Gary Koenigsknecht

College II
St. John Vianney College Seminary
Home Parish: Most Holy Trinity, Fowler

Interests: Reading, Animals, Outdoors

I grew up in a large Catholic family and I was raised on the family farm. I attend Most Holy Trinity which is located in Fowler, a small rural community. I attended the Catholic grade school there from 4th through 8th and attended public high school in Fowler. It was during my time at High School that I started to consider the priesthood.

My family has a history of priests and the idea of priesthood was not foreign to me. I have an uncle who is a priest as well as two great-uncles. During my high school career people started asking me if I had ever considered the priesthood. However, at that time my faith was not very deep and I did not want to be a priest. Though I tried to ignore a possible vocation to the priesthood, people in my life continued to encourage me to at least consider the vocation. My pastor, Fr. Tim, as well as other priests, frequently made references to me about being a priest.

The turning point came when my pastor sent me a letter asking me if I was interested in attending a meal put on by the diocese. At the gathering I would meet the seminarians of the diocese and other guys who were looking into the priesthood as well. My parents asked me if I was thinking about the priesthood and encouraged me to attend the meal. I went to the meal and from that point, I began to seriously consider the priesthood. Meeting the Bishop and the seminarians on that afternoon made the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood a reality and helped remove my resistance to it.

From that point, I began to take my faith more seriously and began to ask what God wanted for me rather than what I wanted for myself. I graduated high school in 2006 and in the fall I entered the Seminary. Lord willing I will be ordained a priest in 2014.