By ANDREW HANSEN
      Editor

Every Sunday growing up in Oakford, a small town in Menard County, Father Seth Brown and his family would attend New Hope Baptist Church and Sunday School there.

“I looked forward to it every week,” Father Brown said. “The Biblical stories fascinated me. For one of my birthdays, my grandparents bought me a set of tapes which had the entire New Testament recorded on them. At night, as I lay in bed, I’d listen to the tapes over and over, especially the Gospels.”

From an early age, young Seth seemed to always have that desire to grow closer to the Lord. He voiced his desire to be baptized as an 11-year-old, which happened on July 25, 1993.

As a teenager, he started having lots of questions about God, faith, the Bible, and meaning. His pastor at the time helped him through some of it, but other questions remained.

It was when he attended Illinois College in Jacksonville as a freshman when his wheels of faith really started spinning. He was required to take two classes in the religion and philosophy department. The first semester, he took Introduction to the Bible, which he says helped him to see and study Scriptures not in only a devotional way, but through the historical-critical method, placing the events and authors in their proper context and culture.

Then for the second semester, he signed up for the history of the Christian Church which, over the course of 16 weeks, ambitiously covered the history of Christianity from the second through the eighteenth centuries.

“This was an awakening for me, as I had no clue what happened after the Bible was written and before today,” Father Brown said. “The early Church Fathers told me in their own words what they believed and how they celebrated the sacred mysteries. I learned about a few of the saints, a bit about the Reformation, and how the Baptist tradition had come about. Considering what I read from the first centuries of Christianity, I wanted to be a part of that Church.”

Eventually, a friend from Petersburg put Father Brown in touch with Father John Titus and they met at the El Rancherito in Jacksonville. He was encouraged to attend RCIA (OCIA now) at Our Saviour Parish in Jacksonville.

“There, at the parish, I met the pastor, Father Ken Venvertloh and his assistant, Father Tom Meyer,” Father Brown said. “I also met one of my favorite people ever, Sister Cecilianne Duello, OP, a Springfield Dominican who ran the RCIA program there. She was an extraordinary woman religious. The love of God clung to her and rubbed off on us all, I hope. She died on Candlemas, Feb. 2, 2016, but I was privileged to anoint her before her death. I also met another incredible Springfield Dominican, Sister Maristella Dunlavy, OP. Her prayers, friendship, correspondence, and kind invitations to the Dominican Motherhouse have done so much for me.”

Father Brown became a Catholic at Our Saviour Parish at the Easter Vigil, Saturday, April 10, 2004, at 21 years old.

“I was convinced of the Eucharist, and that Christ had founded the Church,” he said. “With Divine Revelation and the wisdom of two thousand years, I trusted its teachings. The idea of having the early writings from the Church Fathers blew my mind. I thought, ‘Why didn’t anyone tell me about these?’”

But what did his Baptist family think of his conversion?

“I have to give them a lot of credit as they were probably more confused than anything, as I don’t think they knew much about the Catholic faith. Why would they?” Father Brown said. “They were all happy to be Baptists. So, I really threw them for a loop, but to their great credit, they trusted me and even attended the Easter Vigil. It’s probably the only time in my life which could be considered rebellious, but after seeing its effect on me, I think my family’s concerns about my conversion disappeared.”

After finishing his bachelor’s degree at Illinois College in 2005, he didn’t know which way to go. Father Brown considered graduate school, such as library sciences, or even the seminary, but because he had only been a Catholic a little over a year, he said that he wasn’t ready to make that decision. His dad offered him a job working with him at his insurance office, which Father Brown did for two and a half years.

Other people told him during this time he should consider the priesthood, but deep down, he wanted to be a monk.

“Ultimately, the monastic life led me to become a priest,” Father Brown said. “I love the Rule of St. Benedict. I’ve read it dozens of times because nearly every line of the Rule applies the Scriptures in a very practical way to helping a monk or nun to live a life of radical discipleship to and with Christ. That’s what I wanted: to live discipleship radically, orderly, and with others. And gathering in the monastic church and chanting the psalms delighted me to no end. I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing just that.”

He then spent two years in two different monasteries, one Benedictine and the other Trappist, thinking God had given him that vocation, but in the end, he discovered his vocation to the diocesan priesthood (he was ordained on May 24, 2014). Father Brown is now pastor of Mother of Dolors Parish in Vandalia and St. Joseph in Ramsey.

“I’m honestly more of a hermit who’s been given the vocation of a parish priest,” Father Brown said. “I’m happy to spend hours alone reading, studying, praying, but I came to see that being surrounded by so many good parishioners makes me a better disciple. I wouldn’t be who I ought to be without them. They’re God’s gift to me.”

Father Brown says when he thinks back on his story of growing up non-Catholic, converting, and then becoming a priest, he “doesn’t deserve any of it.” When asked what he loves about the faith that he thinks cradle Catholics sometimes under appreciate, his answer is short, but a great reminder for all of us.

“Its depth,” he said.