November 19, 2010
Skyping: Father Alex talks about vocations via the Internet
Father Alex Zenthoefer is able to connect with fourth and fifth graders at St. Theresa School in Evansville through Skype, a technology that allows users to make video phone calls over the Internet. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Father Alex Zenthoefer wears many hats. He’s the associate pastor at Holy Rosary Church on Evansville’s eastside and the chaplain at Memorial High School. But today, he’s the diocesan director of Vocations, and he’s talking with fourth and fifth graders at St. Theresa School about his vocation to the priesthood.
He’s not actually in their Evansville classroom; he’s talking to them via Skype, a technology that allows users to make video phone calls over the Internet. Many of the students are familiar with the technology. Fourth grader Alivia Scott says her aunt uses Skype to talk to her son who is in the army.
After a few minor glitches, the students and Father Alex are connected. He is sitting in his office at the Catholic Center, and he is able to see the students at St. Theresa. They are able to see him too. He was their associate pastor when they were first and second graders, and when they see him on the screen they nod and wave at him with recognition.
The students are joined by St. Theresa sacramental minister, Father John Breidenbach, their principal, Nancy Mills, and their teacher, Jessica Knight. He starts out, “It’s good to see you all,” and they respond, “It’s good to see you too!”
Father Alex starts right into the conversation by telling them a little about himself and his vocation to the priesthood. “I was born and raised in Evansville, and I attended Sacred Heart parish. In my senior year in high school, I started thinking about the priesthood.
“I had served at Mass,” he said, asking, “How many of you serve at Mass?”
After talking about his own vocation, he invites the students to ask questions. Shelby starts by asking, “What college or training did you go to be a priest?” He answers, “That’s a great question. I went to school in Minnesota and then to St. Meinrad.”
Kennedy said, “Hey, Father Alex, we miss you. Do you like being a priest?” He answers, “I love being a priest! I can’t think of anything I would rather do.”
When Anthony asks, “What do you do for fun?” Father Alex talks about spending time with his family, playing golf with his dad, reading and watching movies.
Emily wants to know, “What made you become a priest?” He has a one-word answer: God. He tells the students that he was raised “in a really good Catholic family” and that his family “had a huge influence on me in life.” So did his parish priest, Father Eugene Dewig. “He really im-pacted me in a strong way. He encouraged me to become a priest.”
The children also want to know how old he was when he was ordained to the priesthood, how long he’s been a priest, and where he went to grade school. They have a real comfort level talking with him in the interactive Internet conversation.
Cameron asks, “What do priests do when they are not saying Mass?” Father Alex says all priests are different, noting that Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger likes to be outside, hiking and skiing. He then asks Father Breidenbach what he enjoys doing in his spare time; Father replies, “I like to fish.”
Alivia tells her former associate pastor, “We miss you.” Then she asks, “What are some things you are not allowed to do as a priest?” He says, “That’s a very, very good question. I’m not allowed to get married, so I don’t go out on dates.” He adds, “I’m not allowed to do most of the things that your parents are not allowed to do.”
The next question is from Cameron who asks, “Do you want to become a bishop.” Father Alex says, “I want to be whatever God wants me to be. Right now, I want to be the best priest I can be. Our job is to be the best person we can be.”
When Shelby asks, “Should girls have the opportunity to be priests?” he answers that Jesus himself was a man, and he called men as his apostles, noting, “I don’t see that changing anytime in the future.” He adds that there are “wonderful roles in the Church for women.”
Jordyn wants to know how Father Alex felt about leaving St. Theresa. “It was tough” is his answer. “I had gotten to know you all. It was tough to leave, but when God calls us we have to listen to where God is calling us.”
As the conversation draws to a close, he encourages the students to “stay close to God. Develop a relationship with him, and see what he is calling you to do.”
The Internet session ends with “air hugs” from the class, and “byes!!” As his face fades from view, Alivia whispers to her principal, “Can we do this again?”
The idea to Skype with students came last year from Kathy James, a religious education teacher at St. Ferdinand Church in Ferdinand.
“She was talking to her high school class about vocations, and she asked me to stop in and talk to them.” Because of time constraints, she suggested that they use Internet technology.
“At first I never thought about using Skype in that way, but I thought, ‘That’s a great idea,’” he said. “There’s no way for me to get around and visit all these classrooms the way I would like to but Skype provides a way.”
Talking to students via Skype is different than being in the classroom, he has found. “For me, it’s getting straight to the point in my responses versus one-on-one or being in the classroom. In a classroom, you make eye contact with people. Now, I keep the answers to the point.”
This year, he is working with fourth and fifth graders in nine Catholic schools in the Diocese of Evansville. During the Skype sessions, “I introduce myself, and talk about my own vocation, and then open it up for questions.”
He believes that this is just the beginning. In the future, he envisions that a teacher might be talking in the classroom about vocations and when a question arises and the parish priest is not available, the tea-cher would call him.
“There are possibilities that haven’t been there until now, and it’s a shame if we don’t take advantage of that.”
He’s eventually hoping to visit with students — via Skype — in both Catholic schools and religious education programs throughout the diocese and talk with them about vocations.
“My hope is that every young person in our diocese considering the call to religious life knows we care — if that means visiting classrooms, whether it’s in person or on Skype, so they know we care about who God is calling them to be.”