Seminarian Joseph Steger shared the story of his call to the ministry in the July 5 weekly bulletin issued by Emmanuel Catholic Church in Delray Beach.

Steger is studying at St. Vincent de Paul seminary and said that he is fortunate to be spending the summer at Emmanuel Catholic Church. Born and raised in Plymouth, Wisconsin, Steger has three siblings and was homeschooled by his mother through high school. 

“When I was 9, I learned about a woman by the name of Mother Theresa,” Steger wrote. “I learned about how she cared for the poor and gave her whole life away to serve the poor, the broken and the forgotten of the world. As a 9-year-old, something within me stirred and I knew that I wanted to be like her.”

Joseph Steger | https://www.emmanuelcatholic.church/

At the age of 14, Steger began to want a family life and to own a farm, and he began to fall away from his childhood desire to live life as a saint. After graduating high school, however, Steger was reminded of the Lord's calling. 

“It was in this desire to be like Mother Theresa that the Lord called me into the seminary,” Steger wrote. “I was a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for four years and, during that time, the desire to be a priest who served the poor and lived as a missionary continued to grow.”

Steger's calling, he said, was to become a missionary priest for Jesus Youth. 

“In the fall of 2019, I entered St. Vincent de Paul Seminary for Jesus Youth,” he wrote. “This last May I finished my first of five years at St. Vincent de Paul. With God’s grace and the prayers of many people, I hope to be ordained a priest in four years for Jesus Youth to serve the Lord and his Church.”