BRIAN BELONGIA

He was sometimes called Brian Baloney. I'm sure he was called a few other not so nice words as well.

I first met Brian in 5th grade. We had Ms. Krause together. Brian didn't have many friends. Actually, I don't know if he had any friends. So I kind of latched onto him a bit. For whatever reason, I would call him "The Fonz." He hated it. He even told Ms. Krause to try and make me stop. Of course I refused. He lived right across a small field from my house. I was on 45th street. He was on 43rd street. There was no 44th street at that time. So I could see his house form my kitchen window.

Let's call a spade a spade. Brian was a dork. No, Brian was a major dork. I was friends with him for a few years. Trust me. He was a dork. This is going to sound really shitty. But I didn't want any of my other friends to know I was friends with him. I was embarrased about being friends with him. Sometimes I wonder why we were friends. We had almost nothing in common. I was a troublemaker. He was a goodie goodie of epic proportions. We basically had one thing in common - a love for the Star Wars films. Both of us had big collections of all the Kenner Star Wars toys. We played with them constantly. We set up huge play areas in my attic, and spent countless hours up there. I guess we also had a love for Atari. But what kid at that time didn't?

In 7th grade, I got a Texas Instruments computer. Brian and I used to type in various programs, and sometimes even make our own. We made a lot of games - not with graphics mind you, just text-based games. Some of them were actually pretty cool. We even made catalogs for our games, just as Atari did.

One day Brian and I were goofing around. And I think I mooned him. I must have been tired of screwing around. Because I started playing Atari. Brian wasn't done apparently. He was up in my attic, then climbed down the stairs - butt ass naked. To top it off, he had a boner. I don't know what game he was playing. But I wasn't playing along. I just ignored him and kept playing Atari. Keep in mind, there was nothing sexual involved with his nudity. It was just a response to my mooning of him. But Jesus, could he have at least waited until his hard-on subsided before coming down? That was creepy.

Brian was spoiled. On Christmas morning, his entire living room was filled with so many presents, it looked like Santa's sleigh had been dumped of its contents. You literally couldn't walk in there. Brian's parents even went nuts on St. Nick, giving some high-priced gifts. All I ever got was candy. Was I the unusual one?

In 7th grade, Brian introduced me to a guy named John. John was in his late 30's, had cerebral palsy, and lived with his mother in an apartment on Mishicot Road, just across from the cemetary on the north side. It was quite common to see him tooling around in his electric wheelchair. John was cool. He was a leftover hippie from the 1960's. And he had a bit of a wild streak in him. But Brian certainly wasn't going to get that out of him. Me on the other hand...

John took a fancy to me. So I hung out over there quite a bit. He had great music and more Atari games than anyone I'd ever known. Plus he had a subscription to Playboy. How did Brian react to all this attention? He got jealous. Can you believe that shit? He tried like hell to turn John against me. He tried to get John to ban me from his apartment. Blah, blah, blah. As if a kid can tell a grown man what to do. Eventually that petty jealousy ruined what friendship Brian and I had. That was fine with me. I'd had enough of him anyway. It became real easy to hate Brian. He was a dork. And he was a jerk at this point. He had nothing going for him.

At some point in the winter during 8th grade, I was riding my bike home in the snow. I would often cut through Brian's yard. I noticed a snowman in the backyard. So I knocked it down. An hour later Brian's dad called to chew me out. I denied it and was pretty disrespectful to him.

A few months later, I decided to egg his house. I also took some rotten grapefruit with me. I tossed it all in the back of his house, then took off running. I was wearing shorts at the time. It was dark out. And I completely forgot about the brand new rose bush that my parents had planted in the backyard a few days earlier. I ran right into it - at full speed. Those thorns ripped into my flesh and actually brought my body to a complete stop. The problem was that I stopped halfway through. I had no recourse but to push forward. I literally heard my skin rip and tear. And the pain was unreal. I walked bow-legged to the backdoor, walked in, turned on the light, and saw nothing but red on my legs. I had hundreds of scratches and tears. I filled the bathtub with water and got in. It really stung. Within moments, the water was brown. Thankfully none of the scrathes were all that deep. But my legs looked like they'd been through hell. Thankfully I had underwear on. Otherwise I might not have kids today. I still have a couple of scars to this day.

As the years went by, both Brian's and I would occasionaly cross paths at John's apartment. In time the animosity died out. And we got along for the most part. But he was still a dork.

Brian was a very quiet member of my creative writing class with Ms. Sapa, during our junior year. One memory stands out. At some point, probably in mid-November, Jen Andersen noticed him and blurted out, "You're in this class?" Of course the funny thing was that it was a rather small class - and it was halfway through the semester. Not too many people noticed Brian.

In the summer of 1988, I was hanging around with Scott Jaklin. It was about 3:00 in the morning. For whataver reason, we decided to walk over to Toby Schwartz' house. Along the way, we went by Brian's. We threw a few firecrackers in his backyard. We may have pounded on the patio door as well. Once we were at Toby's, we decided to prank call Brian. Toby's sister had an electronic keyboard. You could record your voice, then play it back at normal speed, or faster or slower, depending on what key you pressed. We simply recorded "Brian Belongia." But when you played it fast, over and over again, and speeded up, it sounded hilarious. So we called him, the kept playing the very speedy version, "Brian Belongia, Brain Belongia, Brian Belongia." Then we'd throw in a long, drawn-out slow version. It's hard to describe. But it was quite funny. We were entertained anyway. About an hour later, Scott called him back, pretending to be a police officer. He told Brian's mom that they'd caught three boys who threw firecrackers at their house, and that he needed them to come down to the police station to fill out a report. I never found out if they did. But she believed the story.

Brian got a job working at Sentry. He worked there for maybe 10 years. He then decided that he wanted to be a priest. As Meff told me at the time, "Doesn't the catholic church like their priests to have at least some sort of charisma?"

In order to become a priest, you must finish college. I knew Brian for year. And to be honest, I never thought he was college material. In all honesty, he was rather dim. He looked like a classic nerd. But he didn't have typical nerd smarts. He was very easily outwitted. I did so many times. But power to him. He did in fact graduate from college. That really surprised me. And finally in 2005, he did become a priest. I remember reading the article in the newspaper. It happened to mention that Brian had taken an oath of celibacy. I think Brian took that oath in 1984. As Meff said, it's not so much that he had to take an oath. It's just the way it is.

Obviously Brian has never married. I think he's now priesting somewhere west of Manitowoc - perhaps in Appleton, or the Neenah/Menasha area.

UPDATE - 5/12/06 - I found a picture of Brian from a few years ago, shortly after he decided to look into becoming a priest.



UPDATE - 5/4/07 - I found a website for the church Brian is affiliated with. Here's the link. ST. MARY MAGDALENE

I also found a page dedicated to Brian at the church he used to be affiliated with. See the link here. ST. PIUS X CATHOLIC CHURCH

On that St. Pius page, there's also a link to some of Brian's articles. Some of them are quite interesting, including how he combined church lessons with Star Wars and Scooby Doo. Check them out here. BRIAN'S TEACHINGS

Apparently at some point today, Brian will be installed as Pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Waupaca. See the first link in the update. So congratulations to Brian.

On the St. Pius website there is a gigantic boigraphy on Brian. You can read it below. Below that are some recent pictures of Brian, including 12 photos from the day he got "priested."
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During the sports segment of the 6:00 evening news, Fr. Brian Belongia was born on January 14, 1971 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the son of Gerald and Ruth (Schepper) Belongia. He grew up and was educated in Two Rivers, the home of the Ice Cream Sundae, and graduated from Washington High School in 1989. He was baptized and received first Reconciliation and Eucharist at Sacred Heart Church and was confirmed in 1989 by Bishop Robert Morneau at St. Luke’s Church in Two Rivers. He has one brother, Jeff, who is ten years younger, who also was born and raised in Two Rivers. Fr. Brian’s parents have recently retired from local factories in Two Rivers, where they still reside. They are enjoying retirement and have also been supportive of his vocation. His brother, Jeff is also still living in Two Rivers and discerning life.

Fr. Brian developed an interest in bowling at a young age. As early as 1st grade, his is dad would take him to the bowling alleys on Friday nights to watch the bowlers and sometimes even try it himself, usually throwing several frames of gutter balls. Since then, he’s gotten much better at the sport-yes -- it’s a sport-- but still occasionally dumps one in the channel. Years later, he would come to enjoy a game of golf every now and then; however, he is prone to hitting shots into parking lots full of cars and onto condominium rooftops.

Although not an overly enthusiastic student, nor very popular among his peers, in high school, Fr. Brian did manage to discover somewhat of a skill: acting. He starred in three plays, including playing the role of Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, a role made famous on screen by Jimmy Stewart. To this day, he still likes rabbits, despite being bitten on his finger by one of those furry puffballs when he was very little! As a matter of fact, he likes animals in general — just look in his room! One of Brian’s favorite things to do for relaxation is going to zoos and wildlife areas to check out all the animals.

Honestly, when Brian graduated high school, he had no interest in pursuing higher education and really thought and hoped school was over. He started at Sentry Foods as a stocker/bagger and over a ten-year span, or so, was introduced to the grocery business. Eventually, he assumed roles of dairy and frozen food manager became a 2nd assistant manager, which included running stock crews, ordering product, learning how to interact with many different people, and in-charge accountability in the absence of the store managers. Although he spent some time working amidst the fruits and vegetables and knows the difference between Endive and Escarole, ask his current housekeeper, he still doesn’t like to eat it.

Life was fairly uneventful for Brian until 1996. 1996 was a big year in Fr. Brian’s life. Brian was fairly active at church from a young age. He, like most of us, too, sat through hours and hours of religion classes, usually just praying for them to end. He always went, though, usually without complaining(can a priest stretch the truth just a little?) listened, did the work, and went to Mass on Sundays, as expected. He didn’t realize that the Holy Spirit was working within him at the time, but God was. Brian started serving Mass in 4th grade. For most this seems the normal time; however, at Sacred Heart, they recruited servers in 2nd grade! Brian wasn’t interested then… he would have rather have gone bowling… but his religion teacher was persistent with him, just as she was with the others in the class. Yes, even he was asked, “Now Brian, what’s more important, bowling or God?” In the fourth grade he started serving and, of all those who started serving before him and after him, Brian continued this ministry well into adulthood. Until he became a deacon, he loved serving mass and would do it whenever he was needed, including funerals and weddings. He also served at many Mother of Perpetual Help Devotions, which included benediction every Tuesday night and Stations of the Cross in Lent. It was a time when we were often reminded of a plenary indulgence being granted for participating in the Stations. He, however, was a typical server who sometimes wasn’t quite on the ball. He clearly remembers one Holy Thursday when all five servers forgot about lighting the charcoal for the incense and the most humble response of the priest that day: It was just a shake of his head and roll of his eyes and afterward he kindly reminded us that when the charcoal is burning, the coal turns white. He also has vivid memories of the priest snapping his fingers to the servers in order to get their attention. Brian learned very quickly to stay alert during mass and be in place at the proper times! In his senior year of high school he became the server captain at which time he trained servers and wrote the schedules. Somewhere along the way, his religion teacher felt serving was not enough; he should try lecturing, which he did for the first time in 8th grade. The first time he read the first reading was from the prophet, Ezekiel. He remembers having to ask how to pronounce the name, if he only realized then that that name is one of the easier names to pronounce.

Then something rather strange, yet expected happened: the pastor of Sacred Heart for 21 years, Fr. Don Marquardt retired and the parish was immediately linked with another parish: Holy Redeemer. At that time he met two new, actually not new, but other priests, one retired and one almost retired, who were saying masses at Sacred Heart. One of the priests was Fr. Paul Schumacher, who remained pastor of Sacred Heart for less than one year. Brian saw there was a need to help with writing the parish bulletin. At that time, the bulletin at Sacred Heart was still a one-page typewritten bulletin that wasn’t edited very well, but served the purpose. Brian volunteered to type them weekly. It was then that Brian realized he actually liked what he was doing. He was strictly a volunteer. He wasn’t getting paid; he even arranged work schedules to meet his commitments at church, and something stirred within him.

The late Fr. John Schmitt, who died just one month before Fr. Brian’s ordination to the deaconate, met him when Brian was serving mass one Saturday evening. Afterwards he said, “Did you ever think of the priesthood.” He said, “Not really”. What Fr. John didn’t know is that Brian had thought of the priesthood and his invitation that day gave him the inspiration and courage to look into it. Fr. Brian had been asked to think of the priesthood before and he even attended a Call By Name dinner in the diocese shortly after his graduation from high school, but he didn’t pursue it afterwards-at least until this holy, happy, and good- humored priest asked.

“Why not?” he thought. He enjoyed serving the Lord, so why not look into it when so many things indicated that this was possible for him. So, he contacted the vocations director who told him it would take at least eight years of schooling to become a priest. The idea of school again, something Brian thought was over for good, did not, at first, sound very pleasing to him. He wasn’t a good student in high school. Not because he wasn’t capable of doing better, but moreso because he didn’t necessarily want to do better. At any rate, eight years after graduating high school, Brian was accepted to Silver Lake College in fall 1997 provisionally for his first semester. That meant he needed to prove himself by earning at least C’s within the first semester in order to continue his studies, but, if he was serious about priesthood, he would have to engage the process…like it or not.

Just before beginning college, Brian received the exceptional support of Fr. Bill O’Brien, who has been Pastor of Two Rivers since 1997. Since Brian has started college, the four parishes in Two Rivers have merged together to form St. Peter the Fisherman parish, and his former home parish no longer stands. When it was decided a new church would be built in Two Rivers to accommodate all the people, Pentecost 2005 was originally set for the completion of the new church. This day was to correspond with the anticipated ordination of Fr. Brian. Incidentally, that goal was achieved and Fr. Bill felt what nobler event could the parish set for the completion of such a holy project?

College was a wonderful experience for Fr. Brian. In his studies, which eventually led to a degree in English with minors in religious studies and philosophy, he excelled at a pace even Brian did not know he was capable. In college, he grew in the love of the Lord, a love of learning, and strengthened many skills, especially writing and research. In college Brian developed a reputation that still is with him-just ask Fr. Tom- of staying ahead of the game and of being highly organized. It seems that, at times, he and the parish secretary are in somewhat of a competition in the category of most organized person in the office. All of this, entered with the intention of going to graduate Seminary to become a priest helped him to complete his undergraduate degree with magna cum laude honors in spring 2001, and this man never thought he would do that-let alone going on to pursue a graduate degree in theology at seminary! Many people are unaware of just how much formation and study it takes to become a priest.

In the middle of his experience at Silver Lake College, Brian’s grandmother died. It was the only grandparent he really got to know. His grandfather died when he was only 3 and his other grandparent died when he was 10. His grandmother never went to church that much; however, she was quite devotional and had boxes of prayer cards and rosaries she prayed often. She had a phobia of being in crowds of people, which kept her from going to church, but Brian does remember seeing her in church from time to time when he was very young. When, however, she found out Brian was studying for the priesthood, she was so happy and joyful. It was quite an unexpected reaction, but she said that she had been praying for a long, long time that someone in her family, one of her grandsons, become a priest. During her last months, Brian brought his grandmother Eucharist every Sunday until she died in 1998.

With College successfully completed, Brian was officially accepted as a seminarian in the Diocese of Green Bay and admitted to the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois in the fall of 2001. Silver Lake College had prepared Brian well for the intensive regimen of seminary, which included three components: Spiritual formation, academic formation, and pastoral ministry. The program also included internships and experience in the field.

This was to be an entirely new experience for Brian; since, until this point, he had still lived at home. As a matter of fact, he had never left the state of Wisconsin—even for a couple of days. The seminary rector, Fr. John Canary, joked with him stating, “you’re only 20 miles away from Wisconsin here.” The same questions emerged again: he kept wondering if he were capable of getting through the program. In short, he was and he did very well. His subjects of interest throughout seminary included systematics, which included studies in sacraments, the Trinity, and the theological views of many, many Councils and theologians including the Church Fathers and Doctors, and moral theology. The good habits he had developed at Silver Lake College continued in Seminary and he took his formation and studies very seriously. He remembers attending a ministry seminar at the seminary near the end of his studies at Silver Lake College, which was a program designed to introduce prospective seminarians to the seminary and its programs. After telling his vocation story to the Rector, Brian remembers his words of encouragement: “We’ll be seeing you real soon, Brian.”

There were also other opportunities for growth and experience that Brian had not had before. The highlight of his formation at Mundelein was an 8-week pilgrimage in the footsteps of Sts. Peter and Paul during which time he, not only flew for the first time but, flew 10 hours oversees to Turkey, Greece, and Italy, which included stops in Rome, Assisi, Sienna, Padua, Florence, and Milan. His first time on an airplane would take him half way around the world to the Holy sites of Tarsus, Antioch, Ephesus, Perga in Pamphyllia, Pergamon, Sardis, Philadephia, Laodicea, Cappadocia, Galatia, Philippi, Corinth, the Hagia Sophia, the Basicilicas of St. Mary Major, St. Paul outside the Walls, St. John Lateran, St. Peters and many more places too numerous to mention. The ancient Biblical world is no longer a place he reads about; Fr. Brian was there in some of the same places that Peter and Paul and many other great saints lived, preached, and served the Lord.

Seminary also afforded Brian the opportunity to experience parish work. Fr. Don Zuleger agreed to give Brian some pastoral experience in 2003. Little did Brian know at the time, this is where he would start his priestly ministry. In the summer of 2004, he completed a unit of C.P.E, or clinical pastoral education, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Milwaukee, which is an internship in hospital ministry. On December 18, 2004, Brian, along with Carl Schmitt, also a native of Two Rivers and nephew to Fr. John Schmitt, was ordained to the deaconate by Bishop David Zubik. Deacon Brian served briefly at St. Pius X before being ordained to the priesthood.

Fr. Brian graduated from Mundelein Seminary in May 2005, also with Magna cum Laude honors. Based on his positive experiences in college and graduate seminary, Fr. Brian would not hesitate to pursue a higher degree, such as a licentiate (essentially a degree with almost all requisites for a doctorate minus a dissertation) or doctorate if a need arises. Two weeks after his graduation from Mundelein Seminary, on May 21, 2005, Bishop David Zubik ordained Fr. Brian to the priesthood. Deacon Rick Simon, who was ordained the week before, was given the great blessing of serving as Deacon of the Eucharist at Fr. Brian’s ordination. Fr. Brian he was vested by Fr. Bill O’Brien and Fr. Don Zuleger. There was an explosion of applause at Bishop Zubik’s announcement that Fr. Brian had been assigned to St. Pius X. There was to be one little difference though. Fr. Tom Farrell would become the new pastor of St. Pius. Fr. Brian would have to learn to work with somebody other than Fr. Don, and who was this Fr. Tom? When Fr. Brian started at St. Pius on June 15, Fr. Don and Fr. John Schuetze were moving out and Fr. Brian and Fr. Farrell were trying to move in. Fr. Brian is grateful for the previous experience he had at St. Pius learning some of the ropes beforehand. He credits this for his ability to dive right into it amidst the transition. Fr. Brian celebrated his First Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Peter the Fisherman parish in Two Rivers the day of his ordination. Fr. Brian is very happy at St. Pius X Parish and priesthood is everything he thought it would be so far. Priesthood is truly one of the greatest things in the world and he looks forward to diving deeper into the ministry as time progresses.

On December 6, 2005, Bishop Zubik appointed Fr. Brian, at the recommendation of Fr. Bob Kabat, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese, an Advocate for the Tribunal of the Diocese of Green Bay. An advocate is someone who is able to assist those who are in need of procuring annulments. Fr. Brian is willing and able to discuss this process with anyone who may be in need and to help get the process started. He may also be able to clear up any misconceptions or questions regarding this process.

Fr. Brian has recently celebrated his 1st anniversary of priesthood on May 21, 2005. Just to show you how the liturgical year changes from year to year, in 2005, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity landed on May 21st the date of his first mass of thanksgiving in Two Rivers, whereas this year is was on June 11. Fr. Brian is enjoying the priesthood and the people of St. Pius X parish very much and hopes to be here for a little while longer.



BRIAN BEING ORDAINED (5/21/05)



























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