“Why do you want to be a priest?”

Father Daniel Colby recalled the words written across his seminary application. He remembered writing that he did not yet know why, but he was fairly certain God was calling him to pursue the priesthood, and he wanted to find out.

“Seven years later, I hope I can say I know a little more than when I started,” he said.

Father Colby, 33, was ordained to the priesthood on May 18 along with four other men for the Diocese of Columbus. He officially began his journey to the priesthood in 2017 when entering seminary. However, he recognizes how God was preparing him for the vocation several years before that.

Father Colby was raised Presbyterian in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was active in theater and Boy Scouts during high school, earning the rank of Eagle Scout.

Church was an important part of his upbringing, he said, but he decided to leave the faith in middle school.

At the time, he said, he was “checked out” and did want God telling him what to do. In an effort to “redefine” himself, he began going by his surname, Colby, and sought to be his own person.

He went on to graduate from Virginia Tech University with a degree in consumer product design. His first job after college landed him in Charlotte, North Carolina and then Columbus.

When he moved to the Buckeye State in 2014, Father Colby was still not practicing any faith, but he befriended some neighbors who belonged to the Xenos Christian Fellowship. He attended a seminar with them on evidence for Christ’s Resurrection.

He said the seminar left him convicted that Christ truly rose from the dead. And so, for the first time in about 10 years, he prayed to receive God back in his life and let Him be his Lord.

After spending a decade seeking to be the lord of his life, “Colby” became “Daniel” again. He surrendered and allowed God to be his judge. Ironically, the meaning was embedded in his name.

“I felt God calling me to go back to the name ‘Daniel’ and take that up again as my name, later discovering that Daniel means ‘God is my judge,’ so, very meaningful, what I had been casting off – the name ‘God is my judge.’ I can't have that,” he said with a laugh. “And then reclaiming that spiritually, what that meant for my life and letting God be my judge again.”

He began researching various Christian denominations upon learning later that year that his Presbyterian father intended to become Catholic.

Bishop Earl Fernandes anoints the hands of Father Daniel Colby with Oil of Chrism.

Father Colby attended an early morning Mass on January 1, which he later discovered was the feast of Mary, Mother of God. He would go on to develop a devotion to the Blessed Mother, eventually consecrating himself to her.

He began the conversion process in 2015 at Columbus Immaculate Conception Church, which was located near his house. He was initiated into the Church at the Easter Vigil the following year.

On his journey to Catholicism, while participating in the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA), Father Colby learned about the priesthood. He said he experienced a call to the vocation.

“Within (OCIA) is when I first read about the priesthood and felt a very clear call from God to pursue that path,” he said. “I already, the year beforehand, promised to stop running away and let God be God and let Him direct my life, and so, I said, ‘OK, I guess You're taking me up on that promise now.’”

Father Colby spent a year involving himself in his parish, learning the ins and outs of Catholic life. He was active in the parish men’s group, Knights of Columbus and choir. Shortly before Holy Week in 2017, he applied to seminary.

Ironically, he was notified on Easter Monday that his office was closing and all design staff was laid off. It seemed divine providence, perhaps, calling Father Colby in a new direction.

Much to his delight, he was accepted to the Pontifical College Josephinum and began his studies that autumn.

Bishop Earl Fernandes presents a chalice and paten to Father Daniel Colby.

Having spent seven years in seminary, the answer to “Why do you want to become a priest?” has become clearer.

Father Colby said he sees himself as one of the lost sheep Christ came to save. He said the verse Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost” resonates with him.

Having spent a decade away from the Lord, he can better minister to those in the same position. As a priest, he will now also partner with Christ in working to help save those who have fallen away.

“The same way that our Lord sought me out and was always with me, even when I didn’t realize it, during the whole time I was away, I know that’s now my mission as part of His mission to go be the shepherd bringing the stray sheep home, finding our Blessed Mother’s lost and stray children and drawing them back to her as they did for me,” Father Colby said.

He said the “biggest spiritual lesson” he learned about the ministry, perhaps, is how much it does not depend on him. Anything good or effective for other people’s salvation must come entirely from God and Our Lady working through him, he said.

Father Colby described that notion as “incredibly freeing.” Before coming to faith, any efforts to be God and the source of all good in his life proved to be “spiritually, emotionally and existentially exhausting.”

Yet, it seems God used that period in Father Colby’s life, as he will now participate in God’s mission of saving the lost.

“That journey and that discovery will help me with a lot of people who are in the same situation, whether it’s Protestants who are learning about the Church, whether it’s just people … trying to do everything the world says is fun and good … every little part of that journey apart from the faith, all the little worlds that I was a part of, that can be a bridge or connection back into the Church,” he said for those he will serve.

Bishop Earl Fernandes receives a first blessing from Father Daniel Colby.

Through his own faith journey and reconciliation with God, Father Colby regards any future success in his priestly mission as being “to the extent that I let God work in me.

“It’s also freeing because then I don’t have to be afraid of failure because even our Lord didn’t get everybody that He came to call, people still turned away.

“And so, when those discouragements come, when this mission of seeking the lost, at times, ends in failure – at least, apparent failure at that moment – (it’s) being one with Him, being conformed to Him and participating in that mission of His whole life, which included, at times, people turning away and leaving and not listening.”

Father Colby also recognizes that God can use his interests to form connections with individuals. While serving his parish assignment at Delaware St. Mary Church, Father Colby, having involvement with theater in high school, supported parishioners involved at Delaware’s community theater. It was also an opportunity for evangelization, as many non-Catholics attend the theater as well.

“We’ve got all different kinds – former engineers, a lot of athletes, hunters,” he said of the seminarians. “They all got the human parts and their worldly parts of who they are, what God has given them as interests. All can be bridges, connection points, drawing people back to the faith or deeper into the faith.”

Father Colby’s assignments during seminary included Zanesville St. Thomas Aquinas, Columbus St. Mary Magdalene, Columbus St. Aloysius, Columbus St. Agnes, Marion St. Mary, Cardington Sacred Hearts, Mount Vernon St. Vincent de Paul, Danville St. Luke and Delaware St. Mary churches.

He completed a Hispanic ministry course track in seminary, studying advanced pastoral Spanish and various Spanish rites. He also participated in summer Hispanic ministry immersions.

Father Colby will participate in a Hispanic ministry immersion this summer in Oakland, California before beginning his first parish assignment at Marion St. Mary and Cardington Sacred Hearts churches in July.