By Maryangela Layman Román, Catholic Herald Staff

ST. FRANCIS — Conor Dugan has a word of warning for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as Joseph Shimek prepares for his ordination to the priesthood on Saturday. “Future parishioners, beware,” wrote Dugan, one of Shimek’s best friends, in an e-mail to your Catholic Herald, “Joe is renowned for his practical jokes or the fast ones he plays on people. I wish I could say such pranks were rarities, but with Joe you must always be on your guard.”

Dugan, an attorney in Washington D.C. who works for the Department of Justice and who was Shimek’s University of Notre Dame Law School roommate, knows firsthand of Shimek’s playful manner.

He described a conference that he and Shimek, 29, attended. Dugan handed his friend his cell phone to hold while he used the restroom. He had turned the ringer off so as not to disturb other conference attendees. Later that day, however, Dugan was in a panel discussion with another friend when a cell phone sounded.

“I looked at my friend, annoyed, and asked, ‘Whose cell phone is that?’ She replied, ‘I think it’s yours.’ Sure enough, it was. I knew I had been had and I turned toward the back of the auditorium and there was Joe with a Cheshire cat-type grin on his face.”

Dugan noted that Shimek “was so devious he’d hatched his plan early in the day and then executed it many, many hours later.”

‘Scary smart’ man is ‘gift to church’

While Dugan shared several anecdotes about Shimek’s harmless antics, he also had high praise for the man he said he used to describe as “scary smart” because of his ability to synthesize and understand so many strands of knowledge. He said he’s confident his friend of nine years is “an incredible man and an incredible gift to the church.”

Dugan and Shimek met in Krakow, Poland in 1999 while participating in a program on Catholic Social Thought.

“From Poland on, Joe and I were thick as thieves,” wrote Dugan, explaining that Shimek came to Washington, D.C. to visit him while he was doing an internship. At the time, Shimek, a graduate of St. Mary School, Elm Grove, and Brookfield Academy, had just completed his bachelor’s in philosophy degree at St. Anselm College, New Hampshire.

Planning to follow in his father’s footsteps as an attorney, Shimek graduated from law school in 2002. Dugan noted that Shimek’s experience and description of Notre Dame was a key factor in his decision to attend that school.

Decision surprised parents

Shimek, the oldest of Jerome and Anna Shimek’s three children, surprised his parents when, about a year after earning his law degree and passing Wisconsin’s bar, he decided to pursue priesthood. Shimek had been working as a judicial law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit when he couldn’t ignore the call to priesthood that he had felt for much of his life.

“I can still remember where I was standing. I was in chambers in the library, a private library. I decided in my heart that I wanted to approach the archdiocese and see what happened,” said Shimek in an interview with your Catholic Herald. He chuckled as he recalled his next step. Not knowing anything about a vocations office or the typical protocol for inquiring into priesthood, Shimek said he did what seemed logical: sent an e-mail to Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, expressing his desire to be a priest.

Much to his surprise, the archbishop responded quickly, inviting him to coffee at his residence the following Saturday morning.

Shimek recalled their conversation as a time when he poured his heart out to the archbishop regarding a possible call to priesthood.

“We had a long conversation and I told him everything that was in my heart, everything I was thinking,” said Shimek. “I remember asking, ‘Should I come right away or should I wait awhile, practice law, and see what happens?’

“I remember distinctly, he said, ‘A vocation is classically understood to be something that needs to be nurtured and protected. I think you should come into the seminary right away.’”

From St. Francis to Rome

Archbishop Dolan put Shimek in touch with then vocations director, Fr. Bob Stiefvater, and things progressed quickly. Shimek expected to begin studies at Saint Francis Seminary in fall 2003, but on May 1 of that year, Archbishop Dolan called him and said he’d like for him to receive his formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where the archbishop had been rector.

By June 1, Shimek was on his way to New York for an immersion program to study Italian. He earned his undergraduate degree, an S.T.B. in theology, magna cum laude, in 2006 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and will receive his graduate degree, an S.T.L. in dogmatic theology, next year from the same university. He expects to be assigned to an archdiocesan parish after that.

He believes his law degree and journalism background — he was editor-in-chief of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, 2001-2002 and since 2002 has been an editorial contributor to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Commonweal Magazine, America Magazine, Salon.com and your Catholic Herald — will be useful. But overall, Shimek said he is looking forward to parish life.

Desire is to be parish priest

“As a parish priest, I think it will be helpful to have that background. But even though I am a lawyer, it will be secondary to being a priest. I’m at the disposal of the archdiocese, whatever they need, but I think in a parish, it’ll be very helpful,” he said.

Patrick Riffle, Shimek’s classmate at the North American College, who described Shimek as “an older brother for me in this seminary,” believes Shimek will be an asset to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

“Joe is not only a builder of community, but he is a true leader. He has a wonderful vision of what it means to be a priest and the role of the priest within the local community. He puts the needs of others before his own and is always reaching out to those in need,” wrote Riffle in an e-mail. “Joe’s love of the Lord has deeply affected me. He has encouraged me and challenged me to be a holy priest who works building up the Body of Christ, the church. My own priesthood will be affected by his example.”

‘Happy medium between lax, rigid’

Dugan also wrote of the impact Shimek has had upon his faith life.

“Joe really was the first friend I knew who articulated a vision of Christianity that was not reduced down to morality. Or, I should say, he helped break me out of the understanding that Christianity is about a bunch of rules,” he said, describing himself initially as a “pretty rigid Catholic” who was overly concerned with rules and regulations.

“I am someone who is very interested in liturgy being celebrated correctly. I know Joe cares about that, too, but he realizes that this is not a primary concern. In fact, worrying so much about liturgical rubrics can get in the way of faith. If you are so worried about whether the priest has his stole on over his alb or vice-versa, you can be driven to distraction at Mass, you might miss the fact that Christ is there on the altar.” Dugan said Shimek exemplifies a “happy medium between being lax and rigid.”

Dugan noted that law school friends would have probably pegged him for priesthood, rather than Shimek, but Dugan said he was not surprised when Shimek said he was leaving law to become a priest.

“From the first summer I knew Joe, he and I talked about vocation. I knew from our discussions and his questions that it was a very live question for him,” said Dugan, who is now married.

All vocations nurtured in Shimek home

Vocations were nurtured in the Shimek household, according to Shimek, but not only religious vocations.

“In general, my parents promoted faith and they promoted the idea that everyone has a vocation whether it’s to marriage or to religious life or the priesthood. I think they conveyed the idea to us somehow that God has a plan for everybody,’ he said, explaining his younger brother, John Paul, 26, is also studying for the priesthood for the archdiocese.

Their sister, Mary Beth, 20, is a junior in college, studying education.

“I had a very positive experience in Catholic education and my parents were always very involved in the church, so I sort of grew up with the faith from an early age,” said Shimek. “Around high school, I began to process it for myself intellectually that began a journey that went through college and high school. So priesthood was always in back of my mind. It was always attractive to me; I always felt a tug toward it.”

Once he entered the seminary, Shimek said he felt at peace.

“Any vocation at some point requires a leap of faith,” he said, noting that the decision to become a priest only makes sense in the context of faith. “As soon as I made the decision to present myself to the archdiocese, I almost immediately experienced peace and joy and I didn’t really dwell too much on the sacrifices that are involved. I sort of focused on the fact that I had found my place in God’s plan. When you find out what that plan is, it really is a joyful and peaceful thing to embrace it.”

Joseph Shimek will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Saturday, July 14 at St. Mary Parish, Elm Grove, at 11 a.m., by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. He is the third man ordained for the archdiocese this year. Your Catholic Herald profiled Frs. Sean Granger and Carmelo Giuffre in its May 17 issue.

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