CINCINNATI — David Doseck, of Botkins, is set to be ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church by next spring. He is currently serving as a transitional deacon in Cincinnati. This position lasts for one year, and then in April 2017, Doseck will receive an evaluation and move on to the next step.
After five years of seminary at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati, Doseck will be recommended to the archbishop of Cincinnati for ordination into the priesthood. Doseck will complete those five years next spring.
“Once we’re ordained priests, it’s up to the archbishop to assign us to a parish. That could be anywhere from here in Cincinnati all the way up to Wapakoneta, and all the way over to the Indiana border and to the Bellefontaine to Chillicothe area,” said Doseck.
Doseck grew up in Botkins across from the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church where he and his family were members.
“My parents bought that house with the beautiful view of the church, and we always had the chance to go over to the church. We were always raised with our faith being very important to us,” remembered Doseck.
Doseck was able to return home the weekend of May 28-29 and was able to be a deacon at the Masses at Immaculate Conception and at St. John Catholic Church in Fryburg.
“It was very nice to look out and to see friendly faces and family. The Lord has given me a wonderful gift to be able to articulate my faith to them, and it is also very helpful to know each and every one of their lives and how the Lord has worked in them. To be able to deliver a homily based on scriptures so that they can live their faith and be able to grow in their spiritual life,” said Doseck.
Doseck realized his future would be in the priesthood while in high school. He had always assumed that his future held a wife and children, but he had an experience which challenged that assumption.
“I went to a retreat in Indiana as a sophomore in high school. It was at that retreat that, for the first time in my life, was able to interact with others my age that were on fire in their faith and wanted to learn more. It really was there that it first felt that God wanted me to be in that place. He wanted me to be able to lead people in prayer. It just seemed like it fit. That created in me a question of why does that feel like it fit and why is that where I’m feeling that I need to be when I always thought I was supposed to have a family with a wife and kids?” said Doseck.
After the retreat, Doseck became more involved in the church and began to read more about the faith. He was searching for answers, and he was feeling more on fire. He began to consider whether or not God was calling him to be a priest.
“During my quiet prayers and thoughts at night, I began to think of the wonderful priests that we had and how much they had been able to teach and to preach and to help others. I always thought that was just a wonderful and incredible witness to me in my life. I wondered if God is calling me to that life,” said Doseck.
The thought evolved from there, and he believes that he was called to the life of a priest. He looks forward to the gift of being a spiritual father to his future parishioners in all manner of life experiences.
