What is your full name?
Fr. David Ryan Bechill

What is your current Assignment/Parish?
Pastor of Christ the Good Shepherd in Lincoln Park

What is the greatest gift about being a priest?
The greatest gift of being a priest is being able to celebrate the Sacraments and help people find the presence of God in their daily lives and be faithful to it.

What would you say to a young man discerning the priesthood?
Fidelity to the spiritual life is so important for discerning a vocation to the priesthood. The more you know Jesus the more you will know what He is asking of you. So don’t try to come up with reasons for why or why you shouldn’t be a priest because you will find so many for or against.

How can people at your parish best support you?
Pray and fast for priests. We have a tough job, and it is not for the faint of heart!

How do you see the Holy Spirit working in the Archdiocese of Detroit?
I see the Holy Spirit working in the AOD through so many committed Catholics who love Jesus and His Church and are not afraid to enflesh their faith.

Describe the first moment you knew God was calling you to the priesthood.
I wouldn’t say that there was a particular moment I knew God was calling me to be a priest. In my adolescence, it was always a quiet but firm desire. But the moment that confirmed this desire came while praying in front of the Tabernacle at Sacred Heart Major Seminary on a Discernment Weekend around 2003, and the Lord asked me to place my heart on the paten with Him in sacrifice.

What should all young people know about discerning a vocation?
The most fundamental vocation we have is holiness. It’s the thing that binds every single one of us whether we are married, in religious life, or a priest. Looking back at my own experience of discernment, I think we all experience a temptation to be happy, successful, and “make an impact.” The older I get the more I find myself realizing the Lord is asking us for fidelity, not success.