Role as mentor to seminarians has been fulfilling

One of the things Father Billy O’Riordan, the pastor of St. Ann Church and Shrine in Metairie, has enjoyed during his nine-year tenure as director of seminarians for the Archdiocese of New Orleans has been getting to know on a more personal level the men who will be ordained as priests for the local church.

“It’s given me the opportunity to know the seminarians and the young guys being ordained,” said Father O’Riordan, who is handing over his liaison responsibilities this month to Father David Ducote, pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish in LaPlace.

“Probably, unless a seminarian is a parishioner and the pastor knows him well, most priests don’t get the opportunity to know that person one on one. It has given me that opportunity big time.”

Many walks of life

Father O’Riordan, a native of Ireland who was ordained for the archdiocese in 1985, said he has been struck by the diverse backgrounds of the seminarians.

“One of the things I tend to admire are their stories, because they come from all different backgrounds,” Father O’Riordan said. “Some have been out in the world and then have come to this decision, and maybe there was an awakening of a spirit that was there but they probably didn’t pay attention to it.”

Father O’Riordan has taken a practical approach to his quasi-mentoring role. Since he was pastor of a large parish, he consulted with Father James Wehner, then the rector of Notre Dame Seminary, and established a monthly schedule in which he met the seminarians as a group.

Food and fellowship

He relied on the willingness of St. Ann’s Knights of Columbus and Men’s Club to prepare dinner for the seminarians, and he also was able to ask other parish and vocation-support groups who had a connection with a seminarian to share in the cooking duties.

The evening also included group prayer and a chance for the seminarians to talk about how their formation was going.

“The groups like the Knights of Columbus loved doing it, and then the Men’s Club did it, which, in some cases, were many of the same people,” Father O’Riordan said. “They loved getting the opportunity to see the inside of the seminary.”

After the first group gathering every August, Father O’Riordan arranged times for 40-minute individual meetings with the seminarians.

“And, they all had my telephone number, and I told them, ‘You can call me at any time up to 11 o’clock at night, but don’t call me at 7 o’clock in the morning. We Europeans are night prowlers,’” Father O’Riordan said.

Filled with hope

Father O’Riordan said his inside perspective into the seminarians’ lives gave him a hopeful outlook on the state of vocations in the archdiocese.

“Generally, I think the whole thing is their openness, maybe now more than in the past, and their courageous spirit,” he said. “That comes about as a result of a deep prayer life. They are given many chances to develop that in the seminary. Chances are, if you have that development, it continues because sometimes when you get ordained and you’re out in the parish, you’re pulled here and there. That’s fine for a while, but, eventually, the well runs dry. To have the time to pray is a good habit.”

When a seminarian has gone on to ordination as a transitional deacon or a priest, Father O’Riordan has made it a practice to send him a written note of encouragement, along with, he jokingly admits, “a little enclosure with the words, ‘In God We Trust’ on it!’”

If he hadn’t heard from a seminarian in a while or if the person was new to the seminary, he would call him and take him out to lunch for a quick chat.

Father Ducote:  A ‘liaison’

Father Ducote said he views his new role to be one of serving as a “liaison” between the seminarian and the vocations office and also as someone who can offer support.

“I’m kind of a mentor figure to them, and I hope to meet with them on about a monthly basis to have dinner, pray with them and just see how everybody is doing and make sure there are no issues that we need to be concerned with,” Father Ducote said.

“It will be good to see how their formation is going and how their discernment is going,” he added. “We want to make sure we keep in touch with them and know they’re doing well.”

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