Charles Dunn ordained; first Bollinger County priest in 57 years

On June 24, Charles Dunn entered St. John Church in Leopold, Missouri, and walked out later as a Catholic priest. He is the first priest from Bollinger County to be ordained at St. John in 57 years, since the Rev. Bob Landewe was ordained.

"He is just gushing," Dunn said of the now retired Landewe, who is over 80 years old. "He always said, 'Before I die, I want to see another guy lie on the floor and be ordained.'"

During Friday's ceremony, Dunn was called to the altar during Mass. He lay prostrate on the floor while Bishop Edward Rice laid his hands on Dunn's head and asked for his obedience, and then all the saints of the church offered their blessings and prayers on him and everyone else in the church. There was a laying-on of hands and an anointing with oils.

"It's an act of submission before God so we can lead people, hopefully in a humble manner," Dunn said.

Following that, he was vested as a priest with a chasuble, a liturgical garment priests wear, and received the sacrament of bread and wine from a chalice and paten. Then the Mass continued and life was transformed for Dunn, the son of Charles and Eva Dunn of Leopold.

On Saturday morning, the new priest said a Mass of Thanksgiving, his first Mass. He heard his first confession -- from his brother. Following tradition, the stole he wore was given to his father. A towel he used to wipe off the anointing oils was given to his mother.

"There is a legend that when they get to heaven and St. Peter asks what have you done for the church, they can say, 'We gave you a priest,'" Dunn said.

Dunn was to receive his first assignment the night of his ordination, and his ministry officially begins July 1.

When he was growing up in North Carolina and Georgia, where his dad was stationed with the U.S. Air Force, being a priest was never on his mind. He went to a Department of Defense School until the seventh grade and public school after that until his sophomore year of high school, which he spent at Leopold, after his father retired.

He entered the University of Missouri at Rolla, where he thought he'd study engineering, but, "I couldn't hack physics. I couldn't do it," he said. He switched to history and later began graduate work in history at Southeast Missouri State University. He was thinking about a career, a wife and a family, but then he got a call.

"God gave me a very direct call," Dunn said. "It would have to be a direct call because I'm pretty stubborn."

Dunn said God came to him in a dream: "My brother and dad were in it, and toward the end it goes dark. A voice calls my name; it said, 'Charles.' I thought it was my brother waking me up to go to work. I got out of bed and started throwing on clothes, expecting to see my brother, but there was no one there."

About six months later, Dunn was in Cape Girardeau attending a Project Andrew dinner and the priests there were talking about their vocation.

"I was listening to them and got a burning sensation in my heart, like this was something I had to do," he said. "That's how the call came. Very direct. I would not have done it had it been otherwise."

Realizing that one can't say no to God, Dunn decided to follow that direct call. He went to St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana for six years.

"Seminary was really cool," he said. "It's like the best thing a fraternity is supposed to be. You try to live in a community, be good to each other, be Christian to each other. Sure, you have problems, but you try to deal with them. Mostly you're there to love each other and be the best person you can be."

He sometimes has had doubts, but Dunn said he just turns those doubts over to God. He sees his calling as "an amazing gift, but an amazing responsibility." He takes it seriously and joyously. He says he owes a great debt to his family for their support, the priests and professors at St. Meinrad, the members of the diocese who put him through seminary and, most of all, to God.

Now that his scholarly learning has come to a close, it's time to learn through his life and vocation and to lead his parishioners to a better understanding of God, of Christ, the church and of life.

"When you learn more, you understand more and you love more," Dunn said. "Once you understand something, you can love it. With God, you can understand him only so much, but you can still love him because of how amazing he is."