MEAD (SNR) – St. James Parish in Mead joyfully celebrated the parish’s first priestly vocation Sunday, April 11.
Father Seth Sabata, L.C., offered his first Mass of Thanksgiving in the church, a day after being ordained a priest for the international congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.
His ordination Mass was celebrated April 10 in North American Martyrs Church in Lincoln, by Emeritus Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz.
Raised in Wahoo, the son of Bob and Becky, Father Sabata has one sister and two brothers. He graduated from Bishop Neumann Jr./Sr. High School in Wahoo in 2006 and studied biochemistry for a year at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., before joining the Legionaries of Christ.
“The priests both at my parish at St. James and at Bishop Neumann High School were always a good example for me,” he said. “I also really appreciate the Benedictine monks at Benedictine College who helped guide me during my year of college.”
He said he first heard the call to the priesthood while on missionary work in New Orleans during spring break of his first year of college.
“There I met the Legionaries and hearing the vocation story of one of them, I felt the Lord asking me, ‘And why not you?’” he said. “My path to join the Legionaries started there. When I found out more about their spirituality and charism, I fell in love with the Legionaries of Christ and the movement that it forms part of, Regnum Christi.”
Regnum Christi, Father Sabata explained, is made up of Legionary priests, consecrated women, consecrated men and lay members – including in the Diocese of Lincoln.
“We all share the same charism and spirituality,” he said. “Our charism is, above all, making present the mystery of Christ who calls his disciples, reveals to them the love of his heart, gathers them together, forms them, sends them out and accompanies them. A shorter way of saying it is ‘forming Christian apostles.’”
Father Sabata spent 13 years in formation and study for his April 10 priestly ordination. He had two years of novitiate study and one year of humanities studies in Cheshire, Conn. from 2007-10. He studied for his bachelor’s in philosophy in Rome until 2012, and then spent three years working apostolically in Salamanca, Spain. He concluded his studies in Rome, completing a master’s in philosophy and a bachelor’s in theology from 2015-20.
Typically, he would have been ordained with his class in Rome. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, each member of his theology class was asked to be ordained either in his home country, or in the country where each member will work.
“I am very grateful to Bishop (James) Conley for allowing me to be ordained here and Bishop Bruskewitz for presiding my ordination,” he said.
Now ordained, Father Sabata will work in Manila, Philippines, as a chaplain for university students and helping young people make life decisions.
“I am very excited about celebrating the Eucharist and building communion in the community that I will be working in,” Father Sabata said. “Above all, I look forward to letting God heal people through me, both in confession and in accompaniment.”
Father Sabata is the first priestly vocation for St. James Parish in Mead, established in 1882. It is a source of joy both for the parish and to Father Sabata himself.
“I owe a lot to my parish for my own growth in my faith,” he said. “I don’t think I can take any credit for being the first priestly vocation of our parish, it was the Lord who called and gave me the grace to respond!”
Photos courtesy Wayne Ringer
