A product of God's work

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
June 26, 2008

For one young man who will soon be ordained to the priesthood for service in the Diocese of Sioux City, making it to ordination was nothing short of the work of God.

Jeremy Wind will be ordained to the priesthood at 10:30 a.m., June 28, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

This 28-year-old from Jefferson referred to his call to the priesthood as a two-part series.

"The first part was to get me into seminary and the second part was to convince me that being a priest would be okay for me," he said.

Wind pointed out that following graduation from Jefferson-Scranton High School, he attended Iowa State University for 18 months. He was studying to be a teacher, had a girlfriend and consideration of the priesthood wasn't even on the radar.

That slowly changed.

He had three people ask him if he had ever considered being a priest - his youth minister, a Catholic man from Carroll and the third, and most unlikely, was an Evangelical Protestant.

"I told each of these people 'no' and that I was pretty set on getting married and having children," he said.

In time, Wind realized that these people had seen a gift within him and he could no longer put off consideration of a vocation.

"I decided that maybe God was saying something - maybe I should go to the seminary," he said.

So in the winter/spring semester of his sophomore year of college, he transferred to the college seminary program at the University of St. Thomas but he didn't go with any high expectations. He went to the seminary to discover all of the reasons why he couldn't be a priest.

"I didn't want it," he acknowledged. "I had some misconceptions about the priesthood and about the life of a priest."

Eventually his misconceptions about the priesthood were cleared up and he said he received healing for some of the personal problems in his life. His prayer life strengthened and he realized that he could be happy as a priest.

Wind credited God.

"He certainly is very persistent and convincing. About every objection he would reveal and let me know another way to look at it or a different side of the story," said Wind. "I attribute it not to a particular thing but to God's work."

After a semester at the University of St. Thomas, he transferred to Conception Seminary. His major seminary studies were at St. Meinrad School of Theology.

Listening to God's direction has always been important to him and it will not end at ordination.

"God has called me to work with Hispanics because that's the need in Storm Lake and I will also be working with the school. I enjoy both of those," said Wind, who has been appointed parochial vicar of St. Mary Church in Storm Lake. "I enjoy most everything God asks me to do."

He studied Spanish in high school and college, but gained even greater skills during a two-month language emersion program in Mexico. He participated in that program before starting major seminary studies at St. Meinrad.

While he hasn't lived inside the priesthood, Wind said he anticipates that he will enjoy celebrating the sacraments and particularly looks forward to confessions. As a deacon he has had the opportunity to preach, do baptisms and bless houses.

"The thing that most draws me to the priesthood is that this is what God wants and I'm happy. I never thought I'd be happy with what he has asked me to do, but I am," he said.

He pointed out that in studies on job satisfaction in recent years, priests have come out No. 1, out of all of the professions. He finds that encouraging.

The son of Tom and Sue Wind, he is the oldest of three children. His siblings are Marieta and Chris.

His enhanced prayer life and the support of the people - various groups and individuals from across the diocese - has affirmed his decision to follow the call to priesthood.

Within weeks of his ordination to the transitional diaconate, Wind had the opportunity to take part in a three-week evangelization trip to Honduras.

"I went to mountain villages, preaching, baptizing, teaching and visiting a lot of homes for house blessings," he said.

While he believes that celebrating the sacraments will provide one of greatest sources of joy in the priesthood, on the other hand, he believes that the long hours and heavy workload will offer the greatest challenge.

During the actual ordination ceremony, he said he looks forward to the laying on of hands. He also looks forward to being ordained with Shane Deman.

"I think it's great to show there are two young men who are serious about God and willing to follow him as priests," noted Wind, who said Shane is a "good guy and we get along. He's a great guy to be ordained with."