Vocation Stories: Brian Burtka, Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

When Brian Burtka came to Michigan Tech he found his friend group at St. Al’s. 

“When I arrived to Michigan Tech, I knew a few other people but not many,” he says. “St. Al's provided the social space and activities for me to meet people who are among my best friends today. St. Al's showed me what it was like to have a friend group where my faith was a central part of the group.”

One of Brian’s favorite memories is Winter Carnival and building the all-nighter statue of a scale-model of St. Al’s chapel. “I stayed up all night to build it, and I remember the wind chill being freezing. Only four of us stayed up the whole night. I went to adoration the next morn-ing completely exhausted.”

Brian graduated with a bachelor of science in Chemistry from Michigan Tech in December 2018. He grew up in Detroit and gradu-ated from University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 2016. He served an internship in the Tribology Group at Argonne National Laboratory. He says his time at Tech provided him with critical thinking skills to approach and solve problems during his internship. After graduating from Tech, Brian says he was unsure of his next steps. He applied to graduate schools and began an application to the Society of Jesus (commonly called the Jesuits).

“I began to look into the Society while I was still in high school. During my first two years at Michigan Tech, I continued to attend discernment events with the Jesuits including a week-long retreat and a five-week program where I lived with a few Jesuits and other guys discerning the Society.”

Brian received a phone call from the Jesuit vocation director and learned he had been accepted for the novitiate class of 2019. “I knew before I got off the phone that this was the path that God was calling me to.”

The initial phase of formation (the novitiate) lasts two years and is in St. Paul, MN. The novitiate will include the four main dimen-sions of Jesuit life: community, prayer, apostolate, and study. He also will experience the different apostolates of the Jesuit commu-nity. Brian will make the 30-day Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the silent retreat that is the center of Jesuit spirituality.