By Cheri Perkins Mantz, Catholic Herald Staff

HALES CORNERS — When Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan announced in April that Saint Francis Seminary would no longer provide academic classes for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s seminarians, the air was thick with uncertainty. After months of wondering, Saint Francis seminarians began their classes Aug. 28 at Sacred Heart School of Theology.

Long known as a seminary for second-career seminarians, Sacred Heart was approached to house the academic portion of archdiocesan seminarians formation. While academic formation is taking place at Sacred Heart for Archdiocese of Milwaukee seminarians, the other three pillars of formation — pastoral, spiritual and human — will continue at Saint Francis Seminary.

One thing that hasn’t changed for the 20 Saint Francis seminarians attending Sacred Heart, is their housing location. They are still living at Saint Francis Seminary, while their new classmates live at Sacred Heart. Living locations posed another problem for the Saint Francis seminarians. How would they make the 16-mile trek from their home to their new school? They answered that question by carpooling.

“It’s about a 30-minute commute,” said Saint Francis seminarian Chuck Wrobel. “I think some people aren’t liking it, but I equate it to having a job. You get up in the morning, drive to work, then you drive home.”

The men are finding they also have more time to get to know each other during carpooling.

“I talked more to Erich (Weiss, a Saint Francis seminarian) the other day in the car than I did all last year,” said Wrobel. Most of the seminarians at Sacred Heart are older than their new classmates. The average age of a Saint Francis seminarian is late 20s, while the average age of a Sacred Heart seminarian is about 45.

“From our end, I think the younger fellows brought a lot of energy into the building,” said Sacred Heart seminarian Frank Bussmann, 61. “They’re a little louder, a little more energetic. It’s like having your kids home on Christmas vacation; there’s more life in the place.”

“I’m one of the old people (at Saint Francis),” said Wrobel, 40. “It’s nice not to have the pressure of being the old person. That’s one of the reasons I was happy about the decision (to attend Sacred Heart). I thought there would be more people with more life experience. As a young person, you have a narrow vision of how things are, and I’m hoping people will see the larger vision from these people who ran businesses and had an entire life before they came here.”

Fr. Don Hying, director of formation for Saint Francis Seminary, said it was his hope that seminarians would see this change that way.

“I think a positive part is that both groups can learn from each other,” said Fr. Hying. “The (Sacred Heart) group has a lot of life experience and can share it with our younger guys. Our younger guys have a lot to share, they have their whole life on the brink of vocation; they have enthusiasm.”

The Saint Francis seminarians recognize the age difference, but they see it as beneficial to their formation.

“Granted, we’re entering a community where the median age is higher,” said Erich Weiss, 27, from Saint Francis Seminary. “I think it’s wonderful to be around men who have been Catholic most of their lives, or their whole lives, and we’re still learning and they’re seasoned. That seasoning is what we’re learning from them. In the meantime we can give them a shot in the arm, and beat them at the soccer and volleyball games.”

“For me, I never looked at the age difference, we’re all seminarians together,” said Saint Francis seminarian Matt Widder, 24. “However, at orientation when someone mentioned that the widowers’ group is meeting, I thought, ‘Wow, this is different.’”

The more time the men spend together, they’re finding that maybe they’re not so different after all.

“At first, one would think there’s so much difference, with us coming in later in life,” said Sacred Heart seminarian, Bob Newbury, 45. “But most of us have had the same yearnings since high school and college. We have an immense similarity as far as our journey. It’s amazing, our commonalities – our devotion to the church, our call to God, that’s the same, only the age is different.”

The Sacred Heart men also seem to be enjoying the louder, more energetic young group.

“It’s not the age, but the energy level has moved upward,” said Sacred Heart seminarian, Jeff Stealey, 52. “Everyone is sitting with each other, there’s no segregation. We share a fraternity that many people do not. It’s something we’ll share the rest of our lives.”

“People always talk about the age, but you have people coming here from all over the world,” said Wrobel. “That’s an interesting aspect for us to tap in to.”

The Saint Francis seminarians admit they were surprised to learn they would not be returning to academic classes at Saint Francis Seminary.

“When I first heard it, I was shocked because St. Francis Seminary celebrated 150 years, and then bam, that’s it, you’re the last of the group,” said Chris Klusman, 30. “So that was a big transition, too.”

While the initial shock has worn off, the men choose to focus on the benefits of this collaboration.

“The benefits are it’s a more diverse group again,” said Sacred Heart seminarian, Bill DeCrans, 54. “One thing I liked about the seminary is the age range. Everyone has a different way of looking at things and with the Saint Francis people coming over here, it’s a shot in the arm. The diversity is really good; studying with people of all ages.”

Many of the Saint Francis men are looking forward to some elective courses offered at Sacred Heart, which weren’t offered at Saint Francis. Fr. Hying said the core classes are the same, but there would be some changes in electives.

“One elective course I chose was on the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” said Weiss. “I was delighted they offered a course like that here.”

“We’ve got ‘Hispanic Presence, Challenge and Mission’ and that’s a class at Saint Francis we didn’t have,” said Widder. The men agreed that there may be difficulties later in the school year, and more transitions ahead, but they feel they are all attending classes for the same purpose. “It’s important to look at the positives, not the negatives,” said Newbury. “The issue is what is God’s grace calling us to by combining our insititutions.” “Most of us who came here from different parts of the country have come to love this place and hope the new people can love it as much as we do,” said Bussmann, from Sacred Heart. “Most of the guys who go here would do anything for this place and we’re happy to have the new guys here to share it.”

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