New priest recalls first 'yes' to God

By Tanya Connor and Maria LeDoux
The Catholic Free Press

When he was in third grade, his teacher joked that he’d become a priest, since religion was the only subject in which he was ‘competent’!
That joke turned naggingly serious one day during high school when he was taking a run. A painful struggle ensued, until he slammed shut his chemistry book and opened his Bible.
The “yes” that Michael Hoye said to God that day came to fruition last Saturday when he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Worcester, along with six other men.
He told his story in a college English paper, and to The Catholic Free Press.
“One cold December day, I went for a run as a normal high school boy, but when I came back, my life was never the same,” he began that 2013 essay for an English composition class at Assumption College, titled, “Yes.”
He loved running; it gave him time to think. That day, he decided to ponder what his family had been “bugging” him about: his career.
“On the first mile I thought it wouldn’t be hard,” he wrote in his paper. “I had a normal checklist: money, a house with seventeen acres of land, and as many children as I could get from my wife.” (He’s the youngest of seven children of David and Joan Hoye; he was born on November 18, 1993.)
On the second mile, he decided he would be fine with being a doctor. He found science easy and fascinating, and got good grades in it.
“I had the same feeling about religion class, but there was nothing I could do in religion that would help me achieve my checklist,” he wrote.
“The third mile was when it happened,” he continued. “A memory from years ago made its way to the forefront of my thoughts. In the third grade, I could not spell my name correctly on the top of my tests; I was known for my slowness. But not in religion class. I had the highest average.” He was proud that his tests were always among the highest scoring ones that his teacher at Assumption Elementary School in Millbury, Patricia Messina, posted on the wall.
“My teacher would joke about me becoming a priest because that was the only subject in which I was competent,” he wrote. “I went along with her joke in good spirits because everyone would laugh.”
But now that he was a sophomore at Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School, he felt embarrassed about his “third-grade-past self.”
Then he wondered if there was a reason for that joke, and his recollection of it while running.
“This wasn’t a joke anymore,” he wrote. “I thought I was crazy. I picked up the pace, and tried not to think about it. But the more I tried not to, the more I had to think about it. My soul was in a knot. I wanted to run away from the idea. I started running faster. My lungs hurt, my legs were screaming, but my inner soul was screaming louder for me to think more about the priesthood. Then I was done with my five-mile run.”
For the next week, he prayed constantly, researched priesthood “every free moment” and denied that God was calling him to it.
“I can’t just give up my whole life,” he thought. “What would others think? Would I be laughed at again?”
With heart and soul “knotted up,” he found it hard to sleep. With his desire to learn more about priesthood, he found it hard to think about anything else, including schoolwork.
“I began looking forward to religion class and learning more about God,” he recalled. He didn’t like chemistry; “it was the first science I disliked.”
Up late studying for a chemistry test, he surrendered.
“I was beyond stressed, about to cry from mental exhaustion,” he wrote. “I wanted God to take the pain away. I slammed the textbook in frustration and saw my Bible.”
He recalled how his Holy Name band teacher, Joseph Burke, told students passionately, at every rehearsal, “Anything God wants to say to us, here and now, can be found in the Bible! Open it, and read from it.”
So, the distressed teenager prayed, this time asking God to reveal his will and, for the first time, opened his Bible with an open mind. He read from the first chapter he saw.  
“God spoke to me then and there,” he recalled. “I read the passage over and over, until it was tattooed on my soul.”
What he’d opened to was Hebrews 5:1-6: “Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins … No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God … You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
The priest-to-be realized he wasn’t crazy, that he couldn’t make this up.
“This was what God truly asked of my life,” he wrote. “I said yes. The knots were untied. My soul and heart were filled with peace, and I fell asleep easily.”
He concluded his English paper: “Thankfully my life was never the same since that run. I am now a normal college freshman with an unconventional, God given checklist: to help others feel the same peace from God that I feel every day by saying yes.”
Father Hoye received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology from Assumption College in 2016. He studied at Theological College at the Catholic University of America and completed his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, where he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology. He will serve as temporary associate pastor at St. Mary Parish, Uxbridge, before returning to Rome to complete a licentiate in sacred theology.
As a priest, Father Hoye plans to use his teaching skills, gained from being a tutor during his time at Assumption College.“The joy of teaching has been one thing people have drawn out of me,” he said. “We need good priests who can be good teachers at the same time.”