After four years of college and seven years in the seminary, Michael Haemmerle was more than ready to be ordained to the priesthood.
Asked about what he thought his first assignment would be as a priest before he actually knew, he said, “I don’t care. I just want to be in a parish. Twenty-third grade is too many.”
No more books. No more teachers. No more studying for exams – at least for a while.
Father Haemmerle and four others were ordained as priests for the Diocese of Columbus on Saturday, May 18 at Columbus St. Andrew Church by Bishop Earl Fernandes.
“It’s been such a long time coming,” he said.
In July, Father Haemmerle, 29, will take up residence at Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church as a parochial vicar. He also was named the diocese’s assistant director of vocations.
The newly ordained priest spent the first days and weeks after his ordination celebrating first Masses and offering first blessings around the diocese at Columbus St. Patrick Church, his home parish staffed by the Dominican friars; Zanesville St. Nicholas Church, where he was assigned along with Zanesville St. Thomas Aquinas Church on weekends during his final year at the Pontifical College Josephinum; and Hilliard St. Brendan Church, where he spent his pastoral year.
He’s looking forward to immersing himself in parish life after years of study and formation.
“It does get long,” he said of the time in seminary, “but it’s good. It should be long to give you time for discernment. And there’s a lot of learn.”
In Father Haemmerle’s case, discernment took time and patience.
The oldest of five children, Father Haemmerle recalled the first time he thought God might be calling him to become a priest. He was in eighth grade.
“When I was little, I wanted to be an engineer like my dad,” he said. “And then I was in Adoration once at (Columbus) Holy Family (Church) doing a homeschool program and the kid next to me was praying his rosary slightly out loud, pretty fast. And I was annoyed.
“I was trying to pray the rosary myself and so I said to myself I’ll pray the rosary later. Then I was looking at Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and heard a little voice, like ‘Hey, you could be a priest.’”
During high school, he attended some of the diocese’s vocations events and continued to pray. But when his senior year rolled around and it came time to apply to colleges, he didn’t yet feel a pull toward seminary.
“I said, ‘OK, well, I guess I’m not called to the priesthood,” he said. “I thought about it. I did what I was supposed to do and now I can move on.”
He enrolled at Ohio State to study mechanical engineering. At OSU, he became involved in St. Paul’s Outreach ministry on campus.
“The idea of the priesthood was just not going away,” he said.
He continued to pray and discern. During his junior year, he became convinced that he was being called.
He considered several religious orders but applied to the diocese and was accepted right out of college after earning his engineering degree.
“I had checked out the Dominicans because I was from St. Patrick. I was kind of considering them,” he said. “I enjoyed the Benedictines that I visited, but there was something not quite right with each of them.
“I’ve always liked Columbus, liked the area. Some people say the charism of the diocesan priesthood is being attached to the dirt. This is my home. These are my people. My roots.”
Reflecting on the factors that led him to consider a calling to serve the Lord, he said there wasn’t one specific thing but a number of little ones. Among those were his family, attending daily Mass and spending many hours serving at the altar at St. Patrick. An uncle, Father Jerry Haemmerle, is a longtime priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
“My family was very open to whatever God was calling us to,” he said. “They didn’t care what it was. They just wanted to support me and all my siblings in finding their vocation.
“We went to daily Mass a lot and I think that had a huge influence. We also would get families together and pray the rosary. Having a community of people to pray together was helpful. And in homeschooling, the faith was very integrated in everything.”
The all-male altar serving program at St. Patrick “was important, having that brotherhood, and helpful to my own discernment,” he said. “And the Dominicans definitely played a role, especially their availability for confession and always being around.
“One of the big attractions (to the priesthood) was being able to offer the sacraments, especially confession. I had received a lot of grace in confession and I wanted to be able to give that to other people.”
At the Josephinum, he spent his initial two years there studying philosophy – and continuing to discern.
“The first two years were a lot of discernment,” he said. “But as you go on, you kind of get more and more sure that this is what I am called to do.
“I think by the end of my third year in seminary, I was pretty sure this is what I was called to – not that there aren’t still questions and doubt.”
After a pastoral year at a parish, “I knew. I got to see parish life for a whole year and loved it. I got some good time to pray there and just felt really called to the priesthood. At that point, there weren’t a ton of doubts and questions left.”
His assignments at parishes during seminary included Columbus St. Andrew, Columbus Holy Family, Chillicothe St. Peter, St. Brendan the Navigator, Perry County Consortium and St. Nicholas and St. Thomas Aquinas churches.
“I’ve seen more and more how the priest is supposed to be a father to his parish, be part of the family to bring Jesus to them,” he said. “You want to be Christ’s representative on earth with the sacraments, bringing spiritual healing and nourishment.”
Now that he’s finally a priest after all those years of schooling, he’s ready to begin serving the Church.
“I’m super excited to be able to bring the sacraments to people,” he said. “That’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. And I think that’s part of just being in a parish and being a father to people — bringing Jesus to them in a lot of different ways, sometimes less glamorous than others.
“Life is hard. Everybody has challenges. You get to see parts of people’s lives that nobody else gets to see and be there for the really good times and the really bad (to make) a unique connection with Christ. That’s really special.”