Louis Nelen studied chemistry before returning to seminary

This article originally appeared in the May 20, 2011 issue of The Catholic Missourian.

By Jay Nies

Father Fred Barnett told an altar server that he thought he would make a good priest. A few years later, when the young man left the seminary to become a chemist, Fr. Barnett said, “Don’t worry about it. If God wants you to be a priest, He’ll get you.” Even with a doctorate in chemistry and a promising career, Louis Nelen couldn’t put the Priesthood completely out of his mind.
“I started thinking that maybe Fr. Barnett was right,” he said. “Maybe God was trying to get me back.”

Mr. Nelen is one of three seminarians who Bishop John R. Gaydos will ordain as transitional deacons for the Jefferson City diocese on May 28 in the Cathedral of St. Joseph. All three hope to be ordained priests of the diocese in 2012.

Surprise

Mr. Nelen started out in Florida. His family moved several times, eventually settling south of Versailles, Mo. Mr. Nelen wanted to be a chemist. His teachers, seeing his knack for math and science, wanted the same for him. But Fr. Barnett, for whom Mr. Nelen was a regular altar server at Shrine of St. Patrick parish in Laurie, suspected that God might have something else in mind. “It’s interesting how God works,” Mr. Nelen now says. “He surprises you.” Fr. Barnett’s encouragement got Mr. Nelen thinking. He applied and got accepted into Conception Seminary College in Conception. His high school teachers were surprised — some disappointed — but his parents were solidly behind him. “They said they would support me no matter what I wanted to do,” he said.

Parental guidance

Mr. Nelen’s mother is very spiritual and prays the Rosary daily. “She used to be a Catholic school teacher,” said Mr. Nelen. “She taught me a lot about faith at home.” His dad grew up in Holland, the son of a caretaker at a Catholic parish. “He was brought up in a strong faith community, and it shows,” said Mr. Nelen. “So my mom and dad both came from strong, faith-centered families. And they passed that on to me.”

Nothing wasted

Mr. Nelen enjoyed the two years he spent at Conception and learned a lot from the Benedictine monks there. But he had doubts about whether the Priesthood was for him. His spiritual director kept suggesting that he pray and then try to visualize himself five or 10 years in the future. Mr. Nelen kept visualizing a chemist. “It was a tough decision to walk away, but I did so on good terms,” he said. Again, his parents and priest friends were supportive. “Fr. Barnett reminded me that if it was God’s will, I would be back,” he said.

Turning back

Mr. Nelen got a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, then went to Columbia to pursue a doctorate at the University of Missouri. After that, he spent a year doing post-doctoral research in Seattle. He got a job with ABC Laboratories in Columbia. Meanwhile, Benedictine Father Albert Bruecken, who had taught Mr. Nelen math and astronomy at Conception, wondered if God wanted Mr. Nelen to be a monk. The young chemist looked into it, prayed about it, and concluded that monastic life was not for him. “But I started to realize that my openness to listening to Fr. Albert’s invitation meant that I might not be totally at peace with what I was doing,” he said. “I was still searching. Somewhere inside of me, there was a part of me that was still looking.”

Called by name

He was thinking about whether to contact Father Joe Corel, vocations director for the diocese. Then, the diocese held a “Called by Name” promotion to encourage people to submit the names of people they saw as possible candidates for the Priesthood and religious life. Someone turned in Mr. Nelen’s name. When Fr. Corel contacted him, Mr. Nelen said, “What a coincidence! I was just getting ready to call you!” Mr. Nelen reapplied to the diocese. Bishop Gaydos accepted him and sent him to Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis. There, he connected with seminarians in their 30s to their 70s, with all kinds of backgrounds. The bishop suggested that Mr. Nelen spend five years in the theology program rather than the usual four, and work toward an additional degree. That would give him broader knowledge and an additional year of spiritual formation.

Mr. Nelen plans to graduate next year with a master of divinity degree and a master of arts in moral theology. It’s a lot of work, even for someone accustomed as he is to the academic grind. “But what really does it for me is when I come home and work in parishes in the summertime,” he said. “It reminds me: These people are why I work so hard in academics and the other pillars of formation. They’re who I’m going to be serving.”

In the field

Mr. Nelen spent a summer at St. Patrick parish in Rolla, another in St. Clement. He also helped for two years with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in a parish near Milwaukee. In the summer of 2009, he fulfilled his clinical pastoral education (CPE) requirement at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Mo. “That was one of the toughest things I ever had to do,” he said. “It’s also one of the best things I ever had to do.”

His supervisor assigned him as the chaplain for the Emergency Room. She told him, “You’re a chemist and you like things neat and orderly. You have a scientific mind, you plan things out and you like to predict what’s going to happen. Priests usually don’t get to do that.” He dove right in, working with and praying for the patients, their families and the medical teams as they handled trauma after trauma. He learned a lot about teamwork, accepting the unexpected, and trusting God. “In the end, God gets you to where you need to be,” he said.

Always a deacon

As a deacon serving at a parish in the Jefferson City diocese this summer and then for nine months in a parish close to the seminary, Mr. Nelen hopes to get even more comfortable at the altar and among the people. He noted that once ordained, he will be a deacon for life and will never lose the call to service in imitation of Jesus, Who was sent to serve others. “I have to continue to be active spiritually,” he said. “My prayer life has to be growing. I can’t just coast to the finish line. I have to run harder than ever.”

Do your best

Mr. Nelen asks for prayers that God will make him worthy to serve in the way he is being called to serve. “Only God can make you worthy,” he noted. For heavenly inspiration, he looks to his patron saint, St. Louis of France, as well as St. Joseph and St. Michael the Archangel. His favorite prayer is the “Memorare,” a Marian prayer Fr. Barnett, who died this past March, would offer at the end of each daily Mass in Laurie. “As a priest, you have two mothers,” Mr. Nelen noted, “your earthly mother and your spiritual mother.”

Among his other priestly role models are Fr. Bruecken, the Benedictine monk and Ph.D. chemist at Conception who helped him reconsider a priestly calling, and Sacred Heart Father Charles Bisgrove, recently deceased, who knew when people were struggling or hurting and would go out of his way to help them. “Fr. Charles took pastoral initiative with people,” said Mr. Nelen. “He was a great teacher and loved sharing his knowledge and experience. He cared deeply for people. He loved what he was doing. He was happy. People want to see their priests happy.” In a letter he wrote that was read at his funeral, Fr. Bisgrove stated that he was just a man trying to do the best he could to serve God and His people. “That’s how he wanted to be remembered,” said Mr. Nelen. “And that’s how I hope I will be remembered some day.”