FATHER
BEN KELLER
Dominican Priest
What does it mean to be a consecrated person?
The way I see being a consecrated person, is that I have the gift of being united to Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit in a very unmediated way. He is the one I turn to in all things, as a married person would turn to their spouse. It also has a communal dimension though. I am not just consecrated as an individual, but in a community. My life is ordered by our rule and constitutions. I get to be obedient to our Provincial. I have a community to run to the Lord with, that supports and challenges me.
How/when did you know you were called to become a priest? How/when did you know you were called to be a Dominican Priest and not a different religious order or a diocesan priest?
I first started thinking of the priesthood my junior year of college, when I heard a priest say in his homily, “Maybe you are called to be a priest,” and I just couldn’t get it out of my head. Then that summer, I saw the Dominicans for the first time and loved religious life. To me it seemed like a sports team: pursuit of a common goal together, pushing each other, etc. When looking at the other orders, the combination of contemplation and action in the Dominicans, the focus on Truth and study, and the way we live our community life were things that drew me to the Dominicans.
How does your Dominican identity give shape to your vocation as a priest?
I think one aspect of Dominican Identity that I love that really shapes who I am and how I live as a priest comes from the line, “Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere” from St. Thomas Aquinas which means to contemplate and share the fruits of contemplation. My vocation as a priest begins in front of our Lord in prayer, in coming to know Him, and to draw close to Him in my own life. From there, my role is to bring Jesus to others, and to love with His love. Whether this is in the Mass, the confessional, any of the other sacraments, meeting with someone in my office, saying hi to someone in the gathering space, or playing games with our students at IU.
What have been your ministerial assignments?
I was parochial vicar (associate pastor) at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center at Purdue Univeristy for the first 3 years of my priesthood.
I was recently moved down to St. Paul Catholic Center in Bloomington, Indiana, which is the campus ministry for Indiana University this past summer to be one of the parochial vicars down here.
What is one of your greatest joys as a Dominican Priest?
One of my greatest joys as a Dominican Priest has been to have the opportunity to love the students and residents at St. Tom’s and St. Paul’s. I have absolutely loved watching the Lord work in their hearts, and show them how deeply He loves them. There are so many people who have invited me into their hearts as the Lord was healing them and allowed me to walk with them and be there for them in that tender and vulnerable place. As a Father, this is an incredible gift and one of the greatest joys of my heart.