FEDERAL WAY — Last spring, Liam McDaniel joined a pilot program at St. Vincent de Paul Parish called True Heart, aimed at helping young men grow spiritually and more deeply consider their life’s vocation, possibly to the priesthood.

“I thought it was awesome,” said McDaniel, who was a senior at Bellarmine Preparatory School and a member of St. Patrick Parish in Tacoma.

McDaniel said he enjoyed gathering to talk about faith, developing a “friendship with the priests,” and “growing in fellowship with other men who were the same age.”

Leading the group was Father John Patrick DePalma, now St. Vincent de Paul’s priest administrator, who shared his own journey with the group of 10 as they met weekly for 10 weeks.

“I’ll follow God whatever door he opens for me,” Father DePalma recalls telling his RCIA sponsor more than 20 years ago when asked if he would consider priesthood. “As time passed, it became more evident in my heart I was more open to that then I thought,” he said.

Father DePalma is one of seven pastors from about a dozen parishes from Bellingham to Olympia who led True Heart groups last spring. More groups were formed this fall, with about 65 young men participating in total, said Father Justin Ryan, the archdiocese’s vocations director.

“If one-tenth enter the seminary that would be awesome,” Father Ryan said.

What is True Heart?

Focused on young men ages 16-35, the archdiocese’s True Heart program uses framework and structure provided by Seattle-based Sacred Story Institute’s “True Heart – Discerning Diocesan Priesthood.”

The 10-week journey created by Jesuit Father Bill Watson, the institute’s founder and president, involves weekly meetings, testimonials from priests about their discernment, daily Scripture exercises that encourage “unhooking” from technology, and an online education platform with short videos.

The program aims to help young men grow in openness to following God’s will in their lives — to find their “true heart.”

Based on years of research and St. Ignatius’ education and training of priests, Father Watson said the program is designed to connect young men with diocesan priests, help them learn to pray to grow closer to Christ and explore a call to priesthood.

“We’re really trying to create a relationship with a diocesan priest,” Father Watson said. And “the friendship between the men (in the group) becomes a focus for the discernment process.”

In March and again in November, the 10-week session concluded with an all-night vigil at Immaculate Conception Church in Seattle, where the young men and the priests who led the groups gathered for adoration and a sunrise Mass.

“It was kind of amazing how engaged the guys were,” Father Ryan said. “It was beautiful, all praying together.”

Young men participating in the True Heart program gathered at Immaculate Conception Church in Seattle for an overnight vigil in March that included adoration and daybreak Mass. Also present for the gathering were the priests who led the parish-based groups and Archbishop Paul D. Etienne. (Photo courtesy Archbishop Paul D. Etienne)

Being ‘Catholic in public’

The St. Vincent de Paul group met at a pizza place in Federal Way, while most groups met at their parishes.

McDaniel said he wasn’t sure about the restaurant setting until the weekly videos and discussion began to draw other diners into conversation about the faith.

“It’s good to be Catholic in public,” he said.

At the time, McDaniel said, he said he was considering the priesthood. Now, as a student at Thomas Aquinas College in California, he’s dating someone, but remains “open to whatever God wants me to be,” he said.

“True Heart created the opening to build those connections,” Father DePalma said. “It comes in the form of desire, a place of being open to a place of interest.”

The need for more vocations

The Archdiocese of Seattle has about half as many seminarians today as it did a decade ago, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne noted in his Partners in the Gospel letter.

“And our priests are aging,” the archbishop wrote. “We anticipate that by 2036, we will have only about 60 pastors serving our local Church,” he added, noting that these trends are seen in many dioceses in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Father Watson said he is “committed to this project because diocesan priesthood is on the frontlines of evangelization. We need diocesan priests, as they serve the majority of Catholics worldwide.”

From his vantage, Father Ryan said, True Heart is meeting with success.

“It’s creating a space for conversation,” and young men are taking their faith seriously, talking and discerning about the priesthood,” Father Ryan said. “That’s a win.”

Of the 10 young men in the group at St. Vincent de Paul, Father DePalma said, “40 percent were really interested in seminary and 60 percent wanted to grow in their spirituality.”

“It’s very, very encouraging,” Father Watson said.

Learn more about True Heart groups

For more information about True Heart or joining a group in the Archdiocese of Seattle, contact [email protected] or call 206-382-4276.

Learn more about the Sacred Story Institute.