Seminarians from the Diocese of Davenport are pictured Aug. 2 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport with Bishop Dennis Walsh and Father Jacob Greiner, director of seminarians. Front, from left: William Keating, Deacon Alfonso Pizano, Bishop Walsh, Father Greiner, Danh Nguyen and Mason Heath; back: Blake Riffel, Alex TeBockhorst, Justin Meier, David Cortez and Cameron Costello.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
Each year, seminarians from Iowa’s four dioceses gather for fraternity and formation before the start of the new academic year. St. John the Apostle Parish in Norwalk, Iowa, hosted this year’s convocation Aug. 4-6.
Father Jacob Greiner, vocations director for seminarians, said the convocation “is always a blessed opportunity for the seminarians of our diocese to connect with the other seminarians of the state. We also invite a guest speaker to this convocation to help supplement the men’s formation for the priesthood.”
Alex TeBockhorst, a seminarian at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, said his convocation highlight was “catching up with my friends from seminary. We did a lot of laughing.” Effective communication in parish situations was a topic he enjoyed. “We role-played being a pastor working with parishioners and trying to practice empathic listening.” The convocation reminds seminarians of the network of support available for seminarians and new priests. “We can lean on our classmates and directors for support,” TeBockhorst said. The convocation also provided time to get to know better his diocese’s seminarians.
“Brotherhood and holy hours were very remarkable to me at convocation 2025, said Danh Nguyen, a seminarian at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. He has been in the U.S. for almost two years. “The convocation drove me closer to other seminarians, especially Davenport’s seminarians. I got to know more about all the guys who are going on the same journey with me to follow Jesus Christ.”
Nguyen added, “Sharing and spending time with them made my convocation more meaningful and inspiring. Spending time with God and with brothers made me feel that I am doing God’s will and belong to the Diocese of Davenport where I will spend my whole life for the people of God. Even though there are many difficulties that I am going to face on my path, I can confidently say that I am living a precious and happy life that will lead me and many people to God.”
David Cortez, a seminarian at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, said getting to know his brothers from throughout Iowa was a convocation highlight for him. “We are all (from) different age groups and different backgrounds but we all had one thing in common — we love the Lord and we’re all discerning the priesthood.”
The topic of parish finances was of particular interest to Cortez, along with a priest’s talk on canon law.
He thinks it is important to offer the convocation because it encourages him “to see men from all over Iowa desiring to know Jesus and it gave me an opportunity to see that those discerning the priesthood are human like me. I also got to know priests from all different dioceses of Iowa that really cared about us. I gained a larger community, friendships with other seminarians and priests which I’m grateful for.”
