By Jay Sorgi
for the Register
It is about a 17-and-a-half hour drive from Lincoln to Emmitsburg, Md., and about 19 hours from Lincoln to Ambler, Pa.
Yet two transitional deacons, one studying at a seminary in each East Coast town, made the trip for Holy Week, and will take that long trip back to Lincoln again in just over a month for their ordination to the priesthood May 23 at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, to be followed by Masses the next day at their home parishes and new assignments within the Diocese of Lincoln.
Editor's Note: See photos from the diaconate ordination Mass here.
“I can only imagine what will go through my heart to my mind,” Deacon Bradley Moss said. He has less than two months before finishing his four-year tenure at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, run by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
“The first thing I’ll do in my priesthood is to just offer the Mass, to offer Christ back to the Father in thanks.”
“It’s been really cool just to think about the meaning of that word ‘Deacon’ as a servant,” said fellow Pius X High School alumnus Deacon Peter Foley, who will join Deacon Moss that morning in Lincoln.
“I’ve seen probably more than any other time in seminary how this last year, my first year as an ordained cleric, as a deacon, has really stretched me and drawn me out of myself even more, because of that role of service that God has called me to. It’s a perfect way to lead into being called Father when I’m ordained a priest.”
Deacon Foley, based at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary 70 miles northwest of Baltimore, is the son of Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts and former Lieutenant Governor Mike Foley, and Susan Foley.
“Peter has really, you know, grown up, surrounded by solid Catholics, and a dad who really brought his faith into the public sphere,” said Father Benjamin Holdren, the director of the Propaedeutic Year at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward. He taught both deacons during their first four years there before they went east.
“It’s been really fun for me to be in relationship with Deacon Brad as a spiritual director over the years. I have always found him to be very sincere, (with) a real desire to grow in his relationship with the Lord over the years.”
Deacon Foley grew up attending daily Mass at St. Peter Parish in Lincoln, which he said led to a consistency, allowing God to work in his life. The School Sisters of Christ the King injected a prayer into his Eucharistic life.
Deacon Foley recalled one teacher instructing him, after receiving the Eucharist, to go back to the pew and pray, “Jesus, please tell me what you want me to do with my life and help me to do it.”
“I would say that prayer and always start thinking about priesthood,” he said.
He questioned his faith as he grew up, but the answer he found of fundamental truths of the person of Jesus, and his own faith in him, led him to give his life to Christ.
“The question then was able to open up again,” he said. “I’m like, ‘What is that going to look like? Married or priesthood? And then it became pretty clear after that.”
Deacon Moss knew earlier on about his vocation, also encountering the answer during Mass as a kid in grade school.
“I noticed from an early age, probably second or third grade, through going to Mass, being just captivated by what the priest was doing at the altar. And I remember as a young kid playing Mass at home, I was just really fascinated with the Mass. And then as I got older, I started serving, and really, that’s where I felt like that call started to deepen,” said Deacon Moss.
“The night of my Confirmation, right before we processed in for Mass, our teacher said, ‘(It) happens sometimes that people will receive their own call in their vocation during their Confirmation Mass, so be paying attention. If that happens, great. If it doesn’t, no worries.”
The Lamb of God came, and the moment hit the then-fifth-grader.
“Bishop (Fabian) Bruskewitz was there. Seeing him at the altar, I just had this thought out of nowhere, ‘I want to do what he’s doing.’ Then I instantly was feeling this great peace and joy. My second thought was, ‘I think what my teacher was talking about just happened. I think I just received my calling.’”
Each deacon’s calling took them through the first half of their priestly formation at St. Gregory the Great, but each went east for the second half of the journey of God’s molding them into a priest.
Both deacons are experiencing a combination of final classroom education and service at least once per week at the parish level, all in a mostly regimented schedule. Yet each gets free time, which Deacon Moss uses to explore the city’s top-quality cheesesteaks—all in moderation.
Deacon Foley serves as the chaplain of the Mount St. Mary’s University baseball team, leading a Bible study with the players, giving him practice at accompanying their life journeys.
“Some of the guys who have been more enthusiastic about learning more, I’ve been able to meet one-on-one with them... and kind of help them grow in their faith,” he said.
“It’s not just this abstract book from who knows when, but it’s something that is very impactful for their own lives and they get to meet Jesus through God’s word.”
It will get more than abstract May 23, when both men lay down their lives to be directed in God’s life mission for them in the priesthood.
(I’m) “overjoyed, overjoyed. It’s amazing,” Deacon Foley said. “It’s hard to put it into words, the culmination of basically my whole life leading up to what God’s calling me to.”
“For me to actually be able to stretch out my hand and to say the same words that Christ said, and to offer the Mass,” said Deacon Moss, “I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like.”
