Logic cannot plumb the depths of the call to the religious life. For many people, there is a sense of mystery to it. This is true of the path that Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL has taken, even as he considers himself a “logical sort of person.”

The Backburner
“I wouldn’t call it a call but when I made my First Communion at seven years old it came into my mind, ‘Hey, this is a possibility,’” he shared about his journey to the priesthood.

Of that attraction to the priesthood at a young age, he explained, “I must have been convinced that God exists and that He calls people to do those things. I must have understood that. I was certainly not some holy kid having visions of the Trinity at four years old. That wasn’t at all what I was like.”

Growing up in Canberra, Australia, he remembered that when he was eight years old, his dad bought him a book of the lives of the saints. Every day, they would read a life of a saint and then talk about it. “I think that would have been a formative influence on my life,” he said.

“It was all on the backburner,” he added. “Every now and then it would come to attention, sort of like that. It would spike and I would read a few lives of the saints.” But aside from that, Fr. Steve was just a regular Catholic who would go to Sunday Mass and say prayers once in a while before going to bed.

Relationship-based
When he was 18 years old, Fr. Steve drove his brother Michael to a parish youth group meeting. Not wanting to drive back to pick up his brother, Fr. Steve decided to stay at the side of the room and watched the young people interact for two hours.

“When they spoke with me I could sense that there was genuineness in their concern for me even though they hardly knew me; there was genuineness in their concern for one another and genuineness in the way they spoke about Jesus as a friend –  somebody they simply talk to when they feel the need. And that just piqued my interest,” he shared.

That initial contact with the youth group of the parish led to his attending a weeklong summer camp in January of 1984 where he had his conversion. “I realized for the first time in my life that God is a personal reality and not just an out there figure. And when that happens, it changes your life,” he explained.

Fr. Steve said that his faith shifted, “From being, I would say, obligation — that’s a harsh word to use — it sounds like I didn’t want to do it. I did want to do it, but it was obligation-based, to being relationship-based.”

A New Congregation
In December of 1984, Fr. Steve joined a lay community called “Disciples of Jesus” where in February of the next year, he and three other young men and a priest began to pray about starting a new congregation. He elaborated on the process, “We were discerning if He wanted us to start a new religious congregation. That was once a week all throughout 1985. We had an hour’s adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. We’d seek the Lord in prophecy and then we’d talk together.”

In February 1986, the now four young men and the priest, Fr Ken Barker, started to live together in Canberra with the goal of moving towards the priesthood. In February 1987, Fr. Steve began his formal studies for the priesthood. The other members of the group also began their studies for the priesthood but later dropped out. Only Fr. Steve has persevered. Today, the group that they started is known as Missionaries of God’s Love with 15 priests, one deacon and about 25 seminarians and three brothers.

“We are a charismatic community,” Fr. Steve explained of the congregation. “We live our lives under the grace of what we call the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” He added, “I think the Western Church has lost its practical understanding of the role or place of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. The charismatic renewal helps us to rediscover the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.”

He stated further, “We live in a world dedicated to the mantra of self-help. I take it all with a grain of salt. I would even say the only thing we really need is the power of the Holy Spirit  at work in our lives. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, (no work) will endure, not even the Catholic Church will survive apart from the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. The charismatic renewal reminds us that, hey, there’s a third Person to the Trinity and he wants to be a part of our lives.”

Working with Filipinos
Fr. Steve was ordained a priest on December 4, 1992. He talked about that event, “I remember that an hour before my ordination Mass was due to begin I was happily sitting in my rhubarb garden pulling out weeds and reflecting upon the momentous event about to happen. And then it all went by in a bit of a blur – a full Cathedral, singing, prayers, charismatic praise and all the rest. It finally dawned on me that I had been ordained when the priests started lining up for blessings. ‘I can do this now,’ I thought. It was a truly momentous occasion that changed my life forever. I just pray that I will be faithful to the graces given me and that I will be able to make a contribution to the work of the Church in the world.”

Three years into the priesthood, he became part of a team of the Missionaries of God’s Love who went to China to look into the possibility of putting up a mission there. They passed by the Philippines on their way back to Australia. “Cardinal Sin invited us to prepare ourselves for China by establishing a presence here. So we did,” Fr. Steve said simply of their presence in the country.

He came to the Philippines on July 1996. That was 13 years ago. Today, he serves as Parish Priest of St. Benedict in Commonwealth, Quezon City, another pioneering work that he never foresaw for his life. The Parish was once a Chapel of Don Antonio Heights when it was turned into a parish by Bishop Antonio Tobias in August of 2006. Fr. Steve has served as its Parish Priest since then. He also serves as the Spiritual Director of two lay communities, Elim Communities and Light of Jesus Covenant Community. He also writes regularly for Shepherd’s Voice publications: Sabbath, Kerygma and Companion. He is the Chaplain to Anawim, a ministry of the Light of Jesus Community that cares for the abandoned elderly.

Even with 13 years under his belt, Fr. Steve said that he continues to learn how to work with Filipinos, especially now as a Parish Priest, trying to discover “how to convince Filipinos that there’s more to the Catholic life than just going to Mass on Sundays.”

Always energized by new experiences that missionary work entails, Fr. Steve shared that if you want to be a good religious, “you’ll have to be generous.” He strives to live that out in his walk with the Lord by a disciplined prayer life early each morning, explaining, “It’s not logical not to pray. When you want a relationship, you’ll spend time with the person.”

The same Power of the Holy Spirit in which Fr Steve has such great confidence, will surely continue to see him through in building works for the Kingdom of God that will endure.