At a retreat during his sophomore year in high school in 2013, Deacon Randy Skeate realized the Lord had a unique plan for him.
In this knowledge, he felt peace and encouragement, said Deacon Skeate, as he prepares for his May 31 ordination to the priesthood at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
“I could describe that as my first real encounter with Jesus,” Deacon Skeate said. “I was just really inspired that whole weekend, by other high schoolers or young adults from the parish who helped me.”
He felt this peace in his developing prayer life and in close friendships with other men at his parish, St. Patrick in Oak Grove, “who are around the same age as me and just encouraging each other in following the Lord’s call,” Deacon Skeate said on the May 16 “Practicing Catholic” radio show on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
“I just had this very deep intuition in the midst of that, that I could choose all of these different paths in my life, but I knew that the one path that would bring me the greatest fulfillment and peace would be the specific plan that the Lord had for me,” Deacon Skeate said.
Deacon Skeate said he has a great role model in Father David Blume, who was pastor of St. Patrick for nine years, then vocations director for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and now is pastor of St. Philip in Bemidji.
In his discernment journey, Deacon Skeate had the support of his friends and family. Something he struggled with was interior trust that the Lord would provide for him throughout the whole process of formation as a priest.
“But the assurance and encouragement from everyone from my whole journey of priestly formation, from spiritual directors, formation directors, brother seminarians, everyone in my life, they’ve given me the encouragement I’ve needed,” Deacon Skeate said. “We are going to find the greatest fulfillment in our life by stepping out in faith and in a sense, giving ourselves away.”
His advice for anyone discerning the priesthood is to give their whole heart to the Lord. A Vatican II document, “Guadium et spes” — Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World — stuck with Deacon Skeate during his priestly formation.
“The more I can give my whole heart to the Lord, the more he’s going to keep giving his own heart to me and be with me,” Deacon Skeate said.
Deacon Skeate noted that while discerning his call to the priesthood, he had a strong feeling that the Lord wanted to make him a great father. He initially understood this to be a father in a family, providing for his wife and children.
“But the more that he started planting little seeds very gradually after my confirmation and through the last couple years of high school, the more I realized that he was going to provide for his own people with a spiritual father,” Deacon Skeate said. “He wanted to make me a spiritual father for a whole flock. … It gave me a lot of peace and the more I just stepped out of my comfort zone, the more I got out of myself and surrendered my heart over to the Lord, the more he continued to be generous with me.”
Coming off a three-day retreat at Pacem in Terris, a retreat center in Isanti, Deacon Skeate said his heart is prepared for the weekend and ordination. Deacon Skeate will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving June 1 at St. Patrick. He is the first priestly vocation to come from St. Patrick since it became its own parish in 1973 after being a mission parish for St. Stephen in Anoka.
“The parishioners were the first witnesses of the faith for me with my parish as my spiritual family,” Deacon Skeate said. “I’ll be able to nourish everyone in my parish with the body and blood of Christ, with the same body and blood of Christ that I was nourished with when I was growing up in St. Patrick.”
Deacon Skeate said he is most looking forward to exercising spiritual fatherhood as a priest. He looks forward to having a flock to minister to, and to bringing the healing and merciful presence of the Lord. The Mass, he said, is the sacrament he is most looking forward to offering.
“The Mass is the greatest act of evangelization that we have,” Deacon Skeate said. “It’s the privileged place where we’re nourished by the words of the Gospel, and then we’re nourished by the Lord’s own body and blood that become present to us at the altar.”
