Meet Seminarian Luke Bland: Following God’s Call, Wherever It May Lead

When Luke Bland was a child attending services at the Methodist church right up the street from our cathedral, he could have never guessed that the Lord would someday call him home to the Catholic Church he had so often walked right past! Yet today, Holy Family Cathedral has become his home parish and spiritual support network as he begins his studies at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis. Luke’s path to a deep faith is an inspiring story of the Father calling one of His beloved children home. While Luke was raised Methodist, his family did not discuss God or faith outside of the Sunday services. Without a real foundation in the faith, Luke turned his back on Christianity when he became a teenager. Only later, when he was dating a Catholic in college, did things begin to change.

“I had a Catholic girlfriend at the University of Tulsa who really knew her faith and how to talk about it, how to present it in a sophisticated and well-thought-out way,” Luke says. “She explained that there is a long intellectual tradition behind the Church and its doctrine. I had never encountered anybody who had believed in God and was really smart and could sum it up for me. She showed me that believing in God could be deep and sophisticated and thoughtful —that God is Truth itself and Love itself and all of these bigger philosophical things.”

Once Luke was ready to accept the faith on an intellectual level, God began working on his heart. Soon, Luke realized that it wasn’t enough to keep God as an idea — instead, he wanted to have a true relationship with Him. As Luke recalls, the more he “showed up” for the Lord, the more he was called to make a transformative change.

“It became about relationship and a deep embrace between Father and son,” Luke says. “It’s so beautiful, really. I first realized it was true intellectually, but then it was also true in a way that I didn’t even know it needed to be. I didn’t know I was broken until I was loved by God. I didn’t even know my heart was longing for a Father in heaven, but it was.

“So now, in addition to the intellectual sense of God, I’m also His son, and that’s an identity that goes so deep that it’s not even about the intellectual argument anymore,” he continues. “I’ve realized who I am in my heart of hearts. And if I’m His son, I want to live in His house, which is the Catholic Church.”

Having experienced this profound conversion of mind, heart and soul, Luke enrolled in the RCIA process at the beginning of his junior year of college in 2017. It was only then that he learned he had already been baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant, in keeping with the traditions of his mother’s South American family. Luke was able to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion in January of 2018 and was then confirmed at the Easter Vigil Mass.

For Luke, his full reception into the Church at the Easter Vigil was a moment of indescribable grace.

“That I could go from thinking Christianity was ridiculous to thanking God on my knees for bringing me home is just a sign and testament to God’s mercy,” he says. “I think of the prodigal son — I had walked away, I had made fun of Christians, but in love and mercy He brought me home, because that’s what a good Father does.”

The summer following his junior year, Luke went out to California for a job designing marching band shows with the idea of turning the summer job into a future career. However, he soon felt the pull to build his future in the Church. Initially, he contemplated working in youth ministry or for a program such as FOCUS, but was eventually drawn to the seminary and a possible vocation to the priesthood.

Throughout his conversion experience, Luke was attending Masses and activities at the University of Tulsa Newman Center. However, on school breaks he would come to Mass at our cathedral. With its beautiful liturgies and inspiring priests, Luke has always enjoyed our faith community, and he was pleased when Fr. Kastl invited him to make Holy Family his home parish.

This fall, Luke has found his time at Kenrick- Glennon Seminary to be a blessing as he gets to know his heavenly Father better and make connections with his fellow seminarians. He is thankful for the support and prayers of everyone at Holy Family and looks forward in faith to following God’s call, wherever it may lead him.

“I just kept falling in love with God more and more and more,” Luke says. “Giving my life for Him is not just something I’m willing to do, but might just be the best thing I could do, and the path to happiness. It’s a joy to even be able to say these things.”

Seminarian Luke Bland