Seminarian Andrew Widder speaks during the annual Seminary Dinner on Friday, Oct. 4, at the Baird Center in Milwaukee. (Photo courtesy of Saint Francis de Sales Seminary)
With the priest, we know Christ is always near.
Those weren’t the words of some wise Church sage or a bishop.
It was the message from seminarian Adam Widder at the annual Saint Francis de Sales Seminary dinner Oct. 4 at the Baird Center in Milwaukee.
Of the 90 men currently in formation, Widder was selected to address the 2,000 seminary supporters that were in attendance that night.
“When the metrics show the Church is collapsing, we have another story that is being written right here,’” said Fr. Luke Strand, Rector of the seminary. “This is evidence that the Church is alive and well.”
In introducing Widder, Fr. Strand’s excitement for the type of men he is overseeing in priestly formation was palpable.
“He’s going to set this archdiocese on fire,” Fr. Strand said of Widder. “I can’t wait until he’s unleashed. It’s coming sooner than you can imagine.”
Widder, who is on track to become ordained in May 2027 and join the more than 4,200 priests the seminary has produced in 179 years, shared that he never planned to become a priest. He grew up in a loving Catholic home in Sheboygan, the youngest of three boys.
“Being a part of this seminary has blessed me in ways I never could have imagined,” Widder said. “Because, frankly, I never imagined I would even be here. This was not part of the plan, but God has repeatedly shown me that he knows me even more than I know myself.”
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and working for seven years, he started feeling the call to the priesthood.
“About a year before entering seminary, I was at a retreat, and during adoration, the Lord gave a strong invitation to forgive myself for a lot of past guilt I was carrying around,” Widder said. “I remember praying, ‘Lord, I don’t know how.’ For some reason, I knew I needed to find a particular priest, and I looked around the full auditorium for him but couldn’t find him. I put my head down and returned to prayer. Thirty seconds later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and it was him. I immediately started to cry. This led to spiritual direction, an invitation to come and see at the seminary, and four years later, here we are.”
Widder’s vision of a priest came from the movie “Hacksaw Ridge,” which focuses on the World War II experiences of combat medic Desmond Doss.
Doss repeatedly goes behind enemy lines to rescue injured soldiers. After every soldier he saves, Doss prays, “Lord, help me to get one more.”
“In that moment, nothing else matters — not his own life, not his own dreams, not his own fears,” Widder said. “He desperately searches for the fallen, those most in need, and sees them as worth giving everything for. What a beautiful image of a diocesan priest, called to leave everything behind, seek the wounded and bring them to the physician. What a beautiful reflection of Christ, who does the same for us.”
Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki noted during the dinner that he felt the archdiocese was undergoing a renaissance and real reform.
“When you take a look at ecclesiastical history, before any renaissance or reform takes place, it always begins in the seminary,” Archbishop Listecki said. “Those men are able to take it out into the parishes and into the communities, and to call people to a responsibility to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church. I think we are really a part of a great movement in the history of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and it is because of you, because of your support, creating a vocational environment — being able to offer your time and treasure, to be able to make sure that there are priests not only today but for the future.”
In his 14 years in Milwaukee, Archbishop Listecki has ordained 74 priests.
“I’m sure you remember, but we prayed for decades for vocations to the priesthood,” Archbishop Listecki said.
Those prayers are starting to provide abundant fruit.
“A full seminary provides hope, and just like I experienced, there will always be someone to seek us out and bring the Lord to us, to our children and to our grandchildren,” Widder said. “The reality is, at some point in our lives, all of us will find ourselves knocked down and looking around for where God is in all of it. We know with the priest, Christ is always near, for he needs to merely say the words and once again the word will become flesh and dwell among us.”
