Several seminarians from the Columbus diocese are spending their summer immersed in Spanish.
The Spanish immersion program offers seminarians an introduction to the language and Hispanic culture in the diocese.
The program, which began in June and concludes at the end of July, has challenged seminarians, encouraging greater humility, self-gift and sacrifice for the Gospel.
“I hadn’t really encountered a lot of Spanish speakers not growing up in Columbus proper but in Lancaster,” said Brandt Boyden, 22, who is entering Configuration, or third stage of seminary, focused on theology studies and configuring oneself to Jesus Christ.
“This is really full-on immersion in every sense – that I’m encountering people who are Spanish speakers from different Hispanic communities, from different cultures, different backgrounds, and then, of course, the language aspect.”
Each day begins with Morning Prayer (part of the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours) and Mass followed by three hours of Spanish class. In the afternoons, activities include door-to-door ministry, cultural experiences and dinners with local Hispanic families’ homes.
The young men spend their weekends at Hispanic parishes, volunteering with youth groups, Bible studies and serving Masses. They are given a day off each week.
For the Columbus diocese, men are required to take four semesters of Spanish in seminary. The immersion program is supplemental to their studies.
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“You’re learning so much in class – mostly grammar, as much vocabulary as you can get – but the practice of actually speaking one-on-one, there are a lot of phrases … you really only get when you’re having these one-on-one experiences,” Boyden said.
“The immersion is also kind of humiliating at times,” admitted Gabe Shroyer, 27, who will enter his first year of Configuration in seminary this fall. “You actually have to embrace humility and step out.”
As part of the Spanish immersion experience, seminarians join the Missionary Servants of the Word for door-to-door evangelization at local trailer parks. The Missionary Servants primarily evangelize to Columbus’ Latino population by sharing the Word of God.
“We have all these ideas what a trailer park’s like, and most of us never had firsthand experience of what it would actually be,” reflected Ben Van Buren, 22, who is entering his second year of the Configuration stage. “It’s uncomfortable for us, but it forces us to be better at Spanish.”
“There are very beautiful moments where people receive the Gospel well, and then, there are moments where you could be getting yelled at for something you said,” Shroyer added. “You suffer for the sake of Christ, but also, you get to see God’s glory through the Word.”
Weekly dinners with Spanish-speaking families are another key part of the program.
Van Buren noted many seminarians consider their time in Latino households to be the greatest learning experiences. Communication can be challenging.
“Sometimes we leave those dinners feeling very tired and a little bit defeated because we’re not able to say what we wanted to say,” he explained. “We also are able to see that the people who are hosting us were very happy to have us and still had a positive experience.”
“There’s a lot of varieties of people and accents and countries that people are from. I’m most used to the Guatemalan and Mexican accents, but then, we’ve had dinner with some Venezuelans and Colombians, and their accent is totally different,” said Nicholas Arnold, 27, who is entering his first year of Configuration.
“Spanish is quite a spectrum, so being able to encounter that, it’s been good.”
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Seminarians in the immersion program hope that their witness attracts young men in Spanish-speaking families to the priesthood.
The diocese’s Latino population has experienced growth in recent years. Currently, however, no young men from such communities have entered seminary.
“Hopefully, having more seminarians, more priests learn the language can bring the idea of a vocation to more Hispanic families,” Van Buren said.
The immersion, he added, led him “to fall in love with a lot more aspects of the diocese that I would not have been able to, if I had not been doing this program and if I had not been learning Spanish.”
“Getting to know the people, becoming more familiar with the language, being able to actually communicate with them, it gets me a little bit more excited,” Boyden added.
“This is another part of the diocese that I’m able to serve now, that I’m able to minister to because this barrier is not there anymore. It’s pretty exciting.”