Noah Summers

Propaedeutic Year
Saint Paul Seminary, Saint Paul, MN
St. Edward, Afton

My name is Noah Summers, and I have been accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Des Moines. I am a parishioner of St. Edward’s Catholic Church in Afton, and I enjoy playing chess, stargazing, detective stories, and philosophy.

While I grew up Catholic, I never really considered the priesthood as an option. I always just assumed that like most other people, I would end up going to college, getting a job, and eventually getting married and having a family. It wasn’t until the end of my freshman year at Iowa State University that the thought of the priesthood began to really intrigue me. I distinctly remember sitting before the tabernacle at the student parish, and the thought just entered my mind: What if I am called to the priesthood? The thought continued to grow in my mind, and by the end of the summer before my sophomore year, I contacted the vocations director, Fr. Ross Parker, to begin more seriously discerning whether God was calling me to seminary. While I felt on fire for the priesthood at that time, both Fr. Ross and the pastor of the student parish at Iowa State advised that I finish my degree first.

Throughout the rest of my years at Iowa State, my discernment towards the seminary was not always clear. I spent some time considering a vocation to the monastic life with the Benedictine Order, and grew in my attraction towards the vocation of marriage. Throughout all of this though, God was working in my heart and forming me into someone who could begin discerning more maturely through prayer, the sacraments, and the encouragement of others. The culmination of this nearly 4 year long discernment process came at the SEEK 26 conference in Columbus, Ohio. During the conference, I attended a talk in which the question was asked “What would you do if you were fearless and full of faith?” The answer was clear in my mind almost immediately: I would apply for seminary. Upon returning home from the conference, I reached out to Fr. Ross to formally begin the application, and, praise God, have since been accepted.

Please pray for me and my fellow seminarians as we continue to discern God’s will in our lives!