Vocation Testimony of Bro. Jason Wooleyhan

My first experiences in the Catholic charismatic renewal were during my senior year at Penn State University at Bread of Life prayer group on campus. I had been pursuing my relationship with Christ most of my life. Yet through this group, God touched my heart with His Love in a way I had not yet experienced in my life.

So, needless to say, when I moved to Alexandria, VA, in July 2008, I knew I needed to find a Catholic charismatic prayer group. I searched online for prayer groups in northern Virginia, and through the St. Agnes Catholic Church group and an online database of charismatic prayer groups, I stumbled upon The Upper Room Fellowship (TURF) at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Alexandria, VA. This was a great group where I met some life-long friends. However, it didn’t quite feel like home to me.

A few participants from TURF tried to convince me to go to “The Fresh Anointing” group in DC, but it wasn’t until my friend, Karen, offered to drive me that I was able to come to the group. (I did not want to have to go into some strange area of DC by myself at night in the middle of winter, as I was new to the city). She also told me that a group of Franciscans helped out, which interested me, and she also told me it was filled with people closer to my age-range.

On another note, in my own prayer life, I was “sensing” a very strong calling to pursue the priesthood, which I did not want. I had dealt with this off-and-on throughout college, and even before college, but now that I was pursuing a deeper prayer life, I could feel the calling more intensely as I noticed the signals God was giving me. However, I pretended that it was “nothing” and only my own imagination.

The First Night

At my first night at The Fresh Anointing, in mid-December 2008, I felt at home. There were many people there, but by no means was it overpowering. (I am an introverted person, who needs time and space before I fully enter into something). Dave Bentz and Bro. Ron both led praise & worship with their guitars, which drew me in right away because I had really never experienced such powerful praise & worship before (even among the multiple Christian groups I attended throughout college). There was also a speaker, but I can’t remember who spoke that night.

After the speaker, there were prayer teams and Confessions. Of course, I went right up to be prayed over, and the team that ended up praying over me was led by Bro. Matt (now Fr. Matt), Bro. Mike, and Bro. Pat. I was also introduced to Bro. Zyg Mazanowski that night, who was the leader of The Fresh Anointing when I first attended. I really admired many of these guys (most of whom were not much older than me).

Now, I mentioned before my struggles with a possible call to the priesthood. So, walking into a room full of seminarians definitely shook me up a little, despite my admiration for them.

Deeper Prayer

Over the course of the next month, my prayer life suddenly became much deeper. I started spending much more time sitting in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament at my local church. (Oddly enough, the church is named Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church). During this time, it was almost like another conversion, like re-falling in love with Jesus.

Of course, now I was facing this possible call to the priesthood more seriously. And so, in desperation, I said to God in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, “If this is what you want me to do, make me want it with my whole heart. I can’t do it myself.” This happened to be a few days before I attended a Life in the Spirit weekend hosted by The Fresh Anointing.

So, in late-January 2009, The Fresh Anointing held its Life in the Spirit weekend, which was a chance for me to learn more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There were many speakers and testimonies, along with praise & worship, and small group prayer. The whole weekend I was struggling with this question about the priesthood. As a result, I began to realize how much I was blocking God’s Grace from my life.

Then, late Saturday afternoon, it was time for small group prayer ministry, and it was my turn to be prayed over. Fr. Fred Close was in our small group, and he asked me if I wanted to face the Crucifix on the wall for my prayer time, and right away I responded “yes.” Within a minute of prayer, I started to weep, because I knew I was blocking God’s Grace from my heart, and I did not want to do that to Him. One girl, Karina, was praying over me, and twice she said “There is something very specific that is keeping you in bondage. Give it up to the Lord.” I knew what she was talking about.

That evening, many of us went to dinner. I met Bro. Richard Mary (a Marian brother) for the first time that day. He told a group of us his vocation story, and how he gave up the girl he loved for the priesthood. He told us how hard it was, but how happy he is now.

I went home that evening at peace. That night, I had a dream that I was a priest saying Mass by myself, just between God and I. There was so much love during the Mass. I also dreamt of a garden, which I understood as having complete peace with God someday. I’ve never had so much peace and joy from a dream before in my life.

A few days later, I was sitting at my desk at work, thinking about Jesus and my time spent in the Blessed Sacrament chapel, and I realized that I wanted nothing else but Jesus everyday of my life. I realized how much I needed Him, all day everyday. God answered my prayer, and now the rest was in His Hands.

Priesthood, but why the Franciscan TORs?

Okay, so now I knew I wanted to be a priest. I knew that it wasn’t enough for me to just pray all day, but that I needed to spend my time spreading His Love to others. I didn’t have the courage to tell anyone, until a few weeks later when Bro. Richard Mary approached me in front of Bro. Pat and said (semi-jokingly), “This guy’s gonna be one of us someday.” Bold, right?

But how did I know that God wanted me to be with the Franciscan TORs as opposed to diocesan or another religious order? Well, the first question was simply answered: I wanted to be a religious priest, and had no desire to be a diocesan priest, even after all of this. I even tried to open myself up to diocesan priesthood, but God shut that door very quickly.

But why not the Benedictines in Latrobe? I already knew them through Penn State University and some of my friends. And why not the Discalced Carmelite Friars? I had become very influenced by Carmelite spirituality the last year. Why not other Franciscan orders? St. Francis and Franciscans always seemed to make more sense to me as opposed to other religious orders and saints. The only true answer I have for this is that it was God’s will, but God did give me a few signals.

The first signal was that my heart was truly drawn to the TORs, whom I barely knew anything about. This lasted that way up until my entrance. And I really didn’t truly know why either, to be honest. But I didn’t trust just my heart. Although it was something I wanted so much, I needed something more objective.

When discerning this community, many little things seemed to just make sense and “work out nicely.” Meeting the brothers at a random prayer group and being able to get to know the seminarians on a regular basis was a nice advantage and a gift from God. The spirituality made sense to me: they are active-contemplative, and many of the friars are open to the Holy Spirit and, like St. Francis, know the need for spiritual renewal within the Catholic Church. There is so much openness in what one could do ministry-wise as well, and one can easily see the many ways the friars are reaching out to so many souls in need of God’s Love. These are just a few examples.

However, there were also little things that made me unsure as well. One example is many of the guys seemed very active and energetic, love to work with their hands, etc. I’m not quite that way, at least not nearly as much. I also couldn’t shake away this feeling of “here I am, some random guy from a prayer group in DC,” as opposed to many of these other guys from Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH, or some other strong connection to the friars. I needed God to give me a sign, and He did… He gave me many.

My favorite story to tell is how I met the vocation director, Fr. Jonathan St. Andre. So, as I said before, I was attending Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. When April-May came around, Bro. Zyg told me that in order to take some deeper steps in the discernment process, I should get in contact with Fr. Jonathan through email. I emailed him, and he emailed me back very nicely telling me that he would like to talk to me “sometime next week.” Later that week, I felt like I should start going to daily Mass more often, starting that Saturday morning. This was tough because that Saturday I had to drive to my brother’s baseball game. Regardless of this, I decided to go to Mass anyways, but to the latest one possible.

Unexpectedly, my body woke up naturally earlier than I wanted, so I decided to go to the next Mass possible—8:30AM at Blessed Sacrament. So, off I went. But in the middle of Mass, I saw a friar with a TOR habit, looking very similar to the man on the website described as “Fr. Jonathan, vocations director” walking through the hallway. I thought “no way… this guy works in Pittsburgh, and if he’s in town, then he would be in DC with the other friars… why is he here!?”

So, after Mass, I walked quickly to the hallway, introduced myself, and he responded, “Jason, it’s good to run into you. I got here late last night to the friary in DC, and I am here for my godchild’s First Holy Communion at 9:00, and am leaving right afterwards to go back to Pittsburgh.” So, obviously, God wanted me to meet this priest in person and worked through him in the process.

I remember during my application process how appointments would just coincidentally come into place. When I needed to meet with my pastor, because of my schedule at the time and with Christmas coming up, I wasn’t sure how I would be able to meet him anytime soon. Sure enough, on a day I happened to get out of work early because of a Christmas party, I got a phone call from my pastor asking to meet later that afternoon, which would not have worked out otherwise.

Also, when I needed to meet the psychologist for the application examination in Pennsylvania (which would be a whole day, possibly two-day, event because of the travel involved and the length of the examination), I wasn’t sure how it would work in a way that I could avoid the subject at work. I also believed, because of her busy schedule, that I would have to wait one or two months before I could meet her. However, due to a snowstorm early in December, I moved my day-off, which I planned for travel, to later that month, December 18. A few days after making that switch, I received a phone call from the psychologist saying that she happened to have a large opening in the afternoon of Friday, December 18, my day-off. Strange, eh?

God gave me other little signs throughout my discernment and application period, and he continues to give me signs while I’m here that He is present with me during times of peace and times of trial.

Conclusion

God used The Fresh Anointing in my life to lead me to the Franciscan TORs. He used The Fresh Anointing to help show me that He wanted me to be a priest. But not only this, He also used the prayer group to give me community during my time in DC, where I met some of the best friends I will ever have. The prayer group was a source of refreshment for me in a secular world, and I saw it do the same for so many others. He also used The Fresh Anointing as a place of healing and learning for me, and I’ll never forget all the things He’s done for me through this group and the place it has in my heart.

Peace and Good,
Bro. Jason Wooleyhan

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