When Ben Boegner’s younger brother Mark submitted his application to become a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore at the end of December, Ben hesitated. He had been independently contemplating the priesthood for more than three years, but he didn’t want to steal his little brother’s thunder. He decided to wait yet another year.
But after friends from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students suggested he might be making a mistake, Ben reconsidered.
Six months after Mark was accepted as a seminarian, Ben received his own acceptance letter.
Today, the parishioners of St. Ignatius in Hickory are both in their propaedeutic year – their first year of seminary formation – with Mark, 23, stationed at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and Ben, 28, assigned to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg.
“Honestly, I think Mark applying kind of gave me the strength to even apply in the first place,” said Ben, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. “Just seeing how my family reacted to him gave me a little more comfort to apply myself. It was kind of in the Lord’s providence that he applied before me and gave me the confidence to apply myself.”
Mark’s decision didn’t just inspire Ben. It sparked something within their entire family.
“I feel like there is this joy in them and this love – and it’s also this desire now to kind of grow deeper in faith with us as we’re growing in this process,” said Mark, who graduated from University of Maryland, College Park, with a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering. “Even members of the extended family are really excited for us.”
Faith was central to the Boegners’ upbringing. Ben, the fourth of eight siblings, and Mark, the seventh, recalled how their family filled an entire church pew and how their parents instilled a love of God. They sometimes attended Mass in their soccer uniforms so they could go to sporting events right after the final blessing, Ben said.
“There were times at night when my mom would come into my room when she was pregnant with the two youngest siblings,” Ben remembered. “She’d bless me and one of my siblings and then she’d ask us to cross her belly and bless whoever was in the womb at the time.”
Sometimes children would attend daily Mass, Ben said, and there were a few times when they prayed the rosary together. During the pandemic, when in-person Mass wasn’t possible, some of the siblings prayed the Liturgy of the Hours together.
The brothers said their faith deepened when they each became involved in Catholic campus ministry at the University of Maryland. Mark recalled attending various retreats and going on a mission trip to Ireland, where he helped with Bible studies and enjoyed talking with people about faith in an informal way.
After graduating and working for the U.S. Army, Ben became a missionary at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point through the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. There, he devoted three years to ministering to college students while also earning a master’s degree in psychology from Divine Mercy University in Virginia.
Ben recalled working with young men at West Point who came from broken families, with some not even knowing their biological fathers. His psychology studies helped him understand their struggles, but he felt it wasn’t enough.
“If I want to participate in the healing of these people who have wounding experiences from their past, then I need to participate in the ministry of the Divine Physician,” Ben said. “There was this sense of calling, just seeing how broken this culture is and realizing that the answer to this brokenness is Jesus in his church and in the sacraments that he provides.”
Lynda Boegner, the brothers’ mother, said her sons share qualities that will make them good priests. They are kind, humble, respectful, “super intelligent,” interested in social justice and committed to a strong work ethic, she said. At a time when many people are turning away from the church, she hopes her sons’ enthusiasm might help draw them back.
“They’re kind of young, cool kids,” said Lynda, a nurse practitioner. “I hope they can bring some of that ease and excitement and joy to people.”
She acknowledged the sacrifice of knowing her sons won’t give her grandchildren if ordained, but believes they’ll have a larger church family. She delights in their opportunities to serve others, she said.
Both brothers feel called to build up the Catholic Church – a call they won’t ignore.
“If God is real – and he is, and if Jesus is God – and he is, and if he established the church – which he did, and he’s calling me – which he is, then how can I say no?” Ben said.
Something in the water?
St. Ignatius in Hickory is home to three priests who have brothers who are also priests.
Father Andrew DeFusco, pastor of St. Ignatius, is the brother of Father Matt DeFusco, associate pastor of St. John in Frederick and St. Joseph-on-Carrollton Manor in Buckeystown.
Father Peter Kiamo-oh, associate pastor of St. Ignatius, is the twin brother of Father Paul Kongnyuy, associate pastor of Church of the Resurrection and St. Paul in Ellicott City.
Father Stephen Sutton, retired associate pastor of St. Ignatius, is brother of Father Douglas Sutton, a retired priest of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W. Va.
Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org
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