From: Pinehurst, N.C.
Age: 26
Home parish: Our Lady of the Americas, Biscoe
Status: Started Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Cincinnati, in August 2022
Favorite verse or teaching: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:5)
Favorite saint: St. John Paul II
Interests (outside of faith): Loves to play frisbee and soccer
CHARLOTTE — A job as a personal care assistant at a nursing home really opened Bryan Ilagor’s eyes to the dignity and sanctity of all human life.
Ilagor, 26, has always had an affinity for the elderly, and years before applying to St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly he felt called to assist them.
“You learn a lot from them – a lot of life lessons,” he says. “You learn what life is all about. By feeding them, changing them, you learn about the dignity of life. You knew some of them for a few months and then they were gone. You learned to appreciate the value of life.”
Ilagor says taking the time to slow down and listen to the elderly taught him virtues that have stood him well during his time in the seminary, where he’s discerning a calling as a priest.
“Patience was one of the biggest things I learned at seminary. I had learned this with the elderly, but being one of the oldest in the college seminary and never having brothers, it was a big change,” he recalls. Having “brothers” – other young men like him discerning the priesthood in the seminary – took some getting used to, he says.
He and eight of his brother seminarians graduated from St. Joseph College Seminary last August and now attend Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati – among 49 men currently in formation to serve as priests in the Diocese of Charlotte.
CNH: When did you first hear the call to a vocation to the priesthood?
Ilagor: I was a senior in high school. I did not attend Mass regularly as a high school student, but I attended Mass because of my mother. As my attendance at Sunday Masses grew, I started questioning my career and my future lifestyle. I began attending Mass for my sake rather than my mother’s. However, after graduation, I still had not grasped my future vocation and decided to attend college. Finally, after running away from the call to a vocation for about five years, I decided that my calling had been on hold for too long, and I entered seminary at the age of 22.
CNH: How did your family react when you told them you wanted to become a priest?
Ilagor: They were in shock, I guess. My mom not so much, because moms know their children. With all my assisting at our parish, she probably knew about my vocation. My dad was more like, “Are you sure?” I am the only son, and I have only one sister. So, my dad was more reluctant at first. But in the end, both of my parents supported me. They have always supported me in anything I do.
CNH: How did you end up in Charlotte, at St. Joseph College Seminary?
Ilagor: It was at the Eucharistic Congress that things got started. I stopped by the Diocese of Charlotte vocations booth. It was when Father Alfonso Gámez (who now serves at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Winston-Salem) was a seminarian. I stopped to talk to him. He told me his parents were from the same state in Mexico where my parents are from. I could relate to him. We kept in touch, and he helped guide me through the process of applying to seminary for the diocese.
CNH: What advice do you have for a young man discerning a call to the priesthood?
Ilagor: If you feel a calling to the priesthood, do not dismiss the chance to visit St. Joseph College Seminary for a day and communicate your discernment to a priest.
CNH: When you envision your life as a priest of the Charlotte diocese, what do you see?
Ilagor: I see bringing the light of Christ to people, being able to be that vessel of Christ to fulfill what He plans for me to do with His people. I envision myself as a servant. Being able to do what God wills and do it to the best of my ability. To fulfill what He has planned for me.
— SueAnn Howell
Seminarian education is funded in part by the annual Diocesan Support Appeal.
Learn more about the DSA and how to donate online at www.charlottediocese.org/dsa.