Michael Burbeck

1st Theology

Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook

Ordination Date: 2013

Birth Date: May 2

Home Parish: Immaculate Conception Parish (Wilmington, NC - where my parents live)

High School: Apex High School (Apex, NC)

College: North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)

Hobbies: music, reading, travel, golf, soccer

Who influenced/inspried you to the Priesthood: It was really in a moment of prayer that Jesus Christ inspired me to pursue the Priesthood, so I guess He is the Divine Person who inspired me.

What would you say to a young man who thinks he may have a vocation: Keep listening. Remember that a vocation to the priesthood is not about what God wants from you but rather what He wants for you. If God is calling you to be a priest it is because that is who he made you to be and nothing else will make you happier or holier than following that call.

Favorite Scripture Passage: Ephesians 1:3-10. I love this passage because it expresses so beautifully the richness of God's plan for us and the superabundance of grace He has given to us in Jesus Christ. I have had a number of powerful periods of prayer with this passage during retreats and in Holy Hours and it is still deeper and richer every time the Holy Spirit brings me back to pray with it again.

Favorite Saint: St. Therese of Lisieux. Other than the Blessed Mother, St. Therese is really the first saint that I came to know and love in a personal way. Her spirituality of smallness and loving confidence is, for me, a wonderful model and inspiration for pursuing holiness in every day life and a reminder of the gentleness and love of the Sacred Heart.

Anything else of note you would like to share with the Diocese: Though I list Immaculate Conception as my home parish, because it is where my parents live and so I am there when I am back on breaks, I really have several "home parishes." I was brought into the Church at St. Michael's in Cary and then was very involved at the Doggett Center at NC State while I was a student there. I have also been assigned to two parishes as a seminarian, St. Ann in Clayton, and St. Mark in Wilmington, and these are the two parishes that I am most connected with and will try to always visit when I have the opportunity.

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