Seminarian Profiles
Daniel Bedel
St. John the Evangelist, Enochsburg
Books: Narnia series, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Imitation of Christ, Introduction to the Devout Life, The Shadow of His Wings, Ender's Game series, and many more.
Movies: Master and Commander, I Confess, The Scarlet and The Black
Team: Indianapolis Colts
Artist: The Beatles
Quote: "All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action" -Demosthenes
Saint: Saint John Vianney Activities: Hunting, sports of any kind, reading, playing music, and video games
My name is Daniel Edmund James Bedel, but most people just call me Danny. I grew up in a small town in the country called Enochsburg. My home parish is St. John's the Evangelist, a small church to match the small town. It was in this town that I have many of my memories of childhood and high school. I am the eldest of five kids: four boys and one girl. I owe my strong faith and work ethic to my family. From an early age, my dad made it clear that we would have to earn our own money as kids. I started working at a local Christmas tree farm at age 12. I also worked on my uncle's farm building farm equipment, at a chicken friary, and at two local factories. In high school, I was involved in everything. I attended North Decatur High School in Greensburg, Indiana. I was in band (I played the trombone), cross country, track, key club, junior optimist club, language club, and also played CYO basketball for my parish (our team was the runner-up champions of the Batesville Deanery my senior year). I graduated top of my class and am now at Marian College
Over the years, I have become used to people asking me why I am in seminary. I never really have a convincing answer. It was never like I heard God's voice or felt this intense desire to wear black all the time. I can remember wanting to be a priest from a very early age. My grandma tells me that I used to say, "I want to be a dancing, singing priest when I grow up." I also remember performing 'pretend' Masses when I was younger in an attempt to be more like the priest I wanted to become. However, when I entered into middle school, my view on life changed. I wanted to get married and have kids just like everybody else. Science was my best subject in school, so I decided I would go to Notre Dame and become a science teacher either at the high school or even the college level. But God kept pulling me toward the priesthood. I guess I finally stopped running away and allowed God to do His will in my life. Right now, I am still allowing God to guide me. So far, I haven't been disappointed in where God has led me. Until something drastically changes, my heart and soul are set on becoming a priest.
I have been in seminary for over two years now, and in that time I have grown in knowledge, love, and virtue. Through constant prayer, study, and lots of fun on the side, I have developed who I am as a person and as a Catholic. The best thing about being in seminary at this point in the Church's history is that I can see the future of the priesthood in multiple dioceses right now. This vision of the future priesthood fills me with a great hope and ennobles me to continue in my search for God's will. If it truly is his will, I will be ordained a priest in six and a half years. Keep me in your prayers. Pray for vocations. Thank you.