Priest heard calling to marry the Church

Father John Bartunek will present a talk on “Seeking First the Kingdom” at the 2021 Legatus Summit West in Scottsdale this month. His focus will be on helping participants grow in their spiritual lives.

Father grew up near Cleveland in a “fairly unstable,” non-religious family. He says he converted to evangelical Christianity as a teen but was a “closet Christian” for a time, as his father was “very suspicious of organized religion.” He converted to Catholicism in 1991, joined the Legionaries of Christ in 1993, and was ordained a priest in 2003.

An author on spirituality and prayer, he also provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, and wrote Inside the Passion, a book about his experiences. He divides his time between the Queen of the Family Retreat Center in Michigan and the Regina Apostolorum in Rome, where he teaches theology. Additionally, he offers do-it-yourself retreats on www.RCSpirituality.org and answers questions about the spiritual life at www.SpiritualDirection.com.

What led you to the seminary and the Legionaries of Christ?

Falling in love with the Church opened me to hear God calling me to marry the Church, to give my entire life to serving as a spiritual father for God’s people and a missionary of Christ’s kingdom. Even before I was confirmed in the Church, my heart was already being drawn to that total, spousal self-giving to God and the Church that is involved in the priestly vocation.

I always felt myself attracted to religious life rather than diocesan priesthood, and I spent a lot of time with a lot of different religious orders. When I met the Legionaries of Christ, their solid orthodoxy, joyful zeal, and deep, integral formation was irresistible. Their mission of forming apostles, Christian leaders at the service of the Church’s mission of evangelization, attracted me as well.

How did you come to be involved with The Passion of the Christ?

I only became involved serendipitously — or, I should say, providentially. Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Christ in the movie, invited a priest-friend of his to visit the set when they were filming in Rome, and that friend invited me. As soon as we got onto the set, everyone wanted to talk to us. They had all kinds of questions that had started simmering within them from working long hours on the film. So, I began to be a spiritual support for some of them, and that led me into the project.

What are some basic steps a Catholic can take to improve his prayer life?

The two most basic steps are: 1) learning about the different aspects of a prayer “life,” which is so much more than simply “saying prayers.” This includes learning the differences among vocal, liturgical, and mental prayer, and learning what to expect and how to engage in each. In my experience, few Catholics are taught those distinctions, and it inhibits their spiritual growth.

Then, 2) making a firm and persevering decision to have a daily God-time, a daily chunk of time spent alone with God, during which you pray. That decision is the most important thing. I have created many resources that can help people pray and learn to pray better, but I can never make that decision for them. That decision is the one thing the devil wants to undermine in anyone who has left behind habitual mortal sin.

Regular spiritual direction—meeting with a spiritual coach—is an incredibly effective way to keep growing in one’s prayer life. Legatus members have this possibility at their fingertips, because every chapter has a chaplain.