This is great. I just clicked on the USCCB’s site and there looking back at me was an old college buddy of mine from Saint Joseph’s University who became a Jesuit priest.
Chuck was a great guy. He’s the kind of guy that was just so nice that you actually suspected he was playing you for a fool because nobody could be that nice.
I met Chuck when we both spent our spring break in Kentucky building a home for a family with two kids. Chuck cooked every night. I may be one of the world’s pickiest eaters but he was great. I ate things I didn’t even know what they were but they tasted great. I used to run into Chuck at Campus Ministry all the time and even back then he said he was considering becoming a Jesuit.
So check out Fr. Charles Frederico’s vocation story at the USCCB site.
On June 10, 2006, I was ordained a Jesuit priest, a fact that likely surprised the master chefs who helped train me for two years of intensive study at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York. They predicted I would go on to great things – perhaps even own a restaurant in my home town of Philly –where my love of food first took hold. But, like any good vocation story, there’s a twist, and in my case, God had other plans.
Read Fr. Charles’ story at the USCCB site.
