Profiles in Discernment
December 6th, 2008 by Fr. Pius, OP
In the most recent issues ofthe Colorado Catholic Herald — the publication of the Diocese of Colorado Springs — appears this article on the discernment of Fr. Michael Fones, a Dominican priest of the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus (Western Province). The article was written by the local chapter of the Serra Club, which fosters vocations in the Church, and is reprinted, below:
SERRA PROFILES IN DISCERNMENT:
Dominican Father Mike Fones, Co-Director of Catherine of Siena Institute
Diocese of Colorado Springs Serra Club
Dec 4, 2008 3:00 PM
How does a young Stanford University student on his way to becoming a theoretical geophysicist end up becoming a Dominican priest? Father Mike Fones’ vocations journey has been both amazingly normal and decidedly thought-provoking.
It began with the influence of his devout parents who made attendance at Sunday Mass essential. Each year when his family would leave for vacation, the first thing his father would do upon arriving at their destination was to drive around and find a local Catholic church so they could attend vigil Mass. Over the years they taught him that “God comes first” in life.
At Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich., Mike was introduced to a seminarian with whom he played racquetball and also talked about the seminary, though Mike really wasn’t interested. What he was interested in was becoming a theoretical geophysicist, and after receiving a scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., he left the small town environment of Michigan to pursue a Ph.D.
At Stanford he experienced a lot of turmoil. He was disturbed by the disparity he saw between the very wealthy Palo Alto community who lived on one side of the freeway and the poverty and gangs of East Palo Alto. He began to ask, “How does this disparity happen in a country like this?” Simultaneously, while working on a geology project and laboriously entering the data on the computer, he began to ask himself, “Is this what I want my life to look like?” He found himself entertaining the possibility of taking a leave of absence and joining the Peace Corps. Then one day as he was riding his bike past the San Francisco Archdiocese’s seminary he thought, “Maybe I should become a priest,” and then wondered, “Where did that idea came from?”
In the days that followed, this idea did not go away but continued to gnaw at him, and Mike began praying consistently about God’s will for his future. He couldn’t imagine praying out loud or preaching or being a priest, but during Mass while playing the organ he decided to talk about it with a seminary priest. Because Mike was attracted to community life he began talking with the Franciscan vocations director. The director encouraged him to also consider the Dominicans. Later, he reluctantly visited the Dominican house of studies in Oakland, Calif. When walking down the street that led to the seminary he saw a Dominican in his white robes waiting for him and thought, “It’s 10 o’clock in the morning and this guy still has his bathrobe on,” but then realized it was some kind of “religious get-up.”
As he got to know the Dominican friars in formation at the Dominican School of Philosphy and Theology, heard their vocation stories, sat in on classes, and talked with the novices, the idea of being a Dominican became real to him. He knew that he needed to continue the discernment process in seminary. “This idea of being a priest had just captured my attention,” Father Fores said.
Though both the Franciscan and the Dominican orders appealed to him, he chose the Dominican order since he could enter the novitiate immediately. It was so late in the application process that he had to hand-deliver his application.
After his novitiate, two years of philosophy and a semester of theology, the friars sent him back to Stanford to complete his masters in geophysics. The next year he was sent to work at the Newman Center in Eugene, Ore. There he realized he had a strong sense of call and made a decision, “Yes, I want to be a Dominican,” realizing that being a priest would be a beautiful life. Father Fones explained: “The root of the word discernment means to ‘cut away’.” He pointed out that the first part of discernment, in his case, was “discerning that I wasn’t called to be a geophysicist, then discerning I wasn’t called to be a diocesan priest, nor a Franciscan, nor called to marriage.”
Father Fones advises all young people to “focus on being a real disciple of Jesus, first,” to ask God to give you a desire to do his will, to be honest with yourself regarding your own gifts and weaknesses, and to talk with people who are doing what you are contemplating.
© 2008 Diocese of Colorado Springs. Bishop Michael J. Sheridan, Publisher. Bill Howard, Editor. Colorado Catholic Herald Online was established March 17, 2006. The Colorado Catholic Herald is the official newspaper of the Diocese of Colorado Springs.
