Is there something in the holy water at St. Stephen in Anoka? From May 16 to Aug. 8, three young men from the parish were ordained — two as transitional deacons and one to the priesthood.

Pushing coincidence’s limits, Dominican Father Christopher Johnson, 34, and Dominican Brother Benjamin Keller, 29, grew up across the street from each other in Andover, never imagining that either would someday commit to religious life. Both attended St. Stephen with their families, where Brother Keller was baptized, and St. Stephen School. As children, the two knew each other and rode the same bus to school but, five years apart, were not close friends.

Their mothers remain close, Brother Keller said, and often go on walks together. When he recently participated at Mass at St. Stephen, a parish with about 4,200 families, it happened to be one for which Mrs. Johnson served as sacristan.

To complete the ordination trinity, Deacon Bill Duffert, 32, was ordained May 23 for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He continues studies at The Saint Paul Seminary on his path to priesthood. Ordination is May 29, 2021.

All three recently ordained men credit the parish where they grew up, citing pastors who served there and encouraged vocations, parishioners’ prayers for vocations and an openness at the parish to invite young associate pastors to serve, providing yet more examples of men called to the priesthood.

Brother Keller, a 2009 graduate of Andover High School, was ordained May 16. Finishing his studies, he will be ordained a priest May 22, 2021. Father Johnson, a 2004 graduate of Totino-Grace High School in Fridley, was ordained a Dominican priest Aug. 8. Both serve the Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great, based in Chicago.

Brother Keller and his parents, and Father Bennet Tran, pastor of St. Stephen, attended Father Johnson’s ordination at St. Vincent Ferrer parish in River Forest, Illinois, where Father Johnson lives. He teaches sophomore religion and advanced placement European history at Fenwick High School in Oak Park.

Deacon Duffert grew up in Champlin and attended St. Vincent de Paul grade school in Osseo. But his family moved to Ramsey when he was in high school and became parishioners at St. Stephen, and he considers St. Stephen his home parish. He graduated from Totino-Grace in 2006.

“(St. Stephen) is where I started discerning more seriously and … when I returned there, it always … felt like a home parish to me,” he said.

Deacon Duffert recalled the peace and joy he felt when praying in the parish’s adoration chapel, and the time he spent wrestling with the question of whether God was calling him to the priesthood. “There were definitely times when I (went) there for consideration and just receiving … that affirmation … that this is where God wants me to be,” he said.

Following a summer assignment at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, Deacon Duffert continues to work with his teaching parish, Holy Family in St. Louis Park.

He said he “didn’t tell a soul” when considering religious life. He described it as “a stirring in my heart, where I kept praying and thinking about whether or not God is calling me to discern the priesthood.” He recalled St. Stephen’s propensity to have newly ordained priests serve the parish. “They definitely had an impact on me and my discernment,” he said, “and when I … started praying and thinking about it more seriously.”

He also described the value of a parish that fosters vocations and prays for them. Father Johnson also credits the power of parishioners’ prayers. “I joke with people that … generations of elderly people who have gone to Mass every day and prayed the rosary for vocations in the parish … have paid off.”

Father Tran said he agrees with the men’s observations. Before every weekend Mass, the congregation prays for vocations. “As a parish,” he said, “we pray for holy vocations in all aspects of the Church because we recognize that priestly vocations come from the first seminary in life, which is in a holy, devout and faithful home.”

In addition to frequently being assigned young associate pastors, an active parish vocations committee — pre-pandemic — would invite a seminarian or priest to share vocation stories. Having young associate pastors is a good testament to how they live their priestly life with joy, Father Tran said. Committee members also pray for vocations.

Father Tran also credits the good work and leadership from his predecessors, Father Michael Van Sloun and Father Jack Long.

When he asked all three of the recently ordained about their influences, Father Tran said they primarily credited the witness of the parish priest … in the beginning of their discernment. “Obviously, the two Dominicans were further influenced by their interaction with … members of the Dominican order, but that initial spark came from the good witness of the other priests who were serving in this community as they were growing up.”

He said the parish marked the ordinations by recording and posting interviews with the young men to the parish YouTube channel. The videos also were designed to encourage prayers as each approached ordination.

Father Tran said he told the three that whenever they come home, let him know and he’ll put them to work.

“With any luck, … we’ll continue the momentum,” he said.