When Deacon Rich Miserendino headed to the University of
Rochester in New York to study physics and music, he said he
didn’t realize he “was looking for God.” Through math and
campus faith exploration, he said he “encountered faith
through divine providence.” Yet, what he described as a
“convoluted vocation” didn’t involve immediately applying to
the seminary.
“I was stubborn,” Deacon Miserendino said. “I went to
Protestant worship (on campus) because I was attracted to the
girls, but it was ravenously anti-Catholic. I was conflicted.
(As a physics student), I also asked, where does science fit
into all of this? What do I believe?”
Deacon Miserendino, who grew up attending the Church of the
Nativity in Burke, eventually found his way to the Neumann
Center on campus. It was during a retreat to the Abbey of the
Genesee in Piffard, N.Y., that he stumbled across a bookstore
in what proved to be a “watershed moment.”
Deacon Miserendino said, “I found a book by Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger. I probably couldn’t name a theologian at the time.
But (his writings) made God real; they taught me the depth of
things – truth, love. It was the first time (I saw that) God
was not just feelings but something to be encountered.”
From there, Deacon Miserendino began going to daily Mass and
weekly confession. He said he began to consider the
priesthood.
“It was terrifying,” he said. “I wanted a family. I wanted to
become a successful scientist. I was overcome with worry that
this was the end of my life.”
Following graduation, Deacon Miserendino worked at Science
Applications International Corporation, a defense contractor,
for two years as “a great pusher-around of electrons,” he
joked.
“(As a Catholic who studied physics), the way I look at the
universe is that it is a symphony. There is harmony and there
is order, and the overarching theme is faith,” he said.
“Science is not a contradiction of faith.”
But science was not the career path for him.
Deacon Miserendino, studied at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
in Wynnewood, Pa., for two years and has studied at the
Pontifical North American College in Rome for the past four.
“Studying in Rome has presented innumerable blessings,” he
said. “The pope is our neighbor … and here we see the
real human face of the church, the people. The news media
sometimes portrays the church as a bureaucracy, but these are
people who want to serve God.”
Miserendino said he is looking forward to priestly ministry.
“The core of (the priesthood) is bringing God to people,
people to God,” he said.
Stoddard can be reached at [email protected].
