Hiking Priest

On yesterday’s special Birthday Bonanza show for Jennifer, one of the surprise guests we had on to wish her happy birthday was Fr. Leo Patalinghug from Grace Before Meals.

It was very funny having him on for several reasons. Number one, he was in the middle of nowhere on a hiking trip with several seminarians and young men discerning the possibility of entering the seminary. Can I just say I’m so glad our Church has priests like Father Leo? The fact he spends so much time in prayer and leadership in helping these young men who are considering an extraordinary calling in life is so very much appreciated. And since it’s the Year of the Priest, I thought I’d just point that out.

Anyway, the photo you see here was actually taken of Fr. Leo (he’s the one in the orange shirt) with a some college seminarians and potential candidates, standing on Wolf Rock and Catoctin National Park. According to Father, he’s “getting too old for these hikes with these young bucks!”

Hmm. Too old? And he’s just a month older than Jennifer. Hmm.

Anyway, one of the other funny parts of having him call in was that a lot of people tried to cover their voices yesterday. Fr. Leo did his best Pope Benedict XVI impression, followed by an impression of Yoda. The Yoda one totally threw off Jennifer, because she then thought it was another priest friend of ours, Father Roderick Vonhogen. I had a good laugh watching Jennifer struggle to figure out who it was on the phone.

So thank you, Father Leo, for calling in and helping to make Jennifer’s day special, and thank you for all you do in your own priesthood. We pray our Church will continue to cultivate priests who give their lives so selflessly for the good of the Catholic Church and the entire world.