Lloyd Scott McKee - Holy Apostles Seminary
I’m a convert. I was baptized at Central United Methodist church in Albuquerque in 1961. I was received into the Catholic Church by Archbishop Robert Sanchez at the Cathedral in Santa Fe at the Easter Vigil in 1983. Now 24 years later, I’m in the second semester of pre-theology at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.
I’m still converting. My conversion is ongoing and won’t be finished in this life. When my evangelical friends pose their favorite question I always answer “I’m being saved.” I was baptized and it took. I find that every day and at every moment Jesus is calling me to turn away from everything that isn’t in His will for me and to continually return to follow Him on the narrow path that leads to life. He shares the yoke with me and so the burden is light.
I used to go to the main public library a lot when I was in high school. Immaculate Conception Church is right across the street. It is an impressive edifice with a beautiful bas relief over the front doors. Immaculate Conception. “What is that?” I wondered. I looked it up in the library. Sometime later I peeked inside the church. I saw the mosaic of our Lady standing on the crescent moon surrounded by the angels; votive candles flickering in the dark cool church. Shortly thereafter I bought a rosary at Garson’s, and a little pamphlet. I would sneak into the church, light a candle, and pray. So I have the Blessed Virgin Mary to thank for the grace of conversion.
The Eucharist is the source and summit of life, and was the cause of my conversion. When I was a kid I would sometimes go to Mass with my cousin Pat. That was my first exposure to the Eucharist. My folks taught me about Jesus and how to pray, I learned about the scriptures and the teaching of Christ in Sunday school, and I loved to listen to the strong preaching of the Rev. Dr. Lemuel Finn. But I wondered why the altar in the middle of the sanctuary of our church that had the words “Do This in Remembrance of Me’ on it, was only used as a table to put big flower arrangements on. Once, when I was visiting my grandmother, we went to church at Polk Street United Methodist church in Amarillo. At the end of the service it was announced that the quarterly Holy Communion service would happen in the basement immediately afterwards. I begged my nana to let me go, and I received communion for the first time. I thought “those Catholics sure are lucky, they get to receive communion every day right there during the service!” I was hungry for the Eucharist; to have His life in me.
Many years later, when I was at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, I was “spiritually searching”. I had stopped going to the Methodist Church, yet I knew that I was a Christian; still, I was yearning for something. I found out that a newly ordained priest, Fr. Doug Raun, was going to teach an enquirer’s class at the college, so I started attending those meetings. Fr. Raun, now Msgr. Raun, has turned out to be a guide and mentor for me through the years. There were some cradle Catholics in the class who had never been confirmed, and some other Protestants like me. We read “The Teachings of Christ”, and had good discussion and fellowship. I started going to Mass at the Carmelite Monastery just down the road from the college, and met the prioress, Mother Rose Teresa. She has also been a touchstone for me, and I know that the Carmelite nuns' prayers have been instrumental in my life. May the Lord bless them, good measure, shaken down, and overflowing.
After being received into the Church I thought I had a vocation to the monastic life, or maybe the priesthood. For one reason or another that never worked out. I ended up going to work and enjoying my version of the American dream, but something was always lacking and I never felt I had found my calling. In 2004 I was in spiritual direction with Msgr. Raun and the question of vocation came up. Under his guidance I tried the postulancy at Christ in the Desert Benedictine Abbey in Abiquiu, and visited the Discalced Carmelite Friars in California. We finally discerned that our Lord was calling me to the diocesan priesthood. I met with Fr. DePalma and Archbishop Sheehan, and they sent me to Holy Apostles.
Formation is hard work. It is not just academics, but a way of life 24/7. The program encourages development in all areas, spiritual, human, academic, and pastoral. Our seminary is a simple and humble place, very orthodox, and has a great spirit of evangelism and zeal for souls. The community is solid and we share good and charitable fraternity. We are here not to become scholars but to be formed into good and holy pastors. My summer assignment at Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish in Albuquerque with Fr. Bennett J. Voorhies was a great blessing. I was able to witness one of those pastors in action. I was sobered by the sheer amount of work, the time and effort that it takes to be a pastor. At the same time I saw that if the Lord is calling you to it nothing else will satisfy and the rewards are beyond compare. They are eternal.
