Brandon Schetgen and Trevor Chicoine, seminarian students at Loras, serve Mass at St. Pius X Seminary

Homework, jobs, extra-curricular activities- most college students find it challenging to juggle all three of these. For some students at Loras College though, they have much more on their plate.

Ten men are currently studying to be priests at St. Pius X Seminary in Dubuque, and three are incoming freshman.        These freshmen have found it a challenge to manage their time between their school activities and their seminary activities, while being new to the college atmosphere.

Responsibilities of the seminarians include attending daily mass, adoration, a weekly meeting with their spiritual advisor, rosary on Tuesday nights, and dinner with their fellow seminarians. They are also a public figure, and are available at all times to help anyone in need or listen to them.

“It’s harder to be a seminarian that it is a college student,” says Brandon Schetgen, one of the freshmen enrolled at St. Pius. “because of the time management issue, balancing academics with our spiritual life and also time for personal prayer.”

Loras College was originally founded as a seminary by Bishop Loras. The Seminary department was eventually moved to its current location at Mt. Loretta Ave., where it is adjacent from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center. Its main goal is to teach the students in five principal areas: human growth, spiritual growth, intellectual formation, pastoral formation and community living.

The students attending St. Pius aren’t excluded from the rest of campus; they live in the dorms, attend classes and interact with other students.  Their responsibilities to represent the seminary and serve God though sometimes conflicts with other student’s views.

“There are certain rules and regulations,” said Trevor Chicoine, another freshman. “There is a moral component and a set of moral standards that we are expected to live up to and maintain in seminary.”

But, this is a calling they’ve known for a long time. Trevor felt the call when he was in second grade and had a “phenomenal” pastor who influenced him, and Brandon knew when he heard the priest say “do this in memory of me” in Mass and felt God speak to him. They decided to listen to that calling and represent their faith for all to see at college

“I’m very inspired and encouraged by these men,” states Fr. William Joensen, Director of Spiritual Formation at St. Pius. “They are much more willing to put their faith out there than I would’ve been as an undergraduate student.”

After completing their seminary here at Loras, these students will go to graduate seminary, in which the bishop decides which seminary in the United States, or in Rome, they will attend. Until then, they are still excited and have great hopes for their dream.

“A priest is so much more than just a teacher,” says Chicoine. “The priest is the one who brings the soul to home to God and I really felt that call to be all things to all people.”

If you would like more information on St. Pius X Seminary, contact Fr. Dave Schatz at 563-513-7333