Hello! My name is Kevin Hathaway and I very happy to be a seminarian for the Diocese of Fort Worth! I will be at St. Philip the Apostle for a pastoral year that will start in August, and I will be there until the following summer. Here are a few paragraphs about where I came from and how I hope to be part of your parish. I entered seminary in Fall 2012, but I was originally a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City because that’s where my faith life as an adult developed. I went to the University of Oklahoma for graduate work in geology and I was very active with the parish right there on the campus in Norman. I enjoyed learning about geology and I thought I would enjoy the work of it in oil and gas exploration, but in the last year of my work there, I felt more and more called to live a life in service to God’s church. I started attending discernment events here in Fort Worth when I was back home, and I even attended a vocations awareness weekend at Holy Trinity Seminary that summer. I still wanted to finish my degree at OU and find a job though, but the thought of being a priest was there. I knew even as I finished my degree, that I wanted to apply for seminary at some point. I found a job in oil and gas exploration not long after my graduation and that helped me realize that I really had lost interest in geology as a profession. It’s still something I’m interested in as an amateur, but I really found genuine fulfillment inside my church, and in my prayer about becoming a priest. I entered seminary for Oklahoma City and I completed my pre-theology studies in philosophy at St. Meinrad up in Southern Indiana. I really appreciated my time there! However, I just didn’t feel like Oklahoma City could be my home in the way that Fort Worth always has been. I ended up discerning through prayer and discussion with friends and family that I should re-apply as a seminarian for the Diocese of Fort Worth. I applied and I was accepted, and Bishop Olson sent me to Theological College in Washington, DC to begin my studies in Theology. I have finished two years of school over there, and I am very happy to be back in Fort Worth and at St. Philip the Apostle for a year! Last summer, I helped out in four rural parishes out in Strawn, Ranger, Eastland, and Cisco; there’s just one pastor for the whole circuit. I had a great time being part of that and I enjoyed being out in the country. I am looking forward to being part of St. Philip the Apostle for the upcoming year, and I want to be involved in as much of the parish life as I can, through ministries and just getting to know you folks over the course of the year. I am also looking forward to learning about and being part of the exciting process of building a new church. Thanks! Kevin Hathaway