As a teenager, Chase Hilgenbrinck wanted not only to be a man but “the man,” as in the popular phrase “You’re the man!”

Now, after a professional soccer career, Hilgenbrinck is dedicating his life to knowing and helping others draw near to “the only one who is ‘the man,’ Jesus Christ.”

“Real men are men of God,” Hilgenbrinck — now a Diocese of Peoria seminarian studying for the priesthood — told nearly 1,000 participants at last Saturday’s “A Call to Catholic Men of Faith.”

Energizing the crowd assembled along the Illinois River bank in downtown Peoria prior to their march to St. Mary’s Cathedral, Hilgenbrinck told the men they have been “called to greatness,” but not always as the world defines it.

He urged them to guard against the “three biggest lies” men hear from today’s culture, including:

1) If you’re not a big, strong athlete, you’re not a man.

2) You need to make a lot of money, and

3) If you’re not a womanizer, you’re not a real man.

“I detest those lies,” Hilgenbrink told the men, as well as the devil who spreads them. “I will dedicate my life in opposition of and denouncing those falsehoods.”

As the time for the march approached, Hilgenbrinck — who later led the group in recitation of the rosary at St. Mary’s Cathedral — urged the men to “walk the walk” as Catholic men.

“Get your rosaries out of your pocket and grip them tight as you walk,” he said. “Mary is ready to lead you to her Son.”