‘He will bring many souls to God’

When John Grim was a child, he spent a lot of time at his grandparents’ house where there often was a priest around, always part of the family. So, at age 8, he added “priest” to the list of things he wanted to be, along with firefighter, Olympic athlete, business tycoon and soldier.

By the end of middle school, he was seriously discerning the priesthood. He attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Camp each summer, participated in discernment groups and took trips with the vocations office to visit seminaries.

It was while returning from one of those trips in high school that he told his parents about the seminary – “I’m applying!”

Now 28, Grim will be ordained to the transitional diaconate on June 1 at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City. It is the final step before being ordained a priest, which, God willing, will be in June 2025.  

“Something I’m very excited about is lying down on the marble floor during the litany of the saints, mainly because that’s a symbol of giving your whole life to God, giving yourself and rising to Christ,” Grim said.

“It’s a really powerful image to me and one I want to be a guiding post for my ordained life – the image of dying to self, recognizing I am giving my life to God.”

Grim said the support and encouragement from his parents, family and parishioners at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Chandler solidified his conviction that God was calling him. 

“When we were little, my mom would check on us before bed and we would read saint stories. Saints were my heroes,” he said. “I would say ‘Mom, I want to be a saint when I grow up,’ and her response was quite profound and allowed me to understand that we’re all called to be saints.

“She said, ‘A saint is someone in Heaven and we’re all called to be in Heaven.’ For most superheroes you can’t become a superhero, but we all can be saints. It opened up a way of discerning where I started saying, ‘If you want me to be a saint, what are you calling me to be?’

“I’m very indebted to my parents for the way they modeled the faith and raised me in the faith.”
For young men who may be considering the priesthood, Grim challenged them to trust Jesus and the Church to lead them where they are destined to be, and to let go of fear and anxiety. 

“When it comes to discernment, the greatest aid that I experienced is trust in the Church and in Jesus because there is no need for anxiety in discerning my vocation, discerning what’s right. That anxiety can cause paralyzing fear,” he said. 

“Entrust yourself to Jesus and it becomes very easy. It becomes very life-giving to be able to say, ‘OK, Lord, if the door is open, I’ll walk through it and allow you to guide me and if you close the door, I’ll know I’m not supposed to enter.’ It’s not all on me, there’s a community here to help me follow Jesus.”

Grim’s grandparents, who helped lay the foundation of faith, will be attending his diaconate ordination along with his brother James, sisters Mari and Elizabeth and his parents, James and Ann Grim. 

Grim and Seminarian Jonah Beckham, who also will be ordained a transitional deacon on June 1, attended Kenrick-Glennon Theological Seminary and Mount Saint Mary's Seminary, the same seminary where Blessed Stanley Rother graduated. Grim and Beckham are praying a novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to prepare for their ordination.

“We are so happy that John is going to be ordained a deacon and, God willing, eventually a priest. Through this special vocation, he will have the opportunity to bring many souls to God,” Ann Grim said.

“While our four children were still living at home, we practiced the tradition of blessing them by marking the sign of the cross on each child’s forehead after nightly prayers. When John is ordained, he will be able to bless us and others. What a great joy that will be!”

Diane Clay is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.



 Photos provided.