Deacon Dall shares call to priesthood (This is the first article in a new monthly series, Hearing the Call, which will feature interviews with Catholics of all ages and situations who “have welcomed Christ’s call . . . to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world” (Catechism, #3). To comment or submit ideas for future interviews contact Father Kent Bowlds, vocation director, frkent@bellsouth.net, (www.jacksonvocations.com), 653 Claiborne Ave., Jackson, MS 39209, 601-944-9844.)
By Lincoln Dall
Tracing back my call to the priesthood to specific events can be a very daunting task, since there have been so many people and experiences that have influenced me in a significant way.
Yet, I am able to recognize the most significant people and events that have influenced my call to the priesthood relate to my experiences as a social justice volunteer and a lay missionary.
After I spent time in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, I realized God was calling me to work with the poor.
As a lay missionary volunteer, I spent three years working in Canada at a soup kitchen, a food bank, and a healing center serving indigenous people.
I then spent three years in the rainforest jungles of Ecuador as a lay missionary with the Comboni Missionaries and a year teaching at a missionary school in Texas.
I changed in so many ways through each of those experiences, knowing that somehow I wanted to devote the rest of my life to doing God’s work.
As a lay missionary, it really touched my heart to see how homeless people survived on the streets during the brutal Canadian winters and how some of my students in Ecuador spent hours paddling a canoe just to make it to school.
Through my missionary work, I became familiar with liberation theology and God’s “preferential option for the poor.” It seemed like a whole new world had opened up for me.
One event sticks out in my mind from my missionary experiences.
I was spending the Christmas holidays in a small village deep in the rainforest of Ecuador named San Francisco de Onzole.
During my three years in Ecuador as a missionary, I traveled several hours by canoe to this village every weekend from our missionary base to administer and teach at a high school there and to teach religious education to the children.
On Christmas Eve, we were all gathered in the church, singing Christmas hymns in Spanish to the beat of drums and maracas.
The darkness of the rainforest jungle was all around us, barely pierced by the light emitting from the few candles we had in the church.
Having grown up in an urban environment in Chicago and southern California, this experience of Christmas in the rainforest seemed like a dream.
But, as I was surrounded by the people of the missions who I knew and loved so well, it made me realize how global and diverse the kingdom of God really is.
It was such a humbling experience to feel like a part of this faith community.
I came to Mississippi in 2000 to work on a graduate degree in education and to teach at the public high school in Greenville as a member of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.
Even though I was teaching at a public school, I still approached this calling of teaching the children and youth with the heart of a missionary.
I became an active member of Sacred Heart Parish in Greenville; through their encouragement, I began to realize how strongly I was being called to the priesthood.
Looking back, I would never have guessed the different places I would be called to during my lifetime.
Having started my professional career as a certified public accountant (CPA) in a large auditing firm, I never imagined that I would end up traveling to different mission sites in a canoe through the South American rainforests or singing in the Gospel choir at Sacred Heart Parish in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.
Nevertheless, I cannot even begin to convey the thanks and gratitude I have in my heart for the beautiful experiences I have had and the loving people I have met.
I am now in my fourth year as a seminarian for the Diocese of Jackson at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis.
I aspire to be ordained a priest for the diocese after I finish my studies in May 2008.
My experiences at the seminary have been another wonderful part of this journey.
Not only is it a blessing to study the Sacred Scriptures and theology in the classroom, but I have had many other hands-on and practical experiences throughout my four years here.
The seminary community up here is very much a nurturing family; I consider myself very fortunate to have such a solid foundation in my formation for the priesthood.
I am so grateful to the people of the Jackson diocese for this opportunity to be in preparation for the priesthood.
I look forward to returning to the diocese at the end of this school year to serve the people of God there.
