It’s three in the afternoon, and my plane was supposed to be landing in Phoenix right now. But I’m stuck in what the news is calling “The Blizzard of 2006.” I’m in Emmitsburg, Maryland, about an hour and half from Washington DC.

I got here late Friday night to speak at a Catholic youth conference called Mount 2000, which is hosted by the seminarians here at Mount St. Mary’s University. This place is a small university of 1800 students (I believe), and about 150 of those are young men studying and discerning to figure out if they are called to be priests. For the past eleven years, those 150 seminarians have hosted this weekend-long Mount 2000 conference for high school students. This year over 2000 people;here.

I’ve learned to check the weather forecast when I plan on leaving Phoenix anytime during the winter months. Sometimes it seems silly to pack fluffy coats and thick socks in my suitcase when I’m enjoying 72 degree weather in my T-shirt, jeans, and sandals. Weather.com said that it was going to snow, and sure enough, it snowed a lot.

I am typing this from my dorm room at the seminary. Well, it’s not a typical dorm room, it’s more like a simple but nice hotel room. The heater is working overtime to keep this room comfortable. Looking out my window, all I see is white. Cars in the parking lot piled with ten inches of snow. It’s maybe three in the afternoon, and for all I know the sun is about to set. Again, I live in Arizona where there are no clouds, and the only time of day when it gets grey like this is when it’s about to get dark. This is just a cool experience.

So yesterday I gave two talks, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. It’s quite a responsibility to be one of only a handful of people who will get on stage and give direction to the whole weekend. I know people worked really hard to pull this event together, and it was my job to get up there and do my best. I prayed a lot as I prepared for this weekend, and I think it really showed. The crowd yesterday seemed to really respond. It was quite a thrill.

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Earlier this morning one of the seminarians took me to the grotto up the hill behind the seminary. Driving through a forest of snow-covered trees was cool enough, but finishing our short drive at the grotto was so cool. We hiked up a trail through the woods and to a small stone chapel covered with snow. It was so magical that I thought I was in Narnia. I opened the door and was hit with a rush of warm air on my cold face. There were a couple places to kneel and another two places to sit. It was so peaceful in there that I had not choice but to pray. If anybody walked in there they would’ve done the same thing. You just feel compelled to play. I think that’s why they build chapels.

Now I’m out of the cold, snuggled into my bed watching the winter Olympics. I wasn’t planning on an extra day in the northeast, but it’s given me room to think about the event yesterday and all the seminarians who worked so hard to put it together.

The sexual abuse scandal that broke out in the Catholic church a few years ago has been very painful. It was painful for those who were abused, it was painful to know that some priests had done such evil things, and it was painful that the 98% of priests who had nothing to do with those things, and they never had their story told in the headlines. It’s a painful time in the youth ministry that I work for because their are allegations that one of our founders did some bad things. Nobody knows if those allegations are true or false, but regardless, it’s a very difficult time for us.

This climate has raised suspicion about any man in black with a white collar. It’s caused great distrust of church leaders that has shaken the church violently. It’s a hard time for a young man who feels that God has caused him to be a priest. If you tell the general public that you want to be a priest, they are left silent, not even knowing how to respond.

But yesterday I spent most of my afternoon talking with many of the 150 seminarians her at Mt. Saint Mary’s. I was so impressed with how well-rounded and solid these guys are, and how undeterred they are by the pain of the last five years. For them, it’s about God and nothing else. Whether or not in ten years from now they are priests doesn’t really matter. The seminary is where you go to truly discern your vocation–it’s not a place where sign up for the six-year priest training. It just so rewarding to see a group of guys trust God so much.