A youth and his vocation

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Hello, I’m new hear and I’m seriously considering the priesthood and more specifically the ICKSP. However, my parents aren’t quite thrilled with the decision and say that I am warped, have problems because i prefer the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Right, and often will ask me where they went wrong :rolleyes:. Anyways, they are telling me that I’m too young (im going to be a junior this year) to be considering the priesthood. However, I have a few questions about the institute if anyone can answer them for me (i emailed them a week ago, but no response)
1: How are American Seminarians treated (i hear their not as trusted as European men)?
2: If anyone has attended the seminary, how is it? Is it very uptight and depressing or is it an enjoyable place?
3: Do they issue any degrees at the seminary?
4: Is one able to return home for the Christmas and Easter holidays?
*also any valuable information is gratefully appreciated and please pray for me
thank you and many years!
 
russialover said:
Hello, I’m new hear and I’m seriously considering the priesthood and more specifically the ICKSP. However, my parents aren’t quite thrilled with the decision and say that I am warped, have problems because i prefer the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Right, and often will ask me where they went wrong :rolleyes:. Anyways, they are telling me that I’m too young (im going to be a junior this year) to be considering the priesthood. However, I have a few questions about the institute if anyone can answer them for me (i emailed them a week ago, but no response)
1: How are American Seminarians treated (i hear their not as trusted as European men)?
2: If anyone has attended the seminary, how is it? Is it very uptight and depressing or is it an enjoyable place?
3: Do they issue any degrees at the seminary?
4: Is one able to return home for the Christmas and Easter holidays?
*also any valuable information is gratefully appreciated and please pray for me
thank you and many years!
Click to expand...
Hey there,

I’m glad you’re considering the priesthood. I am a year older than you and my parents are against it as well. I can answer a few of your questions.
  1. American seminaries that I have visited are heavily orthodox. I think a few generations ago, there were some questionable interpretations of Vatican II but the ones I’ve seen are very good. Look up Conception Seminary College in Northwest MO and Kenrick Glennon in St. Louis.
  2. Seminaries are fun! The guys are so close and normal. They do everyday stuff like play video games with each other, but have a strong prayer life.
  3. Yes, typically a degree in Philosophy your first four years in college, then a Graduate degree in Theology the next for years.
  4. You come back during holidays and normally help your home parish with serving and other pastoral duties.
Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Tony
 
russialover said:
Hello, I’m new hear and I’m seriously considering the priesthood and more specifically the ICKSP. However, my parents aren’t quite thrilled with the decision and say that I am warped, have problems because i prefer the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Right, and often will ask me where they went wrong :rolleyes:. Anyways, they are telling me that I’m too young (im going to be a junior this year) to be considering the priesthood. However, I have a few questions about the institute if anyone can answer them for me (i emailed them a week ago, but no response)
1: How are American Seminarians treated (i hear their not as trusted as European men)?
2: If anyone has attended the seminary, how is it? Is it very uptight and depressing or is it an enjoyable place?
3: Do they issue any degrees at the seminary?
4: Is one able to return home for the Christmas and Easter holidays?
*also any valuable information is gratefully appreciated and please pray for me
thank you and many years!
Click to expand...
I don’t have any answers to your questions, as I’m looking into the seminary also. However, I can relate to your attraction to the vocation, whilst your parents aren’t. My dad understood my call right off the bat, and is pretty much convinced I will become a priest; And he witnessed a vocation miracle of mine (too long to go into).
My mom, on the other hand, is a little nervous. I’m going to be a senior in high school, and she thinks that I’m making this decision too hasty. God is calling me, however, no matter how uncomfortable it makes my mom, or even myself at times.

Lastly, I did a three hour reflection in contemplative prayer on my vocation calling once, and the Holy Spirit led me to a great conclusion. When God plants the seed of the calling into our hearts, we become more and more thirsty for the sacraments, the mass, prayer, tradition, and the virtues. This is because we definitely know that this is what will nourish that seed. Nothing else will satiate it, because anything else is not the type of nutrient that seed needs. I believe this is why you are so attracted to the EF of mass. You probably like the contemplative feel, the supremely faithful atmosphere, the reverence for the liturgy of the Word/Eucharist, and most importantly the smell of incense 😃

You’re not weird 😉 Just tell your parents you’re being called to a spiritual challenge. This might ease their tension because then you aren’t sealed into any deal. You just want to grow in your faith, and that’s healthy, right? 👍
 
Thats cool that ur interested in the ICKSP, too! I will pray for u and ur vocation! but boy do i love the smell of incense :highprayer:and the sound of Gregorian chant. our parents just dont understand lol. but i think it woud b better if the institute had a vocational retreat for young men interested in the priesthood. ChristisRisen32, I’m also considering the diocesan priesthood,too, albeit not as much anymore, mainly because i probably couldn’t go that long without the E.F., and I like the traditional orders and practice of Ora et Labora as well as being put in different parts of the world:thumbsup:
 
russialover said:
Hello, I’m new hear and I’m seriously considering the priesthood and more specifically the ICKSP. However, my parents aren’t quite thrilled with the decision and say that I am warped, have problems because i prefer the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Right, and often will ask me where they went wrong :rolleyes:. Anyways, they are telling me that I’m too young (im going to be a junior this year) to be considering the priesthood. However, I have a few questions about the institute if anyone can answer them for me (i emailed them a week ago, but no response)
1: How are American Seminarians treated (i hear their not as trusted as European men)?
2: If anyone has attended the seminary, how is it? Is it very uptight and depressing or is it an enjoyable place?
3: Do they issue any degrees at the seminary?
4: Is one able to return home for the Christmas and Easter holidays?
*also any valuable information is gratefully appreciated and please pray for me
thank you and many years!
Click to expand...
Though I haven’t attended a seminary (yet hopefully) i’m heavily involved in the discernment process and I have a few answers to your questions.
  1. American seminarians are treated just as well as those from any other country.
  2. not a clue
  3. Seminaries in the United States offer several degrees. Most offer the following:
    Masters of Divinity, Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology, Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.), and the Doctorate in Sacred Theology Degree.
    a link is provided below for course descriptions from Saint Mary’s
    stmarys.edu/sot/sot_stb_stl.htm
  4. Seminarians do have holidays just like anyone else in college or graduate school. So yes you can go home.
Good luck
 
Anthony_V said:
When God plants the seed of the calling into our hearts, we become more and more thirsty for the sacraments, the mass, prayer, tradition, and the virtues. This is because we definitely know that this is what will nourish that seed.
Click to expand...
Wow. You basically described me!
 
ok thanks alot Jaspergard. Anthony, I’ve never thought of that before. 👍
 
To answer your question about the atmosphere in the Seminary, it is very light when it needs to be. From the few classes I’ve attended (I’m only a Senior in high school, so I’m not in Seminary) it is pretty much just like any other class, except there is an emphasis on Christ and Spirituality. The men there seem to have a great camaraderie between them, and they seem very happy and content; it is not a drab, boring, or suffocating place, except maybe during finals week.

Outside the classroom, they are just like most other men, but they burn with a zeal for Christ and His Church. They have fun, joke around, go to bars (for those over 21) and have a good time, just like anyone else.

For instance, the Seminary I’ve been to is run by a Benedictine Abbey. The Abbey has a very large collection of taxidermied animals, including a very large black bear. One day a group of seminarians, and I’m sure a monk or two, went into the museum late at night and removed the bear; they carried him into the monastery cloister, up the stairs to the Abbott’s cell, and placed the bear directly in front of his door. Can you imagine waking up at five in the morning, half asleep, to the sight of an eight foot bear standing on his hind paws directly in front of you? Needless to say, the bear now resides behind tempered glass in a “special exhibit”. Seminary life is hardly dull :D:p

However, prayer, silence, and discernment are a HUGE part of Seminary life too. At the aforementioned seminary the seminarians are required to turn in a journal of their discernment process, attend formal spiritual direction, go to confession regularly, and attend Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours every day. And a few days a quarter a mandatory silent retreat is held where all studies and such are put on hold to spend more time with Christ discerning His Will.

As you can see, the Seminary is very balanced in its approach, and gives ample time for study, spirituality, and free time. Most seminaries even have a scheduled “recreation period”, that lasts about an hour and a half, where they are free to play sports, hang out with their classmates, pray, read a book, etc.
 
That story about the bear is hilarious, thank you for the information. Ill keep you in my prayers,Nowhere Man
 
Religious Order. Specifically, the Benedictine Monks of Mount Angel Abbey, which is the Abbey/Seminary I was referring to earlier. For the first few months of my discernment, however, I was discerning a call to the FSSP because I love and adore the EF. But the vocations director informed me, that because I can’t say the EF and follow the rubrics to a T (I walk with a limp that impedes my ability to genuflect) that I probably don’t have a vocation to the FSSP or ICKSP. For quite a while, maybe two or three months, I was very depressed and felt very lost, (although in hind site I couldn’t be more happy to have been rejected) so I decided to set up a meeting with my priest.

During the meeting we talked about how I came to the Church, what I felt God was calling me to, why I felt that way etc.; then somewhat out of the blue he asked me if I had ever thought about the Religious Life. Now, as a convert from a Non-Denom sect, I didn’t even know that monks and friars still existed, let alone what they did. I was quite intrigued by this so I asked for some information, and he suggested that I take a trip down to Mount Angel, Oregon and visit a few communities down there.

So, I spent the next few weeks talking to my mom about it, very slowly as I didn’t want to shock her, and eventually she agreed to take me down if I set up all the appointments and everything. In about a day I had finished calling and speaking with the vocation directors for Mount Angel Abbey, the Carmelite House of Studies, and the Brigittine Priory, and left for Oregon that weekend.

The minute I stepped onto the grounds for Mount Angel Abbey I fell in love. The Abbey was beautiful and very peaceful, and almost as soon as I got there one of the monks ran up and asked what I needed and if I needed help; I have not, and may never, meet such humble and holy people as those monks. Eventually, I made my way to the vocation director’s office and he gave me, i guess you could call it a preliminary interview, and a description of what the monks do, as well as the history of monasticism.

Next, he took me on a tour of the Abbey; I don’t think there was a single room in the Abbey I didn’t see, and he took the time to explain nearly every detail of the Abbatial church, seminary church, cemetery, and on and on. Finally, after an exhaustive three hour or so tour he took me back to his office and handed me a bunch of pamphlets and other vocation info, and a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict. The Holy Rule speaks to me on such a profound level, and I find it very awe-inspiring, especially in its application of Sacred Scripture.

I have been back to Mount Angel about four times or so for personal visits and a Vocation Retreat (I’ll be leaving again for another retreat in a week), and I really hope it is God’s Will for me to enter their community, because I can’t see myself anywhere else, and I would consider it to be a supreme gift, second only to the Beatific Vision, to live and die there.

I guess that’s a little more information than you asked for; sorry to hi-jack your thread. 😊
 
No you didn’t hijack the thread, I’m rather interested in this abbey, could you send me a link to it, please? Does the abbey offer the Extraordinary Form?
 
mountangelabbey.org/
Unfortunately, they don’t offer the EF, and their Divine Office is mostly in English, but it is done very, very reverently.
There is one Benedictine Abbey in the United States that solely uses the Extraordinary Form and Latin Divine Office, Cleer Creek in Oklahoma
 
No, I’m still in high school, but I’ll be applying in Spring.
 
I’ve been having problems with my friends and family, most are either non - Catholic or catholic in name only and I really dont know how to get the to understand, what have you done?
 
I’ve only told my closest friends and family, and they’ve all been fairly accepting and supporting. I told them straight up that I wanted to become a priest, and they said that it was pretty cool. My mom on the other hand didn’t like the idea (she wants grandchildren haha), but i persevered to show her that I was serious, and she’s come to accept it.
 
You’re quite lucky. I have to deal with witty and sly remarks about the priesthood whenever I’m around my immediate family.😦
 
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