2024 Bishop Heelan grad accepted as seminarian

By RENEE WEBB
    Content and Design Coordinator

Recent high school graduates will take a variety of paths from this point – attending colleges near and far, joining the military or entering the workforce.

For one 2024 graduate of Bishop Heelan High School in the Diocese of Sioux City, a calling to the priesthood will lead him to the seminary.

Jack Jensen, a parishioner of Mater Dei Parish in Sioux City, is the diocese’s latest official seminarian. In July, he will begin seminary studies at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary (IHM) in Winona, Minnesota.

“I think I’ve always thought about it from the beginning of high school but I started thinking about it seriously the summer of my sophomore year going into junior year,” he said.

Experiences with impact

Jensen, the son of Gina and Dave Jensen, pointed out that while he had an occasional thought about the priesthood for a few years he usually brushed it off. It all changed that summer after taking part in the Quest Trip, Quo Vadis and a Steubenville youth conference. 

“That’s when I started thinking about it more and saw the seminarians. They always inspired me,” said Jensen, who has one sibling, sister Annie who is a nurse in Omaha. The diocesan trips and retreats also provided a great deal of inspiration. “It gave me the sense that the seminarians are just normal human beings. I used to think that priests were way better – something I would never be called to.”

Having the personal contact with the seminarians made the possibility of becoming a priest more real because he could envision himself becoming a seminarian and from there a priest.

There was also one big moment that occurred in the fall of his junior year which helped to affirm his thoughts of following the call to priesthood.

After arriving back to Sioux City from group trip to IHM led by the diocesan vocations director who also is the chaplain Bishop Heelan, a friend on the trip asked Jensen if he wanted to pray. They decided to go to the perpetual adoration chapel at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, which is located near the high school.

"I had never been to the chapel before. When I stepped in, I knelt down to pray and I felt God say two things to me, he gave me two distinct images,” he said. In the first image Jensen preaching to Hispanics at the adoration chapel and in the second image he was hugging his mom, as Mary. He told her he felt called to the priesthood.

That’s not only when he began to take the call seriously, but it motivated him to act. Jensen reached out to the diocesan vocations director, Father Travis Crotty.

“He is very excited for me,” said Jensen, who noted the priest gave him encouragement and some tips to work on his prayer life. “He helped me deal with any struggles I had throughout the year to continue to grow.”

Besides telling the vocations director, he told his parents right after returning from the trip to IHM. 

“I think that kind of shocked them at first. They never expected it, but at the same time they could see it from me,” said Jensen. 

Supportive response

His parents and friends are very supportive of this decision. Grateful for such good friends, the seminarian noted they get excited whenever he mentions studying for the priesthood “because they know that is the place I want to be.” Some of his friends have also helped him firm up his prayer life as they met regularly in the school chapel for Morning Prayer prior to the start of school.

Along with participating in some meaningful retreats the seminarian spoke of the solid faith foundation offered by his family – especially is mother – as well as several individuals played a role in offering inspiration. While there are many who provided inspiration or good examples, some of the prominent ones include Father Shane Deman, former Bishop Heelan chaplain and vocations director; Father Crotty, Father Brad Pelzel, his pastor; Father Jeremy Wind, his spiritual director; Lexi Horstman, campus minister at Bishop Heelan and Elliot McLarty, one of his teachers.

“They are people I can go to when I have questions and they have showed me the way. They have seen my growth and have helped me develop myself for the seminary,” said Jensen, who noted joyful priests have provided inspiration.

The seminarian will head off to IHM in July to begin a propaedeutic year – a year mainly focused on discernment, personal growth, prayer and acclimating to seminary life – before more rigorous formation studies begin the following year. 

“I’m super excited and hopeful to meet people and know this is where God is calling me,” said Jensen. “It will be good for me and there will be a lot of good growth.”

While his summer break will be cut a little short by going to the seminary in July, during the month of June he will have a chance to take part in a Bishop Heelan trip to Italy as well as The Quest trip for young men offered by the Office of Vocations.