Fr. Todd 4/19/26 Bulletin Article

Hello parishioners of Sacred Heart and St. Mary on the Lake!

My name is Mason Abbott and I am very much looking forward to being with you all this summer. I grew up in Lansing, at Church of the Resurrection parish. I was born into a Catholic family of four boys, of which I am the third. We originally were at St. Martha’s in Okemos, but switched over to Resurrection when I was in 2nd grade and we have been there ever since. I have been in Catholic school my whole life.  

I first started thinking about being a priest when I was 11 years old, in the fifth grade. It was April of 2013, when I was serving Mass for the associate at that time, Fr. Mark Rutherford. When he elevated the chalice, I noticed a very subtle smile on his face. At that moment anything that I had thought about doing when I grew up faded. He was extremely joyful. I thought to myself, “I want to be happy, this priest is the happiest person I have ever seen, and so, I want to be a priest.” That thought has remained in my heart everyday since.

I had the further thought, “What do priests do? Study theology!” Theology became my favorite subject in school and I started telling everyone I wanted to be a priest. Looking back, I think it was easy for me to tell everyone this because when I graduated from the 8th grade, there were only 16 kids in my class, including myself. Only 5 of those kids were girls. When I went to Lansing Catholic High School in the fall of 2016 my class grew to 140. Obviously, there were more than 5 girls. It was then I started to ask the question, “I might want to be a priest, but is that what God wants?” A couple months into my freshman year I sat down with my pastor, Fr. Steve Mattson, to tell him everything. He gave me some advice I have never forgotten. “Live in the moment.”

At that moment, I was making a lot of friends who were giving me more joy. So, I put the thought of priesthood on the back burner. I started dating in my sophomore year, but as time went on, the relationship did not work out. That ended the summer before my senior year, and unfortunately, a good number of my other friendships as well. At the beginning of senior year, teachers stressed college applications. All I had left was the thought of being a priest, and I knew in my heart that I had to give it a shot.

I picked up the application for the seminary in November of 2019 and began filling it out. Then in March of 2020, to make the year even more difficult, COVID happened. Even though I had a job at a butcher shop at the time and was labeled an “essential worker”, I was still very lonely. But then guys I had heard who were also entering the seminary started to reach out and see how I was doing. That gave me a lot of hope and a real sense of fraternity. I finished the application in May of 2020, and entered St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota that fall. It was the best decision I ever made. I graduated from there in May 2024, and now I am at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. God willing, I will be a deacon in 2027, and a priest in 2028. Please know of my prayers for you already!

God Bless you!