Our Seminarians

Alonzo Quentin Cox

Home Parish: Queen of All Saints
Pastoral Year Parish: St. Sebastian, Woodside
Seminary: Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington

As I look forward to my priestly ordination, please God in June of 2010; I think of how I will serve the people of this great diocese in the person of Jesus Christ. Every time I think of my vocation to the priesthood, I think of how our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, talked about his own vocation to the priesthood, “it’s a gift and a mystery”. This vocation to the priesthood is such a great gift from God, but it’s also very mysterious that Christ would call me to share in it. It is absolutely amazing!

When I thought God might be calling me to the priesthood; I went to my pastor at Queen of All Saints in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, and sought his advice of how I should proceed. I participated in a number of Project Andrew Dinners offered by the Bishop, where I had the chance to share a meal with him, with other priests, and with other men, who like me were thinking about the possibility of a vocation Priesthood. During this period of discernment, (the time when a man contemplates if he feels that God is calling him to the priesthood), I was very much involved in my home parish; I was a lector at Mass, a catechist trying to share the faith, and finally a sacristan assisting in the Church. Towards the end of high school; I attended the Open House for the college seminary at Cathedral Seminary Residence of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston.

I entered the seminary formation for the priesthood immediately after graduating from high school. I entered Cathedral Seminary Residence in September 2001 as a College freshman. I completed my priestly formation on the college level when I graduated with a B.A. degree in Philosophy from St. John's University. Next I was assigned by my bishop complete my studies for the priesthood at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington.

Life at the seminary is certainly busy, and yet it is a privileged time. There are in some ways three aspects of life in the seminary: first there are the academic requirements, one must learn the rich theology and teachings of the Church. The second aspect of life in the seminary is communal life, the seminary is full of seminarians who live together, and as such this involves a common life of working and living with others, it is simply not just me and God, rather my relationship with God must involve my brothers in Christ. The final and perhaps the most important aspect of seminary life is that of prayer. That is why the seminary community gathers for prayer each morning and evening in addition to daily Mass; and the seminarian himself must sets time aside time for private prayer.

I think the priests in my parish, as well as the priest that I have come to know, especially at St. Sebastian, over the years greatly influenced my vocation to the priesthood. I think that if a man is discerning a vocation to the priesthood, he should be in contact with his pastor or another priest who will act as a spiritual director; this priest will be able to guide him to the next possible steps. At some point, a call or email to the Diocesan Vocation Director is advised, for he will be able to provide more answers to your questions, and be a resource as you contemplate the will of God for you.

I use the words of the late Pope John Paul II, “Be not afraid”; I can remember being afraid of what people might think of me when I was getting ready to tell them I was entering the seminary, or that I was thinking about a vocation to the priesthood. I was afraid that my friends would treat me differently because I was going to enter the seminary. Do not be afraid to answer the Lord's call to serve him as a priest.