Christopher Droste's Vocation Story

            I grew up the oldest of four children in a Catholic family from St. James Parish, Haubstadt, IN.  This was the place where my family, and parish community played a very formative role in helping shape my young life. My family actually lived in Darmstadt, IN where as a youth I was formed into the local culture of simple, blue-collar, middle class, Midwestern living. As a youth I enjoyed reading, playing, hanging out with friends, family, and using my imagination in a variety of ways.  I can vividly remember dreaming of what I wanted to be when I grew up. These dreams changed with circumstances, and the diverse interests I possessed. I can remember wanting be a farmer, a baseball player, an astronaut, an archeologist, a writer, a composer, and at one point I can even specifically recall wanting to be a history professor-priest in Switzerland?! (I used to have a romantic obsession with that part of the world.)

               I attended grade school at St. James, and then moved on to high school at Mater Dei, Evansville. Here I would begin to encounter many unexpected challenges to my development as a person, as well as my faith. The biggest challenge for me at this stage in life was maturing into a young adult, and beginning to make bigger life decisions, such as preparing for college. At this point, for whatever reason, I gave up on a lot of my childhood dreams, and became mildly content on settling for a much more common path in life. Upon graduation from high school, I enrolled in college courses, part-time, and worked a variety of jobs for the next few years.

               During this time I took an exceptional interest in music, more specifically songwriting. When I was 22, I moved to Nashville to scope out the music scene. As a backup plan, I also attended a technical school for mechanics. Upon graduation, I moved back to Evansville, where I worked as a heavy-equipment mechanic, and played music on the side for a couple of years. As music became a more intense passion, I quit my day job, and moved to Austin, TX. There is a lively music scene there, and I wanted to test my skills, or cut my teeth as they say.

               In the process of searching my soul for songwriting material, I unexpectedly began to hear God’s voice, and re-discovered my prayer life in a profound way. Out of this experience I developed a greater interest in spirituality and religion. I began to take my faith more seriously, and began an intense study on the history of religion, and the Church. I became fascinated with the person of Jesus Christ in a new way, and began to develop an intimate relationship with Him. This relationship, along with my private studies, soon began to dominate my life, and even pushed my music career to the wayside. I took up a greater personal responsibility for my faith, and became more committed to living an authentic Christian existence. This is the point where the possibility of a priestly vocation happened.

               Out of prayer, and the encouragement of a couple priests I knew, I understood that if God was actually calling me to the priesthood, the call had to be tested. So, I decided to return back to southwestern Indiana, mainly from the desire to reconnect to the roots of my first home. From there I applied to the Bishop Brute College Seminary at Marian University, Indianapolis with the Diocese of Evansville.

               This was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Opening myself to considering the call to the priesthood has been the greatest gift God has ever placed before me. While the journey has been very difficult at times, the blessings and joys have far transcended the struggle and trials. The opportunities to engage the reality of faith, and the life of the Church are too many to mention. I’ve matured as a person in the past four years in a way that may never have happened without the formation I’ve received in seminary. This journey to realize my vocation is the greatest adventure I could ever have imagined. The greatest life lesson that I’ve received and continue to learn from is to place a radical trust in God, placing all my hopes in Him, and to never be afraid of what the results might be. I can say with both sincere humility, and bold confidence, that the engagement with God is the greatest experience of love a man can ever hope for in life.