The Midwest Province Ordains Rev. Derek Swanson

Left: Bishop Sabatini and Derek Swanson before his ordination June 19, 2003.

Right: Fr. Golden laying hands on Derek.

Rev. Derek Swanson’s, CM, story begins in Alaska and ends (for the moment) in Cape Girardeau Missouri…with many stops on a long fjourney in between.

The second of five children, Fr. Derek was born in Alaska but moved to Sharon Springs, Kansas, (near the Colorado border) as a toddler. It was here that he grew into a young man, attended the high school where both of his parents taught and began thinking, although admittedly not too seriously at this age, about becoming a priest. He visited several universities exploring his vocation, but settled on attending the University of Kansas and enrolling in their pre-med program. (When this course of study didn’t agree with him, Fr. Derek changed his major and eventually received an undergraduate degree in music therapy.) As a freshman, he became involved in a vocational awareness program, conceding he was initially only attracted to it for the free food offered at the gatherings. But it was through this opportunity during his junior year, that he eventually met the Vincentians.

"I didn’t know who St. Vincent de Paul was at first and so I spent some time looking up his writings in the library," Fr. Derek recollects. "I was especially drawn to his writings about the dignity of the poor and of seeing Christ in the poor," he added. Learning about St. Vincent complimented the volunteer work he was doing at area social service agencies and soup kitchens. And in the Fall of 1995, after his senior year internship at the VA Hospital in Topeka, Kansas, Fr. Derek joined the Vincentians to explore life in community and decide if it was right for him. Initially, he went

to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and worked with the youth group at St. Vincent De Paul Parish, was a substitute teacher at the parish school, assisted with the 8th grade Christmas play, and did whatever else was needed or asked of him. He was living at the rectory with Fr. Milton Ryan, Bro. Joe Sebeck, and Fr. Jay Gibson until August 1996. It was then that he moved to novitiate in Philadelphia for one year, before landing in St. Louis in the Fall of 1997 to begin studying at Aquinas Institute of Theology.

During this time, Fr. Derek says although he was feeling more comfortable about a life with the Vincentians, he was still unsure about making a commitment. But as time moved on, each year brought more security and comfort and the thought that God was calling him. He studied at Aquinas from the Fall of 1997 to the Spring of 1999 before taking an internship in New York City at St. John the Baptist Parish in Brooklyn. Here, he visited families living in public housing, ran the RCIA (Right of Christian Initiation of Adults) program for those studying to become Catholic and taught Kindergarten and first graders religious education four days a week in the church’s after-school program.

Returning to St. Louis to finish his studies, Fr. Derek graduated in May 2003 from Aquinas Institute of Theology with two masters degrees, a Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Theology. During this time, he worked with St. Vincent de Paul Parish, St. Francis de Sales Parish, and as a transitional deacon at St. Catherine Laboure Parish until his ordination in Chicago on June 19, 2003.

Not only was this ordination an exciting moment in Fr. Derek’s thirty-two-year-old life, but a wonderful occasion for the Vincentians since the last ordination in the province was Rev. David Nations, CM, in 1997. Fr. Derek’s ordination ceremony took place at St. Vincent de Paul Parish near DePaul University and marked the end of the Midwest Province’s assembly in Chicago.

Both Fr. Derek’s mother and father attended and were thrilled when he was ordained. ("My mother was more nervous than I was!" Fr. Derek shared.) And all of his brothers and sisters, with the exception of one brother serving in the military in Bosnia, were there to celebrate with him.

Now residing for three years in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Fr. Derek will learn from Fr. Charlie Prost how to be a parish priest and what it means to live and work in a parish full-time. Some of his roles include doing masses at the parish, conducting the nursing home masses, potentially working with the youth programs, and simply getting to know the parish & the people. "The people here are so welcoming and friendly… inviting me into their homes," he shares. "It is so valuable that they are willing to open up their lives like that to a stranger. It’s amazing…I don’t know if I could do that," he adds.

Thus far, his interests are varied. "I have a passion for everything at this point," he stated. "I love the aged, the youth and everyone in-between." He says he has yet to find a specific calling as he likes so much of what goes on in the parish. And although he doesn’t know what the future holds, part of him wants to stay in parish ministry, and another interest is the "mission band/revival" work of traveling to parishes to inspire and educate. Yet another interest is to go back to school and study marriage or adult counseling, or possibly pursue patristics (the study of early church fathers.)

For now, Fr. Derek is fulfilled and happy. "I find parish work challenging in that it causes me to evaluate how Christ is working in a particular community, and also rewarding in learning how I can come into that community and work without trying to change the people," he concludes.

Attending Derek Swanson's ordination were: (left to right)Brs. Dave Goodman, Ken Lund, Leo Kreigher, Paul Joseph, Tom Juneman (Western Province) and Richard Hermann.

Vincentian is published bimonthly by the Midwest and Southern Provinces of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian Priests and Brothers, to promote the apostolic works of its members and those of the larger Vincentian Family.

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