Four years into his legal career, something was missing in Josh Zelden’s life.
So he left a job he had secured at a New Orleans law firm shortly after graduating from LSU Law School, admitting he was “kind of a ship without a captain.”
Little did he realize at the time that ship would dock at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, the first step on his journey to priesthood. But first, there were life lessons on the horizon, and some personal storms to be weathered.
After leaving New Orleans, he secured a job at a firm in his native Baton Rouge, where would meet fellow attorney Steven McCollister, whom Zelden called a “fantastic man and a great mentor. Brilliant and a good Christian man.”
Zelden pivoted to real estate law, engaged in the buying and selling of commercial property, commercial leases, etc.
By this time, his personal life was also in transition, enduring the despair of a divorce and sharing custody of his daughter.
Zelden later went to work for a title company but even the job change did little to temper his internal restlessness.
“It just wasn’t quite satisfying and fulfilling as I hoped a career would be,” he said. “(The new job) made me realize that kind of empty dissatisfaction was still there.”
During his times of introspection, alone in his thoughts, Zelden reflected back on a calling that he heard on more than one occasion but had not yet answered. It was then he began to discern the possibility of priesthood, spiritual seeds that were planted at an early age while attending Mass.
“I thought it would be kind of cool to be up there in charge,” he recalled with a chuckle. “But that was not the feel of a vocational call.”
While a sophomore at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire, Zelden spent a semester studying in Rome, and it was there that a theology professor, recognizing a special quality in his student, asked Zelden if he had ever considered the priesthood.
“I sort of politely said, ‘Of course, Father, thank you for asking,’ ” Zelden said. “In my mind I said, ‘Good Lord no! I want to make money and I want to get married.’ ”
But that one brief interaction in 1995 stuck with Zelden more than he wanted to admit.
“It kind of stunned me and woke me up a little bit,” he said. “I really did immediately bury it because I wanted to participate in the way of the world too much.”
A more telling moment would come shortly before he was to ask his girlfriend at the time to get married. He said, “something hit me,” and he knew he needed to consider the priesthood.
“It was sort of a mystical prayer experience; I can’t even describe it,” he said. “This heavy presence of God saying ‘you need to consider it. Now it is the time to really think and pray about it because you are about to make a decision.’ ”
After spending nearly a week in prayer, he had a “strong sense” marriage was his destiny.
“In retrospect, it was sort of an ironic revelation,” Zelden said. “I did need to get married. Even though it did not end up well it was a necessary part of the journey. I think I was listening to God (to get married) even though it was sort of a bizarre turn.”
After going through the divorce, after a 20-year legal career that left him unfulfilled, Zelden knew the time was right to consider the priesthood. Along the way he met Deacon David Dawson, a seminarian for the Diocese of Baton Rouge who is scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood in the spring.
Zelden said he and Deacon Dawson shared many of the same life experiences, including being a single parent to a young daughter. Zelden and Deacon Dawson became instant friends.
“He was a real godsend to me,” Zelden said.
With Deacon Dawson’s encouragement and the approval of his parents, his daughter and Bishop Michael G. Duca, Zelden walked through the doors of his future this past August.
Today, five months into his first year at Notre Dame, Zelden is at peace, the spiritual joy rooted in his heart the validation he made the right choice.
“I am pleasantly surprised at the level of intimacy and actual relationship I am building with Jesus and Mary as well,” he said.
“You kind of hear that; it sounds like a cliché. But I’m starting to realize there are depths to that idea I was not aware of, that I’m breaking into that are beautiful and fruitful.”
Not surprising, after living in a spacious homes and a townhouse, Zelden said one of the biggest adjustments was acclimating to dorm life, with the bathroom located down the hall. It was quite the change but he has embraced the structure of seminary life, which is fondly referred to as the Rule of Life.
“I’m just really surprised how wonderfully liberated I feel because of that,” he said. “I was expecting to grow into it, fight it. It has been so light and freeing.
“The first semester has gone as well if not better than I expected.”
Zelden said he loves to read and to write, so the academic adjustment, especially after stepping out of the classroom more than 20 years ago, has been smooth.
“I would rather read and write about theology than some random real estate transaction,” he said. “It’s a labor of love, and I absolutely love it. I can’t get enough. It has just energized me.”
“I have a sense of peace and calm,” he said. “(His previous work and personal experiences were) all necessary. It was just preparing me for now. I would not have been ready 10 years ago, two years ago. I am ready now.”