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Vocation Stories

Sergio Lizama

Fr. Sergio Lisama, S.A.C.

I am a native of Chile and I spent some time with the Sacred Heart Brothers in my native land. I was a teacher in a High School there as well as being Principal.

I left Chile to be with many of my family who were moving to the States. I left the Sacred Heart Community at that time as well but the desire for religious life did not disappear. In fact there was another desire that surfaced too. I felt called to Priesthood now after having spent some years teaching Spanish in the New York public School system.

I answered an invitation to come to Milwaukee with the Pallottines. I spent some time as a postulant in Milwaukee taking studies at Sacred Heart School of Theology and completed 2 years of Novitiate and then studied Theology at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

I celebrated my Final Consecration in August, 2005. On January 22, 2006, the feast of St. Vincent Pallotti I was ordained a Deacon. I was ordained to the Priesthood on May 27th by Archbishop Dolan at St. Vincent Pallotti Parish in Milwaukee, where I will continue to serve as Associate Pastor at least for the next year. I am grateful to all those who have helped me to come to this point in my life and I pray that I can serve Jesus in the role of Priest for many years to come.

Fr. John Picnic, S.A.C.

In April of 1997, I expressed my intentions to Vocation Director Fr. Jim MacDonald, SAC that I wished to join the Pallottine Community of Priests and Brothers. That wish became a reality on June 3, 1998, when I was accepted as a postulant (in Baltimore, MD) to the Immaculate Conception Province. The realization of this intention proves to me that Almighty God works for His greater glory and His unconditional love of us all.

I am aware of God's work in me, just in my own life experiences. If someone was to ask me five years ago if I had the smallest inclination to become a religious I might have chuckled at such a question. But through God's mercy and grace He touched my life in May 1996 and I experienced a conversion. Through God's grace I am now here with the Pallottines of the Mother of God Province in the process of my spiritual year (novitiate). I have also been blessed by God, that when I entered, I entered with my friend and neighbor, Mario Mirkovic. This has made life a little easier. I guess we were called like the Apostles, John and James.

On a lighter note, the Midwest has been a learning experience for me. Here the people eat meat and potatoes like we eat pasta and meatballs back home. Back home for me is New Jersey. It's amazing that we are all Americans, yet still have cultural differences. In a way these cultural differences and experiencing them will only benefit me. It is a way to make new friends and share in the good they have to offer, and I can share with them what I have to offer. The easiest thing for me to adapt to here in Milwaukee, especially with the Community, is their warm smiles, caring, loyalty, and genuine friendships. One of the more difficult things has been the cultural or traditional differences in the Church. But with all things uncommon to oneself there must be respect, open-mindedness, and the desire to learn and seek truth.

I thank God for giving me the opportunity to meet and live in the charism of St. Vincent Pallotti with the Pallottines of the Midwest and the faith filled people of St. Vincent Pallotti Parish.

John has now completed his Studies for the Priesthood at the Catholic University in Washington, DC and was Ordained in August, 2005 for the Pallottine Fathers and Brothers of the Immaculate Conception Province in New Jersey. We wish him well in his ministry at Bishop Eustace Prep School in New Jersey.