From the October 2009 NC Catholics - "Meet Six New Seminarians"

Philip G. Johnson, a native of Greensboro, NC, and a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Dunn, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, and served in the Navy before entering the seminary. Philip has a special devotion to Servant of God and “Tar Heel Apostle” Father Thomas Frederick Price, also a native-born North Carolinian. And like Father Price, he especially admires St. Bernadette. “She gave us an excellent example of perseverance in the face of sickness and suffering,” he explains. “Although the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette eighteen times, it was really her 13 years of patient prayer and suffering in the convent that led to her canonization.”

This Navy veteran’s favorite Scripture passage is Luke 5:4: "[Jesus] said to Simon: ‘Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answering said to him: ‘Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net.’"

“The Lord often asks us to ‘launch out into the deep’ when we don't know what the future holds,” he says, “but He is in control of everything and will not let us down as long as we remain faithful and trust in Him.”