Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend Meet the Seminarians
2025-2026
Deacon Patrick (PJ) Ernst
4th Year Configuration Stage, Pontifical North American College
Home Parish: St. Pius X, Granger
Favorite Hobbies: Rugby, Skeet Shooting, Singing
Favorite Saints: St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face; St. Augustine; St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Favorite Scripture: Psalm 32:7
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? I would say three things primarily. Meeting both happy and holy priests around the diocese, having people tell me time and again that I should seriously consider going to seminary, and finally, in the quiet of my heart, hearing the Father lovingly invite me to go to seminary.
Deacon Johnathon Hickey
4th Year Configuration Stage, Mount St. Mary’s
Home Parish: St. John the Baptist, Ft. Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Playing Trombone, Sci-Fi Movies, Walking in Nature, Computer Hardware, Playing with Dogs
Favorite Saints: St. Martin of Tours, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. John the Baptist
Favorite Scripture: Galatians 4: 4-7
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? I started seriously discerning the priesthood my junior year at Bishop Luers High School. I have had a few experiences during this time of discernment where I felt a peaceful sense of clarity that I should pursue this desire of possibly going to seminary. One of these times took place after my parish’s 2018 Corpus Christi procession and afterwards having adoration. Right after adoration I was given the Eucharist which we were all adoring moments earlier in the monstrance! At that moment I felt a strong desire to do what that priest was doing, giving people Jesus in the Sacraments! This, and other moments like them, made me want to enter seminary.
Deacon Noah Isch
4th Year Configuration Stage, Mount St. Mary’s
Home Parish: St. Charles Borromeo, Ft. Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Watching Colts and Notre Dame Football. I also like to Golf.
Favorite Saints: St. John the Evangelist and St. John Paul II
Favorite Scripture: John 6
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? Serving Mass at St. Charles as well as the beauty I saw in the Mass led me to want to be a priest. The Eucharist was, and has been, a huge part of my discernment.
Deacon Samuel Martinez
4th Year Configuration Stage, Mount St. Mary’s
Home Parish: St. Charles Borromeo, Ft. Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Ice Hockey, Guitar, Baking Bread, Cooking, Nutrition
Favorite Saints: St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Jacinta, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Peregrine, St. Jude, St. Charles Borromeo, St. James the Lesser, and of course the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Favorite Scripture: John 21
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? The realization that with everything God has given me, the best I can do is offer my will back to Him to do with as He wills.
Deacon Greenan Sullivan
4th Year Configuration Stage, Mount St. Mary’s
Home Parish: St. Anthony de Padua, South Bend
Favorite Hobbies: Basketball, Fantasy Novels
Favorite Saints: St. Jude and St. Lawrence
Favorite Scripture: 1 Mac. 3:17-19
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? A love for souls.
Michael Hickey
3rd Year Configuration Stage, St. Meinrad
Home Parish: St. John the Baptist, Fort Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Playing music (bass guitar), target shooting, corgis, sci-fi movies, documentaries, computer hardware, law enforcement
Favorite Saints: St. John Paul II, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Peter, St. Michael, Blessed Stanley Rother, St. Bernardine of Siena
Favorite Scripture: 1 Peter 1:6-9
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? I started to seriously discern the priesthood in high school and college. Two moments of clarity stick out that made me think that I might be called to the priesthood. One moment of clarity was talking with a women who was at a difficult time in her faith and ultimately inviting her to become Catholic. Another moment was praying with a patient during an emergency situation while I was working at the hospital. It was in these moments of clarity that I believe God is calling me to serve Him and His people as a priest.
Stanley Amuchaka
1st Year Configuration Stage, St. Meinrad
Home Parish: Most Precious Blood, Fort Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Reading, sports and cooking.
Favorite Saints: St. Augustine
Favorite Scripture: 1 Chronicles 21: 24
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? As a child, the thought evolve seeing the cassocks of priests and seminarian’s around my locality. Their simple lifestyle, accessibility and availability. I have lived my life in devotion and service to the church, and my desire for the priesthood has been sustained by a number of things.
Mason Bailey
1st Year Configuration Stage, St. Meinrad
Home Parish: Most Precious Blood, Fort Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Traveling, Watching Movies, Telling Stories, Spending Time with Family and Friends
Favorite Saints: St. Peter, St. Anthony of Egypt, St. Maximilian Kolbe
Favorite Scripture: John 3:30
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? A combination of good friends, reading Fulton Sheen’s autobiography “Treasure in Clay,” and conversations with priests and professors. Their combined witness, with the graces of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, set me on a path towards the priesthood. I’ve never been happier.
Michael Florin
1st Year Discipleship Stage, St. Meinrad
Home Parish: St. Pius X, Granger
Favorite Hobbies: Basketball, Running, Guitar, Calligraphy
Favorite Saints: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. John Paul II, St. Augustine
Favorite Scripture: John 21:15-19
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? I have experienced God’s love and mercy in my life, particularly through close relationships, and I want to share that same love and mercy with others. It was through intentional invitation that I first began to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus, and I want to devote my life to extending that invitation to others. The example of holy priests in my life has shown me that the priesthood exists to be a bridge by which others might encounter Christ, and I feel called to be that for the Church.
Matthew Henry
1st Year Discipleship Stage, St. Meinrad
Home Parish: St. Jude, South Bend
Favorite Hobbies: Hiking, Reading, Exercising
Favorite Saints: St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Ávila,
Favorite Scripture: John 17:3
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? My desire to be a priest grew from my love of serving and the joy I received from a life of mission and my life of prayer and fostering my relationship to God. My experiences with the Lord have led me to desire to give my life, that others might experience the joy of that relationship.
Thomas Bundy
2nd Year Discipleship Stage, College, Bishop Simon Bruté Seminary
Home Parish: Our Lady of Good Hope, Fort Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Soccer, Shooting, Ping Pong, Watching Movies, Running
Favorite Saints: St. Francis of Assisi & St. Augustine
Favorite Scripture: John 21:15-19
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? I have had an attraction to the priesthood from a young age, since my First Communion. Although I did not fully comprehend this until I was older, the call within my heart continued to cultivate and stir within me every time I went to prayer. This attraction was strengthened and confirmed through the examples of holy priests in my life, serving Holy Mass, and time before the Holy Eucharist. Seeing how the priests in my life were able to bring the Lord to others and be a witness to Christ through their lives was enticing to me and aided me in realizing priesthood was something I could see myself doing. Ultimately, I want to be a priest because I have witnessed Christ’s love for me, and I want to enrich souls with that same love from Christ.
D’Angelo Marazita
1st Year Discipleship Stage, St. Meinrad
Home Parish: St. Pius X, Granger
Favorite Hobbies: Wood Carving, Baking, Fishkeeping, Wine Tasting, Roller Skating, Tennis
Favorite Saints: St. John Paul II, St. Padre Pio, St. Damien of Molokai, St. Jerzy Popieluszko
Favorite Scripture: Psalm 103:10-12
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? During Mass one day, I felt a desire to be the hands at the altar. I placed that desire in Mary’s hands, and about a year later, during adoration, I experienced an overwhelming peace and joy that led me to spiritual direction and eventually to the vocation director. After attending an Andrew Dinner, I realized I didn’t want to leave. I felt like I belonged. Over time, I fell in love with what the priesthood means, which is becoming a complete sacrifice, being a universal Father, walking with people through joys and sufferings, and bringing Christ to others in the sacraments. At the heart of it, what truly made me want to be a priest is that I believe I am called.
Johnpaul Adizuo
1st Year Discipleship Stage, Bishop Simon Bruté Seminary
Home Parish: Most Precious Blood, Fort Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Reading Catholic books
Favorite Saints: St. Pope John Paul II
Favorite Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1 vs 27
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? My main aim of becoming a priest is that I want to save my soul and the souls of others. I want to partake in propagation of the salvific mission of Christ. The Love and the desire I have for the Eucharist and our Blessed Virgin Mary has inspired me to the part of priesthood.
Joseph Hill
1st Year Discipleship Stage, Bishop Simon Bruté Seminary
Home Parish: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Fort Wayne
Favorite Hobbies: Camping, Hiking, Piano
Favorite Saints: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Philip Neri, St. Benedict of Nursia
Favorite Scripture: Isaiah 55:1
What Made You Want to Be a Priest? I desire to make the Eucharist possible for others.