Q & A with Father Patrick Seo, the new Associate Director of Priestly Vocations

The Archdiocese of Newark has a new Associate Director of Priestly Vocations. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R. appointed Father Patrick Seo to the role on July 1.

The Office of Priestly Vocations serves the Archdiocese by striving to foster a culture of vocations for men who receive the calling, to accompany them, and to encourage prayer for priests and seminarians.

Father Seo was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 2017 and spent his first five years serving as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Park Ridge. In 2022, he was assigned to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary and Saint Michael Parish in Elizabeth.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. to South Korean parents, Father Seo’s family moved to Englewood Cliffs, N.J. when he was young. He studied in the public school system before attending Bergen Catholic High School. He received an undergraduate degree from Thomas Aquinas College in California. With plans to become a doctor, he studied in Northwestern University’s premed program.

Father Seo completed three years of medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia when the Lord called him toward another life. Initially, he discerned this calling with several religious orders, including the Franciscans, Benedictines, Norbertines, Dominicans, and Carthusians, until working for a year at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. It was there that the Lord confirmed within him his calling to become a diocesan priest for the Archdiocese of Newark.

Father Gino de la Rama, Director of Priestly Vocations, said it is a great joy to welcome Father Seo to the Office of Priestly Vocations.

“His distinctive warmth and deep love for Christ will undoubtedly help build a culture of vocations here in the Archdiocese of Newark. Please pray for him as he transitions into this new role,” Father de la Rama said.

As Father Seo begins his new role, Jersey Catholic sat down with him to discuss the appointment and his perspective on fostering vocations in the Archdiocese.

What was your reaction when Cardinal Tobin asked you to assume the role of Associate Director of Vocations?

Father Seo: [As I was considering the Cardinal’s request], I was having a conversation with a priest up in Vermont. I said to him, “All right, here’s what I’m going to do. I have to tell the Cardinal something. So, I’m going to say ‘Cardinal, I have seen nothing concrete that would make me think that I am the right fit for this job. But if you put me under obedience, I’ll do it.’”

And the priest challenged me and said, “You can’t do it that way, Patrick. That’s not the way to live.” I realized that I was using obedience as a false idol a little bit; I was making it an excuse. And I found in my prayer that no matter where I go, the Lord’s going to be there, the Lord will be with me, the Lord will be in me. And so, if this is where the Lord wants to give Himself to me, then let’s go.

When I said to the Cardinal, “I will take the role,” I was very surprised at the level of peace I had within myself.

You have been in your role for a month and a half now. What are some of your responsibilities and what has Father Gino discussed with you?

Father Seo: I don’t have much experience yet because it’s summertime and everyone is gone for the summer. The way Father Gino put it, it’s somewhat of a succession plan in which we will overlap for a while and talk about major components of things that I’ll be doing alongside him.

On a concrete level, when there’s a man who is discerning for the priesthood, I’ll be the front line. They’ll be meeting with me for one, maybe two years, before we offer them the first formal step, which would be the Propaedeutic Year.

What would you say to someone who came to you discerning the call to priesthood?

Father Seo: If they’re serious about discerning, I would say to do a Holy Hour every day. Just be with the Eucharist and He’ll tell you.

Father Gino and I, we are not the Vocations Director – that is the Holy Spirit. He is the one that gives the vocation, and He is the one that brings it about within us. So, if we want to really discern our vocation, if we’re very serious about wanting what God wants for us in our lives, then we have to spend time with Him.

A dream of mine, now that I’ve taken on this role, is to have a perpetual adoration chapel within each county of the Archdiocese.

There are times where I’m struggling with something, I can’t go to sleep and it’s three o’clock in the morning. So, what do I do? I go down and I pray with our Lord in the chapel – and I have access to the chapel because I’m a priest and I have the keys to the kingdom so to speak.

But not everyone can do that. And if people were to know that God is here for you 24 hours a day, to talk whenever you want about this very thing that only He can answer, then go – here’s the opportunity, Come to Me.

Fr. Patrick Seo was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 2017. Here, he celebrates his First Mass at the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit. (Summit Dominican Sisters)

Of the men who are in seminary, many will be ordained priests of this Archdiocese. So, having been a diocesan priest yourself for six years, what do you personally feel are some of the fruits? What have you enjoyed in your ministry here?

Father Seo: By far, bringing the Sacraments and the Eucharist [to the people].

The great call of the Christian is to fulfill the two great commandments of “love God” and “love neighbor.” But we just kind of throw that term [love] around all the time. Love is to will the good of others – and the good for every single person is God and a life united to God. So, the greatest thing I can do for them is give them God, which is the Eucharist.

People can go to Sunday Mass, receive the Eucharist, go home, and they can shout about it to other people driving down the road on the way out. However, if they really let the Eucharist transform them, they live as God. They live the life that lasts into eternity. They live willing the good of others. And this is how the Church grows. This is how God lives.

As a priest I give them God. I think that’s just incredible. And the more I delve deeper into that reality, it’s just like – really, I’m a priest? I wouldn’t have given myself this great responsibility.

Building a culture of vocations is not just something that is a question for the Vocations Office. It’s at the forefront of many Catholics’ minds knowing that we need more priests and we pray for more priests. It’s a worry for a lot of people, too. How do you feel that we can continue to build a culture of vocations in this Archdiocese?

Father Seo: I always go back to this: it’s the Holy Spirit who is the primary Vocations Director. With the dying numbers [of priests] that we have now, I think people get very overwhelmed. But the Lord wants to give Himself to the people, especially in the Eucharist. So, there’s a trust that needs to be re-established with the Lord – that He is real, that He is in charge, that He is greater than any problem that we can ever throw at Him.

That’s just number one. However, once we have this trust and we have the call to go out and spread the Gospel message, then the idea of vocations is to spread the life of love to whichever [area] you’re called to serve. So, whether you’re married to this person, or you’re this priest to this parish, or this bishop to this Archdiocese, this nun to this community, I think there needs to be an education of what vocations is. Because most people just think vocations means becoming a priest or a nun.

And then it’s a real culture change in the end.

After the Holy Spirit, I would say [it begins with] the parents. The bishop, since he is the spiritual father, has a primary role – but the feet on the ground are the parents and pastors. If they’re not going to Mass, forget it, the kids have no hope of finding out what the Lord wants from them. And if the pastor is ashamed of his own priesthood, there’s no way that young men are going to find a joyful priest whom they want to imitate and become.

I think it’s a culture change on rediscovering how important the priesthood is and then everyone playing their part. It can’t just be on the shoulders of Father Gino and Father Patrick – because if it is, we’re never going to get any more vocations ever again. We were never meant to do any job alone. This is why we are a Church, why we are a communion of persons, because we were meant to work together. That’s the nature of the Church.

We put so much emphasis on Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist – as we should. But sometimes we think of vocations as this other thing that we do, when vocations is central to the fulfillment of the baptismal confirmation, the Eucharistic sacrament. If we really live those lives, vocations is the obvious fullness. Receiving and then sharing it with others. And if we’re not sharing it with others, then we have not really received the fullness of Christ within us.

In the video below from 2020, Father Seo (then a priest at Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge) discusses his vocation and the call to the priesthood.