Fr. Johnston to the Young Church: Be the ‘superheroes’ you were made to be!

By Fr. Matthew Johnston
Guest Coumnist

I have been a big fan of “superhero” stories – movies and comic books about characters such as Captain America, Spiderman and Batman – for as long as I can remember.

What is it about superheroes that makes them so appealing to us?

I think it’s because they are continually striving to help others and overcoming challenges, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Superheroes also earn our respect because they usually have to sacrifice something of themselves in order to achieve that greater good.

As a kid growing up in Mandeville (attending Our Lady of the Lake Elementary School and St. Paul’s High School), I wanted to be a superhero but thought my own path to “greatness” would be through becoming an astronaut.

I have always been fascinated by anything to do with space, astronomy and aviation. My dad used to travel a lot for his job, and whenever the 2-year-old me would see a plane flying overhead, I would point to it and say, “Dad’s coming home!”

In high school, I joined the Jr. ROTC, thinking that many pilots and astronauts had gotten their start in the military. When I got to college, I majored in engineering, a field I believed would lead me to “the American dream” of financial and material success.

But about one year shy of college graduation, something didn’t feel quite right. I felt God putting a question on my heart: “Are you happy?”

I realized the answer was no – I wasn’t feeling joy in what I was doing in the present; joy always seemed to be “on the horizon” – something I would find at some future time in which I had all the trappings of success.

So, four years into my engineering studies, I began reflecting on where I was going and where true happiness lay.

This reignited a desire in me to explore the priesthood, a possibility that had first occurred to me on a parish mission trip to Mexico the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school. On that trip, for the first time in my life, I was introduced to the day-to-day life and humanity of a priest through one of our chaperones. He was so happy and full of joy and had a great sense of humor!

Although I felt drawn to the priesthood as a teenager, I quickly dismissed the idea. Six years later, there I was, feeling God tugging at my heart inside an empty church after Mass. He was saying, “Come follow me! I have something that I want to lead you to!”

After some additional discernment, I left college and entered the seminary.

Now I can say, without reservation, that gazing at the earth from outer space as an astronaut would pale in comparison to the privilege I have as a priest to walk with my parishioners in their times of happiness and grief.

To me, the greatest appeal of the priesthood, outside of growing intimacy with God, is being invited into the most vulnerable moments of people’s lives. For example, when a priest is asked to go to the bedside of someone who is dying, he enters into one of the most challenging and sacred moments of the family’s life. How many outsiders are going to be invited into that moment?

Priests are also invited into the happy moments of people’s lives – birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries. It’s a real gift to share in that, too.

Know this also: Although the call to the priesthood might be different from the calling to married or single life, priests are “normal” people who have pets and hobbies just like you! I have a miniature Golden Doodle named Auri (Latin for gold), and my three favorite hobbies allow me to get out into God’s creation: kayaking, hiking and scuba diving.

So, as you’re deciding what path you want to take in life, remember this: The world tells us that we are going to find happiness, joy and greatness in things; God reminds us that we actually will find happiness, joy and greatness in fulfilling the purpose for which we were created.

If you leave with one thing from my vocation story, let it be an openness to letting God lead you, because he’s going to take care of you and he is not going to let you down! He’s going to offer you that which will not only make you happy, but that which is going to make you the superhero you were created to be!

Father Matthew Johnston, 37, was ordained to the priesthood in 2014. He is pastor of St. Benilde Church in Metairie and a canon lawyer in the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Metropolitan Tribunal, which works to ensure that people receive all the sacraments that they can.