Deacon Pat Bruen, 67, and Deacon Benjamin Schroder, 26, look forward to serving the Lord's people in southeast Michigan
DETROIT — Two men who are set to become the newest priests of the Archdiocese of Detroit took two distinctive paths to the priesthood.
On Saturday, June 7, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger will ordain transitional deacons Pat Bruen and Benjamin Schroder, who have spent year preparing through seminary studies and field ministry. The Mass, which begin at 10 a.m., will be livestreamed.
The two men will be ordained priests “now and forever,” but the two took two completely different paths in their journey to becoming Christ’s ministers on earth.
Deacon Pat Bruen
Deacon Pat Bruen, 67, is late-in-life priestly vocation, studying at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass.
Deacon Bruen graduated from Sacred Heart High School in Dearborn and went on to Spring Arbor College to obtain a bachelor’s in health care management and Central Michigan University to earn a master’s in database management.
“I was married for 40 years, so I did not have a call when I was younger,” Deacon Bruen told Detroit Catholic. “But my longtime friend and now pastor, Fr. Bob McCabe, suggested I pray about it. I thought I was too old, but the Lord had other plans.”
Deacon Bruen, whose father also was a deacon, applied to St. John XXIII Seminary, which offers graduate-level programming for priesthood candidates considered to be “second-career vocations.”
His studies led him to understand what it means to be a priest in an increasingly secularized society.
“The challenge is that we live in a secular and often anti-Catholic culture,” Deacon Bruen said. “Prayer and devotion are the key. This will allow us to love as Jesus taught us, and that love is what draws people. You can talk until you are blue in the face, but people don’t listen until they know you love them. There is an old quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt that says, ‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.'”
Heading back to Detroit to serve the people of God in southeast Michigan, Deacon Bruen hopes to bring God's healing presence to the people of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
“I’m really excited about the missionary work we can do as Catholic priests and the healing power we can bring. There's a phrase we use in the Archdiocese of Detroit, ‘unleashing the Gospel,’ it really has power,” Deacon Bruen said. “That will help people in a world that is very troubled. I’m excited about that in a target-rich environment for souls, and that’s what we’re hunting.”
Upon ordination, Deacon Bruen will celebrate Masses of thanksgiving at his home parish, Divine Child Parish in Dearborn, on June 8, and St. Mary Parish in Chelsea on June 15.
Deacon Benjamin Schroder
Deacon Benjamin Schroder, 26, was working at a hardware store and took a few classes at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit before he first thought he might have a vocation to the priesthood.
After graduating from Utica Community Schools’ International Baccalaureate program, he wasn’t exactly convinced he was destined for the priesthood.
“I really didn’t consider it until my last year in high school, and that wasn’t even my first option,” Deacon Schroder said. “I attended a vocations night for altar serving that the seminary hosted, and I was pretty confident I wouldn’t be a priest until some seminarians shared their vocation story. The simple realization that God knows what will make me happy, and He also wants me to be happy, helped me a lot in discerning what the Lord was calling me to do.”
The more classes Deacon Schroder took, and the more time he spent with seminarians in the classroom, the more he was affirmed that the priesthood would be life-giving for him.
Being able to do pastoral work as a deacon cemented that this was truly God’s calling for him.
“I really appreciated being able to do both hospital ministry and some street evangelization,” Deacon Schroder said. “I was able to meet people at all points on the spectrum of life. (I met) people just admitted to the hospital or just getting discharged, people who are not Christian or people who go to Mass every Sunday. These encounters helped remind me that Christ is for everyone at every time.”
When asked what he is most looking forward to as a priest, Deacon Schroder admitted to the “expected answer” — celebrating Mass and the sacraments — adding he looks forward to walking with people in their journey with Christ and his Church.
“I think Benedict XVI summed it up well. ’The ways of the Lord are not easy, but we were not created for an easy life, but for great things, for goodness,’” Deacon Schroder said. “The challenge is that many people settle for an easy life. The Church does what it always does: she shows them the greater and better things — in fact, the greatest thing — life in following Jesus Christ.”
Upon ordination, Deacon Schroder will celebrate Masses of Thanksgiving at his home parish, St. Kieran Parish in Shelby Township, on June 8 and St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak on June 15.
