At a friend’s invitation, he raced to the priesthood

Father Chris Clay is chaplain of Legatus’ Lexington Chapter and pastor of St. Leo Church in Versailles, KY.

He grew up in the Lexington suburb of Paris, the fifth of eight children. His father was part of the family business of breeding thoroughbreds for the horse racing industry. The family practiced their Catholic faith, and an aunt and an uncle were part of religious communities.
 
Father Clay was managing editor of a horse race industry publication before entering the seminary. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lexington in 2007 and is now in his fourth parish assignment. The Lexington Diocese serves 50,000 Catholics with 50 priests.

What led you to the seminary?

I had been going through a period of awakening of my faith, asking the deeper questions about what God’s call was for my life. My first transformative experience was on November 16, 1998, when I attended Mass at Christ the King Cathedral in Lexington.
 
I had a profound experience of God’s love for me. My faith had previously been intellectual and legalistic, and this was a surprising presence of God’s love.

I was drawn deeper to prayer and found myself receiving invitations to do things for the Church, starting with teaching a First Communion class to Hispanic children on Saturday mornings. As I began to say yes to these invitations, people started asking if I had ever thought about being a priest. I began to wonder: are they seeing something in me that I don’t see in myself?

Then, on August 29, 2000, about 6 p.m., I was kneeling at my bedside asking God what His will was for me. My father suddenly called and said he had met a priest and a seminarian I knew in downtown Lexington who was going out for a milkshake. They asked my father how I was doing, and he said, “I’ll call him and you can ask him yourself.”

My seminarian friend, Teka Berhanu, an Ethiopian who was studying in Rome, got on the phone and said of his studies, “It’s great. Why don’t you come and join me?” I thought that was a pretty clear answer to my prayer.

What have you found most rewarding about the priesthood?

One of my greatest joys is being the presence of Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters who are in the last days of life and are preparing to make that transition to eternal life. I also enjoy the amazing reality of celebrating Mass, during which Christ brings His Body and Blood to His children through my humanity and brokenness. How is this possible, since I am so unworthy? 
But it is.

What have been your greatest challenges as a priest?

My greatest challenge is remaining faithful and committed to my duty as a priest and pastor when acedia [sloth, spiritual apathy] is every day knocking at my door. There is also a temptation to put prayer time last, when in reality one’s relationship with God is the most important thing.

As a pastor, I must constantly challenge myself to most effectively bring the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, to the people of this time. My years in ministry have taught me to define success less in terms of how many people are showing up for Mass and more to how well I walk with individuals and help them know Christ, and then have them take that experience to other friends so that they may come to know Christ as well. As they say in Cursillo: make a friend, be a friend, bring your friend to Christ.

How would you describe your experience with Legatus?

I very much appreciate the community and fellowship I experience there, being with Catholics who have been blessed with wonderful careers and who want to grow in and share their faith.