Stephen Weber

   On August 15 -- the Feast of  the Assumption of Mary, Steve  Weber was formally accepted  into the preparatory Formation  program of the Mother of God  Province during a prayer  service in the Chapel of our  provincialate. We warmly wel-  come him and wish him God's  continued blessings as he  enters this new phase of the discernment process.

    Steve will be going to Dublin, Ireland for this spiritual year and will also spend two months in Rome with other candidates coming to know the history of our Society and our founder, St. Vincent by walking in his footsteps in the City he loved dearly.

  Steve gives us a little window into his own history as he writes:

   As I am leaving for the spiritual year in Dublin, I wanted to give you a few tidbits about my past.

   I was educated at Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic School in Lincoln Park, MI by the Stevens Point Franciscan Sisters (SSJ-TOSF). I think they planted the seeds of my vocation and continued to nurture it while I lived there.

  My first exposure to the Pallottines happened when Fr. Redwick, my childhood pastor, had given the Wyandotte Irish Pallottines Liturgical duties over the Saturday evening 7:00 Mass every week. They began helping him and his Associate when they had many baptisms, funerals, and weddings and progressed into a regular weekend assignment for the Pallottine Community.  This was at the time I was attending the 5th - 8th Grade at Christ the Good Shepherd Parish.

   My second exposure to the Pallottines came during a meeting entitled "Youth in Detention Conference" at Detroit's Seminary. It was Fr. James Joseph SAC from India who I met there while he was attending the conference.  I was the Pastoral Council Rep. for my district in Detroit as an adult. I asked him about the issue of delayed vocations with the Pallottines. I would also see him when I would arrive for my Lay Ministry classes at the seminary. Many Districts in the Detroit Diocese prefer to have their Lay reps. attend Lay Ministry classes for their edification and efficiency in their duties.

   I was selected by my District as its Pastoral Council rep. in late summer 2002. My predecessor was going through her cancer treatments and was very weak at times. Her alternate had just gotten accepted into the Jesuit Novitiate. The Mantle was passed to me. The laity, priests, and the DRE's were appreciative of my duties as I gave bullet point reports on all meetings that I attended. When different items would come down from the diocesan offices - the groups in the district could refer back to my reports in the minutes and know where and why the changes were made.  I felt accepted in this atmosphere and feel that the mission of the Pallottines also fosters such an atmosphere of working together.

   As I go to Ireland and then to Rome, I feel that it is just another chapter of what those strong women of SSJ-TOSF had begun in 1978 with the small mustard seed in my life.

   Thanks to Sisters Angelette Gladysz , Pulcheria Gwiadzinski, Adeline Szescniak , Aquinata Rzaca, Francine Lipka, Patricia Ruppenthal, Marietta Zola, Aniceta Brys , and Maurilia Grzywda.

   Thanks also to Fathers Joseph Michael Torzewski , Adolph Redwick , Bartolomeo Ferrero , and Bishop Walter Joseph Schoenherr.

   Dobry Jezu A nasz Panie, daj im wiezne spoczywanie.  (Good Jesus our Lord, Give them eternal rest.)

   May God bless all of you and I pray for these important people helped nurture that small mustard seed and placed it with someone such as me. It took a little time for me to accept the direction they were shown by God all those many years ago.

   I love those wonderful people that God placed in my life.

--  Stephen Weber