by Jeanne Gorman
Special to The Leaven
Three young men of diverse backgrounds, all with roots in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, followed Jesus’ call to “Come, follow me,” when they chose to join the Society of Jesus — the Jesuits. Each was uniquely touched by the archdiocese on his journey of vocational discernment.
Father Drew Kirschman, SJ, director of novices for the Jesuit Novitiate of the Central and Southern Province, said the connection between the archdiocese and the Jesuits runs deep. “KCK has had a long-standing relationship in the formation (and vocation promotion) of Jesuits in the province,” he said.
Val Lobatos
Valentin (Val) Lobatos grew up on 17th Street in Kansas City, Kansas, in the long shadow of the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle, which helped form his faith over the years. While attending Resurrection Catholic School at the Cathedral, Jesuit novices visiting from New Orleans regularly came into his classrooms for eight years. Through them, Lobatos became familiar with Ignatian spirituality and was drawn to communal life.
Lobatos did not fully appreciate his Catholic faith until attending Camp Tekakwitha in Williamsburg in middle school. During a moment of eucharistic adoration, he experienced what he calls a defining moment that “sparked a real relationship with Christ.” After that experience, he began attending daily Mass and grew close to then-rector of the cathedral, Father Harry Schneider.
While attending Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park, Lobatos became “super involved” in ReachKCK, a Catholic outreach ministry within the archdiocese that invites high school youth to develop their talents and faith. During that time, he felt a call to service, though he was unsure what form it would take.
He had long served Mass at the cathedral, where he looked up to Fathers Schneider and Anthony Saiki, and also began serving at the Community of the Lamb, where the Brothers’ way of life sparked an interest in becoming a religious Brother. After graduating from Miege, Lobatos worked at the cathedral for three years, coordinating religious education, starting a middle school youth ministry and serving as parish life coordinator, among other responsibilities.
Though priests he admired encouraged him to consider diocesan priesthood, Lobatos did not feel called in that direction. While working at the cathedral, he also lived and served for a year at the Catholic Worker House in northeast Kansas City, Missouri, cooking meals, praying and accompanying people living on the margins. That experience further shaped his vocation.
Lobatos eventually discerned a call to religious life as a Jesuit Brother.
“I see my vocation as a Brother, rather than a priest, as a humble way to serve Christ and his church,” he said. “I get to accompany other sheep following the priest.”
Now in his second year as a Jesuit novice, Lobatos is serving at Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries in Brownsville, Texas, ministering to migrants who are stranded and in need of both material and spiritual support. God willing, he will take his first vows later this year and become a Brother of the Society of Jesus.
Taylr Bahr
Taylr Bahr grew up in Burlington where he attended public schools and was formed in his Catholic faith at St. Francis Xavier Parish through the parish’s religious education program, under the direction of Angela Myers. The first person to mention the possibility of priesthood to him, however, was his grandmother when he was 8 years old, though he did not give it much thought at the time.
Serious discernment began during high school, when it was Myers again who encouraged Bahr to attend a Steubenville youth conference. Sessions on religious life there gave him new perspective. After graduating, Bahr enrolled at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, a Jesuit institution.
While at Creighton, Bahr encountered Jesuits through preaching, retreats and coursework on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. He found that his prayer life aligned naturally with Ignatian spirituality and he was especially drawn to communal living.
After graduation, Bahr joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and spent a year in Scranton, Pennsylvania, working in community health and aging ministries.
“My work as a Jesuit Volunteer in Scranton, Pennsylvania, gave me time to — and helped me — discern my vocation,” Bahr said. “I had time to pray and contemplate the Jesuit spirit.”
During that year, he applied to the Society of Jesus and was accepted.
“I chose to become a Jesuit rather than a diocesan priest because I felt that was where God was calling me,” he said.
During his novitiate, Bahr taught in a K–8 school, participated in a silent retreat, served in Peru with the poor and worked in liturgical ministries. He also completed a 30-day pilgrimage late in his novitiate, an experience that further affirmed his vocation.
Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin spent his early years in Overland Park attending Holy Spirit School before his family moved to St. Louis, where he attended St. Louis University High School. Although he had always expected to marry, his vocational path changed following a serious illness after graduating from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
While receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Laughlin spent long periods confined to bed, listening to Word on Fire podcasts, reading about the saints and praying. The experience marked a deep conversion.
“I was a patient at the Mayo Clinic in 2018 . . . and then returned to Rochester in 2024 on my pilgrimage,” Laughlin said. “Because Word on Fire and the Mayo are both there, it is a spiritually charged place for me.”
After recovering, Laughlin returned to Johnson County and became increasingly active in parish life, attending daily Mass, spending time in eucharistic adoration and receiving spiritual direction. He became friends with Father Bill Bruning, pastor at Queen of the Holy Rosary in Overland Park, and the latter eventually invited Laughlin on an archdiocesan “Quo Vadis” retreat for men discerning the priesthood. Father Harry Schneider, who had been pastor at Holy Spirit when Laughlin was growing up there, participated in the retreat, as did Archbishop Emeritus Joseph F. Naumann.
Laughlin found it to be a wonderful retreat — but did not believe he was called to be a parish priest. His desire for community life and ministry on the margins eventually led him to the Jesuits.
As a novice, Laughlin served with ex-prisoners, the homeless and migrants at the border, and made the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, which helped him form a close friendship with Christ. He is now a first-year scholastic at Saint Louis University, along with Taylr Bahr.
Formation and mission
Jesuit formation includes a two-year novitiate followed by years of philosophical study, ministry and theology before ordination, although the formation for the Brothers is shorter. All three men continue discerning their call within the Society of Jesus, guided by the Jesuit motto “Ad majorem Dei gloriam” — “For the greater glory of God.”
