The Rev. Mike Ingram’s path to the priesthood wasn’t a traditional one.
“I always believed in the back of my mind that God wanted me to be a priest,” said Ingram, who serves as pastor of St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church in Grovetown. He didn’t enter the priesthood until he was in his 40s.
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As a young teenager, he pursued the idea, attending the Saint John Vianney Minor Seminary in Savannah, but it closed in 1968 before Ingram graduated, causing him to think his dream of being in the priesthood had ended. Instead, he went to Aquinas High School and graduated in 1972.
He spent a year at Augusta University, transferred to Georgia College in Milledgeville, before ultimately graduating from Georgia Southern in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in public administration.
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Ingram had been an athlete and decided on a career that would keep him around sports.
He had several jobs including teaching history and coaching at his high school alma mater. He went to work in parks and recreation, working as an umpire and developing a side business scheduling umpires for area games. He also spent time coaching and worked for Johannsen’s Sporting Goods on Broad Street, becoming its general manager.
“Pat (Johannsen) and family took me in for 14 years,” he said. “The pay was good; the hours were good. I had great working relationships.”
But the thought of being in the priesthood never left him. There was a war going on in his mind.
“I loved what I was doing,” said Ingram.
He decided to talk to his family and friends including the woman he was dating at the time. At the age of 43, Ingram wondered if it was too late to fulfill the call God had placed on his life. The call finally won out, and Ingram decided to follow his heart despite his age.
“My mother said ‘it’s about time. God’s been calling you your whole life,’” he said.
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And there was no need to worry if he was too old.
“I was the second youngest one there,” he said of his class at Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass.
He was ordained as a priest in June 2002 and has been the pastor at St. Teresa’s since 2011.
Even after his ordination, he worried about his age and lack of experience as a priest. He received reassurance from Bishop J. Kevin Boland, the retired bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, who told him he was “far better equipped” to be a priest than some young men coming fresh out of seminary.
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Ingram said he’s been able to use his real-life business experience with helping St. Teresa’s as the church has undergone two massive building projects in his decade there.
“I love being a priest,” he said. “It is what God intended. As much as I enjoyed parks and recreation, umpiring and sports. It prepared me.”
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
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