Any other ex-seminarians?

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markeverett49

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I spent four years in Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

[edited]

I didn’t become a priest but have remained in contact with several friends from there who did go on to ordination and with others who did not.

I was wondering if there are others here who spent time in seminary. It’s a special environment and one does learn a lot.
 
I have often wondered whether there are support organisations for those who, for whatever reason, have to drop out of seminary. It must be a terribly difficult decision to make, akin even to a bereavement, I’d say.

I postponed seminary training a few years ago after getting right up to the wire of having to start. That fateful day I made the decision, I felt like the bottom had fallen out of my world. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision shortly afterwards, because my elderly father required care when he got ill that would have meant I’d have had to leave (or suspend) my Seminary course anyway, but none of that lessens the thoughts in my mind of “I’d have my Theology degree now” or “if I’d stayed the course, I’d be preparing for Diaconal ordination now”…

It’s hard letting go of the vocation you thought you had, even if, for me, it’s only (I hope) a temporary letting go (albeit, I cannot know how long that period lasts while I still have a responsibility towards my father).
 
Yep. 6 years in a religious order.

Leaving was like having a divorce.

Happily married with kids now.

Maybe if things had been different, things would have been different…🤷 though I could never wish that my kids would not have existed:eek:
 
markeverett49 said:
I spent four years in Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

I didn’t become a priest but have remained in contact with several friends from there who did go on to ordination and with others who did not.

I was wondering if there are others here who spent time in seminary. It’s a special environment and one does learn a lot.
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[edited]

I’m currently discerning and I would like it if you could tell me more about your experience there.
 
kmuestwin said:
I’m currently discerning and I would like it if you could tell me more about your experience there.
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If you think you are called, GO. I always encourage people who are discerning (-people who are serious and mature; I’m not talking about someone who just decided ‘last night’ he thought being a priest might be cool) to “taste and see.” I never regret going.

One of the worst things about leaving, though, is that some people are unkind about it. I’m a convert and the woman who was my sponsor in RCIA (-I called her my godmother, and she liked that), when she found out I was leaving, sent a friend to tell me she would never speak to me again and I must never contact her. That hurt.
 
markeverett49 said:
I spent four years in Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

[edited]

I didn’t become a priest but have remained in contact with several friends from there who did go on to ordination and with others who did not.

I was wondering if there are others here who spent time in seminary. It’s a special environment and one does learn a lot.
Click to expand...
Hey,
I was seminarian during three years and it was a nive experience that I will never forget. I worked as engineer and now I’m waitting my admission to return to seminary in September :-).

leandresz.com/en/
 
markeverett49 said:
I spent four years in Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

[edited]

I didn’t become a priest but have remained in contact with several friends from there who did go on to ordination and with others who did not.

I was wondering if there are others here who spent time in seminary. It’s a special environment and one does learn a lot.
Click to expand...
Notre Dame! 🙂

Anyway, do many people leave the seminary? It seems I have heard of quite a few people leaving or taking a few tries before actually becoming a priest. It seems like a lot, but I guess I have met many more people who have finished. (Priests!);)😛

Did you go to St. Joseph’s before Notre Dame Seminary?
 
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