My name is Deacon Brian Dulli.  I am a fourth year seminarian for the Diocese of Madison, WI studying at Mundelein Seminary.  I would like to offer my personal testimony to what the Evangelical Catholic has been for me and what I think it means for the Catholic Church.

As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I had no idea that my search for Christ would lead me to become a priest.  I began to take my faith beyond merely a weekly participation in Mass.  At first, I thought that I was just trying to get a better perspective on some personal problems I was having.  I joined a small group bible study, and after a few months I was tuned into our Savior’s message of salvation.  I began to read Scripture in my spare time.  I took my first steps in mental prayer.  Paraphrasing the book of Tobit, I listened to every wise person along the way.  By the end of a 18 months of activity at St. Paul’s, I was ready to lead a bible study and be an example for other students in the peer ministry program.

What awakened for me at 18 years of age was an existential push toward God.  The work of the Evangelical Catholic at St. Paul’s provided me with a reliable language with which to understand my faith.  Their programs opened the Word of God for me in ways that I could understand and grow with.  They fostered an exciting and lively student community.  Their ministry trains peer leaders thoroughly in scripture and the vibrant spiritual and evangelical tradition of the Catholic Church.  In this community, the Holy Spirit nourished the seeds of my vocation.  Their yearly Institutes in Madison have continued to strengthen me as a seminarian.

As a future priest, the vision of the Evangelical Catholic models for me the way I hope to serve as a priest.  As God’s people hunger to be fed in the Eucharist, their ears hunger to enjoy the full feast of Holy Scripture.  The apostolic task of teaching and preaching the Gospel is central to the heart of the Evangelical Catholic.  Upon experiencing inner transformation, the soul flourishes by being priest, prophet and king to the world.  Much of the work of the Evangelical Catholic is for equipping disciples to be strong Catholic leaders in their parishes and communities.  So too, as a priest I hope to build up disciples by my personal pastoral approach and good example.  The Christian soul can truly come alive with the help of a confident Evangelical Catholic ministry.  Their presence in any parish will be of great support and encouragement to the Catholic priesthood.