Introducing our seminarians:

Michael Judkins
I was born and raised in Tulsa. My parents are Wayne and Linda Judkins (alive and married). I have an older brother (John: 32) and a younger sister (Jennifer: 23). I was baptized and raised at Asbury  United Methodist Church. I graduated from Memorial High School in 1999 and graduated from Northeastern State University with a B.S. in Cell Biology. Easter of 2005 I joined the Catholic Church (communion and confirmation) at Saint Mary’s. After college, I worked in Houston at the Institute for Biosciences and Technology. In 2007 I joined the Diocese of Tulsa as a seminarian and went to Saint Meinrad that fall. I am now in my third of six years here.

Sean Donovan
I grew up attending the Church and School of St. Mary. My Grandparents, Gerry and Beth Donovan, were one of the founding families of the parish, and my Dad grew up going to St. Mary’s too. My cousins, the Swineys, also went to St. Mary’s so I always had family around me. I was an acolyte at Mass and a Boy Scout with St. Mary’s Troop 173. I eventually earned the rank of Eagle just like my grandpa. Next, we all went to Bishop Kelley High School where most of us all participated in the Drama Club, too. I was involved in sailing and playing the cello at an early age, and I started fencing in high school. I went to Notre Dame and fenced there, just like my grandpa. I earned a Bachelor’s degree with a major in philosophy and a minor in theology, and then worked as a case worker at Catholic Charities for two years before entering graduate school in theology. After two more years, I earned a Master’s degree at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. After my time in Belgium, I applied to be a seminarian for the Diocese of Tulsa. Bishop Slattery sent me to the North American College seminary in Rome for formation and further study. The last two years in seminary I have completed all the course work for a License in Sacred Theology with a specialization in Spirituality. Currently, I am receiving pastoral experience while living at The Church of the Madalene this year. After this year I plan to return to Rome to finish my seminary formation and a doctorate. I would then be in the Diaconate Ordination class of 2011 and Priestly Ordination class of 2012. 

Danny Tinsley
I was born and raised in Tulsa by my parents Clifford and Betty with one older sister Kimberly. We were raised in the United Methodist Church and by the firm hand of my grandmother, Mary, attended services devoutly. A few years after the death of my grandmother, I became discouraged by the discrepancy between what I had been raised to believe about communion and what the Methodist Church taught. With reluctance, I left my faith community and began an idealistic teen's search for a spiritual home. I knew I had found that home the moment I read about the Catholic understanding of the Real Presence of the Eucharist. I attended R.C.I.A at St. Catherine in Tulsa and was received into full communion at the age of 19. Over the following years, I worked as a pharmacy technician and pursued a degree in biochemistry as a part-time student. I spent one year at Conception Seminary College as a seminarian for the Diocese of Tulsa but left seminary after one year. However, my feeling of being called did not leave me. I spent several years discerning religious life with the Order of Saint Augustine during which I completed my Bachelors Degree in Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. I eventually discerned that life as an Augustinian Friar was not the path for me. However, the Augustinians will always hold a very special place in my heart and prayers. Since returning to Tulsa from Chicago, I have worked as a Financial Aid Coordinator for St. Gregory's University and then as a controller for a crane rental company in Tulsa. In the midst of these jobs, both of which I greatly enjoyed, I found that I was continually feeling called to a deeper purpose. With prayer, discernment, and a lot of encouragement from friends, family, and clergy; I have now returned to seminary -the only place I have ever experienced a strong sense of purpose.