The first Friday in September Jim Sullivan stood facing nearly 100 energetic students from St. Charles Borromeo School in Sacramento.

Sullivan, a seminarian who is serving his pastoral internship (year) at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, recalls feeling a bit apprehensive. He was mulling over the best way to explain the Gospel reading to six, seven and eight-year-olds at the 8:30 a.m. Mass.

In the end, says Sullivan, “It was a snap.”

“The kids did all the work for me. I’d just ask a question and seven little hands would go up,” said Sullivan, smiling at the memory.

St. Charles Borromeo School eighth graders (left to right) Terryn Charles, Marissa Montoya, Kim McGann, Ashley Perry and Kevin Osborne enjoy a classroom visit from seminarian Jim Sullivan. Cathy Joyce/Herald photo

In fact, as he concluded his remarks, a burst of applause broke out. He knew he had found a new home.

Since his arrival at the south Sacramento parish four months ago, Sullivan has found himself surrounded by tots to teens in a variety of church ministries.

“God is good. I just feel like I so don’t deserve the year I’m having,” he said, his face lighting up. “Everything is a gift. I can’t think of a single downside to my life right now.”

Sullivan, 44, is one of 10 diocesan seminarians completing their pastoral internships in parishes during the 2000-2001 school year. The pastoral year gives seminarians an opportunity to experience parish life fully.

After receiving an assignment from the bishop with recommendations from vocations directors, interns are typically supervised by the parish pastor. They experience all ministries except consecrating the Eucharist, administering the sacrament of reconciliation and anointing the sick.

That Sullivan is a seminarian preparing for the priesthood is not at all surprising. Born and raised as one of eight children in a devout Catholic family, he received his early education from the nuns at Notre Dame School in Marysville.

“It was all sisters and the kids thought they were great,” he recalled.

He enjoyed a close relationship with his extended family, which included the uncle for whom he was named, the late Msgr. James Poole, first pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish. Sullivan says from age five his paternal grandmother had begun talking to him about “how wonderful it was that (he) would become a priest.”

But by the time he attended Marysville High School, Sullivan’s thoughts of becoming a priest were put on hold.

“It was something like considering marriage, something I might do when I grew up,” he said.

After attending the University of California at Berkeley as a political science major and flirting briefly with the idea of studying law, Sullivan was bitten by the writing bug. He eventually took a position at UC Berkeley in career and graduate school services and began working on his first novel.

Sullivan admits there was a period of time when he drifted away from the church. Even with gentle reminders from his namesake uncle to “stay close to where Jesus is,” it wasn’t until 1992 that Sullivan was back on track.

“God calls you when he needs you or maybe he calls you when you’re ready to hear,” Sullivan said. “He may have been calling me all along.”

It happened when Sullivan, who commuted from Berkeley to Marysville on weekends, met Father Manuel Soria, then associate pastor of St. Joseph Parish, at confession.

“(Father Soria) said involvement in the church was a really important thing…and how important it was we have strong leaders for youth,” he said.

Very shortly after that he began working in the parish’s youth ministry and was then asked to coordinate the program.

“I said ‘yes’ because I thought Jesus was asking,” said Sullivan, “and what Jesus asks, Jesus gets.”

He began studies at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park in 1998, an experience he describes as “the easiest transition I’ve ever made in my life.”

“It felt like the right place to be and the right time to be there,” he said.

When he heard that he would serve his pastoral year at St. Charles Borromeo this fall, Sullivan says it felt like hitting a home run into the bleachers.

“I can’t help but think it was intervention somehow between the Holy Spirit and my uncle,” he said.

Not surprisingly, Sullivan has found himself knee-deep in youth activities. He visits classrooms and talks to students about vocations, teaches a teen religious education class, and coordinates the parish youth group. Msgr. James Church, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo, says Sullivan’s gregarious personality has put him in high demand from parishioners.

“He’s a person who gives himself to others, a natural leader,” said Msgr. Church, who has also observed that work with youth “is where (Sullivan’s) heart is.”

Other pastoral responsibilities include working with the parish adult faith formation team and both English and Spanish-language liturgy committees. He is also completing training in preparation for community organizing work.

“I love doing work to help people see they can self empower themselves,” he said.

Dominican Sister Maureen McInerney and Father Mark Richards, co-directors of vocations for the diocese, also take an active role in following seminarians like Sullivan during their internship. At the halfway mark in his pastoral year, Sister McInerney has made some observations.

“(Sullivan) has excellent relational skills—equally strong with elementary students, youth, families and the elderly,” she said. “It’s a real gift God has blessed him with, one we really appreciate in our priests.”

Other seminarians in addition to Sullivan who are currently serving their pastoral year are: Enrique Alvarez, Holy Family Parish, Weed; Avram Brown, St. Joseph Parish, Rio Vista; Perlito DeLaCruz, St. Theresa Parish, South Lake Tahoe; Jose Alfredo Gomez, Sacred Heart Parish, Red Bluff; Oscar Gomez, Holy Rosary Parish, Woodland; Francisco Hernandez, St. Isidore Parish, Yuba City; Vincent Juan, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Burney; Vic Teneza, Immaculate Conception Parish, Sutter Creek; and Joselito Vibandor, Holy Cross Parish, West Sacramento.

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