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| Scott Jablonski |
BARABOO — Scott Jablonski will be ordained to the Order of Deacons during a Mass celebrated on Sunday, April 14, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Church in Baraboo.
| Ordination of Scott Jablonski Bishop Robert C. Morlino will ordain Scott Michael Jablonski to the Sacred Order of Deacon on Sunday, April 14, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Church, 304 East St., Baraboo. A reception will immediately follow the Mass. All are invited to attend. |
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He will be ordained as a transitional deacon for the Diocese of Madison, meaning that he is expected to be ordained to the priesthood next year.
Seeking the truth
He has been a journey to find the truth. “Ten years ago, I would have never imagined myself here,” Jablonski said with a laugh. “But God has really been seeking after me, helping me understand the truth of being a human person.”
He grew up in Appleton. Through the persistence of his grandmother, he was baptized in the Catholic Church and received First Communion, but his family members were not practicing the faith.
By the time he moved to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin, he was focused on becoming a doctor and faith wasn’t part of his life.
His sense of Christianity wasn’t particularly positive. At that time, he felt that Catholics weren’t any different than anyone else and their faith didn’t change their lives.
Searching for answers
“Midway through my first year, I began wondering — is this all there is? If this is it, that’s kind of sad.”
He struggled to understand the purpose of his life. “I began to be confronted with some of life’s great questions — questions that God used to lead me to Himself. And it altered the course of my future.”
In his search for answers, he read anything he could on various religions, although not Christian ones, because he thought he knew what they were like, and it wasn’t good. But he didn’t find answers to the questions he had.
Turned to Christianity
So he finally turned to Christianity. He said, “In the Gospel of John, the Jesus there was so different from what I had heard about as a kid. Jesus revealed himself. I found answers to my questions, which I didn’t expect.”
He joined a men’s Bible study, intent on knowing Jesus and allowing faith to change his life. During the next few years at the UW, he became an enthusiastic and committed Evangelical Protestant Christian.
He changed his major to psychology and was trying to decide which Protestant school to go to next, so he could become a Protestant minister.
After graduation, he moved to Colorado with a friend. And he kept reading apologetics and theology. He found himself again struggling with questions.
“I was trying to understand authority and the role of bishops. I had questions on liturgical worship — is it set or is it what we make up?”
Return to Catholicism
He says he started looking at how the faith was practiced in earlier centuries, and that search lead him to Roman Catholicism. “The faith had all the answers to all of my questions,” he said.
He shared how he went to the Denver cathedral one day and ended up at Mass. “I saw people sitting, standing, and kneeling — and that felt comfortable to me. I remembered it from my childhood.
“But I also realized that I was seeing people from multiple races and a mixture of economic statuses. All tongues, tribes, and nations come together in the Catholic Church.”
Afterward, he was looking for someone to talk to, and stopped the first person that looked like a cleric.
“Excuse me. Do you work here? I want to become Catholic. Can you help me?”
It turned out to be the bishop with whom he was speaking. He helped him get training and become confirmed. His continued search for truth and his purpose lead him to the seminary.
Ordained at Baraboo church
Jablonski says he is excited to have his ordination at St. Joseph Church, where is he currently spending a year working in the parish. “People no longer think about their lives as having a vocation. God has a call on each of us — a purpose that only we can fulfill. I’m hoping that if other people can see mine, maybe it will challenge them to search for theirs or strengthen the one they have.”
He says he is also excited for them to see the bishop here. “People don’t always see how our parish life fits within the larger Church — the diocese and the universal Church.
“I saw that in Rome, where I was studying. We are all one body in Christ — a mystical body. Jesus grants authority to bishops and we need that authority in our lives.”
Jablonski is especially hopeful that people who have never seen an ordination before will have a chance to experience it.
Grateful to God, people
“I am so grateful to God. I know now that His ways are not our ways — but His are more beautiful. I am grateful to all the people who have helped me find answers, listened to me talk, and helped me on this journey of faith.”
For those interested in knowing more, Jablonski was recently interviewed by EWTN for their The Journey Home series.