For Deacon Stanley “Luke” Poczatek IV, the call to the priesthood was first nurtured at home.
“I tell people that my story isn’t super interesting: growing up in a large Catholic family and being raised in the faith,” Deacon Poczatek said. “My dad is a revert, my mom is a convert.”
Yet, his quiet life at home would help pave the way for his vocation journey. As the second oldest of 10 children, Deacon Poczatek said that his parents taught their children to foster good, faith-filled relationships with each other, particularly through their homeschool education. His father insisted that the whole family always attended Mass at Our Lady of Angels Church in Woodbridge together on Sundays.
“We never wanted to split up Sunday Mass unless it was necessary,” Deacon Poczatek said. “This ‘togetherness’ was really instilled in my early faith journey, and I would say that became the foundation of what it means to be a Catholic, what it means to be a good Christian man.”
He first recognized God’s call to the priesthood in elementary school. But this call was not so much a clear voice, he said, as a desire placed upon his heart. As soon as he became an altar server, he began to serve as often as he could. Through serving, he witnessed many merciful examples of priests, which nourished his desire to become a priest.
In high school, he attended several retreats led by seminarians, and he began to look up to them not only as spiritual examples but also “as normal guys.” These examples inspired him. After high school, he entered the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, in 2014, and four years later he attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa.
When he entered seminary, he initially felt “a desire to prove something to God the Father and to other people, and maybe there was a bit of a desire to show my own worth by pursuing this image of the priest.”
As time went on, God helped him realize that before he would take the title of “Father,” he must first learn what it meant to be a son. Following that realization, he approached his time in the seminary “day by day,” growing to trust in the mercy of God the Father.
With a desire to serve in Hispanic ministry, he entrusted his Spanish studies to Our Lady of Guadalupe and fostered a devotion to her. “I love the message of Guadalupe, especially as the Patroness of the Americas. She sets a real example for just a tender mother for each and every one of us,” Deacon Poczatek said.
After ordination, Deacon Poczatek will serve as a parochial vicar of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester.
“Of all the aspects of priestly ministry, the one I look forward to the most is just the reality of being a priest.”
