Ryan Riley, 32
Diocese of Lansing
Third-year Theology
MEET YOUR SEMINARIANS
M
y call to the priesthood began as
a child growing up in Owosso,
Michigan. Serving Mass and watching
Fr. Robert Kolenski, our pastor at the
time, intrigued me and drew me into
the Mass as a kid.
We moved when I was in the seventh grade because my parents
purchased a golf course on the west side of the state in a small town
called Saranac. Switching schools at that age was difficult. Even
though my parents enrolled my brother and me in a Catholic school,
I did not say anything about my faith and certainly not about priesthood. Being the “new kid,” I was more concerned with fitting in.
Over the course of my high school years, my faith life decreased and the thought of priesthood waned. I was more concerned with sports, parties, and girls. This behavior amplified in
my college years. Even though I succeeded academically, I lived
the life of a typical “frat boy.” My faith in God and the Church
were the furthest things from my mind.
When I graduated, I took a job as state auditor with the Office
of the Auditor General in Lansing, Michigan, where I worked for
five-and-a-half years. The chaos of college stopped, though some
16
Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring 2015
of the behaviors still lingered. The silence of living alone really
caused me to start thinking about where my life was headed. In
the silence, the Lord found a way of reaching me again.
It was disturbing at first, but I found myself starting to go back to
Mass occasionally and, after a period of time, made a confession. It
was in the context of confession that I asked the priest if it were possible that Lord might be calling me to the priesthood. The priest got
up, went to his office, and gave me a copy of the Grand Rapids Press.
In the religion section was an article, “Grand Rapids man’s road to
priesthood an unusual one.” It was a story similar to mine.
After serious prayer and consultation with the vocations director for the Diocese of Lansing, I decided to terminate my employment and apply for seminary in the fall of 2010. I told the
vocations director that I at least had to give it a shot. The auditor
general was incredibly gracious and gave me a two-year leave of
absence in case I decided that I wanted my job back.
My time here at Sacred Heart has not been easy, but it has resulted in spiritual growth. The formation staff wants us to be, first
and foremost, holy men—men of virtue—because we cannot give
to others what we do not have ourselves. And attaining holiness
involves stripping away those attitudes and behaviors that are contrary to the Gospel. To be formed requires humility, something I
was not accustomed to. I didn’t realize how much my ego got in
the way of authentic discernment.
Through the formation process here at Sacred Heart, I have
come to fall in love with God. The past five-and-a-half years have
been an even greater conversion for me. Through this conversion,
I have found what I believe is my calling—to bring others into the
love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as his priest.