Priest is people too!

By Bella Maria Aboud

Grade 12 Student, Maple Leaf International School

“I looked up to Heaven in my mind and I said, ‘God. No way, God. Find someone else.’”

Fr Matthew Martinez OP was thrown off by his first calling to priesthood, which happened when he was just 18 years old. It wasn’t on his agenda at all–he had pictured a future of marriage and family.

Fr Matthew couldn’t understand why people had to decide between one of two choices: ‘a great social life with no religion, or a lot of religion with no social life.’ Pondering his dilemma for a while, he came up with an idea to start a youth group to cure this feeling of leading a ‘double life’.

His group, Youth For Life, was “a movement to promote chastity and prolife run by young people,  for young people.” It was the beginning of a long journey which would eventually lead to his ordination to the priesthood.

Fr Matthew shared that despite being such a rewarding vocation, priesthood comes with complete changes to the ‘ordinary’ life. When asked about the challenges of being a priest, he responded, “Things like celibacy and grappling with the idea of not getting married, not having a family. Things like obedience –not always getting to go where I wanted when I wanted. I had to ask for certain things.” All these changes took him some time to get used to.

Despite his trials with discernment and the long journey to find his vocation, he was left with beautiful memories and amazing opportunities. “Here is one funny story.” Fr Matthew continued, “Fatima College had a big food festival. I was there and I love pan music. I was in the audience. Of course, I was moving–I can’t not move when the pan is playing. A couple came up to me…” Fr Matthew began to laugh, “The lady was like, ‘Priests could dance?’ and then the husband says, ‘I tell she, priests is people, too!’”

Fr Matthew said he couldn’t control his laughter when this happened.

He is most proud of his completion of four university degrees throughout and after his time as a priest in training. He studied for Philosophy and History degrees in Ireland and Rome, Italy while he was abroad training to be a priest.

These four degrees that Fr Matthew has earned are a testament to his ability to overcome obstacles as he was diagnosed with dyslexia from an early age, which really affected his early academic years.

Being dyslexic is a frustrating learning disorder to grow up with, but Fr Matthew’s achievements, such as going into a vocation where he is constantly reading and learning, shows just how hard he worked.

For anyone considering a path similar to Fr Matthew’s, or who just needs guidance, he shared some words of encouragement and wisdom: “For a vocation, I suppose what I’d say to young people is to be open to Christ, to be open to praying and to speaking to God, and most importantly, listening to God. It’s all about discernment.”

His advice to those unsure of their vocation is simple–be open to God. Fr Matthew said his life didn’t make total sense until he swapped out his ‘shopping list’ of prayers and started to tell God to do whatever He wanted.

His journey to where he is today was one with many hiccups, triumphs, and fond memories. He believes that his parents, whom he appreciates dearly, are the reason he was able to become a priest.

“The main things were God and education…and I really appreciate my parents in a gigantic way.” One moment stands out to him among the rest, a childhood memory of his father putting a quotation by Albert Einstein up on his wall.

“It has stood with me all my life… and it simply says, ‘Try not so much to become a man of success, but rather a man of value’.”