Travis Gunther -- Vocation Story

Hey, I am Travis Gunther and I’m from Conway, Arkansas. My discernment path meanders quite a bit to this point and in some ways lives up to the adage “God writes straight with crooked lines.” God keeps finding ways to direct me whether it is through friends and family, spiritual direction, aha moments, or in the silence of my heart.

Back in fourth grade my discernment story begins with one of those aha moments where it hit me that maybe I should be a priest. But then friends at school made fun of me for wanting to be a priest so I put it behind me. But around my junior year of high school several things pointed me back to the priesthood and I considered a vocation as a diocesan priest or a Benedictine. I found the Benedictine chrism attractive but my parents and the Benedictine vocation director encouraged me to go on to college and gain some maturity and life experience while I continued my discernment.

The summer before my college freshman year, Mike Massey, a family friend, invited me to work at a Salesian summer camp in Florida. I thought, “Hey I get to go to Florida, experience a new religious order, and play with kids for the summer.” Well I got to do those things but I also learned about Don Bosco’s philosophy of being a friend and father to the youth. Also the community I lived with ranged in age from early 30’s to mid 70’s and each of them was excited about the opportunity to work with kids. Each had their own way of interacting with the kids, some could do magic tricks, some drew cartoons, and others played soccer. I learned a great deal about youth ministry and life during those six weeks.

That fall I began my freshman year at the University of Arkansas as an architect student. At this point my discernment to the priesthood was put on the back burner but I still kept in contact with the Benedictines and the Salesians I had met. My two years of architecture were great but by the end of my sophomore year I realized the call to the priesthood had moved back to the front burner and that architecture wasn’t where God was calling me. While I was at the University of Arkansas I became very involved in campus ministry and started meeting regularly with a spiritual director.

At this point my discernment was between the Benedictines and Salesians so I asked each community to give me the opportunity to spend time discerning in one of their “average” communities. I spent the summer of 2008 with the Benedictines at Subiaco and the next 9 months with the Salesians in Port Chester, New York working in the soup kitchen, boys and girls club, and teaching Sunday school. I feel the Salesians is where God is calling me and a year of ministry in Port Chester helped me to see how important formation and education is to being effective in our service to others. This year I am committed to continue my discernment as a candidate this time as a student at Seton Hall University in Orange, New Jersey.

I have had many doubts in my discernment, questioned whether I was worthy (I am not, but neither are we to receive the Eucharist and yet Christ still calls us to himself in this way too), and I thought about going home. Yet trusting in God, and giving difficulties time with Christ to work themselves out, I find myself still called to be here. In the words of a wise man I met before beginning my candidacy, “Can you see yourself growing in holiness in this life?” I can, in the joys and struggles of Salesian life, being sent to poor youth, and striving to be a good Salesian.