Father Terry Grachanin (left) worked as a graphic designer for seven years and was attending classes at Cleveland State University before he answered a call to the priesthood. Father Louis Thomas (right) considered the priesthood during his senior year at St. Edward High School, but opted to work and start college rather than head to the seminary.
Eventually, neither could ignore the Lord?s call and both found themselves studying for the diocesan priesthood at Borromeo and St. Mary seminaries. They were among five priests ordained in 2013 by Bishop Richard Lennon.
Father Terry, who attended Avon Lake public schools and religious education classes at Holy Spirit Parish in Avon Lake, recalled the night he told his parents he wanted to be a priest. ?I was finally getting used to saying it out loud. While my Mom had tears of joy, my Dad finished my sentence for me, as I was trying to get it out: ?What? Be a priest? I always knew,? and walked out of the room. Although he entered Borromeo at age 26, he said the difference between him and some of his 18-year-old classmates was not a big deal.
Father Lou and his identical twin brother were adopted as infants in South Korea, where his parents met while his father was stationed there with the military. His mother is Korean; she was born and raised in Seoul. The young family later moved to Cleveland. Father Lou said his parents divorced while he and his brother were very young. He attended SS. Philip and James School on Cleveland?s West Side and graduated from St. Edward High School in Lakewood.
While applying for college classes, he met a Borromeo seminarian who was in formation for the Franciscan Capuchins.
?He urged me to call Father Bob Stec (the former diocesan vocation director). Father Bob said he thought I would do well at the seminary,? Father Lou said. ?We talked for a long time. I toured the campus and met some people, then went home and thought about it. We talked more and I started at Borromeo in the fall of 1999.?
Father Lou said his mother was getting annoyed with him because he was ?always sneaking off? during the seminary application process. ?She finally asked where I was going. When I told her I wanted to be a priest, she wasn?t surprised. My brother had hoped I would attend Ohio State University with him. He?s not very religious, but he has a philosophical mind and he majored in philosophy. He was very supportive.?
After four years at Borromeo and one year at St. Mary?s, Father Lou said he felt ?burned out,? so he left the seminary. ?I was not a big fan of school. I got frustrated and stopped praying. I felt like I was done,? he said. He came home and went to work, but stayed in touch with his classmates to support them. He attended their ordination as deacons and priests, and realized he could have been with them. After having dinner with a priest friend, he decided to go back and finish. ?The next four years went by fairly fast,? he said.
?If you want to try and kill a vocation, stop praying. But in the end, God gets what he wants,? Father Lou said. When he returned to the seminary, he was in Father Terry?s class.
Both have fond memories of their internship and diaconate assignments. Father Terry said the internship year seems to help prevent burnout. ?Not only does it give you a break from the studies, you find yourself beginning to implement what you have learned at the parish level,? he said.
A week before priesthood ordination, the deacons take a retreat, ?to help us put our focus where it needs to be,? Father Terry said. He was 34 when he was ordained three years ago and Father Lou, at 36, was the oldest in the class. After ordination, the new priests get about three weeks off to relax before reporting to their assignments as parochial vicars at a parish.
Father Terry is assigned to St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Parma and Father Lou is at St. Francis de Sales in Akron. Both parishes have schools and the young priests said they are enjoying their assignments.
?Every day is different. You never know what will happen,? said Father Lou.
?Sometimes switching modes at a moment?s notice can be difficult for me,? said Father Terry, ?but I prefer it over what I knew to be a predictable workday when I was working in an office. As priests, we are allowed into people?s lives at their most intimate moments
