sermon from years ago, where the pastor said, ‘Don’t let Jesus pass you by.’ People would flock to Christ to be healed because they never knew when he was coming back around. That’s how I felt when I talked to that nun. I didn’t want Jesus to pass me by.”

You can read the faith stories of other new Catholics here. 

Total solar eclipse 

The total solar eclipse sweeping across Arkansas April 8 generated a lot of excitement as hundreds of thousands of people traveled to the Natural State to witness the rare phenomenon. Several Catholic schools, parishes and organizations changed their plans, teaching about the eclipse, closing for the day or holding an event for the eclipse. 

Deacon Jason Pohlmeier, principal of St. Joseph School in Fayetteville, was so impressed by viewing the eclipse in Missouri in 2017 that he had been preparing for this year’s Arkansas eclipse ever since. He also wrote a column in Arkansas Catholic with tips for viewing an eclipse. 

Another Catholic organization with fun things planned was the St. Joseph Center in North Little Rock. The non-profit is dedicated to preserving and restoring the historic building’s 63-acre grounds through sustainable farming and food production. The center was also an ideal location for watching the eclipse, given its location, expanse of property, RV hookups and rooms for rent. 

Executive director Sandy DeCoursey said the center’s website used a countdown clock, with the days and minutes leading up to the eclipse, along with a raffle for rooms on the property to watch the eclipse from.

Read the full story here.

Two priests and a deacon

Hundreds of Catholics gathered at Christ the King Church in Little Rock May 25 to participate in the priesthood ordination of Father Cody Eveld. Father Eveld told Arkansas Catholic that he had fallen away from his faith in college but offered to play guitar at a church camp. It was at that church camp in 2017 that Eveld’s life course would change.

Eveld drifted off to sleep. When he woke in the darkness in front of the monstrance, he was flooded with thoughts of being a priest. 

“It kind of blindsided me,” Eveld said. “I’d never really seriously considered being a priest. So right there, I was going through a checklist. I was like, ‘Could I do that?’ I’d always wanted a family, and here I was thinking about this.”

Eveld would heed God’s call and become a priest, serving Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro following his ordination. 

Read Father Eveld’s story here. 

Then, on Nov. 22, more than 500 people packed into St. Benedict Church at Subiaco Abbey to witness the priestly ordination of Brother Raban Heyer, OSB. Bishop Francis I. Malone of the Diocese of Shreveport celebrated the Mass. 

In 2011, Father Heyer moved to Arkansas, where he took a job as a teacher and track and cross country coach in Pine Bluff and Little Rock, where he first met Bishop Malone, who was then the pastor of Christ the King Church. 

Months after beginning his teaching career, Father Heyer felt called to join the Subiaco community. In 2014, he entered Subiaco Abbey, continuing to teach and coach at Subiaco Academy.
Read Father Heyer’s story here.

Catholics can also look forward to another priest ordination next year after Joel Brackett from St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers was ordained to the transitional diaconate May 15. More than 500 family, friends, clergy and seminarians were in attendance.

A former college football player, Brackett, 26, said he first received his calling when returning from a football game in Texas with his teammates. He said it was a “silent night on a dark interstate” when he felt the call of the Holy Spirit.

Read Deacon Brackett’s story here.

National Eucharistic Congress

The first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years drew Arkansans to Indianapolis July 17-21. More than 60,0000 Catholics flocked to Lucas Oil Stadium to celebrate Mass in a host of languages, participate in activities and music and listen to well-known Catholic speakers.

St. Bernard Church in Bella Vista sent 18 pilgrims from their parish and other parishes in the state to the first National Eucharistic Congress since 1941. Pilgrim Pat Constantine felt her parish grow closer in the weeks and months leading up to the pilgrimage. 

“I think it’s brought us closer together, because all of us understand more what it’s all about, and we’re getting excited about doing it together and not feeling alone,” she said. “I’m hoping and praying that once this is over and we’ve come back that we can help, even those that couldn’t go … and to bring back what we learned there.”

One of the attendees at the National Eucharistic Congress was 8-year-old Damian Rogers. While in the adoration chapel at St. Joseph Church in Conway three years ago, Damian knelt in the pew and prayed aloud, saying, “Jesus, I love you; I adore you; I’m going to be a priest; and I want to go to heaven. Jesus, I’m going to pray the rosary every day, and I want to make sacrifices.”

You can read more about the Congress experiences of pilgrims from Arkansas here.

2024 elections

During the 2024 presidential election, many Catholics weighed in on civic and political responsibilities, as well as social and moral issues that often became the focus of debates.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington urged prayers and reflection before voting, and Pope Francis told reporters that both presidential candidates were anti-life, urging Catholics to choose “the lesser evil.”

Fortunately, in Arkansas, many prayers were answered when the Arkansas Abortion Amendment failed to meet state guidelines to get on the ballot Aug. 22.  

For many Catholics, the spotlight fell on Republican Vice President-elect JD Vance, whose conversion to Catholicism in 2019 led many faithful to wonder how his faith life might impact his political stance. Ultimately, Catholics supported Trump over Harris 58 percent-40 percent, according to an early exit poll by NBC.

In the weeks following the election, many U.S. bishops stressed the value and dignity of all people, and several more bishops reaffirmed their solidarity with immigrants. 

Pope Francis’ calls for unity

Throughout 2024, Pope Francis made many public statements condemning war, disharmony and violence while also offering guidance on how to grow closer to Christ. 

On April 8, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a declaration approved by Pope Francis called “Dignitas Infinita,” weighing in on the “Infinite Dignity” of human life. This declaration came just months after Pope Francis told diplomats Jan. 8 that he finds surrogacy “deplorable,” and hoped that the practice would be universally banned. 

Diocesan staff weighed in on the impact of Dignitas Infinita in pro-life work and efforts in Arkansas. 

“It also brings together … the Church’s teaching on human dignity and our responsibility not only for ourselves as individuals, but our larger responsibility for creation and other people as well,” Father Greg Luyet, JCL, said. 

Pope Francis put his foot down in the name of Church unity July 5, following the excommunication of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, after Viganò was found guilty of schism. 

“His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council are well known,” the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote.

Pope Francis made several calls for peace amidst war in the Middle East, calling for a ceasefire following an Israeli rescue operation June 9. He renewed his call for a ceasefire in October, just weeks before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was declared. The Pope would meet with freed Israeli hostages and their families at the Vatican Nov. 14. 

Pope Francis praised the release of two Ukrainian priests from Russian captivity June 29, and as war in Russia and Ukraine continued, Pope Francis issued repeated called for peace. He spoke out against a Ukrainian law banning the Russian Orthodox Church Aug. 24. 

This came just weeks after Pope Francis welcomed seven priests expelled from Nicaragua who arrived in Rome Aug. 8, after being detained in an assault on the diocese from the Ortega regime. 

On Oct. 24, the Vatican released Pope Francis’ 28,000-word papal encyclical titled “Dilexit Nos” (“He Loved Us”), encouraging many Catholics to draw inspiration from Christ’s love and the Sacred Heart of Jesus to guide our interactions with others. 

Building and growing

Many financial campaigns and efforts to grow the Church in Arkansas bore fruit this year.

• One Church donations exceed its initial renovation goal
• Catholics find home in Lincoln church
• 12 respect Life grants awarded in 2024
• Little Rock parish waited 20 years for parish life center
• Golf tournament raises more than $25,000 for new van
• Fort Smith church getting upgrade, columbarium expansion
• ASU university parish sees renovation and growth
• St. Bernard expands clinic to help more moms
• Fort Smith church raising $2.5 million for security
• Fayetteville church hopes to break ground this summer
• Historic tower, memorial gardens project back on track
• One Church drive for small Decatur church at halfway
• The Holy Place brings guests closer to God
• Sports complex updates are underway at Subiaco Academy

Recovering from adversity

Many Catholics in Arkansas were able to overcome challenges and adversity by leaning into their faith. 

• Struggling Catholics addiction support in Charleston
• Caseworkers continue state’s long-term tornado recovery
• Businessman’s legacy is suicide prevention foundation
• Sister parish in Haiti finds success despite civil unrest
• Helene causes massive flooding, damage, deaths
• Tornadoes impact parish communities in NWA
• Marian grotto in Fort Smith rebuilt after car crash
• Two Catholic communities receive state’s safety grants
• Vandals strike Hartford church 3 times in 18 months

Honoring how far we’ve come

Many Catholics honored and remembered their roots in 2024.

• Discovering Irish roots
• Bella Vista celebrates Our Lady of Good Health
• Smaller Black Catholic community addressing challenges
• Book, documentary highlight Italian Catholic colony
• Little-known places in Arkansas have Catholic origin

Guides for creating a more prayerful life

Catholic leaders from across the state gave readers advice throughout the year to deepen their faith.

• How to create a more prayerful life this Advent season
• How to create a more prayerful life this Lenten season

Leading by example

Many Catholics across Arkansas were recognized for their faith efforts and years of service in their communities.

• New lay coordinator for English Cursillo from Rogers
• Flo Fitch started campus ministry in Searcy 32 years ago
• Knight of Columbus, wife set a pro-life example for state
• MSM student chosen to research potential Black saint
• New Latino Hall of Fame member hails from De Queen
• After 38 years, North Little Rock youth director retiring
• Annual Red Mass honors LR attorney Reggie Rogers
• Paragould couple retires after 40 years in ministry
• Celebrating 5 Super Seniors’ work in smaller parishes
• After three decades, NLR principal plans to retire
• Senior at Subiaco Academy steps up for kids, Vietnamese community
• Diocese honors longtime NLR Black Catholic advocate
• Knight of the Year always ready to help Northwest Arkansas parish
• Torres leaves diocese to continue service to others

Vocations, vocations, vocations

Many Catholics shared their perspective on religious life and vocations in Arkansas, while others celebrated jubilees.

• LR Carmelites pick familiar face as new prioress
• Postulants follow countercultural calling in Little Rock
• Benedictine, Mercy sisters dedicate decades to children
• Catholic High School senior going from stage to altar
• Spirit is moving: Look at vocations in past two decades
• Three Catholic High seniors sign to discern priesthood
• Young Arkansans explore single life amid vocations
• Diocese looks to combat decline in women religious vocations
• Arkansas women are discerning call to religious life
• Four men join as seminarians for the diocese
• After 8 years, virgin consecrated at Cathedral Mass
• Jubilarian known for work as prison minister, crisis counselor
• Father Rappold: ‘God didn’t ever give up on me’

‘Cathletics’

Catholic athletes and coaches made their mark on athletics in Arkansas across the board in 2024.

• Head Rocket lauds effort as football season comes to end
• OCA senior maintains his pace with another XC state title
• Tennis player-priest starts team at Little Rock middle school
• Head Hog addresses full house at Catholic alumni event
• Kentucky Derby jockey traded spreadsheets for horses
• Rockets fill coach opening, keep things in the family

Ora et labora

Prayer alone is not enough — Catholics have to put the work in, too.

• Priests cut, bale hay to raise money for Atkins church
• Jonesboro parish program there for city’s pregnant mothers
• High-risk pregnancy program aims to reduce mortality rates
• New young saints for 2025 ‘Catholic models of courage’
• Pax Christi Little Rock serves ‘saints on the border’
• Taking a bite out of hunger at St. Theresa School
• 75 new refugees make their home in Arkansas
• Holy Land order draws more than 1,000 Catholics to LR
• Memory care unit opens in former Sister of Mercy convent
• Catholic Charities launches Hurricane Milton relief fund
• Medical ministry will soon have Little Rock location
• More refugees from around the world moving to Arkansas
• Society of St. Vincent de Paul serving others in state
• Diocese educates youth on social justice in Arkansas
• Knights of Columbus programs honor the faith
• Providence Park makes village for Little Rock homeless

Evangelizing the faith

Many Catholics across Arkansas led the way by evangelizing in unique ways

• Knight gearing up for Christmas billboard campaign
• Task force against human trafficking, pornography debuts
• Scranton church rallies pro-life community
• Hundreds to join Guadalupe procession in NLR, LR
• Eucharistic Procession: ‘It is wrong to look the other way and remain silent’
• Diocese’s catechist certification now in Spanish

In memoriam

Remembering religious who died in 2024

• Jan. 1: Sister Joyce Ann Christy, RSM, 73
• Jan. 25: Sister Marya Duscher, OSB, 74
• Jan. 31: Sister Verónica Figueroa Sanchez, MCP, 56
• April 13: Father Thomas Keller, 91
• April 20: Deacon Charles “Chuck” Farrar, 83
• July 10: Sister Miriam Hoffman, OSB, 92
• July 29: Sister Maria Liebeck, DC, 94
• July 29: Sister Marcella Schmalz, OSB, 104
• Aug. 10: Deacon Efrain Vargas, 68
• Aug. 16: Sister Adrian Wewers, OSB, 95
• Sept. 9: Sister Herman Marie Siebenmorgen, SSND, 100
• Oct. 29: Deacon William “Bill” Curry, 78
• Nov. 21: Deacon William “Bill” R. Wrape II, 99
• Nov. 25: Msgr. Richard S. Oswald, 84

One of the biggest misconceptions people have about the teaching of Jesus has to do with his commandment of love. 

You recall when Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment of the law,” and we are told that the answer was to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as ourself. People have two major misconceptions about this teaching of Jesus.

First, they act like this was a new teaching, an advance over the religious understanding that prevailed prior to Jesus. Quite the contrary. The question was about the greatest commandment of the “law,” meaning the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. And so Jesus answers by quoting Deuteronomy regarding love of God and Leviticus regarding love of neighbor. Nothing new here, at least not for a Jew.

Second, people act like this is the greatest commandment there is, which it isn’t. It’s the greatest commandment “of the law.” The greatest commandment of the Old Testament. 

Jesus didn’t just keep his Father’s commandments, he also “lives in his love” and invites us to do the same, listening with a loving heart, which is why he calls us friends rather than slaves.

In the Gospel reading from John which you just heard, Jesus gives us an even greater commandment when he says, “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” 

And how has he loved us? By laying down his very life for us. As Jesus says, “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That’s a lot more than just loving others as we love ourselves, which in some cases may not even be very much; people who don’t love themselves have a hard time loving others. And so Jesus raises the bar: How has Jesus loved us? Totally, sacrificially, to the death! And so that’s how we are to love one another.

Joel, you stand before us today eager to commit yourself to a life of sacrificial love, to the death. In offering Jesus your sexuality by promising celibacy, you sacrifice many good things, not only sexual pleasure and physical closeness to a wife, but also having children, having a family of your own. 

It is true that you become part of a much bigger family and have access to far deeper levels of spiritual intimacy with more people than would ever be possible without the clear sexual boundaries that celibacy protects — many blessings, to be sure, but a big sacrifice nonetheless and not without temptations to be faced and overcome, as all these priests present can certainly attest.

For many, however, the bigger sacrifice is the promise of obedience, which involves the sacrifice of our will. Obedience is more than just compliance, going wherever I send you. It is also a special kind of listening — from the Latin, ob-audire. Obedience is what goes on inside your heart; compliance by itself is just external behavior. 

Jesus didn’t just keep his Father’s commandments, he also “lives in his love” and invites us to do the same, listening with a loving heart, which is why he calls us friends rather than slaves. 

It is significant that the Old Testament word for “believer” really means “slave”; they used to belong to Pharaoh — now they belong to God. 

So it is striking that when in the New Testament the Church established the order of deacons, we didn’t call those ordained for this service douloi (slaves) but rather diakonoi (servants), hence deacons, because the obedience you promise today is not just the mere compliance of a slave. It is the self-sacrificing gift of yourself to the Lord … and so you promise not only to do what I ask you to do, but also to do so with a listening, loving heart. 

And so we gather today to formalize your response to the call of Jesus and his Church, committing yourself to a life of sacrificial love — loving others as Jesus has loved you. And therefore Jesus speaks directly to you when in today’s Gospel he says: “It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit.”

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor delivered this homily May 15 for Joel Brackett’s diaconate ordination in Rogers.

ROGERS — After decades of praying for vocations, parishioners of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Rogers witnessed those prayers come to fruition at Joel Brackett’s diaconate Mass. 

Brackett, the first transitional deacon in his home parish, professed his vows before Bishop Anthony B. Taylor with more than 500 family, friends, clergy and seminarians in attendance May 15.

Father Jeff Hebert, vocations director, said it was a moment in time where “the Church on earth and the Church in heaven join together,” when the Litany of Saints was prayed for Brackett in the Mass. 

Father Hebert said he feels the most moving moment of any ordination is when the ordinand lies prostrate before God and the parish.

“It’s always so powerful to me, and Brackett’s gift of himself to the Church gives me great hope,” Father Hebert said.

Father Hebert was associate pastor of St. Joseph Church in Conway when Brackett was attending Hendrix College and discerning his call. Father Hebert recalled being able to minister to Brackett, encouraging him to enter the seminary. 

“Priests don’t always get to be a part of a seminarian’s journey that closely, so I was extremely grateful to walk with him all the way to his diaconate ordination,” Father Hebert said.

A former college football player, Brackett said he first received his calling when returning from a football game in Texas with his teammates. He said it was a “silent night on a dark interstate” when he felt the call of the Holy Spirit. 

“I underwent a conversion to Christ and a reversion to the Catholic faith that I had received as a child,” Bracket said. “It was October of 2017, and I was with my team on a bus ride back and was scrolling through YouTube to pass the time, I stumbled upon a video in which a priest was encouraging young men to consider a vocation to Catholic priesthood. As I watched the video, I suddenly began weeping and knew that I was being called to explore this vocation more deeply.”

His parents, Burke and Kristi Brackett, said they have also experienced a “rollercoaster of emotions” for the past six years as they have watched their child journey down an unfamiliar path. 

“We have watched him grow from a confused college student into a man of faith,” said Kristi, longtime music, band and choir director at St. Vincent de Paul School and Parish. “Joel's journey to priesthood has dramatically changed our family. Watching him grow has brought us all closer together and brought each one of us closer to our Catholic faith.”

Being a longtime member of his parish also played a crucial role in his discernment and Brackett attributes his successful journey to the prayers he received. 

“I pray that, as a deacon and priest, I am able to have as generous a heart as the faithful of my home parish. I am sure that their countless prayers for my vocation have carried me through these years,” he said.

Pastor Msgr. David LeSieur said the parish’s first diaconate ordination of a man who will become a priest touched many people because Brackett was notably a graduate of the parish school.

“Since before I became pastor (in 2006), the parish has been offering a prayer for vocations at Sunday Mass and at school Mass,” he said. “We’ve been blessed with two classes of permanent deacons and now with three men in the seminary. I believe that the prayers we’ve been offering as a parish are bearing the fruit of religious vocations — of men and of women. There are three women religious from our parish, and three seminarians, including Joel, so prayer for future and present vocations is important.”

In his homily, Bishop Taylor emphasized the sacrifice of obedience and that the sacrifice of the will is a special kind of listening. 

“There is something uniquely powerful about ordination Masses,” Father Hebert said. “Every sacrament in which we get to participate in is witnessing the mystery of Christ, but an ordination uniquely displays young men responding to the gospel with their entire life.”

“We all need to see those concrete moments in which the Gospel bursts forth into our lives, and few do so as clearly as an ordination.”

Brackett, 26, is scheduled to be ordained a priest in May 2025. This summer, he will serve at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock before finishing his final year at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana.

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A pivotal training for all seminarians before ordination is completing a hospital ministry program.

In the Diocese of Little Rock, during the summer before they begin Theology III, they spend 11 weeks at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock working as hospital chaplains.

This training, known as Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), is required for all seminarians. By the time they reach this point in formation, seminarians are two years away from being ordained. They are able to put what they’ve learned about philosophy and theology to practical use.

Everyone has challenges, but when you are seeing human suffering day in and day out, it really gets you connected with the cross. —Father Jeff Hebert, diocesan vocations director