By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
What began as a simple suggestion from his mother eventually led the Rev. Andy Hammeke to the priesthood and a ministry serving the next generation of Catholics in Hays.
Hammeke was born in Great Bend in 1989 but considers Hays home because he spent most of his life there as his family often moved for his father’s coaching and athletic director positions. Growing up, Hammeke said faith was always a priority in his household.
“We never missed Sunday Mass. Even as we had Little League baseball, and we were on the road. Mom and Dad would make sure, even if we had to miss part of a game, we’re gonna make it to Mass, wherever we’re at,” he said.
Hammeke said the idea of becoming a priest was first planted by his mother, who regularly spent a holy hour praying before the Eucharist and often brought him along while he was still in elementary school, introducing him to adoration.
"When I was little, I always wanted to be a professional baseball player or a professional drummer. Mom would say, 'Maybe you'll be a priest,'" Hammeke said.
Hammeke said his faith became more personal during his freshman year of high school while living in Andale. Until then, he said his faith life had largely been guided by his parents and those around him.
After struggling to make friends at a new school, Hammeke skipped a homecoming dance and spent the evening alone in his room. He said it was the first time he had independently prayed to God.
"That was the first time I ever felt like I needed God, and he showed up when I needed him," he said. "From that point forward, I was like, 'I think this is actually real.' I grew up with this faith my parents gave me, but now it's kind of becoming my own."
Hammeke later returned to Hays and graduated from Thomas More Prep-Marian High School in 2007. He then attended Fort Hays State University, where he played baseball but had limited success due to an elbow injury sustained in high school and subsequent Tommy John surgery. He majored in health and human performance education.
Hammeke said college brought challenges and temptations, but his faith further deepened during his fourth year after moving near the Comeau Catholic Campus Center and seeing students regularly attend daily Mass.
"I come home from baseball practice, and I see students walking in for daily Mass," he said. "I was really encouraged and impressed by those students. I started going to daily Mass, and that's when my faith really took off. I couldn't believe how much I actually enjoyed it."
As his sense of calling grew, Hammeke said the idea his mother planted years earlier remained in his mind. He spent time in prayer discerning whether he was called to marriage or the priesthood before deciding to apply to seminary.
"There was a peace that overcame me every time," Hammeke said. "I imagined myself married and as a priest, and there was just something that seemed right about priesthood."
Hammeke graduated from FHSU in 2011 and attended Conception Seminary College in Missouri, where he studied philosophy for two years. He later attended Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology for four years to study theology.
He was ordained a priest in 2018 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Salina. Hammeke said many supporters from Hays, including family and lifelong friends, attended the ordination.
“When you get ordained, you get a chance to have a priest vest you. You choose a priest who’s had the most influence in your life. For me, that’s Father Fred Gatschet,” Hammeke said. “When I was wrestling with my faith, it was Father Fred that kept me straight.”
Gatschet served as Chaplain at the Comeau Catholic Campus Center in Hays for about 18 years, starting in 1999.
A personal part of Hammeke’s priesthood is the chalice he uses during Mass, which once belonged to his great-uncle, Father Gerald Hammeke, who was ordained for the Diocese of Dodge City on May 3, 1952. Hammeke said Gerald's mother died before his ordination.
This led family members to melt down her wedding ring and form it into a cross placed on the base of the chalice, which was then gifted to Gerald. After he died in 2006, the chalice sat unused until Hammeke’s ordination.
"A lot of guys have to buy a chalice or take an old priest's chalice. But I had this given to me because my great-uncle was a priest. My folks had it cleaned up and restored, and they also engraved their names on there," Hammeke said.
During his ordination Mass, Hammeke said he felt a sensation he has never forgotten as he entered the priesthood, removing any doubt he had about the path that led him there.
"There's the part when the bishop called the Holy Spirit down upon the gifts of bread and wine ... I felt my hands get really warm," he said. "The bishop says the prayers over the bread and cup, and holds it up ... both of those times, I put my right hand out and I felt it get warm."
"When it happened the second time, I was like, 'I think that's real.'"
Hammeke said the feeling never returned after his ordination Mass, including during his first Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Hays the following day.
"I've wondered if maybe it was God saying, 'In case you ever doubt that this is real, that this truly is the body and blood of Christ and that a miracle takes place here. Here's something you can always go back on,'" he said.
After ordination, Hammeke served as associate pastor at St. Mary Queen of the Universe and chaplain at Sacred Heart High School. In 2020, he was appointed co-vocation director for the Diocese of Salina, a role he continues to hold.
"It's my job, in a sense, to promote, recruit young men to consider being priests and also to walk with the guys who are in seminary who are studying to be priests. Make sure they're staying on track and they have everything they need on their way to priesthood," Hammeke said.
Hammeke returned to the Comeau Catholic Campus Center in 2021 as campus chaplain while also serving part-time at TMP-Marian.
He said college students today face challenges, including newfound freedom, temptation and exposure to ideas that may challenge their beliefs. At the same time, he said he has noticed younger Catholics increasingly drawn toward tradition rather than entertainment in worship.
"One thing I've noticed that's different is, in my time, a lot of my peers right out of college found that the Catholic Church is actually kind of boring and bland," Hammeke said. "Whereas now, there's this particular group of students ... they are more drawn to the tradition and the reverence at Mass."
On the edge of the FHSU campus, the center offers Mass, adoration, confession, retreats, Bible studies, meals and community activities for students. It is also a place where students can study and hang out after class.
While the center primarily serves college students, Hammeke also noted community members attend services and events to support center and its mission. Hammeke said the campus center hopes to expand in the future.
Although much of his priesthood has centered on student ministry, Hammeke said he is interested in someday transitioning into parish ministry when the time is right.
"I'm in no rush to move on from this. I very much love serving college students and in the end, whenever the bishop decides to put me somewhere else, I'll obviously go. I have a real heart for the parish, and I look forward to it someday, but I'm not quite ready to leave college ministry," he said.
Hammeke said his advice for students graduating or heading home for the summer is not to let their faith disappear and to continue seeking prayer and community wherever they go next.
You can follow the journey of hundreds of Catholic Tigers on the Comeau Catholic Campus Center Facebook page.
