Discernment and Growth: Luke’s Story
Luke Capoun is an alum of the JPII Newman Center who has started his journey in seminary in St. Paul Minnesota at the St. John Vianney Seminary.
How did the JPII Newman Center play a role in my discernment and getting to seminary?
I would say that out of anything, it played the largest role. Pretty much all of my discernment has taken place here at the Newman Center. I knew when I graduated high school that all I wanted was just to grow in my prayer life. I had been praying to God for this to happen, and I knew that college would be a place for me to grow in a way that I had never grown before. One thing that I had never experienced in a personal way before I got to college was meeting people who were discerning their vocations. We had two women in the community who discerned into Carmelite communities after my freshman year, and I knew both of them on a fairly personal level. Being able to talk to them, and all the brothers I have who are going to seminary, I really got to know what it means to discern your vocation, to ask that question: “What does God want me to do?”
As I came into my sophomore year, I had been meeting with Fr. Roza, the vocations director then, at least once a month. That’s probably one of the things about the Newman Center that makes discernment so easy, having the vocations director right next door. I had been expressing where my heart was with my education.
As I talked to him more and more I started to realize that I wanted – I needed – something more than what I was receiving from my education. I wanted to be fulfilled and edified in every class that I went to.
I ended up going on a seminary visit to Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, which is one of the major seminaries that we send groups to in St. Louis. I went there and was absolutely blown away by the whole opportunity. I got to go and see how they’re educated, and how the seminarians are taken care of.
Around that same time, I was receiving some consolation, some voices in my prayer saying, “Luke, I want you to be my priest,” right there in the Newman Center chapel.
I brought that to Fr. Roza, and he led me so well in trying to figure out exactly what that meant for me. Eventually, I ended up applying to seminary, I said yes to it, and now I’m on my way!
The Newman Center taught me so much, brought me so much experience of growth in virtue. So many of those people that I mentioned that helped me understand what discernment was also showed me what it is to live a virtuous life as a college student. I learned so much from those people, and also I learned here how to live life to the fullest. That’s definitely something that I’m taking to seminary with me.