So… you guys want to know a bit more about me?

The Early Years
I was born 28 years ago on Christmas Eve in a little village named Renswoude. The Benders family consisted out of dad Harry (now passed away), mother Wil and my younger sister Nini. I am quite crazy about the remaining girls! Unfortunately, neither of them is religious, but my parents did send me to the protestant elementary school in town nonehteless. I learnt how to pray there and they acquainted me with Jesus and the Bible. As a child, I never thought of myself as a non-religious person, and I did read the Bible and pray, albeit not a lot. Besides that, I still clearly remember the desire to just be a good person!

High School
In Holland, kids go to High School when they’re 12 years old. There’s not anything like Middle School or Junior High. This High School of mine was in Veenendaal, a 30 minute bike ride away. This school was also protestant and after 6 years I graduated there and learned about the ups and downs of life as a teenager. Quite frankly, I can say I had a fabulous time at that school!

Student Life
After High School, an amazing few years began in Enschede, close to the German border. I studied Communication Studies there at the University of Twente. Living on my own, the student life, doing way too many things, etc! I worked hard on many areas, the faculty students’ club, a fraternity, the local music scene, and so on. After 6 years of study, I graduated as a Master in New Media and Communication Technology with minor in Christian Communication.

Called to the Church
So… where did this Christian Communication suddenly come from? Well, during my time at university, I hopelessly fell in love with a sweet girl who was quite Catholic. I really didn’t know too much about the Catholic faith and at that point I decided to learn more about it to understand her better. A long journey ensued with me finding myself in the office of a parish assistant who told me a whole lot about our faith. She took me to a Holy Mass (God really does work in mysterious ways!) and during the consecration I felt a calling deep inside to become a Catholic. I was eventually baptized on Pentecost 2001. Hallelujah!

Working for God
Two years after my baptism, I was allowed to go to Winnipeg, MB in Canada to do an intership of half a year with St. Paul’s College’s Christian Communication Institute. I had the best time of my life there and knew for sure: later on, I want to use my faith in my work. I had been praying about what to do with my life and where to work for a long time… no religious organization in the Netherlands wanted to hire me, but finally during my very last months of university, I received an offer ‘out of nowhere’ from the Brothers of Saint John in Enschede. Did I want to come work for them?

After graduating, I did exactly that for two years. Together with a now close friend, Arnold, I shared the life of the Brothers (to a certain degree) in their guest house. I also got a job with the Dutch Conference of Catholic Bishops as project coordinator for World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne. During the WYD I went to confession and began to realize how much God loves every human being. From that moment on, I have begun to understand and accept (just a tiny bit!) how much God must also love me. This is when I could also accept His calling to the priesthood, something I had been contemplating for years.

Life at the Seminary
After a year of discernment, I began my studies at St. John the Evangelist Seminary in Den Bosch. I may really count myself a lucky person, an unworthy servant of Jesus, that I may see more and more of my own flaws during this time of perparation for the priesthood! In 2009 I finished my studies of philosophy there. Having been in touch with the Archdiocese of Winnipeg for several years, I decided to continue my discernment in Canada and, through the gracious support of the Archdiocese, am now studying at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Edmonton.