{"id":606,"date":"2009-05-31T05:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-31T05:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/05\/a-fathers-blessing.html"},"modified":"2009-05-31T05:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-31T05:24:00","slug":"a-fathers-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/05\/a-fathers-blessing.html","title":{"rendered":"A father’s blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One of Miami’s newly ordained priests, Father Randall Mussellman, is shown above offering his first blessing to his two daughters. If that sounds a little out-of-the-ordinary, so is his story<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Born in Indiana, he was raised a Baptist and studied at a Baptist seminary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Yeah, I know God\u2019s calling me to something. It\u2019s just that I can\u2019t see the fullness of it yet.\u2019 But definitely the Baptist church didn\u2019t work for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was not until many years later, having moved to south Florida to work for biomedical testing instruments manufacturer Beckman-Coulter, and having met and married his wife Teresa, a native of Cuba, that Catholicism became an option. When they went to have their marriage convalidated in the Catholic Church, the priest asked if he was interested in converting and handed him the late Bishop Fulton Sheen\u2019s book, \u201cLife in Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just to humor him, \u201cI took the book and took it home and threw it up on my bookshelf,\u201d Father Musselman said. \u201cIt sat there for seven years. Then I one day found the book and read it and decided that that was really my belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

He walked into All Saints Church in Sunrise and told the pastor at that time, Father Anthony Mulderry, that he wanted to become a Catholic. Father Mulderry also suggested he read \u201cLife in Christ,\u201d to which Father Musselman replied, \u201cI read that.\u201d<\/p>\n

So he went through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and began feeling again the call to ministry. \u201cI thought, what can I do in the Catholic Church?\u201d When a friend told him about the permanent deaconate, \u201cI said, well maybe that\u2019s for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He was ordained a deacon in 1994 and served at All Saints for many years. In 2005, his wife died.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really had no call to the priesthood that I could see,\u201d Father Musselman recalled, until a priest friend, Father Juan Torres, asked him about it while on their way back from a baseball game.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, absolutely not. I don\u2019t even want to hear it,\u201d was Father Musselman\u2019s reply. \u201cIt was about a year later that I realized that God was definitely calling me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so happy he is able to find something to fill what the death of our mother left behind,\u201d said his daughter Karina Musselman, 30. \u201cI am looking forward to seeing what he does and I hope he can give people what they are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

His other daughter, Kelly Musselman, 28, said her tears began falling during the laying on of hands, the moment when the bishop calls down the Holy Spirit and a man actually becomes a priest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so happy watching him finally achieve what he has been working toward for so long,\u201d she said. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

PHOTO:<\/b> by Marline Quaroni \/ Florida Catholic<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of Miami’s newly ordained priests, Father Randall Mussellman, is shown above offering his first blessing to his two daughters. If that sounds a little out-of-the-ordinary, so is his story: Born in Indiana, he was raised a Baptist and studied at a Baptist seminary. \u201cI said, \u2018Yeah, I know God\u2019s calling me to something. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocations"],"yoast_head":"\nA father's blessing - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/05\/a-fathers-blessing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A father's blessing - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of Miami’s newly ordained priests, Father Randall Mussellman, is shown above offering his first blessing to his two daughters. If that sounds a little out-of-the-ordinary, so is his story: Born in Indiana, he was raised a Baptist and studied at a Baptist seminary. \u201cI said, \u2018Yeah, I know God\u2019s calling me to something. 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