A Career Question

[danfinocchio]

Hi everyone,

The facts: I’m a 23 year old MBA student who has an internship with the Fed. Gov. Both are unsatisfying, and I feel as though they not serving God.

The problem: I feel called to marraige and family life. With that also comes responsibility of providing for your family, which I do not see as a burden but a blessing. On the flip side, I also feel called to serve God in some way and with a big chunk of life taken away by seemingly meaningless work, I feel that my hands are tied. My dream job would be to serve God in some way and make a decent living as well but I have no idea what that could be?

Any ideas/comments? Thanks!

Since this is a vocations board, heres a Matthew Kelly clip about following dreams- youtube.com/watch?v=Y90CgKY_Kt8

 

[Dori1]

Hi Dan!

I’m not a great expert in such things; however, you might try approaching the local diocese to see if they have any positions open when you are ready to graduate. That approach would allow you to support a family (though maybe not in the same style as some MBAs) while serving His Church. Alternatively, if you truly find your course of study unfulfilling, there are other fields for which business degrees prepare one. One example is law. There are alot of law students whose undergraduate degrees are in business. I had a classmate in medical school who had an MBA from Harvard. These fields allow you to donate gratis time to Church matters, the homeless, the poor, etc. Then, there are those who make is an avocation to work in homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, etc. These people work days and then devote a certain number of hours per week to their ministries. Some make it a family affair. I used to work the homeless shelters in San Francisco doing volunteer medical work in the evenings. Nothing brings a teenage boy back to earth when he’s jealous of those with bigger homes or whatever like going with mom to the shelter to volunteer.

I know, this isn’t direct advice. But I hope these suggestions give you hope that you can find the service and work you desire

 

[OKCatholic]

I was sort of in the same boat as you at one time. I wanted success and still be able to serve the Church. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In my situation I wound up in a highly specialized and technical field that gave me a very good living. I was single, buying the coolest toys, paying for nights out on the town with the guys, I thought I was set. I still volunteered my time with the KofC’s and did other charity work and over time I came to the conclusion that I enjoyed volunteering and helping people much more than making money.

Long story short, I left my job and applied to the seminary which I start this Fall. As much as I liked having money to burn, my real passion was helping people. I suppose my advice to you would be to look hard at what you want out of life and compare that to what the world tells you to want. I’m not saying you should drop everything and jump into religious life. Just know that there is so much more to life than making money. May God help you as you search for your vocation.

 

[Writer]

We hear growing up that we are to “follow our dreams,” but sometimes in adulthood we realize dreams don’t exactly put dinner on the table. While everyone should try to find work that they love, the really important thing is that you provide for your family. To give a personal example, I wanted to be a police officer since high school. Repeatedly, I was almost handed a uniform and scheduled for the academy, but weird stuff kept getting in my way, roadblocks. It was like God was trying to say He had another plan for me. I finally decided to give up law enforcement, then I found myself in a promising state government career. While I can’t say that I love my job all the time, I can say that I offer up the hard times to God and keep going to be the best provider I can for my family.

It’s also important to remember that our livelihoods or vocations also don’t define who we are (unless we are fortunate enough to be in a religious vocation). Our identity is not dependent upon what we do 9-5; we’re greater than that. For instance, I write on the side, but I consider my writing more representative of who I am than working in tax enforcement.

If interested in any further ramblings, it just so happens that I recently completed an article that touches on this topic. It’s currently under consideration for an anthology on prayer, but I don’t think anyone would mind if I shared it with you. Drop me a note off the forums, and I’ll share “Closer than a Brother.”

 

[Ruben]

When I was at the point where I knew I had to take a plunge in the direction God wanted, but where I was unsure, I simply began to attend daily mass. Since then so many things opened up, and now I am happy to say I am checking into different religious communities, and I already have my first visit to a seminary scheduled.

The thing about discerning a vocation or state in life is that in order to find God’s will we need to be configured as closely as possible to the person, mind and will of Christ. This is what the holy mass does for us. The liturgy configures us to Christ. In this means of configuring ourselves to the Lord we find ultimately what his will is for us. If you can’t make it to daily mass, then just go as often as possible and dedicate your prayer intentions to finding God’s will for your life. If we dedicate ourselves in this way, God makes more clear to us his will.