Emma Lingan/Old Gold & Black
David Inczauskis hadn’t given much thought to becoming a priest since his childhood, but now he feels the call more strongly than ever.
The Homer Glen, Ill., native began to think differently about religion’s role in his life upon arriving at Wake Forest.
“I think to some degree all of us have to deal with these questions that are very important in our lives,” Inczauskis said. “Questions like, who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? What’s the purpose of my life? What is truth? The religion department does a good job of enabling students to treat these questions academically but also provoking the students to think about them personally.”
Inczauskis also became involved in the Wake Forest Catholic Community, where he continues to serve as a peer minister.
“David is one of our most active members who gets involved in most everything we do on campus and with the Charlotte Catholic Diocese,” said Catholic campus minister Fr. Charles Jagodzinski. “I will truly miss my talks with him on Sacred Scripture and Church teaching when he graduates and goes on to study for the Catholic Priesthood.”
Inczauskis also has a double major in Spanish, which he decided to pursue after spending the second semester of his freshman year studying in Salamanca, Spain.
Backed by the Reynolds Scholarship, Inczauskis conducted a summer research project the summer after his freshman year in Guatemala, where he worked with an organization staffed by several people who were simultaneously campaigning for UNRG-MAIZ, Guatemala’s socialist revolutionary party. After going on various campaign movements, Inczauskis became inspired by these people who were devout Catholics but simultaneously had a vested interest in the political and economic liberation of the people.
Liberation theology is the subject of Inczauskis’ honors theses in both religion and Spanish, the latter of which he chose to write in the form of a play.
“David Inczauskis is a very thoughtful and learned young man,” said Spanish professor Jane Albrecht. “Directing his honors project this year is one of the highlights of my career.”
Inczauskis spent his junior year at the University of Oxford, where he sought spiritual direction from the university’s Jesuit-run chaplaincy. It was then that he firmly felt the call to enter the priesthood.
“My goal is to help souls,” Inczauskis said. “I think spirituality, education and social justice would be three aspects I’d like to focus on as a Jesuit.”
For Inczauskis, this dialectic between spiritual and active life coincides with Wake Forest’s motto of Pro Humanitate.
“Many people take Pro Humanitate to mean service or volunteering, but I don’t think it means that,” Inczauskis said. “I think it means ‘for humanness,’ in the sense that we humans are very unique in that we have the ability to think rationally. That’s what’s distinctive about us — our rational thought that elevates us high above the animals and gives us the opportunity to go to great lengths to perfect ourselves as a human race constantly.”
Inczauskis will enter the Jesuit novitiate in St. Paul, Minn., in August to begin his formation for Priesthood, a process that typically takes at least 10 years.
“I believe he will be a moving force in the Jesuit Order and in the Catholic Church wherever he serves,” Jagodzinski said. “I hope and pray we have more ‘Davids’ on campus in the future.”