Vocation Story of Fr. Fransiskus Dedyanto, CP
My name is Fransiskus Dedyanto, but everyone calls me Dedy. I come from Nilo Village, a simple place in Flores, Maumere – East Nusa Tenggara, a village full of faith and life, where the Passionists have long carried out their mission. It was there that the seed of my vocation quietly grew small, calm, yet never fading.
Since high school, I began to feel a gentle voice calling me to follow God. Every time I saw the Passionist brothers and priests serving the people, something burned within me, like a whisper saying, “Follow Me.” But when I bravely shared this desire with my parents, they refused especially my father. He wanted me to go to college. “You’re the firstborn, Dedy. You must be an example. You must be our hope,” he said. I understood his heart, so I lowered my head and softly replied, “Alright, Dad.” Yet deep inside, I cried. I postponed God’s call just to make my parents happy.
After graduating from high school, I went to UNIPA—not because I wanted to, but because my father wished it deeply. I tried hard to adjust, to follow the rhythm of campus life. But as time passed, I felt empty. Four years went by without direction, and finally, I dropped out. I was disappointed in myself.
I felt I had failed my father’s expectations and failed to become the person God wanted me to be. Darkness began to cover my life. I drifted away from church, from prayer, even from God Himself. I felt unworthy to even look at the cross. To survive, I did whatever work I could find: working as a market laborer, a construction worker, an ojek driver, and even a street musician. I once joined illegal motorcycle races, chasing a false sense of freedom amid noise and danger. I laughed on the outside, but inside, I was breaking. I thought maybe it would be better if my life just ended.
But God always finds a way to bring back His lost child. One evening, I was sitting quietly in front of our house, staring at the darkening sky. My mother came, sat beside me, and gently said, “If this is your path, my son… then go. I give you my blessing to enter the seminary.” Her words pierced my heart. I cried uncontrollably. I knew, at that moment, God was speaking through my mother. She opened the door that had long been closed.
With trembling steps but a firm heart, I walked toward the Passionist seminary the very place I once admired from afar, now became the home of my vocation. I learned to know the Crucified Christ, not only through words but through my own wounds, failures, and resurrection. Becoming a brother doesn’t mean life is without struggle. There are still many past wounds to heal, many tears to shed, but in every pain, I’ve found God’s gentle and patient love.
Now I realize that this calling is not because I am holy or worthy, but because God wants to show that His love can transform anyone. From a lost young man, He made me an instrument of His love.
Today, I, Brother Fransiskus Dedyanto, CP, am grateful to be part of the Passionist family, who have taught me the meaning of suffering and true love. From the humble village of Nilo to the seminary, I’ve seen God’s hand in every step of my life. And now I live by one principle:
Every blessing that God has given me must become a blessing for others.
I believe God never makes mistakes. He calls not the perfect, but those willing to be perfected by His love. I was once a lost child, but now I live in the love of the Cross of Christ as a Passionist brother, striving to love without limits just as God first loved me.
Please, if you feel like life is overwhelming you, please do not do it alone. Someone is better today because of what you mean to them
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