Congratulations, Fr. Bryan Dolejsi!

I am tardy in offering congratulations on this venue to my friend, Fr. Bryan Dolejsi, for his appointment as Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Seattle. This is apparently the first time in over 20 years that a priest has been appointed to this position.

When I met Fr. Dolejsi, he was brand new out of the box; he had been ordained less than a month. I was working as Visitation school’s marketing director, and he was assigned as Parochial Vicar to the parish cluster.

We hit it off right away. He’s dynamic, passionate, and balanced. He’s also a great teacher and a good friend.

I am reminded of all of this because Francine and I will be having dinner with him this evening. For several years Fr. Dolejsi has been Priest Administrator for St. Joseph Parish in Issaquah, so we haven’t been able to see him as much as we’d like. It will be nice to catch up.

His new job is based in Seattle, near to where I work, and it takes him all over western Washington. My hope is that we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the years to come.

He celebrated our wedding, and he was just fantastic. We prepared the liturgy with the traditional options for the Nuptial Mass in the Ordinary Form, including the correct Gregorian introit and antiphons.

It was glorious. I remember my father saying afterwards that the Mass made him feel “more Catholic” than anything in a long time.

So congratulations, Fr. Bryan. I wish you every success in your new job and pray for you and for good vocations to the priesthood and religious life.