S T. ISIDOR E C AT HOL I C CHURCH
Meet Seminarian
V ictor G or anov : E x p e ri e nci ng T rem en d o us S p i r i t ua l G r o w t h
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t is not every day that a high school and eventually it became a closer relationsenior decides to take a leap of faith ship with Jesus and the Church.” and enter into the Catholic Church Almost immediately after joining the — and it is even less common for Catholic Church, Victor began thinking that faith journey to begin with about the priesthood, inspired by the a father’s college class! Yet, that many amazing priests he got to know. is exactly how things happened After thinking about the seminary for Victor Goranov, the diocesan for about five years, Victor finally seminarian currently spending his followed his pastor’s advice and went pastoral year here at St. Isidore! on a weekend retreat to St. Patrick’s Growing up, Victor was raised as Seminary in Menlo Park. a Christian who believed in the sacred On his way home from the retreat truth of the Bible, though his family weekend, Victor was overcome by a didn’t regularly attend any church sense of joy and peace. He still wasn’t services. He was fascinated with the sure how to interpret these feelings, Scriptures from an early age, so when but then he saw a video in which the Seminarian Victor Goranov (right) he noticed that the Bible made refervocations director stated, “If you think with Fr. Avram Brown (left) and ences to church, he eventually went you might have a calling to the priestFr. Cormac Lacre (middle) to first his grandmother’s Pentecostal hood, you should explore that more in church and then a Baptist church. seminary.” With this knowledge — that When Victor was a teenager, his father began takseminary was a place of continued discernment — Victor ing college courses. Soon, everything changed for the finally decided to apply. Goranov family. Victor feels he has experienced tremendous spiritu“When my father was studying Calvinist history, it al growth during his first four years of academic study at brought him face to face with the Counter-Reformation St. Patrick’s. and the Catholic Church, and he couldn’t resist the truth “I would call it a quantum leap,” he says. “It is incredible of it,” Victor says. “He started talking about it with every- how much I’ve grown in seminary. It’s a kind of a crucible body at home. Two of my four siblings, my mom, my dad and it’s not always a walk in the park, but it’s like a purifyand I converted. ing process if you lean into it. You come out a better person. “For me, it was initially an intellectual breakthrough Spiritual direction has been the number-one help in seminary because I would compare non-Catholic interpretations of for me — it has really changed my life. And I’ve made many, the Bible with Catholic interpretations, and I thought the many friends. There is a powerful brotherhood among semiCatholic ones made much more sense and were more coher- narians that is hard to find in the non-seminarian world.” ent,” he adds. “So at first, it was an intellectual conversion, Following his first four years of formation at the continued on page 10 6
