Father Pablo Gadenz recently marked the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in a familiar way, by preparing to settle into a new assignment as associate professor of Sacred Scripture in Mount St. Mary Seminary and University, Emmitsburg, Md.
Reflecting on the task that he was invited to assume, with the approval of Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., Father Gadenz noted that opening the door to Scripture for seminarians has been a focus of his ministry since 2008 when he joined the faculty of Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology at Seton Hall University, South Orange.
As he sees it, this is a vital mission.
For in the classes will be seminarians, including a number from the Trenton Diocese. They will one day preach homilies in its churches, employing the lessons of faith and reason in the Catholic tradition that they learned in these classes, he said.
“I remember Pope John Paul had written on faith and reason that these are the two wings on which, together, we ascend to the truth of God,” said Father Gadenz. “With all the studies, using reason, I try to open up the Word of God in Scripture written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in ways that will help [them] nourish the faith of Catholics who hear the Scriptures every time they go to Mass.”
Before the Priesthood
The youngest of three children of Renato and Cecilia Gadenz, who hailed from Italy, the family emigrated from Italy to the Trenton Diocese by way of Chile and California. Settled in Tinton Falls when he was six years old, the family joined Eatontown’s St. Dorothea Parish where Pablo was a member of the youth group.
After graduating from Red Bank Catholic High School as valedictorian in 1984, he commenced studies in electrical engineering in Princeton University, attended Mass regularly and was active in the university’s Catholic campus ministry program at the Aquinas Institute.
In an article that appeared in The Monitor in 1996 shortly before his priestly ordination, Father Gadenz noted that he had been “content to serve as a dedicated Catholic layman” while pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University in New York and working three years of employment at AT&T in Middletown.
But, he added, during those three years of secular employment, he “began to see the Lord calling me full time to the service of the Church.”
Journey of Faith
In late 1990, he connected with the Trenton Diocese to begin exploring the priesthood. The next year, he began a year of preparatory studies at Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio. The following year, he entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood, Pa.
There, he completed the rigorous mix of priestly formation studies, parish service in the summer in the Trenton Diocese and assignments in the Philadelphia Archdiocese that culminated in his ordination by Bishop John C. Reiss on May 18, 1996.
After serving as parochial vicar in St. Ann Parish, Keansburg, for two years, he was named priest secretary to Bishop John M. Smith, an assignment he held from 1998-2002. “During that time of living and working with the Bishop, we discussed the possibility of further studies with a view to my teaching in a seminary,” Father Gadenz said.
There followed a wide-ranging priestly journey that has included pastoral and administrative assignments; advanced Biblical studies in Rome; educational assignments in seminaries and universities, and completion of a substantial body of research, writing and lecturing on Scripture.
The author of various publications, including a well-received commentary on the Gospel of Luke in the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Series, Father Gadenz said he gets “energized when I get feedback from people who found the book very helpful.”
“Even if I’m not working day-to-day in a parish,” he said, “I think I’m reaching many people this way through my writing.”
Most recently, he’s also reaching people through Living Word, a television series he co-hosts on the Catholic Faith Network with Bishop Richard Henning, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York.
The show focuses on Biblical foundations, themes, passages and Scriptures of the liturgical year and airs regularly on weekdays.
In ways he likely could not have anticipated when he was ordained, fulfilling these duties reflects his original intention to serve the faithful of the Trenton Diocese “in whatever capacity” the sitting Bishop of Trenton would ask of him.
That capacity right now is centered on teaching in St. Mary Seminary and University. Long drawn to the lectern, Father Gadenz said that when he first decided to become a priest, he thought “teaching would be an aspect of living out my priesthood.”
“One enters the seminary to be a priest,” he said. “And what one does depends on so many different things. I believe the way my priesthood has unfolded is how God has called me to serve the Church at this time.”