For young children in practicing Catholic families, the parish priest can have quite an impact. While the earliest pastor I remember as a very young child was Fr. Larry O’Shea, it was actually Fr. Ron Gagne who was the first priest I came to know well. Fr. Ron, who celebrated his 60th anniversary of priesthood this past June 10, has a long history of being an influential leader and pastor for young and old alike.

When I was about thirteen years of age, I set up a meeting with Fr. Ron to talk with him about what I thought might be a call to the priesthood. With pastoral and sage advice, he encouraged me to actively discern whether this was truly from God. Little did I know that, at roughly the same time, another parishioner a bit older than I went to Fr. Ron seeking the same counsel. Both of us eventually went to the seminary, becoming two of only a very small number of seminarians for the entire diocese, and both of us attribute Fr. Ron’s influence as part of our discernment.

The other seminarian was Lyle Johnson, who eventually discerned out of the seminary and is currently one of my permanent deacons at St. James in Duluth. Recently, Deacon Lyle Johnson told me that it was Fr. Ron who helped guide his family toward more faithful Mass attendance, adding, “I will be forever grateful that Fr. Ron had such an influence in my life.”

I can echo Deacon Lyle’s words and make them my own. Fr. Ron was my pastor during most of my growing-up years, and as a result, he became the only model of priesthood I truly knew—the model I was drawn to. Perhaps the most symbolic and significant decision a man makes as he approaches ordination to the priesthood is choosing which priest he will ask to vest him. It is a long tradition that those to be ordained select a priest who was either most influential in their lives or someone they hope to model their priesthood after.

For me, this decision was easy. I am grateful to Fr. Ron Gagne for being my vesting priest at my ordination and for being my role model. Happy anniversary, Fr. Ron!