The first three influenced Jaeger’s spiritual life and, in the case of the Packers, the die-hard green and gold backer didn’t want to live and minister in a city full of Minnesota Vikings fans. As Jaeger, who will be 37 on Saturday, explored the idea of priesthood, he turned to the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis, where a close college friend was a seminarian. But after making the nearly six-hour drive twice to meet with the vocations director, Jaeger decided he wanted to be closer to home – to his family and his beloved Packers.

Jaeger, a soft-spoken man whose eyes always seem to be smiling, said the idea of priesthood never crossed his mind as he grew up near Campbellsport. In fact, the second youngest of Jeanne and Jerome Jaeger’s 10 children envisioned his future with a wife and children. Growing up, the family sporadically attended Sunday Mass, and Jaeger said that when he received the sacrament of confirmation as a senior in high school, he viewed that as a graduation from church. Never one to plan, Jaeger said after graduating from Pardeeville High School, where his family moved for his last two years of high school so his father could be closer to Madison for dialysis treatments, he went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a year, but dropped out, realizing he was unsure of a major.

Jaeger joined the Air Force and spent the next four years in communications and computer operations in South Korea, Turkey and Colorado Springs.

Choosing not to re-enlist in the Air Force, “because then I’d have to be responsible for something,” Jaeger, in an interview with your Catholic Herald at Saint Francis Seminary, said he returned to Campbellsport — where his family had relocated — at age 25 to work as a landscaper and golf course groundskeeper. "I was the Bill Murray in ‘Caddyshack,’” said Jaeger of his time at the golf course, adding, “I definitely knew I’d go back to college, but I didn’t know what I wanted to go into.”

Jaeger described his life at the time as “a pretty typical life for a young man in the 1990s.” Religion was not a part of it, said Jaeger, who noted his mother became involved in their parish, St. Kilian, after his father’s death in 1989.

Deciding he didn’t like the direction his life was heading, Jaeger returned to his faith. Once he made this decision, Jaeger said, like many Generation Xers, he expected immediate results.

He recalled being disappointed his life remained much the same. Jaeger persisted, however, in rebuilding a faith life, and recalled telling his mother of his decision. "I told my mother I was thinking about practicing my faith again, and she looked at me and told me, ‘I think you’re going to become a priest,’” said Jaeger. Shocked, Jaeger who was 27 at the time, remembers insisting to his mother, “No, I’m not going to be a priest.” She helped him arrange a meeting with St. Kilian pastor, Fr. Victor Kemmer, who Jaeger said would become a great influence in his life. He noted sadly, that Fr. Kemmer, who retired from active ministry in 1987, died last month.

At his mother’s suggestion, Jaeger enrolled at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and completed a degree in philosophy. Mostly to appease his mother and prove to her he wasn’t called to priesthood, Jaeger enrolled for a year in the pre-theology program intended for students considering priesthood. He left the program after a year, but following graduation, Jaeger, who returned home to work in his family’s business, found the idea of priesthood kept nagging at him.

“Fr. Victor must have given me Fr. Bob’s (Stiefvater) number at least four times, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and kept putting it off,” said Jaeger, describing how Fr. Kemmer encouraged him to contact the then-archdiocesan director for vocations.

Also, about this time, a friend gave Jaeger a book, written by a monsignor from St. Louis, titled “Priests for the Third Millennium.” The book, which contains a series of conferences the monsignor had given to seminarians at the North American College of which he was rector, helped convince Jaeger that he should pursue priesthood. In order to test his possible vocation, Jaeger attended the 2001 ordination of three priests for the archdiocese at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee. He sat at the back of the cathedral, and knowing no one, observed the process and remembers being awed by the experience. Seeing the ordinations firsthand convinced Jaeger to place the call to Fr. Stiefvater, only to learn the priest had just left for a month long recruiting trip to South America. Again, his vocation was on hold.

When Fr. Stiefvater returned, however, they met and Jaeger began the process that will lead to his ordination next week. The following spring, however, Jaeger said his decision was severely tested as the revelations of sexual abuse of children by priests was a huge national news story. That summer, while working at the family business, Jaeger remembers thinking he would not return to the seminary that fall. A relative interrupted his thoughts, however, asking him if he had ever heard of Timothy Dolan, the man who was appointed the 10th archbishop of Milwaukee.

That was the first Jaeger knew that the man whose book so strongly influenced his decision to become a priest would now be the leader of his home diocese.

It convinced him to remain at Saint Francis Seminary. As he approaches life as a priest, Jaeger looks forward to working with children and maybe teaching on the high school or college level. Not one to make career plans, however, Jaeger said, “All I really want to do is be a parish priest.” He hopes to model his priesthood in part after Fr. Kemmer.

"I saw in him a love for the priesthood, a love for the church, a love for the people he serves. I don’t think I ever heard him say a bad word about anybody,” said Jaeger.

Jaeger’s first assignment will be near his rural Fond du Lac County roots as a team member at Holy Family Parish, Fond du Lac. That will put him close to his family, especially his mother and younger brother, Jody, and his family to whom he’s close. While Jaeger admitted some friends have been surprised by his vocation to priesthood, thinking it’s too great of a sacrifice, he said he is at peace with his decision.

“Some think I’m crazy; all they see is that I’m giving up marriage,” he said, “but I believe celibacy is a gift from God that he’s given me.” Admitting it’s not easy; Jaeger said he’s happy with his life. The process to priesthood has been long, he noted, but he’s amazed to think in a couple weeks, “I could be hearing confessions.” Never one to map his life out, Jaeger is now content to leave the planning for his future to God.