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We invite readers to send short stories about the ways in which their lives have been personally blessed by the life and work of priests and religious in our diocese.
By Karina Fabian
When he graduated from Carroll College, Stuart Long was more interested in pursuing a boxing career than a religious one. In fact, in 1985, he was the Golden Gloves champion for his class, and runner-up in 1986. Jaw surgery thwarted his career plans, and at his mother’s encouragement, he moved to Los Angeles, where he pursued an acting career, doing work in commercials, a feature film and a comedy club. He also worked in a bar, then took a job at the Norton-Simon museum and became manager there for several years.
He had met a beautiful Catholic Hispanic girl with a “chip on her shoulder” that attracted him. A near fatal motorcycle accident had started him thinking about faith, but she drew him to the Church.
“One day, I caught her vacuuming, like it was the most important thing a human could do, and she had this glow. Her hair was very dark, but it seemed almost blond from the glow. I asked her, ‘What happened to you?’ She told me that after having been away from the Church, she had gone to confession. I thought, ‘There has to be something to this,’ ” he said.
She told him that if they were ever to be married, it would have to be in the Church, and he took RCIA classes. It led to a very different outcome, however. “As soon as I was baptized, I thought, ‘I’m going to be a priest.’ I didn’t really know what a priest was or what he did. It was very weird,” he admitted.
The feeling refused to go away, however, and after a four-year tug-of-war in his soul, he decided to put his calling to the test. He quit his museum job in 1998 to teach Catholic school in Mission Hills, Calif. “If I liked it, I had a chance to become a priest. If not, I’d look at getting married.”
After three years of loving his work, he moved to New York City to check out the Capuchin Friars. They sent him to Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, to study philosophy. He loved it. His spiritual director, however, believed he was better suited for diocesan work, and after putting in a call to Bishop Morlino, he was sent to Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon. He was ordained Dec. 14, 2007. “I didn’t have the perfect wedding, but I did have the perfect ordination,” he said.
Now, however, he’s facing a new challenge – an autoimmune disease that is attacking the muscles he was once so proud of. The debilitating disease had even put his ordination at risk. Fortunately, with the treatment of specialist Dr. W. King Engel at University of Southern California medical center, administered by Dr. Carolyn Coyle, a rheumatologist in Helena, he is able to move around with crutches. It has made some impact on where he can serve, however.
He started his priesthood as pastor in Little Flower Parish in Browning, where he said he and the parishioners shared “the same kind of attitude.”
“I loved them, but I fell down the stairs at the church. The first time, I fell on my head, so no damage, but the second time I hurt my leg.” He was transferred to Holy Family in Anaconda, where he now serves as parochial vicar.
“I’m very pleased to be here. They are a wonderful community,” he said.
And what of his old girlfriend? The story ends happily for her, too, as she is now married with a child of her own.
It took a lot of work and some difficult decisions, but Father Long feels he is where God has meant him to be. “Through my successes and especially my failures I could see the hand of God steering me,” he said.
Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 24, No. 10, October 17, 2008.
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