OF A BANKER WHO WENT FORTH TO BECOME A PRIEST | KAIROS GLOBAL | DECEMBER 2023

Author: Fr Melvin Watts FSSP

Intro: Fr Melvin Watts FSSP shares his vocational story, why he chose his order and the beauty of Traditional Latin Mass. 

The idea of becoming a Catholic priest had been accompanying me all my life. Where did it come from? Who knows? Yet, it would take years to give my YES to Jesus. 

It started when I was a little boy. It also was there during my teenage years. Towards the end of high school I had to decide how to move on with life. Should I take the next step towards formation? It did not occur to me back then. I concluded, I had no vocation and I decided to carry on with worldly life according to my interests. I was interested in banking and finance and chose my path of higher education accordingly.  

Though hundred percent certain where I was heading to as a student, strange encounters with people confronted me with the idea of priesthood again. A Marian devotee claimed she saw me once as priest during Mass at the altar. Crazy woman with mad fantasies, I thought. There were two religious priests, suggesting I was on the wrong path, as my destiny was to become a priest. Who were they to know about my vocation, I thought. Once, a friend invited me over to her place. She had a true to-life sized statue of St John-Marie Vianney, the Curé of Ars. It was the most beautiful one I had ever seen. This woman, pointing to her statue, made a strange remark to me, saying, ‘You have something to do with this fella.’ I replied, ‘Sorry, I do notunderstand.’ She only said, ‘You’ll see.’ Another man I knew was adamant about making an appointment with a good priest for me. He said I had to meet the priest before he got promoted, and then it would be hard to get an appointment. He got on my nerves about making an appointment for me that I gave in.  

And so, I had this appointment on a Friday afternoon at 3pm. For the sake of conversation, I simply decided, though not interested and motivated at all, to ask the priest how he became a priest. He told me a very intimate story of vocation. Years ago, as a youngster, he travelled to an East Asian country. There he went to a remotely located church. It seemed to be empty, no visitors. He moved to the front, when he suddenly noticed an old man. He went to the old man, who suddenly turned to him, saying, ‘Young man, do you see the One up there hanging on the cross?’ The young man replied, ‘Yes, sir, I do.’ The old man responded, ‘Well, that’s me.’ Startled, the young man said, ‘What?!’ But the old man had vanished, just like that, nowhere to be seen. The young man looked everywhere, and he was sure, he was not fantasising or daydreaming; he really had seen that old man, and he really had that conversation with him.  

Anyway, when the priest told me this story, it captured me tremendously. I became breathless, started sweating, there was this extraordinary feeling of my heart burning as if it was on fire. Totally irritated, I said: ‘Father, what is going on with me? I don’t understand! I am confused.’ The priest smiled mildly at me, saying: ‘Melvin, if you ask me, to be frank, I think you may have a vocation for priesthood. But please, do not put any weight in these words of mine. It is you who must discern this and give your Yes to the Lord out of your free will, devoid of any force or influence. I recommend you go on to find out about this with the help of a spiritual father who you meet regularly for confession and conversation.’ So, this priest arranged a spiritual father for me, who became a source of invaluable help.

Once, my spiritual father organised a pilgrimage to France for young men thinking about priestly or religious vocation. I took part in it and it was amazing. We visited dozens of sanctuaries and monasteries in France, the highpoint being Ars in Southern France, where St John-Marie Vianney used to live and work. Now Ars happened to be a mystical place for me. Hardly did we reach that place, I felt an urgent desire to be by myself in order to pray and meditate. I did this almost the whole day without eating or drinking anything. I have never ever been in such a state again. At the end of the day, all my doubts about becoming a priest were simply wiped out. I was willing and ready to carry on with priestly formation.  

Once I had an audience with an archbishop with whom I shared my vocational story. He suggested to nonetheless complete my studies, do a Master’s degree as well, and also work in the finance industry. It would only benefit me. And should it not happen I become a priest I could always return to a good job. Even he himself had practised as a medical doctor for a couple of years, though as a student of medicine, he knew that he would become a priest. I was inspired by this advice and followed it, completed my studies and worked for a couple of years as a banker in the finance industry.  

As I had found my vocation in Ars, I discerned I wanted to become a diocesan priest. I also did a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and later experienced the life, suffering and death of my sister, which only fortified my decision of becoming a priest of the Lord. Hence. I studied for three years as a candidate to the priesthood for my home diocese in Germany.  

Then the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) came into my life. When I got to know it, I was certain that if I became a priest, then only one who exclusively celebrates this beautiful ‘Mass of the Angles’, which had brought forth numerous Catholic saints over the centuries of Church history. I therefore left the diocese and entered the priestly formation of the FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St Peter), founded in 1988 as a priestly apostolic society under papal law, empowered by the Vatican to spread and maintain traditional Roman Catholic liturgy and priesthood. The formation took me seven years, and I was ordained in June 2023 in Germany together with nine other deacons of the FSSP. 

What I love about the TLM is that the priest and people pray to God together facing him only. Also the priest has so much more to pray, which emphasises the Holy Mass being a holy sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of the faithful. The TLM gives room to solemn silence which encourages the faithful to pray more intimately to the Lord and become one with him. The Latin language is like a holy veil that encompasses the mystery of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Attending this Mass is not so much about understanding every single Latin word but to participate with the utmost depth of your heart, your whole interior self. Here, you find the Triune God, the destiny of your body and soul. As a newly ordained priest, I look forward to serving God and his people as a bridge between him and them, between here and now and the Kingdom of Heaven to come, which however begins here and now.  

Fr Melvin Watts FSSP, M.Sc. was born and raised in Germany as a son of traditional Catholic parents from Kerala, who had immigrated to Germany in the 1970s. Having studied degrees in Economics, Finance and Accounting, in the Netherlands and in the UK, Melvin pursued a career in the banking industry for a couple of years. In the meantime, his sister Melissa passed away due to an aggressive tumour, aged 25. Having discerned a vocation for the priesthood earlier, Melvin entered a diocesan seminary in Germany. His love for the Traditional Latin Mass however made him change to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP). He was ordained priest on 10 June 2023. Fr. Melvin works now as a chaplain in the German city of Stuttgart.