September 25, 2024

Amanda Conklin
Contributing Writer

Though he has only been an ordained priest for four months, Father Carter G. Pierce is already diving headfirst into his vocation and, though one of our youngest priests in the diocese at 26, he’s rapidly gaining experience.

There are growing pains as a young priest, but it has many advantages too.

“People notice how young you are, and they are curious,” he said. “It is a sign of contradiction but in a positive light. It opens doors to preach the gospel to people who might not have had ears to hear otherwise.”

Father Pierce has already been getting the feel for parish life, being stationed in Morrisonville, Peru, and Cadyville, but has also had the opportunity to visit some of the former parishes where he was stationed during summers in seminary and as a deacon.

One of his favorite parts of life as a priest has been his deep experience while giving blessings.

“I want to share the grace that I’ve received” he said. “Through first blessings I was able to see the power of God working through me. People became a mirror to me of what had transpired through me.”

Father Pierce recently visited a very large parish where he had once been assigned during his time in seminary at Mount Saint Mary’s in Maryland. The young priest was able to celebrate Masses and offer blessings in between Masses.

“I did nothing else but celebrate Mass and give first blessings up until the next Mass began,” he said. “I went for seven hours straight. It was epic! Hundreds of people received blessings that day.”

Father Pierce didn’t always think he’d be a priest. In fact, he shared that two-thirds of his seminary class ended up discerning out, and he always figured he might be one of those statistics.

“I did not expect that I was going to stay, I thought I was one of the ones who would leave. I’m so happy He broke through my deafness. I’m joyful and peaceful as a priest although I never would have envisioned this for myself. Life with God is an adventure.”

Father Pierce offered some beautiful advice for other young men who may be discerning the priesthood themselves:

“The call the Lord gives is always in the form of an invitation and not a summons,” he said. “He wants us to live in freedom. Discernment is meant to be a meeting of two hearts. It’s not just about what the Lord wants for us without any consideration of how that corresponds to the desires of our hearts. At the same time, the Lord is the one who knows us best having created us, he knows us better than we know ourselves. You can trust him and ask him to reveal you to yourself. Offer yourself to God. Don’t hold back and put conditions on Him in your discernment. He may not lead where you expect, he may just want you to make that self-offering.”

During this election year, there has been a lot of talk about separation of church and state. Father Pierce explained that many misunderstand the concept and think the intent was to protect the state from the Church. It was intended to be the opposite. Father Pierce said he believes the biggest thing we need to improve as a Church is our evangelization efforts. “There is this strong sense of separation of church and state in our country,” he said. “More and more, people are asking us to keep our faith to ourselves. If you hear that enough you’re going to start doing it, it’s just natural. But we have the saving truth. We have to share that.”

We evangelize best when we live what we believe. This is what Father Pierce shared when asked what it means to be Catholic.

“Catholicism is a sacramental faith so we cannot discount the importance of our identity in the Church through the sacraments,” he said. “At the same time, living Catholicism faithfully is a matter of receiving all the gifts that God wants to give and then offering everything back in a posture of self-offering. I’m thinking specifically of the Eucharist. It’s a gift that no other Christians get to enjoy. And the love of God we receive in the Eucharist is to then be shared – to God and neighbor. All of us as Catholics are called to work on humility too. We are called to embrace things that we don’t always understand fully. It’s not an opt-in, choose your own package, kind of faith, like pay per view. We embrace it all. We make this submission, trusting in the Lord’s guidance and the Holy Spirit’s presence beyond our own understanding and inclinations. There are things in our faith that I wrestle with, things I don’t fully understand. Adopting a posture of humility in that is important.”

Throughout his vocational journey, Father Pierce has tried to make sure his Catholic faith has been the foundation of everything, as that is what being Catholic truly means. “It’s not meant to be a part of our life,” he said. “It’s meant to be the core, the foundation from where everything else stems. It informs every part of our life. It’s not even the most important part, for then it’s still just a part. It is meant to animate every part of our lives, to influence the way we think and act.”