Home | About Us | Contact Vocation Office | Site Directory

Vocation Prayer

       My name is Brother Benedict Humpfer and I was born in Hammond, IN.  My home was in Lansing, IL, where I was raised and went to Catholic grade school and public high school.   I am an only child.

       My coming to the SCJ community was not a straight road.  Individuals are aware of God’s call at different times.  I felt the call to become a priest from very young on.  All through my grade school days I had the desire to become a priest.  After completing my grade school years I was intending to go to the seminary for the Archdiocese of Chicago.  Due to the distance of travel and because this was not a boarding school, I decided with my parents that it would be better for me to go to the local public high school, since there were no Catholic high schools in our area.  After finishing high school I went to my local parish to see about entering the seminary, but failed to get much help. 

        I still pursued the call that I was experiencing.   I talked with one of my cousins who put me in touch with a parish priest in near-by Hammond.  Through the help of this priest I was able to enter St. Lawrence Seminary at Mt. Calvary, WI in the fall of 1962.  I was to study for the diocese of Gary, IN.  During my year at St. Lawrence, as College Candidate, I had to take two years of Latin in one year because I did not have a background in Latin.  This was the time when Vatican II was just starting and Latin for priesthood was a requirement.  I had a particularly hard time with Latin and did very poorly.  It was suggested by the seminary that maybe I should pursue a religious vocation instead of priesthood.

       I was still determined to follow what I thought was the call to priesthood.  I investigated several religious communities.  In the meantime it was the vocation director for the Priests of the Sacred Heart that contacted me without me giving him my name.  He told me that he had heard that I might be interested in becoming a religious brother.  My response to him was that I was still interested in priesthood.  With that, he sent me information on the SCJ priesthood, delayed vocations, and SCJ brotherhood.  As I looked at the material that was sent and the material from other orders, the SCJ brotherhood became more and more appealing, and was what I felt I was looking for.  I finally contacted Brother Camillus in April and told him that I wished to talk with him about the possibility of entering the community.   Finally, after several attempts Brother did get to see me and then I decided that I would enter the SCJ’s as a candidate in September of 1964.  I left for St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Baileys Harbor, WI.  After spending six months as a candidate, six months as a postulant and a year as a novice I professed my first vows as a religious brother on August 28, 1966. 

        Entering the community, and as time went on through my formation years, I began to see more clearly what God was calling me to.  He did intend me to be a priest by calling me to a Congregation that calls itself The Priests of the Sacred Heart.  It was the mind of our Founder, Father Leo John Dehon, that anyone who came to religious life was offering his life as a sacrifice and that is what a priest does, offers sacrifice.  Each day for me is an offering of my life to God when I participate at Mass united with Jesus Christ. I am a Priest of the Sacred Heart, and professed as a religious brother.

        Through my years of religious life I have been allowed to serve in various ministries.  I spent a number of years working at our Novitiate as Food Service Director.  I ministered at our minor seminary in IN, as Food Service Director, worked with student finances, taught freshman religion, worked with ceramics and was assistant Dean of Boys.  I ministered in Mississippi for fifteen years as associate pastor, RCIA director, youth group director and religious education director.  I also taught grades six, seven and eight religion and was director of religious education for Sacred Heart School as well as being on the Diocesan Board for Religious Education.  I also taught ceramics which many students remember.   After Mississippi I spent three years as a superior for our senior residence here in Wisconsin.  For the past four years I have now been ministering in the vocation office.

        Not that there haven’t been difficult moments but I have had many years of joyful ministry. Living a religious commitment in community life, sharing daily prayer, meals and ministry with my fellow SCJ Brothers has brought joy and peace. As a religious brother each day is making the ordinary moments sacred and offering them to God as a return gift for all that God has given to me.   It is my prayer that others will hear the invitation of God and come to share in this same offering.

Top of Page