By: Jason Songe, Seminarian, Archdiocese of New Orleans
Putting On The New Man is a series of the NDS Blog that will introduce the new faces you see in the seminary.
JESUS A. JULIO-TOVAR
I am Jesus A. Julio-Tovar. I am 21 years old. I come from the diocese of Raleigh. My favorite saints are Joseph of Nazareth and Augustine of Hippo. I like to watch the entire Avengers saga movies. I love this bible verse ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be through him was life, and his life was the light of the human race.”(John 1:1-4). I want to be a priest because without them we don’t have the presence of Christ in his Body and his Blood. And people need the Body and the Blood of Christ. My favorite spiritual books are the imitation of Christ and the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignacio de Loyola. The most interesting thing that has marked my life was my experience as a missionary and the missions I had in mountainous places. I describe my vocational process as gold to shine needs to be refined. In my hobbies, I like to read, listen to music, exercise, watch movies, play soccer…
WILLIAM SIGL
My name is William “Will” Sigl. I am a Pre-Theology I seminarian for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. To begin, I would say that my two favorite saints are St. Teresa of Avila & St. Benedict of Nursia. Along the line of movies, I have several favorites, but hands down it would be The Passion of the Christ. A favorite scripture verse or two for me would be Philippians 2, 10-11: “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that, Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” My journey to priesthood started in 1983 when I was 17 at Archbishop Rummel High School, but my life and profession got in the way. I have finally given way to the persistent call to pledge my life, love and loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Mother Church, for my salvation and the salvation of others. As spiritual books go, the book that I go back to regularly is Dominus Est – It is the Lord!, by Bishop Athanasius Schneider. On an interesting side note, I once had nose bleed seats for The Police “Synchronicity” World Tour 83-84, PMAC Baton Rouge, LA. I walked onto the floor and a friend of mine was sitting in the second row and said, “I know how much you love The Police, for $20 you can have my seat”, I said, “Done!” Needless to say, it was an awesome show! Winding down, my main interests would be music(Classical to Prog. Rock) and spiritual reading on the saints and church fathers.
WILL BRAEUNER
My name is Will Braeuner, and I am in my first year of Pre-theology in formation for the Diocese of Nashville. My vocation story can be summed up by the words of our dear Blessed Mother at the Wedding at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you.” I am constantly striving to learn how to discern and do God’s will to the fullest in every aspect of my life, just like my patron, St. Joseph. At the times every day when I fail in this endeavor, I am encouraged by one of my favorite quotes from G.K. Chesterton, that “if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly, and I ask God for the courage to begin again and give my all to Him. I am most drawn to the priesthood by my closeness to both the Sacraments and the Mystical Body of Christ that a priest serves. In my free time, I like to hang out with friends; play sports, especially beach volleyball; read books, including such favorites as The Power of Silence by Cardinal Sarah and Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Faustina; and watch movies and TV, like “Interstellar” and the “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series. One of the most interesting things that ever happened to me came during one of the summers that I was working with the maintenance department at my home parish, St. Henry; there was a family of skunks living on campus that we had to remove, VERY CAREFULLY.
About the Author: Jason Songe, Seminarian, Archdiocese of New Orleans
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