Deacon Nathan Hastings hadn’t really thought about the priesthood growing up. “It wasn’t on my radar at all,” he said. He planned to become an engineer and get married.

His faith deepened in the middle of his high school years when he had what he called “a strong conversion moment.”

“I felt the Lord calling me to abandon my plans and ask him what he wanted me to do with my life,” he said. “And that first led me to serve with ministries.”

After high school, Deacon Hastings, 27, served with NET Ministries, National Evangelization Teams that devote nine months to sharing the Gospel with young people and families across the country. That’s where the seeds of the call were planted, he said.

“That’s where I fell in love with evangelization and sharing my faith, and I knew that needed to be part of my life going forward.”

During his seminary studies, Deacon Hastings received two clear confirmations that he had chosen the right path for his life.

First, while a student at the St. John Vianney College Seminary, he studied in Rome for one semester as part of the University of St. Thomas’ Catholic Studies program. Over Christmas break, Deacon Hastings spent New Year’s at Lourdes, France, where Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 and now one of the world’s largest pilgrimage sites.

“It was a beautiful experience,” he said. “I remember praying during Mass in Lourdes and feeling a concrete calling that ‘if you continue what you’re doing, one day you’ll be a priest.’ It was the very clear voice of the Lord saying, ‘This is what … I’m bringing you toward, so just keep doing what you’re doing.’ It was a great kind of grace.”

His second confirmation occurred during a pastoral assignment at Our Lady of Grace in Edina during a seven-month break between his studies at SJV and The St. Paul Seminary. He lived at the parish doing ministry with its priests.

“I got to teach religion classes in the school, help out with RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) and just be involved in a great number of the church’s ministries. That was a really incredible experience and an affirmation that, not only is this what I’m being called to do, but I actually love doing this,” he said.

The youngest of five children, Deacon Hastings and his family were active in St. Michael in Stillwater during his childhood. His family is also part of the charismatic Community of Christ the Redeemer, based in West St. Paul. Deacon Hastings participated in the community’s youth programs, which he said were a foundational part of his upbringing.

“We were always part of a parish, we went to Mass,” he said, but his family also participated in community events several times a month. That’s also where Deacon Hastings completed faith formation and participated in youth groups. He received sacramental preparation at St. Michael’s and the Church of St. Joseph in West St. Paul. The latter became his family parish following a move to Inver Grove Heights when he was 12.

Deacon Hastings began studies in computer engineering at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He lived with 13 other young men in a household run by St. Paul’s Outreach, an international college ministry based in Inver Grove Heights, and which, like NET Ministries, has ties to Community of Christ the Redeemer. The SPO household mixed fraternity with daily prayer and student outreach through hosting college-focused events and Bible studies.

“That was a very formative time for me,” he said. “It’s where I felt the call strongly.”

While Deacon Hastings worked part-time jobs and pursued studies, he was not satisfied. “I wondered, what is my life going to be about on Judgment Day? What did I do for the Lord?” he said. “I felt convinced to check out the seminary at that point.”

The archdiocese’s vocations director at the time, Father Troy Przybilla, recommended he read “To Save a Thousand Souls,” a resource for men discerning the priesthood. Through book study with a group of men “in the same boat,” Deacon Hastings felt the call even more strongly and transferred to SJV, followed by four years at The St. Paul Seminary.

A week before he was ordained May 30, Deacon Hastings said he was most looking forward to saying Mass and hearing confessions. But most of all, he wanted to “get out in the trenches.”

“I know a lot of people are hurting right now, a lot of people are struggling,” he said. “And if I can be one more set of hands for God to use, that’s what I want to do.”