PRIEST PROFILE On the road with God: Father Caleb Vogel finds faith, freedom and reflection on two wheels

By Philip A. Janquart

ICR Editor

He says there is nothing better than having a place to go, plenty of asphalt ahead and time to think. And for Father Caleb Vogel — vicar general for the Diocese of Boise — there have been plenty of roads in life.

Some led to the priesthood; others have carried him through Idaho’s mountains, across the country and into Canada on the back of his Triumph motorcycle.

But long before he was riding motorcycles or celebrating Mass in parishes across Idaho, his most important road began in Jerome, where he grew up surrounded by family, friends and a parish that was never far from home.

“It was a blessed upbringing,” Father Vogel told the Idaho Catholic Register.

He was one of six children. Both sets of grandparents lived within a short bicycle ride, two aunts lived across the street and St. Jerome Catholic Church was only three blocks away.

“We knew all of our neighbors,” Father Vogel said. “So, I grew up, really, with being surrounded by family. My friend group was really my family group.”

Church life was a big part of that family life.

St. Jerome was a close-knit parish, and the family was involved in just about everything. His parents participated in the Cursillo movement and retreats. His mother eventually became the parish’s director of religious education.

Father Vogel, right, takes a break during his early seminary years to go for a ride with his brother, Nick. (Courtesy photo)

And the family even helped take care of the church.

“We were the janitors of the church,” Father Vogel said.

He and his brother eventually took care of the parish lawn, which meant they spent plenty of time around the church — and around its priests.

“So we were around the church all the time,” he said. “I got to see priests outside of Sunday, and staff people.”

That early exposure gave Father Vogel a glimpse of something he would eventually come to know for himself: the priesthood was not simply what happened at the altar on Sunday. It was a life lived among people.

The first person to suggest that life might be his own was his grandmother.

A seed takes root

Father Vogel was about eight when his grandmother told him she could see him becoming a priest someday.

“I remember this,” he said. “This is a memory, whether it’s true or not.”

He understood what she meant, even if he was too young to understand what becoming a priest really involved.

Still, the idea stayed with him.

“That idea of being a priest was really lovingly planted, that seed, by my grandma, who I really respected and loved,” he said. “And so that seed just kept growing.”

By high school, the idea had become much more serious.

“From a young age, I didn’t always know I was going to be a priest, but I always wanted to be,” he said. “By the time I got to high school, that was the dominant idea, and I knew I wanted to at least try.”

He decided to test that calling in a straightforward way.

“When I graduated high school, the only school I applied to was the seminary,” he said.

His thinking was simple: “That’ll be my sign. If I make it, great.”

He entered Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon in 1995, studying philosophy. In 1999, he transferred to St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where he completed his theological studies.

He was ordained a priest in 2004 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Boise, by Bishop Michael Driscoll, alongside Father Dat Vu.

His first assignment took him to Idaho Falls, where he served two churches as well as missions in Roberts and Mud Lake. From there came assignments in St. Anthony, Rexburg and Driggs, followed by campus ministry at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

Moscow was not an assignment he expected.

“I never expected that,” he said. “It was a wonderful opportunity to work with students.”

It was also where he began helping with vocations.

After six years in Moscow, he was assigned to St. Paul’s in Nampa. Six years later, Bishop Peter asked him to serve at the Diocesan Pastoral Center.

Today, Father Vogel serves as vicar general while also serving as pastor of parishes in McCall, Cascade and Riggins.

That means plenty of time on the road.

“I go up on Thursday afternoon, and then try to do all that I can to serve the parish there on the weekend,” he said.

The arrangement is part of a larger reality facing the Church: There simply are not enough priests.

“I think the idea right now is (I’ll do this) for as long as it’s needed and I’m able,” he said. “We need more priests.” And that brings Father Vogel to another kind of road.

Father Maruisz Majewski, St. Thomas the Apostle in Coeur d'Alene, and Father Vogel take time for a quick photo before heading out on a long trip to the Arctic Circle north of Canada. (Courtesy photo)

The road itself

His love of motorcycles goes back to childhood, when he watched his father ride a Honda Trail 90.

Over the years, Father Vogel has owned several motorcycles, including a Kawasaki Ninja, a Honda VFR 800 and a Yamaha 750 Special.

He has ridden across much of the country and into Canada. One trip took him to Florida and then to Slave Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories with Father Mariusz Majewski. More recently, he completed a 4,500-mile trip.

These days, he often rides with Father Mark Uhlenkott.

“We’ll go on big adventures,” he said.

But for Father Vogel, riding is not really about speed or the power of the motorcycle. It is about experiencing the journey.

“It’s just such a great way to travel,” he said. “I feel like when I’m driving, I’m not driving.”

On a motorcycle, there is nothing between him and the world around him.

He feels changes in temperature. He smells the trees, the river and everything else along the road. He sees wildlife and scenery that might otherwise pass unnoticed.

“It’s completely open,” he said. “I get to be fully exposed to nature, meaning I feel every change in temperature, all of the smells, good or bad.”

The difference is especially noticeable on the ride to McCall.

“I’m not boxed in by a car,” he said. “I see everything, and I’ve seen so much beautiful scenery and wildlife, and it just changes my mindset when I ride a motorcycle.”

It also changes the way he thinks about time.

On the way to McCall, there are plenty of places where he can pull off the road.

Sometimes he does.

“I’ll bring a little lunch, and I’ll just pull off,” he said.

He might find a spot along the river, set up a camp chair and sit for half an hour.

“I’ll set up my camp chair down by the river, and I’ll have lunch,” he said. “And just take, like, 30 minutes or whatever.”

That is something he rarely does in a car.

“The motorcycle changes my mindset to where I’m much more engaged in what’s happening, like, in the travel and nature,” he said. “Whereas in a car, I’m all about business.”

A car is about getting somewhere.

A motorcycle makes the trip itself part of the experience.

“On my motorcycle, I’m like, ‘I’m on a trip,’ even when I’m going to do Mass.”

For him, that feeling is less about freedom than about being alive and present.

“I feel like maybe more alive,” he said. “I feel energized. Again, it feels like I’m on a trip, like on a vacation.”

And sometimes, the ride becomes something more.

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  motorcycle in front of Idaho church

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  priest hauling a log behind motorcycle

A quiet place

For Father Vogel, one of the best things about riding is the quiet. Not necessarily literal silence, but the chance to step away from everything else.

“It’s a real undistracted time, and I’m just there with my thoughts,” he said. “So it’s a real peaceful time for me because all I’m doing is just driving.”

Sometimes he listens to an audiobook or soft instrumental music. Often, though, he simply rides.

“Most of the time, I’m just there quietly,” he said.

That quiet can become prayer.

“It’s uninterrupted,” he said. “And it can be prayerful. It can be thoughtful. It could be just mindless. I could be working through problems. It could be all kinds of things.”

There is something about being on the road, with little else to do but ride, that allows everything else to fall away.

“It’s just like the world disappears almost,” he said. “And it’s just me, the road, the bike, and the world there. And my thoughts. It’s pretty cool.”

Of course, Father Vogel knows motorcycles can be dangerous.

He learned that firsthand during a heavy thunderstorm near Meridian. His motorcycle hit standing water and hydroplaned.

“I hit that lake at 55 miles an hour,” he said. “When I hit it, the bike just completely hydroplaned, and it just started fishtailing, and it just laid down.”

He was wearing his protective gear and escaped serious injury.

The experience reinforced something he had decided years earlier as a young priest: If he was going to ride, he was going to do it responsibly.

“I owe it to the Church. I owe it to myself, but really to the Church, that I always wear my gear,” he said. “I have a great helmet. I wear top-grade gear. I don’t really mess around with that. I wear it. I use it because it really works.”

For Father Vogel, the motorcycle has become more than a way to get from one place to another.

It is a way to slow down.