Br. John Chrysostom Kozlowski, O.P.
With the exception of weekly catechism classes, I had never attended a Catholic school until college. Up until my freshman year at college, the most I had ever spoken with a priest was nothing more than an exchange of pleasantries. Given those two circumstances, I am still, to this day, in awe that God has called me to become a priest.
During high school I felt a calling to the priesthood, but it was a call that I did not want to answer. I thought to myself that even if God wants me to be a priest there is no way because I am not holy enough. Looking back, good preaching at my home parish played an essential role in eventually bringing me to the Order of Preachers. The priests did not moralize giving me a list of forbidden activities, but instead, they made the Mass and the Scriptures relevant to me leading me to desire a deeper union with Christ.
After high school, I attended John Carroll University. It was there, in a new environment, that I wanted to be more open to God’s call. It was at John Carroll that my relationship with Christ continued to grow as I began to more deeply enter into the Mass and the Scriptures. This led me to say yes to God and to join Borromeo Seminary, the Diocese of Cleveland’s college seminary. I spent two years at Borromeo, and during that time I felt strongly called to the priesthood, but I also felt that there was something more God wanted from me.
What this something more was I found in the Order of Preachers. I desired to live in a community that had both active and contemplative elements and through Divine Providence God brought me to the Order. It is in community that I have been able to grow closer to Christ by being of service to the brethren. The Dominican life calls you out of yourself so that you can be an alter Christus for your brothers in community and to the world by preaching the Word.
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