Jeffery Oehring relationship with God remains fresh
By Catholic Register Staff
Editor’s note: This is one in our series of profiles on the men who will graduate from St. Augustine’s Seminary this spring and be ordained to the priesthood for various dioceses.
Jeffery Oehring, 25, was born and raised in Walkerton, Ont. It was during his high school years that he began to wrestle with some of the big mysteries in life with the “God Question” being at the heart of it all.
“During my years in high school, one of the most important things for me was to try to figure out, ‘Why am I here? What’s the meaning of my life?’ ” he said. “One of the most frustrating things for me was when teachers and friends would come up to you and say, ‘So what are you going to do with your life? What do you want to be? What university are you going to? And what program are you going to study?’ ”
As he began to take seriously his prayer life, the Lord gradually revealed to him the call to service as a priest. At first he was frightened, but the call would not go away and he knew that he had to at least give it a shot.
“Eventually, I’m not really sure why, but, somehow the idea that maybe you’re looking for God came into my mind, maybe He’s the one worth giving your life for. And looking back now I can see that it’s been 11 years since I started taking my relationship with the Lord seriously, and I can honestly say it hasn’t tailed off, it hasn’t gotten weaker, it hasn’t gotten boring.”
Following the completion of his OAC year in 2003, he entered St. Philip’s Seminary and in 2005 made the transition to St. Augustine’s Seminary.
Oehring will be ordained for the diocese of Hamilton.
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