SEMINARIAN FORMATION
Deacon David Pinto Diocese of Kalamazoo
“ I never lost the call ”
I remember as a young boy of nine cutting little circles out of white fish food squares to use as hosts in my play mass . My study desk would daily become my altar , where I would celebrate mass every day before beginning my homework . Being the oldest of seven brothers and five sisters , I always had a ready congregation .
At ten I was serving as an altar boy at Saint Joseph Church . My service as an altar boy extended through grade school . I was the MC for our high school parish — Saint Monica Church — whose pastor I so desired to be like . This continued during my college seminary years as my love to lead the faithful in celebration became ever stronger .
After attending Hackett Catholic High School , I entered Saint Meinrad Seminary in 1967 . In 1971 I graduated Philosophy and entered Theology in the fall of that year at Saint John Provincial Seminary in Plymouth , Michigan .
Shortly after I began my Theology studies my father met with sudden death . Through discernment , I decided to return home and help my mother and siblings through the loss of my father . Tending to my mother for over three months , ravaged by grief , I realized my commitment would not be a short one .
Over the years I was there for one sibling after another , at times holding down as many as three jobs to help support my mother and the family . God was good to me as I was given many years of joy in helping my siblings grow and mature into people strong in their Catholic faith . When they were all out of college , I again began preparing to continue my formation . I was thirty-eight at that time . My calling would wane from time to time as if the Holy Spirit were giving me the choice to choose a different path , but I never lost the call , though it did take different forms .
The Holy Spirit called me into another family situation wherein two of my siblings entered into business contracts requiring my skills as an engineer and tool and die maker . Their business success so worried my mother that I again offered to postpone what I hoped would be a return to the seminary . Now it was not only my siblings at risk , but my nieces and nephews also . I endeavored for several more years to help them and to aid them in their calling .
My calling was a commitment to Christ in persevering to help my now extended family provide for themselves , developing a family business that has benefited , not only them , but also our many employees and their families . My brother and I built and maintained a manufacturing business for some fifteen years in its current manifestation . During that time , I have often waived financial compensation so that we could maintain and support the breadwinnners of six families . We have been successful in helping our employees , allowing them to find positions that could lead them to better careers . Through the goodness of God , many of them are now with the company and earning a good income .
For fifteen years I had the opportunity to proclaim and give witness to our Catholic Faith as a catechist . Sharing the Gospel message with my students was one of my most cherished gift . I have found the greatest graces that a Christian could ever have . Then , in 2017 , the Holy Spirit opened that one door I had been journeying toward my whole life and I was accepted into Formation at Sacred Heart Major Seminary , for the Diocese of Kalamazoo .
At Sacred Heart , I am realizing that my priesthood is a witness in two essential ways . A priest or deacon ’ s first act is always to bless , that is the essence and the solemn obligation of any deacon or priest . In the case of the priest , that obligation extends to the second aspect of priesthood — offering of sacrifice . It is in the greatest prayer of creation and evolution in which the Eucharistic Offering brings earth and heaven together and makes them one . What greater sanctifying act is there ?
I feel there is no better seminary than Sacred Heart Major Seminary for the formation of these essential aspects of our priesthood . We are formed into priests who love God and his Son , Jesus Christ , who desire to share his message of salvation through the graces imparted to each of us by the Holy Spirit .
16 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Fall 2020 / Winter 2021