Father Dave Answers Questions on Doubt in Priesthood

Our temporary producer “Maternity Leave Matt” has a few more days before Krista returns to work, so he’s squeezing in some last questions of faith for Father Dave:

Matt asks a two-part question, “Are there ever times when you don’t feel like being Father Dave, when you don’t want to be recognized as a priest? And has there been a time when you didn’t want to be a priest anymore?”

Father Dave responds to the second part of the question first, “No, in my 24 years of being an ordained priest, and then six years of discerning before that, I've never really had doubts that this is overall the right calling for me.”

LISTEN: Fatherly Advice: Discerning Priesthood

Father Dave shares that in any job or relationship, there are ups and downs, good times and bad, but even in very difficult times, he’s never had doubts. 

Father Dave discusses a particularly difficult time back in 2002, when the story broke of sexual abuse in the Church. Father Dave had only been a priest for two years, and had experienced the priesthood generally perceived as a virtuous and positive vocation, but after that, things changed. “That was the first time I was experiencing it not being universally perceived by others as a positive thing, like when people were like, ‘Oh, you're a priest, that means you're a pedophile, that means you're part of this Church that's covering up scandal. Of my entire priesthood and even seminary discernment, that was a time that I was given most pause about, Wow, this isn't what I was anticipating. And is this really what I signed up for? But even at that most difficult moment, there was never a thought of well, let me get my resume together or that sort of thing. So in that broader sense, I have never really not wanted to be father Dave and not wanted to be a priest anymore.”

LISTEN: Father Dave Answers Questions on Priesthood From ‘Maternity Leave Matt’

In response to the first part of Matt’s question, “Is there ever a time when you don’t want to be recognized as a priest? Father Dave says, “I don't think you have to be a priest who's got a radio following to feel this way…I think it's a public enough role in general, even if you're just a small parish priest, that there's still a lot of expectations put on one in this sort of role. So yeah, it’s nice to have a little breather where there's not constantly that expectation, whether that means on vacation or maybe on a priest's day off.”

Even though it’s nice to have an occasional break, Father Dave has never wished to be anonymous.  

“It was just a few months ago that for the first time in my life, Matt, somebody actually spit in my face walking down the street. Even in a moment like that, it was not my first reaction to think, Oh, if only I hadn't been wearing the collar, or, Oh, if only I had chosen a different career path, or something like that. And this is only through the Holy Spirit's blessing, no great virtue of my own, that I was able to think that, you know, what has happened to that person in their life that has caused them to do that? As opposed to, hey, I'm really ticked off that you spit in my face. So, I mean in general, no, there isn’t a time when I don't want to be recognized as a priest.”