John Pankratz, Jr.
As with many vocations, mine began within my family. I was blessed to be born to parents who loved God, loved each other, and loved me. I was the oldest in my family and became a big brother to seven siblings over the course of fourteen years. It was in this setting that I came to know God loved me and I learned how to love Him. From an early age, my parents taught me that loving and serving God was the most important adventure of life, and this included the possibility of God calling me to the priesthood. While I cannot say I always knew I wanted to be a priest, I certainly look back now and see how God was planting seeds in me regarding priesthood from a young age. I remember as a small child playing Mass with my siblings in the living room and imitating the role of the priest. One of the priests I looked up to throughout my childhood was my uncle and godfather Father Richard Pankratz, who was a missionary priest in the Philippines. One of the highlights of my young life that I still remember very well was receiving my first communion, and I was also very excited when I was finally old enough to serve at Holy Mass.
I attended Billings Central Catholic High School and I grew in my faith with the help of my teachers and of priests like Father Steve Tokarski and Father Dan Wathen, however I did not seriously consider priesthood. After graduation I decided to attend Montana State University and study engineering. At MSU I encountered many of the secular ideologies that plague modern college campuses and my faith was tested in a way it never had been before. This caused me to question what the purpose of my life was in a new way, which was a much deeper question than what should I major in or what career should I pursue. When I went home for the Easter Vigil my freshman year, I remember watching Father Tokarski, my pastor growing up, and I felt something deep within me prompting me to seriously discern the priesthood. From then on I began ask God if he was calling me to the priesthood in a way I had not before, not as some possible future event but as a possibility for the here and now.
The following summer I contacted the Vocation Director of my home diocese, Father Leo McDowell. I was very excited at the prospect of studying for the priesthood at the seminary, and while I was willing to leave MSU right away, it became apparent through prudent discernment and the help of the diocese that it was best to finish what I had already started and complete my undergraduate degree at MSU. I learned how to struggle and grow in my faith in a secular environment while I put priestly discernment on hold and focused on performing well in engineering school. Throughout this time I stayed in touch with Father McDowell and went to his rectory a few times a semester for dinner. I also received fruitful spiritual guidance from Father Val Zdilla. About a year before I was to graduate I came to God with a fresh slate, asking Him what he wanted me to do and pursue. Over the course of the next few months I found that while I appreciated all that a life as an engineer had to offer, God had continued to grow a strong desire in my heart to pursue the priesthood and enroll in seminary. With the help of Father McDowell and guidance from Bishop Michael Warfel I was accepted to study for the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings and was directed to apply to The Saint Paul Seminary in Saint Paul, MN, where I am currently enrolled.
this time I have only been in the seminary one semester, but I am overwhelmed by the immense blessings and graces our Lord has given me in this short time. Very few are able to experience the spiritual, personal and academic formation that is woven into our daily life. It has been such a joy for me to study philosophy and theology in order to go deeper into the mysteries and the beauty of our Catholic faith. I have also been blessed by the fraternity and comradery of my seminarian brothers as we walk this journey towards priesthood together. And most important of all as I grow in my vocation at seminary, I also grow daily in my relationship with God, who is the source and summit of my being, and who loves me more than I could ever conceive. Certainly with this come challenges, all stemming from that fact that at seminary I have to confront myself fully which includes my many weaknesses, faults, and sins. Confronting these things means dying to myself and putting my confidence in the saving power and mercy of Christ, and this is not an easy, overnight or painless undertaking. My ultimate desire is to love and serve Jesus Christ, and if it be His will for me to become His priest, then my hope is that I may be a faithful and holy priest who is able to give my life to others as Jesus did. I ask for the faithful to keep me in their prayers, and I pray that God would send the Holy Spirit upon our beloved diocese, especially Bishop Warfel and all the priests serving in communion with him. Holy Mary our mother, pray for us! 
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