YOUNGSTOWN DIOCESE Two men dedicate lives to church

The ordination Mass is the first in the Youngstown Diocese in two years.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two men who took winding roads to the priesthood will be ordained this morning at a 10 a.m. Mass at St. Columba Cathedral.
Bishop Thomas Tobin will officiate at the Mass, his last service as bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown. Tobin leaves Sunday for Providence, R.I., where he will be installed as bishop of Providence Diocese on Tuesday.
The ordination Mass, the Diocese's first in two years, is open to the public. The two new priests are Christopher Luoni, a Canton native, and Matthew Shelton, a Niles native. Both will become associate pastors -- Luoni at Holy Family in Poland; Shelton at St. Joseph's in Canton, which is Luoni's home parish.
Mid-life decisions
The two men are linked in another way. Both have waited until midlife to become priests, but for very different reasons.
If you had told him at age 20 that he would become a priest, Luoni said he would have laughed. A "cradle Catholic," he was always active in church, but he earned a bachelor's degree in business and went into marketing after college.
He enjoyed his life, he said. He bought a home, had a serious girlfriend and an active social life. The priesthood wasn't part of the plan.
But about 13 years ago while participating in a church service, he had a feeling he couldn't shake.
"I thought, 'This is where I belong,'" he said.
The path wasn't exactly straight from there. He talked to his parents, friends, even his girlfriend. Most were supportive. He also spoke to his pastor, who was enthusiastic and encouraging. And even though it didn't seem like the right time, a seed was planted.
Alternate route
Along the way, he switched jobs a few times, ended the relationship with the girlfriend and struck up a new relationship and he continued his church work. Still, thoughts of becoming a priest stayed in the back of his mind.
"I kept coming back to it, and I thought, 'This is nuts, this is crazy. I have a nice job,'" he said. "I just felt unsettled. It was like, 'Why can't I make my jobs work? Why can't I make my relationships work?' I knew there was something I was supposed to be doing. Church was where I felt the most nourishment, the most connected with people. I knew it was right."
He enrolled at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati in 1999, and he felt peace for the first time in many years, he said.
"It was a change," he said. "I moved from the business world, where everything is production-oriented, and all of a sudden, I'm studying philosophy."
His home sold the day it went on the market, another sign to him that what he was doing was meant to be. Although he enjoyed his home and his job, he's found that he doesn't really miss that life.
"I don't miss the paycheck and I don't miss my home," he said. "The last night I was in my house, I walked into every room and I remembered the many good times I'd had there. But I knew this was the right thing to do."
'Real-world experience'
Luoni studied for three years, then did a one-year internship at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Austintown. After that he went back to seminary for two years.
"I learned a lot my first three years, and then I went to apply it," he said. "It was good because I could see what I needed to improve on."
Luoni thinks that his "real-world experience" will help him relate to parishioners.
"I won't know what it's like to be married or to have children," he said.
"But I do know what it means to own a home, to pay the bills, to have a job and to juggle family life, social life and work life. I do think there's something to be said for that. & quot;
Many friends and family will be at St. Columba today, Luoni said, and that means a lot to him.
"These are all people who had a part, large and small, in getting me to where I am today," he said. "It's very humbling ... and quite scary. This is a huge, huge step. It's not like just taking a job. I'm taking on a life that I will live forever."
Shelton's journey
For Shelton, today has some bittersweet undertones. His parents, to whose care he devoted much of his life, are not here to witness a goal Shelton has had since childhood.
Shelton, 46, has wanted to be a priest since he was eight years old.
"I feel like I have been in training all my life," he said. "I've spent my whole life developing my gifts to my ministry."
His earliest memory is of standing beside his mother as a small boy, hearing the church bells ring. His parents encouraged his dream, but illness - first his father's, then his mother's - got in the way. Shelton became caretaker for his ailing parents, a role he carried out until his mother died in 1999.
Along with his family responsibilities, Shelton went to college, earning bachelor's and master's degrees from Youngstown State University. He did some teaching, but he always kept the priesthood in the back of his mind.
A few days before his mother died in 1999, Shelton celebrated a birthday.
Inspiring words
His mother had signed a card for him; he read it quickly and put it away. After the funeral, he was going through some things and found the card. Words from the message jumped off the card:
"May you now have the faith to make your dreams come true."
Those words have guided Shelton, first through his days at seminary at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, then through his internship at St. Rose in Girard. He'll have the words engraved on his chalice, he said.
Today, he will think of his parents and he plans to light a candle in memory of each of them.
"They knew I would do this someday," he said. "They knew I wanted this. But I did the will of God first."
He brings to his pastorate "empathy and compassion for those who are hurting," Shelton said. As he approaches his new life, he is anxious, he said.
"I can't believe it's here," he said. "I look forward with joy, but I'm nervous too ... I would worry if I wasn't. But there is a sense of calm, too. I need to let go and let God."