{"id":19119,"date":"2022-05-07T21:47:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T19:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legionariosdecristo.org\/?p=19119"},"modified":"2025-08-12T19:51:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:51:21","slug":"testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/","title":{"rendered":"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the summer of 2009, I flew up to Connecticut to visit the novitiate. I had just finished my freshman year at the University of Alabama, and had resolved to give God three months of my life in order to discern the priesthood. I still remember being picked up from the airport and one of the Legionaries saying, \u201cWelcome to Cheshire, Brother Erik.\u201d I thought to myself:&nbsp;<em>Brother&nbsp;<\/em>Erik? What am I getting myself into? As a 19-year-old who\u2019d lately spent my time studying calculus and physics (in pursuit of an engineering degree) and attending college football games (in pursuit of personal euphoria), being suddenly called by the religious title \u201cbrother\u201d came as quite a shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;I am from southern Mississippi\u2014Baptist country\u2014so it\u2019s remarkable that I even grew up Catholic. I have my Catholic parents to thank, who moved to Hattiesburg, MS, before I was born. That\u2019s where I grew up with my two brothers and two sisters, homeschooling, playing basketball, and attending boys\u2019 camps with the Legionaries of Christ. I later went to high school, where my basketball coach Mark Bryan and my English teacher Betty Sugg made a big impact on me. They believed in me and challenged me to grow physically, intellectually, and spiritually. I still remember upsetting basketball powerhouse Hillcrest School 43-38 in the district semifinal. Mrs. Sugg was one of our biggest fans!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That summer of 2009 in Connecticut was the start of a great adventure. I remember one night waking up groggy, donning my black cassock, and walking down the dark hallway to the candle-illumined chapel for nocturnal prayers. It was amazing to think how much my life had changed since the bleachers of the Alabama football stadium! Following Christ was not easy, but if there\u2019s one piece of advice that I tried to follow it was this: don\u2019t get lost in the day to day. Heaven is our goal, so always remember that and keep your ideals high. This has enabled me to enjoy the ride amidst the many sacrifices of the life I\u2019ve chosen. Indeed, God has blessed me and made me very happy. I still have a number of hobbies, like tennis, German, and creative writing (in English!). Christ asks us for everything, but he doesn\u2019t necessarily take everything. And he always gives us far more in return. Praise him!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the summer of 2009, I flew up to Connecticut to visit the novitiate. I had just finished my freshman year at the University of Alabama, and had resolved to give God three months of my life in order to discern the priesthood. I still remember being picked up from the airport and one of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[696],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonies-2022"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC - Legionaries of Christ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the inspiring testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC and his journey of faith, discernment, and spiritual growth since 2009.Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC - Legionaries of Christ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the inspiring testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC and his journey of faith, discernment, and spiritual growth since 2009.Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Legionaries of Christ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-07T19:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-12T19:51:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/Erik-Burckel.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Legionaries of Christ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Legionaries of Christ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Legionaries of Christ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c43df498a4f49f53f1f88a6e9adc5b\"},\"headline\":\"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-07T19:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-12T19:51:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Erik-Burckel.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Testimonies 2022\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/\",\"name\":\"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC - Legionaries of Christ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Erik-Burckel.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-07T19:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-12T19:51:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c43df498a4f49f53f1f88a6e9adc5b\"},\"description\":\"Discover the inspiring testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC and his journey of faith, discernment, and spiritual growth since 2009.Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Erik-Burckel.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Erik-Burckel.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Portada\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Legionaries of Christ\",\"description\":\"Website International\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c43df498a4f49f53f1f88a6e9adc5b\",\"name\":\"Legionaries of Christ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/915ba67100e736cceb359ce6ff439129de80d667a8abb421d3d86be8e4a7806c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/915ba67100e736cceb359ce6ff439129de80d667a8abb421d3d86be8e4a7806c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/915ba67100e736cceb359ce6ff439129de80d667a8abb421d3d86be8e4a7806c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Legionaries of Christ\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/legionariosdecristo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC - Legionaries of Christ","description":"Discover the inspiring testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC and his journey of faith, discernment, and spiritual growth since 2009.Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC - Legionaries of Christ","og_description":"Discover the inspiring testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC and his journey of faith, discernment, and spiritual growth since 2009.Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC","og_url":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/","og_site_name":"Legionaries of Christ","article_published_time":"2022-05-07T19:47:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-12T19:51:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/Erik-Burckel.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Legionaries of Christ","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Legionaries of Christ","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/"},"author":{"name":"Legionaries of Christ","@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c43df498a4f49f53f1f88a6e9adc5b"},"headline":"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC","datePublished":"2022-05-07T19:47:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-12T19:51:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/"},"wordCount":405,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/Erik-Burckel.jpg","articleSection":["Testimonies 2022"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/","url":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/","name":"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC - Legionaries of Christ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/Erik-Burckel.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-07T19:47:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-12T19:51:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c43df498a4f49f53f1f88a6e9adc5b"},"description":"Discover the inspiring testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC and his journey of faith, discernment, and spiritual growth since 2009.Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/Erik-Burckel.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/03\/Erik-Burckel.jpg","width":600,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/testimony-of-fr-erik-burckel-lc\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Testimony of Fr. Erik Burckel LC"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/","name":"Legionaries of Christ","description":"Website International","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c43df498a4f49f53f1f88a6e9adc5b","name":"Legionaries of Christ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/915ba67100e736cceb359ce6ff439129de80d667a8abb421d3d86be8e4a7806c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/915ba67100e736cceb359ce6ff439129de80d667a8abb421d3d86be8e4a7806c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/915ba67100e736cceb359ce6ff439129de80d667a8abb421d3d86be8e4a7806c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Legionaries of Christ"},"url":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/blog\/author\/legionariosdecristo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20912,"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19119\/revisions\/20912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/subdir.legionariosdecristo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}