In early September, the One Voice had the pleasure of working with the Office of Vocations to interview recently retired Msgr. Paul L. Rohling. Msgr. Rohling, now Pastor Emeritus of Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Birmingham, was ordained on May 24, 1975. Excerpts from the interview follow herein.

Vocation story

"My vocation began within my family. Both of my parents, my father and mother, have religious in their family. In my dad’s family there were two Sisters of Charity, Nashville Sisters of Charity, and then another priest, Msgr. George Rohling, from the Nashville diocese. In the family also, another cousin, was a Sacred Heart priest in Hales Corner, Wisconsin ... So we had a lot of religious in our families, and so I think my vocation began there, it began in the family.

"Growing up we always had prayer. Every evening we’d pray the Rosary together, and that was just a part of our routine. When you went to bed at night, you said another little prayer, and when you got up, you prayed again. So, really, the religious life was formed in the family."

Encouraging others

"To the young men of the parishes that I have been in, I have always tried to encourage them to have a vocation to the priesthood. In those 45 years, I am accredited for one priest, Father Alan Mackey, who I encouraged to go in the seminary. It’s whenever you look out in your congregation and you see young men or young women who are there at Mass - you can see they are devout. I always use that as an opportunity to say to them, 'Have you considered a religious life, whether as a priest or as a sister? That’s important to the life of the Church ... I know ... you are thinking about dating and going out to parties, but keep in the back of your mind, maybe, priesthood or religious life is something you are called to.'

"I think that was always in the back of my mind. So much so that I decided that I needed to try the seminary whether or not I stayed in the seminary. But I felt a calling to the priesthood. Over the years there … I remember two years in the seminary I thought, 'I think I need to take a break.' My parents gave me very wise advice. My mother said to me, 'You know, your dad and I have been married for over 30 years. Over those 30 years, there have been days that we’ve questioned whether or not we made the right decision. But I assure you that if you hang in there, you will see that God will reveal to you what is the right decision for you.'"

Special experiences

"Several years ago I had the opportunity to make a 40 day retreat - Ignatian retreat. I am not sure that I will ever do that again, but in the process of praying and reflecting on my priesthood, I said to the Lord, 'I need a sign - I need you to show me something that I am walking the right path.' As I was walking on the retreat grounds at the retreat center they had the sprinkler system on. I had asked to see a rainbow - it hadn’t rained.  And suddenly in the sprinkler system, was a rainbow that stood out to me. I looked at that as a sign from God ....

"There are other experiences like that where the Lord has put me at the right place  - with a family, not my family, but with families in the church. Sometimes it’s with a loved one that is approaching death, to be there with that family and to journey with the family."

'More children than I could ever handle'

"I mentioned that I encouraged Father Alan Mackey to enter the seminary. I had the opportunity to know his family when I was an associate at St. Francis Xavier where they were members. I used to play racquetball with his dad all the time at the Jewish Community Center there by St. Francis. It was that opportunity that led me to having dinner with them on regular occasions and interacting with both Alan and his sister. It was in those years that I really saw that this was a young man who had a devotion, a devotion to his religious life and a devotion to family and to family life.

"I know that when he did go into the seminary - as we all do, we all question, 'Ok, do we really want this lifestyle, a celibate individual, or do we want a family and children?' Over the years I have come to realize that I have more children than I could ever handle. By that I mean all the children in the parish - they become your children and you want them to progress in their studies, to be able to achieve in life. I have been blessed to have some of those special families in my life."

Then vs. now

"I think that they [young men entering the seminary] would come to the seminary with a better knowledge of what they want to do with their lives. Many of them are older, they have worked out in the public arena, they have dated, and so they come with all those experiences that they weave into their priesthood.

"For me, I was somewhat ... protected by my family in the sense of always reminding us to live a good life, a holy life. I think the young men today have that same desire to live a holy life, but I think they bring with them all their experience of life, whether working in the marketplace or being a part of maybe one of their brother's or sister's [life] and seeing how they live out their vocation to married life."

Retirement

"This year, because of health issues ... I’ve decided that I need to go ahead and retire from being active in the priesthood ... I am blessed to have a family that is devoted to the Church, loves the Church, and has supported me in my 45 years now of priesthood. I hope that as I move into another stage of my priesthood ... I will still stay involved in the Church ... I’ll still be a priest, I will still want to say the Mass."