Men Who Say, “Yes, Jesus” Every Day

Three priests, three journeys, one goal: To embrace God’s Will

By Rich Reece

In his March address establishing the special "Year for Priests" that began on June 19^th, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the need for every priest to realize that “through his own humanity… he is bringing to the world Another, God Himself.” Not surprisingly, then, to talk with priests about their lives and vocations is to learn, ultimately, about God: the mystery of His Will and the blessings He gives to those who strive to discern and embrace it.

The origins and experiences of the three priests NCC interviewed for this story are as different as their personalities, but all three have this in common: They love the Lord, and they have always trusted Him completely.

Father Paul Byron relates that he was seven years old in 1928 when he announced to his Irish Catholic family in Albany, NY, that he was going to be a priest. That was welcome news. “The Church was the center of our lives and our neighborhood,” Father Byron recalled. “I don’t think I met a Protestant until I was 14.” His uncle was a priest, and he had a particular admiration for his pastor, “a man of great intellect and determination, and a student of the liturgy.”

But the young man’s road to the priesthood took an unexpected turn. After one year in an especially strict seminary, he accumulated enough demerits for small rule infractions, mostly talking during times of mandatory silence, that he was suspended. His influential family stormed the chancery to get him transferred to another seminary, but their Catholic connections weren’t enough to persuade the local Bishop.

His pastor, however, came to the rescue. He had a friend who was a Bishop, the Most Reverend Eugene J. McGuinness, Bishop of Raleigh. A meeting was arranged. The North Carolina Bishop accepted the young man on the spot and arranged for the rest of his seminary training. “I learned later,” Father Byron recalls, “that my pastor had written Bishop McGuinness a personal check for $10,000 for the missions in North Carolina. So I wound up in the Diocese of Raleigh, which was unlike anything I had ever known about the Catholic Church.

“It was so different from what I’d expected in the priesthood, and the way I got here was so funny,” Father Byron says today with a grin, “that I really felt it had to be God’s Will.” Father Byron began his priesthood in Delco, in Bishop Vincent S. Waters’ “apostolate,” traveling far and wide, knocking on doors with the goal of making “every North Carolinian a Catholic.” His first parish was in Asheboro, “seventy-two souls in three counties,” followed by stints in Morehead City, Durham and Charlotte, where he was the first pastor of St. Gabriel Parish. “I still have friends there,” he says, “and had a chance to preach at the 50^th anniversary in a vast church that didn’t exist when I was there.”

Father Byron says he never once doubted that the priesthood was where he was meant to be, but that he only realized with time the many joys his vocation would bring. “When I was young,” he recalls, “much of my motivation was devotional. I wanted to be the one on the altar, doing that thing that only priests could do. And that still thrills me, ministering in the liturgical and sacramental life of the people. But gradually I also learned the joy of being a pastor, a guide for people’s souls. Later, in the 1960s, my friend Father Charlie Mulholland introduced me to and encouraged me to be involved in peace and social justice issues.” Father Byron also started the first Cursillo in North Carolina, a movement which would be a tremendous spiritual success. “At the very first Cursillo,” he remembers, “we invited a team from Baltimore to help us get started. One of the team members was especially likeable, a young Bishop F. Joseph Gossman.”

Ordained now for 63 years, Father Byron looks back on a journey with unexpected, unsought twists and turns, but says, “I always knew that God would enable me because it was His Will that directed the path.”

One year after his ordination, Father Romen Acero is serving at St. Thomas More Church in Chapel Hill. He says he is “happier than I have ever been in my life.” His road to the priesthood was not an easy one, but it led him to a deeper appreciation of God’s Providence.

Growing up in Bogota, Colombia, “I knew at 14 that God was calling me to be a priest,” Father Acero says. “I had been an altar server, and was very involved in a pastoral group. I saw the ministry of the priests and sisters, and I wanted to participate in that.” His family was poor, though, and counted on his support. So instead of entering the seminary, he became a Catholic high school teacher, teaching Spanish grammar, philosophy and religious education for nine years. “All that time,” he recalls, “I wanted to be a priest. I enjoyed teaching, but I was very frustrated because it seemed like the priesthood wasn’t in God’s plan for me.”

At a meeting in Bogota, however, the teacher met Father Fernando Torres, a Colombian native serving in the Diocese of Raleigh. “He invited me to apply for the vocations program in Raleigh. It was unbelievable!” Father Romen says.

“Now there are moments every day that bring grace,” he continues. A new discovery for the young priest was ministry for the sick. He is on call at all times for the needs of patients at UNC-Chapel Hill Hospitals. “I began thinking ‘How will I help these people?’ but they are the ones who make me stronger. It is always an incredible experience. One call can change your whole plan for the day, and also bring totally unexpected blessings. I never know how things will turn out, but I always know that I will experience God’s grace. At day’s end I can always say, ‘Thank You, Lord.’”

Father Acero says his “ministry is all about telling people how God loves them, and I can tell them that from experience, because I feel His love every day.” As a priest he strives to “be aware of the current context of people’s needs” and to “connect Jesus’ proclamation to what is going on in the world. His Word can answer any questions people have about the meaning of human existence.”

Father Justin Kerber, C.P., radiates joy when he talks about his parish and his pastoral ministry. Yet 12 years ago, when he was assigned to the parish, St. Peter in Greenville, he wept.

Father Kerber can’t remember a time when he didn’t want to be a priest. “I never entertained anything else,” he says. As a boy in New Jersey, he went on a retreat and met Passionist Father Michael Anthony. “I got there early, and he said, ‘Come talk with me.’ He showed me his breviary, and there were all these dates in the back that he explained to me: ‘This is the date my parents died. This is the date I went to China….’ And he started talking to me about how he was imprisoned for five years and tortured, how he had seen some of his parishioners martyred. And I thought, ‘This sounds like the early Church! This man must really love Jesus. I want to be like him!’”

The youngster begged his parents to let him join the Passionists when he finished eighth grade. His father wanted him to go to high school first. But one night he heard his mother talking to his father in their room. “I don’t want him to leave,” she said, “but I keep thinking about Jesus in the temple saying, ‘I must be about my Father’s business.’” Their 12-year-old son entered the novitiate and was ordained in 1972.

“I joined the Passionists because I wanted a life that emphasized prayer and reflection,” Father Kerber explains. And he wasn’t disappointed. But his abilities were recognized and over the years he was called on to preach retreats, direct vocations, oversee the Order’s finances, direct Passionist students and serve as rector of a monastery. “In 37 years as a priest,” Father Kerber says today, “I never said no. Whatever they ask, I decided, I don’t need time to consider. I’ll take that as God’s Will.”

Saying yes to an assignment as a parish priest was difficult, though. “When I arrived at St. Peter,” he recalls, “I went into the chapel and knelt before the Blessed Sacrament and cried. I prayed for two hours and I said to Jesus, ‘You sent me here. So I am here, even if it’s for the rest of my life. I will do this with all my heart.’

“And twelve years later,” he says, beaming, “behold!” He discovered that he loved pastoral ministry. In fact, he has a list with the names of every baby he has ever baptized, so he can pray for them. “In my first 26 years as a priest I baptized 21 babies,” he says, “but since I became a pastor, 500.”

Father Kerber is adamant when he says, “The priesthood is not a job. It’s a relationship with a person, and that person is Jesus. He is my heart. He is at the center of everything. He is why I want to be a priest.” In 37 years, Father Kerber has celebrated Mass every day but one (due to a surgical emergency). His advice for men contemplating priesthood: ‘Think of Christ’s needs before your own, and center your life around the Eucharist.”