New priests begin ministry with a deep root of friendship

Transitional deacons Sam Hansen, left, Khaing Thu and Timothy Khuishing listen to Archbishop Charles C. Thompson’s homily on June 6 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. The graduates of Roncalli High School in Indianapolis were ordained to the priesthood during the liturgy. (Photo by Mike Krokos)

By Sean Gallagher and John Shaughnessy

The three priests ordained for the Church in central and southern Indiana on June 6 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral have a bond that most ordination classmates don’t experience.

Most priests ordained together only come to know each other in seminary.

But Father Samuel Hansen, Father Timothy Khuishing and Father Khaing Thu were all students together at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis, lived within just a few miles of each other, and were members of neighboring parishes.

Yet there are also great differences among them. Each priest has his own distinct personality.

Father Hansen described Father Thu as “the most playful among us,” while he characterized Father Khuishing as “the most peaceful of us.” For himself, Father Hansen said he will sometimes “take the role of the responsible yet stressful one.”

Father Khuishing and Father Thu additionally were born and grew up in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) in southeast Asia before their families moved to Indianapolis as refugees about 15 years ago. Father Hansen, on the other hand, was born and raised in Indianapolis.

The bond that joins them together, though, reaches far deeper than the circumstances in which they were born or where they went to high school.

“We are all sharing in the priesthood of Jesus Christ,” Father Thu said. “When I see Sam and Timothy, I’m not just seeing them. In a way, they are Jesus also. So, when I need support from them and they give me words of encouragement, I’ll definitely see Jesus talking to me through them.”

Father Thu and Father Khuishing first met in 2011 in the Indianapolis International Airport when Father Thu and his family arrived in Indiana as refugees from Myanmar. Father Khuishing and his family, who had come to Indianapolis as refugees the previous year, were there to welcome them.

“We’ve been friends since then,” Father Thu said. “I never thought then that the two of us would be ordained priests together and how our families will be connected that way.”

Father Thu first met Father Hansen a few years later when both were students at Roncalli. They both attended on their own a daily Mass at Our Lady of the Greenwood Church in Greenwood and then were in line together afterward for the sacrament of penance.

“After confession, we talked, and that’s when we found out that we were both discerning the priesthood,” Father Thu recalled. “We talked for like two hours. After that, we went to the adoration chapel at Our Lady of the Greenwood to pray together.”

That relationship helped Father Thu in his discernment of his vocation.

“I no longer felt alone,” he said. “I had someone that I could talk to, that I could share my concerns and my worries, and also my aspirations and motivations.”

Starting in July, Father Thu will serve as parochial vicar of St. Michael Parish in Greenfield and St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Fortville.

The friendship of the three priests deepened when all three were seminarians first at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis and then at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad. That camaraderie increased during the last two years of formation when all three were classmates at Saint Meinrad.

“Just knowing them, where they came from and what they believe has helped me grow in my faith,” said Father Khuishing, who will minister as parochial vicar of St. Malachy Parish in Brownsburg beginning in July. “Other seminarians I might not know as much. But with Khaing and Sam, knowing more about them and who they are has helped me to work in some areas in myself that I might need help with.”

Likewise, Father Hansen is grateful for the way that his two Burmese friends have deepened his understanding of the priesthood in his life.

“They have this way of just realizing that God is the captain of the Church,” said Father Hansen, who will serve as parochial vicar of St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis starting on July 1. “And even though I may have a lot of plans and a lot of ideas I may want to do in a parish one day, they’re the ones who really recognize the role of the priest is one of fatherhood, one of presence and one of just living a quiet faith that can influence other people.”

Father Khuishing is confident that the friendship he shares with Father Hansen and Father Thu will remain strong into the future and be a source of strength and encouragement when each of them experiences the daily ups and downs of priestly life and ministry.

“We already text each other most days, just asking each other how our days went,” Father Khuishing said. “If we keep up with that, we’ll be able to support each other. We’ll accompany each other.”

Jeff Traylor served as director of campus ministry at Roncalli when all three priests were students there, and he has kept his relationship with them in the years since.

“The way you watch them joke with each other and laugh together—there is a friendship and a connection among the three of them that is way different than just being ordination classmates, which in itself is a beautiful thing,” said Traylor, now the chief operating officer of the Indianapolis-based Catholic Concepts business. “There’s very clearly a love of Jesus that bonds them together. That’s the thing that defines them. And it’s the thing that has drawn them in to each other.”

Father Hansen agreed, recognizing the deep roots of the friendship the three priests share together.

“The time we’ve spent together speaks for itself,” he said. “They’re committed to the Church. I’m committed to the Church. And we have this friendship. They’re the best two friendships I have.” †

 

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