Heeding the call

Stacy J. Willis

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 10:34 a.m.

Phil Audet is talking about never having sex again.

He's sitting in the softly lit den of a house owned by the Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas. Around him, sunk into recliners and sipping tea, are two other young men who are trying to decide whether they want to become priests.

"The vow of celibacy is a struggle, yes," Audet says over a low-volume Bob Seger tune on the CD-player. "But I think God has a different plan for different people."

At 32, he is a former commercial fisherman from Alaska. Marc Howes, 28, is a former city of Las Vegas engineer. Jim, 36, who doesn't want his last name mentioned because his current employer doesn't know he is considering the priesthood, is a former Minneapolis police officer.

They have come here, to the "discernment house" next to Bishop Gorman High School, to do exactly this: discern. They live in dormitory-style rooms, eat and pray together, and spend much of the summer months talking about devoting their lives to the Roman Catholic Church.

Guided by the Rev. Tony Vercellone, the diocese's priest in charge of vocations, eight men are currently in one of many stages of becoming a priest in the under-served diocese. Some, like Jim, are still in the early months of consideration. Others, such as Howes, are midway through seminary in California, funded by the Las Vegas Diocese with the understanding that they will serve here when their studies are complete.

And Audet, who completed his studies this year, is scheduled to be ordained tonight at Guardian Angel Cathedral.

When the ceremony is complete, Audet will be the first priest to be ordained in the nation's fastest growing Catholic diocese since it became independent from the Reno Diocese in 1995.

"We have a huge shortage of priests," Vercellone says, giving a quick tour of the newly remodeled house where he will, if all goes according to plan, recruit more priests to serve Southern Nevada's 430,000 Catholics. The house looks deceptively small from the outside. And inside, beyond a chapel directly inside the front door, it is more domestic than institutional -- decorated with Vercellone's collection of autographed celebrity photos: Bette Midler, Tom Cruise, Phyllis Diller.

Today there are 24 priests who belong to the diocese and are active in one of 24 parishes. Additionally the diocese relies on 55 other priests who are on loan intermittently from other dioceses or religious orders.

After Audet's ordination, three more years will pass before another priest is ordained in the Las Vegas Diocese -- Howes will graduate from seminary in 2004.

Vercellone began turning the nine-room house -- which was built in the 1950s for Viatorian priests who taught at the Catholic school and then, for years, was used for storage -- into a discernment house in December 2000.

Would-be priests stay here rent-free in their summer breaks from seminary, and new candidates visit regularly to discuss entering the religious life.

"At a minimum, we are just trying to keep pace with priests retiring or dying," Vercellone said. "We want to at least keep the numbers we've got."

But becoming a Catholic priest has not been a tremendously popular career choice in recent years. Diocese nationwide have been suffering from priest shortages for more than a decade, and young men like Howes -- a home-grown Catholic with a calling -- are difficult to come by.

"Initially, I wanted to be a priest because I thought it was cool," Howes, a 1992 Chaparral High School graduate, said. "I had seen priests, and what they do seemed cool. But as my spiritual formation has taken place, it has become more about proclaiming the gospel, about letting the good works of Jesus be known."

Howes was raised in the Catholic Church and attended Holy Family parish. Although he says he has never considered subscribing to any other faith, church was not always his favorite pastime.

"I remember hiding my shoes under my bed when I was little so that I didn't have to go to church," he said.

But his involvement in the church grew until, as a young man, he was approached by his priest, the Rev. Bede Wevita, and asked whether he had ever considered the priesthood.

"I was kind of scared. I guess I knew I had always thought about it, but I was kind of afraid of what might happen if I acknowledged that feeling. It's a big step," Howes said.

Such apprehension, Vercellone said, is exactly what the discernment house exists to address.

"Some guys have always just had the desire to serve, but one way or another they haven't found their way here," he said.

Other candidates, however, may end up spending time with Vercellone only to decide the priesthood is not for them.

Jim said being a police officer and "seeing the evils of our society" led him to consider the priesthood. Although he is nearly committed to the idea of becoming a priest, he hasn't been accepted by the diocese nor entered school yet. In order to become a priest, a candidate must be first approved by the bishop and then complete an undergraduate degree and seminary -- a nine-year process.

The diocese pays for two-thirds of the education, and candidates must go to school in California because there is no seminary in Nevada.

Vercellone also said it often takes as long as two years for the candidate and the diocese to agree that he has priest potential.

"Sometimes they come only once or twice to the house, and they know it's not for them," Vercellone said.

"And other times, I don't feel comfortable with the candidate. For example, if someone has an agenda -- like I had a guy who said he wanted to be a priest to 'put women back where they belong' -- then I tell them that I don't think the priesthood is for them," Vercellone said.

"Also, after meeting with a guy several times and getting to know them, I can just tell some of those who are great people but who just might not be cut out for this. The ones who I think will eventually want to be husbands and fathers, for example," Vercellone said.

Also, he said, self-aggrandizing values in today's popular culture make a vow of celibacy and a life of service to others a bold career choice.

Salaries for priests average about $32,000 plus benefits such as room and board in rectories, health insurance and a retirement plan.

"There has to be a spiritual element in these guys," Vercellone said. "There has to be an intimacy with God. Something that says to them, 'I'm not at rest unless I do this, unless I become a priest.' "