New Priest Appointed to St. Anthony

By Roxanne Turnbull
Hillsdale Collegian
October 5, 2012

http://www.hillsdalecollegian.com/2012/10/new-priest-appointed-to-st-anthony/

Father David Reamsnyder began his priestly duties at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Hillsdale, Mich., Sunday, Sept. 23.

Reamsnyder was selected by the Diocese of Lansing to replace Father Jeffrey Njus after it was discovered Njus had violated his vow of celibacy – leaving the Hillsdale parish without a priest. He will stay in Hillsdale for one year. Afterwards, he said he hopes to become a chaplain in a military unit.

Reamsnyder, his wife Beth, and his two children moved into the rectory of the church recently. As a former Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism, Reamsnyder is permitted to serve as a married Catholic priest under the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

The Ordinariate, created in January 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI for Anglicans converting to Catholicism, was established "to build up the Church through mutual mission and ministry while retaining elements of the Anglican patrimony."

"By the time I graduated seminary, I wanted to join the Catholic Church, but it wasn't until Pope Benedict's announcement of 'Anglicanorum Coetibus' that I knew how it would happen," Reamsnyder said.

Reamsnyder joined the United States Army after graduating from high school. It was a member of his platoon who asked him to join a Bible study one evening, which led to Reamsnyder's spiritual reawakening. He worked and studied with a missionary from Cadence ministries, but he said the Calvinist roots of the organization frustrated him.

"I had not considered Catholicism due to a prejudice I had in childhood," Reamsnyder said.

He studied for three years to prepare for seminary at a fine arts community college before transferring and receiving his Bachelor's degree for philosophy and religion at Spring Arbor University.

"It was a new world of academic challenge and excellence," Reamsnyder said.

He was then called away for a 14-month tour of duty in Iraq, and he became fascinated with the Chaldean Catholics of Northern Iraq.

"What I know is God used this time to turn me toward Catholicism," he said. "I was caught up in the idea of Christians worshipping worldwide in a universal style."

After his tour, Reamsnyder came back to Hillsdale to be with his family. His wife was raised Catholic, and they made a compromise between them and started going to Holy Trinity Anglican Parish.

"I had to surrender my prejudice of the Catholic doctrine," he said. "God himself was drawing me into his church through his divine liturgy."

Through the Episcopal Missionary Church, Reamsnyder realized he wanted to become a religious leader and served as a priest just short of three years. On Jan. 22, 2012, he was received into the Catholic Church and was ordained as a Catholic priest on June 9, 2012.

At the Episcopal Church in Baltimore, he and the senior priest converted 67 parishioners from Anglicanism to Catholicism. When the newly-formed parish decided to buy the building from the Anglian church, the budget could not provide for two priests. Reamsnyder, the less senior of the two priests, was forced to leave, but he said the decision to leave was easy because the senior priest had laid all the groundwork for the parish conversions.

He and his family returned to Michigan when his wife found a job as a kindergarten teacher at Sacred Heart School in Hudson, Mich. When a priest position was not available, Reamsnyder took a job at an automobile parts company. Reamsnyder said the diocese learned they had an able priest right under their nose when Hillsdale was in need.

Gannon Hyland, president of the Hillsdale College Catholic Society, said he has not heard any negative remarks about Reamsnyder and said he believes the new priest will be a positive contribution to the parish.

"From my impression of him, he's phenomenal — someone who exemplifies the qualities of Christ," Hyland said.

Hyland said Reamsnyder being a married priest is unusual but interesting because it is not common.

"I don't' think it will detract from him," he said.

Deacon and Dean of Men Aaron Petersen described Reamsnyder as a "peaceful man with a gentle spirit." He also said that there was some confusion in the parish about Reamsnyder being married but there was not negativity.

"I appreciate that, as our shepherd, Reamsnyder is able to guide us with a spiritual fatherhood that is informed from his personal experience of matrimonial fatherhood," Petersen said.

Petersen said he learned through this process of losing one priest and gaining another from the parish that the parishioners do "understand the mission" of the church and that the members and clergy both have important roles.

"I think it has made them grateful for the gift of priesthood," he said.