Deacon CJ Wild prepares to do what Christ has shown him to do

The call to priesthood continues to grow in C.J. Wild even as he receives his first holy orders as a transitional deacon. The Lancaster native made his promise to serve the Church on May 17 at his family parish of Our Lady of Pompeii. He will be ordained a priest next year.

Christopher Jordan Wild (“It’s always been C.J.” he said) grew up in a “Sunday Catholic household” attending weekly Mass and praying before meals. His parents, Brian and Kimberly, introduced the faith to him and his younger sister, Maria. 

“They’re the ones who had me baptized. They’re the ones who taught me how to pray before meals and say the Our Father. They’re the ones who made sacrifices so that my sister and I could go to Catholic school,” he said. “So, more than anybody, I think I have to thank my parents and my sister for being supportive these last 27 years of my life.” 

He describes his discernment of God’s call as a gradual process that took place over many years.

“I didn’t have a conversion moment like St. Paul or St. Augustine or St. Ignatius Loyola. I would say mine was cultivated over many many years,” he said.

He enjoyed his supportive parish community at Our Lady of Pompeii where he also went to school and served at the altar and as a sacristan.

“Anything that was going on, he was here doing it,” said  Father Leon Biernat, his former pastor and  confirmation sponsor.

Wild’s four years at Canisius High School exposed him to a wider Church. Through the Jesuit charism of service, he volunteered at St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy and the Response to Love Center where he encountered people from all around the diocese. A mission trip to a small village in Nicaragua showed him the international Church.

St. John Fisher College in Rochester provided great professors who took him under their wings to teach him academically and intellectually and “really shaped me to be a man of virtue and a man for others in that Ignatian principal; men and women who challenged me to be better when I was a goofball 20 year old. They helped me grow closer to Christ, not only in class, but especially in prayer and devotion and the sacraments.”

The moment he decided to give himself over to God occurred at a retreat he had as a senior in college. “It was in the early morning hours I was in the small chapel with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance on the altar,” he recalled. “I had been wrestling with the priesthood and seminary for several months really seriously at that point, and really for several years in the grander scheme of things. It was on that retreat that I very clearly heard the Lord’s call to give up myself to Him. I remember feeling such a sense of peace in that moment. Not only was God present, but He was present in a special way to me; that He looked on me with great delight as a father. It was that moment that I committed to the Lord, and I said, ‘Lord, I’m not sure what this might entail. I’m not sure what this might involve.” … I knew I owed it to the Lord, who had been so good to me in my life.” 

His decision to enter St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, shocked no one.

“I wouldn’t say they were all together surprised because they had known I had wrestled on and off with priesthood all throughout middle school, high school, college,” he said. “I kind of hemmed and hawed about it. So, it wasn’t like out of left field.”

He found even more support from the staff at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, whom he calls hard-working and holy. The international students challenged and expanded his vision of the Church as he heard their stories of violent persecution in places like Vietnam, and the tremendous growth of faith in Cameroon and Tanzania. He took part in a faith sharing group and said the environment made him want to be a better man.

“I think the community at St. Mary’s does a pretty solid job of helping people to see the presence of God in all things and to really allow the Lord to help direct us to a more virtuous way,” he said.

The ordination to the diaconate is the first of three holy orders; priesthood and, for some, episcopacy follow. Deacon Wild will spend the summer and holiday breaks assisting Father Mark Noonan in the ONE Family of Parishes in Orleans County. He will also spend 35 days in the Navy reserves. This fall he will return to school to complete his final year of study.  

“The call of the deacon is one to not only serve as Christ’s servant, but as one who is called to be a herald of the Gospel, one who is called to care in a particular way for the sick, for the poor, for those on the margins. It’s a humble and important step toward priesthood because when a man is ordained a deacon, he remains that deacon even in his priesthood. Even Pope Leo XIV is still a deacon at the very core of his being. It’s a reminder that we are always called to be like Christ who humbled Himself to not only share in our humanity, but to serve the least among us,” he explained.

After his priestly ordination next summer, he will serve the Diocese of Buffalo for three years, then enter the Military Archdiocese for five years, serving as a chaplain for the Naval Reserves. Deacon Wild joined the military after hearing inspirational stories of Father John Kelly shared of his days as a Marine chaplain.

Rory Reichenberg, religion teacher at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, brought Wild into class for a vocation talk that had a lasting impression on the students. They still talk about him weeks after his visit. 

“I brought C.J. into my classes to talk to the seniors the last two years, just to give them a little talk about vocations and his own life’s journey,” Reichenberg explained. “He’s been awesome. The guys love him. They can relate to him in so many different ways from going off to college, to being a volunteer firefighter, his interest in the military and going to be a military chaplain, and his whole process of discernment. There’s a lot to it that the guys can relate to and they really love hearing him share his story.”