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To meet Bob Rooney in person might be to mistake him for a priest. He just doesn’t look the part of the average seminarian.
The truth is, he isn’t an average seminarian. Anticipating his ordination to the Transitional Diaconate in May 2025, Bob can be best described perhaps as a “senior” seminarian. God-willing, he will be ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 2026, as his 7th decade of life begins to unfold.
When I approached Bob about getting his vocation story, he expressed some reticence initially, referring to his story as “so vanilla.” There is nothing vanilla here.
Bob is the third son and fourth of five children born to Marie and Don Rooney, who made their home near Bucyrus, Kansas. Bob’s parents are both deceased. His older brothers, Fr. John Rooney and Fr. Don Rooney are priests in other dioceses of the country. A younger brother, Joe, is the father of four children. Bob’s only sister, the firstborn in the family, died three days after her traumatic birth.
After high school graduation, Bob started college studies at the University of Dallas. He spent a semester of his sophomore year in Rome. It was 1986. There, he experienced “an incredible opportunity” to meet then-Pope John Paul II in person. He spoke with the Holy Father briefly, an experience that profoundly impacted Bob and, he believes, influenced his vocation. On his last night in Rome, he found himself in the company of both Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II. Bob was privileged to witness an exchange that took place between the two after the Pentecost Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Square. Bob said that, before Mass, he found himself in the company of a group of nuns who made their way to the front, just to one side of the altar and, as a result, he was just a short distance away from both future saints as they greeted one another after the conclusion of the Mass.
Upon his return stateside, he put off seminary life, opting instead to finish college and begin law school. His course was interrupted by a year of seminary studies for the Diocese of Lincoln, NE, after his first year of law school. Acknowledging that he questioned his reasons for starting seminary, not to mention his awareness that he had incurred a year of law school debt, he returned to law school, finished his degree, and began law practice at a large firm, before deciding to start a new firm with two colleagues in the Kansas City area, a venture that encountered success and grew quickly.
He practiced law for about twelve years, all the while sensing God’s quiet but persistent call in the background. His legal expertise was defense of medical malpractice litigation.
The call to the priesthood persisted, so Rooney attempted seminary again in 2004, this time for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. In his third year of theology, through spiritual direction and seminary leadership recommendation, he again departed and returned to the practice of law, shifting his focus to environmental law and toxic tort defense litigation.
At the same time, he found himself the primary caregiver to his aging parents. His father had a severe stroke soon after Bob’s return and died about a year later. He describes his mother’s health as “always worse than dad’s,” yet she outlived her husband by ten years. Bob managed her affairs while he continued his law practice.
Still, Bob recognized God’s voice, calling him to life as a priest. For most of this period, he and the archdiocesan vocations directors stayed in contact.
He reapplied to seminary studies for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas in 2021. The following year, after 30 years of law practice, he was accepted by the archdiocese, receiving an invitation to study at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, MA, about 20 miles west of Boston.
The Mission Statement for Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary begins thus:
“Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary is a Roman Catholic professional and graduate theological institution dedicated uniquely to the preparation of seminarians 30 years of age and older responding to a call to priestly ministry.
Our program fosters the human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation of its seminarians. We especially respect and utilize the life experiences and accomplishments of our mature seminarians, as we prepare them for priestly ministry.”
It stands to reason that Bob has developed a sense that priestly vocations may exist among more mature men of our culture.
“We need to figure out a way to identify and reach out to men who have moved 10 or 15 years beyond their college years, who may continue to experience God’s call yet not know how to respond,” he observed.
His encouragement to men and women considering a priestly or religious vocation?
“Get to know Jesus,” he said, adding, “surround yourself with people who are like-minded, who aren’t afraid to know Jesus and are willing to talk about their faith.” He acknowledged that God takes care everything beyond.
When asked about his favorite saint(s), his response came immediately.
“On what day?” He followed this off-the-cuff comment with a statement about his affection for Saint John Paul II and Saint Teresa of Calcutta. "Seeing them on this side of Heaven makes them special to me," he noted.
Let us pray for Bob and his seminary brothers, that God will give then wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; that He will grant them counsel and fortitude; and that He will fill them with piety and healthy fear of the Lord.
Lord, make them holy priests!
