Friendships fostered, faith renewed at Quest

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
With a few new twists added to the annual Office of Vocations summer Quest trip for young men, the four-day trip strengthened relationships and faith within the participants. The group of 44 including young men from throughout the diocese departed June 2 from Storm Lake headed for Winona, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin. Participants were from both public and Catholic high schools and colleges.
 
Father Travis Crotty, director of vocations, said the past three Quest trips departed from Sioux City, but the central location worked well for the 2025 itinerary, including picking up more participants in Algona en route to Minnesota.
 
“We started with a Mass in Storm Lake. Father Zach (Jones) celebrated Mass in Algona and Deacon (now Father) Jake preached. The Knights of Columbus in Algona cooked lunch for all of us before we left,” Father Crotty said, noting he was grateful the participants were able to spend time with Father Rosenmeyer just prior to his June 7 ordination.

 ​Quest recap video​​​

As in the past, the trip included outdoor activities, games and time for prayer such as Mass and Liturgy of the Hours. Several of the diocesan seminarians also attended Quest.
 
For the first time, chaplains of four Catholic high schools accompanied the young men on the trip – Father Crotty, who is also chaplain for Sioux City Bishop Heelan High School; Father Ross Caniglia, chaplain of Fort Dodge St. Edmond High School; and Father Peter Pham, chaplain of Carroll Kuemper High School.
 
Winona
The first stop of the trip was Winona, where the group would lodge at the Alverna Center, owned by the University of St. Mary’s and home to a beautiful church.
 
While in Winona, the men were able to visit and offer prayers at the 130-year-old St. Stanislaus Kostka Polish church and basilica. The group enjoyed outdoor activities including a hike up to Sugarloaf, a rock formation on a bluff that overlooks the city.

 Sugarloaf rock formation overlooking WinonaFor the first time, a seminary visit was part of the Quest itinerary. Earlier in the year, seminarian Zach Steffens of Spirit Lake suggested a tour of Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary as part of the trip, especially if any young men were discerning a vocation. 

Joseph Masching, 2025 graduate of Carroll Kuemper High School said he was “ecstatic” to see the IHM campus. He was accepted this week as a new seminarian for the Diocese of Sioux City and will attend IHM. (Watch for future issues of LumeNotes for Masching’s profile as well as two other new seminarians.) 
 
“I was excited to go … I hadn’t been there before so I was ready to see what it was going to be like. I was really happy with what the campus looked like,” Masching said, noting he was happy to see a pool table available in the IHM residential building.
 
In addition to Steffens, three other current seminarians attend IHM – Brian Schmit of Hospers, Jack Jensen of Sioux City and Anthony Sibbel of Carroll. Steffens and Schmit gave the tour of the facility to the Quest group.
 
“These guys were excited to show their home to all the guys, then to pray in the chapel where they pray every single day and then to eat a meal in the refectory,” Father Crotty said. “It (was helpful) to show the guys that this was somewhere they could call home someday if they were called to it.”
 
La Crosse
As Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the diocese and iss only 30 miles from Winona, the vocations director planned to include the La Crosse shrine in the Quest trip. The visit was more of a pilgrimage than a simple site tour. They were led by a shrine staff member from the visitor’s center to hike up the bluff to the large church.
 
“One of our guys carried a banner and we sang the Spanish Guadalupana song,” Father Crotty recalled. “We said prayers and (the guide) led the men through a pilgrimage of the whole church.”

 Pilgrimage with Our Lady of Guadalupe bannerThe vocations director celebrated Mass at the shrine church. The young men participated in a rosary walk, prayer in the church and the sacrament of reconciliation. The group offered their intentions and prayed for the diocese and for vocations while at the Wisconsin shrine. 

“The Guadalupe shrine was one of the biggest churches I’d ever been in,” Masching said, noting the numerous relics, murals and statues at the shrine made an impression upon him.
 
Spiritual element 
Having participated in four consecutive Quest trips, Masching said he enjoyed aspects of each one – traveling to North Carolina, South Dakota, Colorado, Wisconsin and Minnesota. He also felt that he grew in his faith with each experience.
 
“My spiritual life has matured significantly from before I went to Quest,” he said. “Any time I went on Quest, I was always sad when it was over because it’s super easy to be very open spiritually with a bunch of guys when they’re all there for the same thing.”
 
He pointed out he finds the events so meaningful and enjoyable that he has often invited others to attend Quest including family members and classmates. In 2024, he recruited six other Kuemper students to participate in the South Dakota trip.
 Somehow all the participants fit in Jack Jensen's dorm room at IHM seminary.Father Crotty said there were several young men who come back to participate in Quest in addition to Masching.
 
“The guys who return see it as a retreat over the summer of coming back to their faith,” the priest said. “A few of the guys mentioned it’s fun to do the events we do together, but what’s really important is that we are together and that is what was more inspiring for them.”
 
The participants recognize and enjoy the “culture formed of brotherhood within the diocese,” the vocations director said.
 
“One guy said they didn’t know what to expect but they experienced the brotherhood of our seminarians, brother priests and the brotherhood of one another.”

 ​Photo gallery​​​

On his first Quest trip since his priestly ordination, Father Pham said he also recognized the value of the fraternity and faith building from the week spent with the participants.
 
“The places we visited were sacred and so inspired,” Father Pham said of the trip. “Prayer time and recreation time was the best. It built up our relationship with the Lord and friendship with each other.”
 
Hoping to build upon the pilgrimage experience of the 2025 trip, Father Crotty said the office is considering traveling to Oklahoma City in 2026 and visiting the new shrine built to honor native son Blessed Stanley Roethler.
 
If you are discerning a vocation, contact Father Crotty at [email protected] or contact the Vocations Office at (712) 233-7523.

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