Seminarian says CSA provides vital help
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published May 19, 2006
Marine City – Lee Acervo had wanted to be a computer software engineer from a young age, and had become one.
After all, that is why he earned a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a master’s in software management from the University of Detroit Mercy.
But he says he felt called “to do something else with my life.”
“I really became aware of how much God had blessed me in my life, and I wanted to lead other people to experience God’s goodness and love,” Acervo says.
Now, Acervo, 32, is in his second year of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, and on track to be ordained a priest in 2008.
Since January he has been doing his parish internship at Holy Cross Parish, Marine City, and its cluster partners, St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish, Algonac, and St. Mark on the Sea Parish, Harsens Island.
Acervo says the Catholic Services Appeal provides crucial help to seminarians who are in their final years of study for the priesthood.
“CSA covers tuition, fees, room and board – basically everything except for books – which obviously is a big help,” he says.
The CSA is the annual campaign to solicit pledges to fund most archdiocesan ministries. Among its beneficiaries are the seminary directly plus the assistance provided to seminarians, as well as archdiocesan departments such as the Department of Parish Life and Services, the Metropolitan Tribunal, the CTND cable channel and The Michigan Catholic.
During the first two years of his now four years at the seminary, back when he was an undergraduate, Acervo received some grants, but mostly had to pay his own way. But once he entered the theologate – the seminary’s graduate school – the Archdiocese of Detroit began picking up the cost of his education.
This has been the case since Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka decided he did not want graduate level seminarians having to work outside jobs while in their final years of study and formation.
Not only are graduate-level seminarians not allowed to have part-time jobs during the school year, but their summers are filled with experiences such as clinical pastoral education (typically in hospitals) or parish internships or studying Spanish in Mexico.
“We’re all very grateful for the assistance CSA provides for us. We all hope and pray for more vocations to the priesthood. It would be a shame if money were an obstacle for somebody wanting to enter into the priesthood,” Acervo says.
Acervo will return as third-year theology student in the fall.
Designed to let seminarians observe how a pastor functions in a parish, as well as other aspects of parish life, he says the program requires him to “basically just get involved in as much of the life of the parish as I can.”
For Acervo, that has meant assisting at Mass; working with the altar servers; helping with baptism, marriage and RCIA classes; conducting rosary or scripture services at funeral homes; leading the final prayers of committal at gravesites; and “sitting in on lots of meetings.”
And with Holy Cross having its own elementary school, as well as being adjacent to Cardinal Mooney High School, there are both parish and school meetings.
“Sometimes, it’s just following the pastor – Fr. Tim Birney – around and seeing what he gets involved in,” Acervo explains.
Acervo, whose parents came to the United States from the Philippines, grew up in St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, Madison Heights, and has belonged to SS. Cyril & Methodius Parish, Sterling Heights, for about eight years.
He says his parish internship has helped confirm his sense of vocation: “As I’ve been getting involved in the life of the parish, I’ve really felt this is what God is calling me to. We all enter the seminary to minister to people and to do God’s work, and the parish is where it’s at.
“So, being with the people and praying with the people has been really rewarding, and has helped me to understand the role of the pastor more,” Acervo adds.
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