Diocesan Seminarians Series

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second installment of a summer series on diocesan seminarians.]

MONTVILLE  During his senior year at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, Frank Lennie thought that Uncle Sam wanted him as a new recruit for the U.S. Marine Corps. But it was two priests on DePaul’s staff who helped this young parishioner of St. Pius X here consider that, instead, God might be calling him to a priestly vocation.

Those two priests — Father Peter Clarke, former DePaul chaplain and now the newly-named president, and Father Michael Donovan, former DePaul president and current president of Queen of Peace High School, North Arlington, — encouraged Lennie to consider entering St. Andrew’s Hall at Immaculate Conception Seminary on the campus of Seton Hall University, South Orange. He took their suggestions and now, at 24, he expects to earn a bachelor’s degree in philosophical theology next May. It has all been part of a vocations journey with many starts and stops that began with his receiving his Confirmation at St. Pius X as high-school sophomore.

“My soul was on fire at Confirmation. I didn’t expect it, but when I received the holy Chrism on my forehead, the Holy Spirit came alive in me,” said Lennie — today a part-time summer helper at St. Pius X. He also attended daily morning Masses in DePaul’s chapel and helped set up for school-wide Masses as a student. “I enjoyed it. I can’t pinpoint it, but I have always loved the beauty of the liturgy. The Mass unites everything with God in heaven.”

Lennie’s vocation journey took a different turn, when he left St. Andrew’s before the end of his freshman year. He attributed this to his lack of discipline and his lack of confidence in being able to handle the coursework. So for the next four years, he continued discerning, while holding down a series of “real world” jobs, including in construction and day care. During this period, Lennie also took a semester course at Seton Hall with the intention of returning to academics one day, he said.

“I had to make my faith my own. I had to be more deliberate — waking up on my own and deciding to pray. I started seeking Christ instead of Christ seeking me,” said Lennie, who started volunteering with St. Pius’ youth ministry, during his hiatus. “I grew as a teacher. I was able present the faith at the kids’ level. People were telling me that I had a gift for bringing people to Christ,” he said.

Finally, Lennie decided to return to St. Andrew’s in 2014, after having spoken to Msgr. Raymond Kupke, pastor of St. Anthony Parish, Hawthorne, and diocesan archivist. The priest helped boost the young man’s self-confidence in being able to tackle the coursework and helped him recognize his gifts and talents that could serve him well in the priesthood. Since returning to St. Andrew’s, Lennie’s academic performance and self-confidence improved greatly, Msgr. Kupke said.

Lennie’s vocation journey may have started with receiving the “fire” of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, but his faith formation began firmly in childhood. His parents, Frank, a roofer and construction worker, and mother, Colleen, a bartender, from Parsippany, were not religious, when he was growing up. So his grandparents, Raymond and Patricia Williams, would take him to Mass at St. Pius X. He attended and was graduated from the parish school.

“In religion class, I was also quick to ask — and answer — questions, because I was interested in the subject and knew a lot about it. Some of the teachers suggested that I consider becoming a priest, but I wasn’t really thinking about it,” said Lennie, who was an altar server at St. Pius X with his brother, 20-year-old Raymond, now a student at County College of Morris, Randolph. “As an altar server, I got to see the priests close up and see what they do at Mass.”

Lennie also watched the priests at DePaul up close celebrating Masses daily in the chapel. As a senior, he earned the Father Sylva Award for Service for helping set up for school-wide Masses. During that time, both Father Clarke and Father Donovan asked him to consider entering St. Andrew’s, Lennie said.

“I was about to sign up for he Marines during my senior year, but I thought about it [the priests’ suggestion]. I liked the idea of going to St. Andrew’s, because my grandfather was a season ticket holder for Seton Hall basketball for 50 years,” said Lennie, who first told his mother about his call to a priestly vocation. “She was surprised but happy that I wasn’t going to risk my life as a Marine. My father gave the typical answer: ‘If it makes you happy, then I’m happy,’ ” he said.

Since his return to St. Andrew’s, Lennie also has been living out his life in Christ at St. Pius X for the past two summers. This year, he has been helping clean the parish school, serving at funerals, and performing “odds and ends,” at the request of the pastor, Father Mark Olenowski. In June, Lennie spoke about how to live a life of prayer during the annual “Quo Vadis Days” discernment retreat for young men, sponsored by the diocesan Vocations Office.

Msgr. Kupke called Lennie’s time away from seminary “an important break for him to come to grips with what God was calling him to do and how he would respond to that.”

“Frank has been more focused since he returned to St. Andrew’s,” Msgr. Kupke said. “He has a great pastoral heart and great pastoral sense about him. He will make a wonderful parish priest,” he said.