Catholic Parents and Vocations

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I am curious about something, and I was wondering if anyone here had any insights.

In my seminary days, I learned of quite a few families which produced vocations. I knew of a family of 14 that produced a couple priests, a family of 7 that has so far sent two boys to seminary and a girl to religious life (there are more children at home), a family of 9 that has sent the oldest three boys to seminary, and some children are still at home, and even a family of 2 boys that are both priests now! I could go on and on. Obviously, the parents did much to produce vocations.

But here is what throws me for a loop. You hardly ever hear about the more “famous” Catholics in America (you know, the household names of famous authors and speakers) producing religious vocations. I am thinking of lay speakers, teachers, etc. As far as I know, Dr. Scott Hahn (7 children, I think), Dr. Mark Miravalle (8 children), Dr. Alan Schreck, Leon Suprenant, etc. etc. (add any name of any well-known lay Catholic you can think of here), I believe have produced a grand total of zero “vocations” (to priesthood and religious life), and I don’t believe any of their children spent any time in religious formation or seminary.

My question is, why might this be? My thinking would be that these “models” of Catholic parents and families should be leading the way in offering their children to priesthood and religious life. Why is this not happening?
 
You can not push or force a vocation on your children. They have to have a calling from God, maybe the calling they heard was to have a family and help the parish out that they belong to.
 
Just my :twocents: :
While having a good faith formation would help in opening the idea of religious life to children, it’s not up to the parents to “offer” their children to the religious life or to push their children in that direction. A vocation is a call from God, directed at the person called, not at the parents of the person called. It is a decision that must be felt in the heart of the person discerning the vocation and, while you might seek advice from parents in the decision making process, unless you are truly called by God to that vocation, it would be foolish of parents to push their children to a life that they aren’t called to. If God has not called the children of any famous Catholics to the religious life it hardly makes them less Catholic. You named a number of non-famous families that have produced religious from among their children, but I’d be willing to bet you could name many more families that have not. Are we to judge their Catholic parenting as well? Or are we only going to hold the famous Catholics to a higher standards simply because they are well-known?
 
I agree, it’s a vocation not something that a parent can push a child into. Also, I don’t know the ages of all the children of the above but Scott Hahn’s oldest is 23 and youngest is around 6 or 7. There’s plenty of time.
 
Yes. It is a vocation…BUT! Parents can lead the children to the water… But parents must be transformed somewhat in their own lives. You might not see a transformed simple Christian because you’re focused on the secular world’s definition of success. I find most Catholic walking around with their head in their duffle bag impervious to what’s actually happening around them. Man on this board are the same. Modern Catholics are really twisted peolpe in general and why Protestants think we’re such idiots. Not that Protestants don’t exhibit the same lack of transformation.

All of us are called to vocation…and depending on which spiritual director you listen to depends on how you justify not having vocations from your own domestic church. Many of you act like we don’t have to do anything to “offer” up our own children. What you’re missing is the fact that their are alternatives …but we have to ultimately choose…otherwise you’re buying into predestination. This goes both ways. I truly felt called as a seminarian…however, events and lack of suppor in my life didn’t mean I didn’t have a sincere vocation to the priesthood…all it meant was that God gives us choices. **Some of us could have both vocations to married life and to the priesthood. ** I’ll wait for a response to that last statement in bold because your response will reveal how much you really know about the entire Catholic Church and its history.
 
But Vatican II said it is up to the entire Church to promote religious vocations among the young. Teachers and Parents are the two groups the Second Vatican Council called for to take a special role in promoting vocations, as well as Priests. The fact is, the cultivation that these groups do have a lot to do with whether their children will HEAR that call of the Lord.

The fact is, many are called to the priesthood and religious life today, but are not responding. I mean, it certainly isn’t God’s will that we have such a shortage of priests.

When I read about how the Little Flower’s fathre raised five girls who all ended up being nuns, I can’t help but think that NONE of them would have been nuns if it weren’t for their spiritual father, who cultivated their hearts in such a way that they WOULD respond. In fact, in “Story of a Soul”, St. Therese herself said she would have been a “little devil” if it weren’t for her father.

Hence, I am a little confused to see Dr. Hahn’s, Dr. Schreck’s, Dr. Miravalle’s, etc. children not pursuing a religious vocation. Perhaps their children are not called, but perhaps their parents did not cultivate the ground.

In the end, God will give us what we want. If we prove in our words and actions that we as a Church want a “priestless church” (and parents contribute to this by not fostering a love for the priesthood / religious life and getting their children to at least consider it), then that is what He will give us. Biblical truth, my friends.
 
ladylinguist said:
Just my :twocents: :
While having a good faith formation would help in opening the idea of religious life to children, it’s not up to the parents to “offer” their children to the religious life or to push their children in that direction. A vocation is a call from God, directed at the person called, not at the parents of the person called. It is a decision that must be felt in the heart of the person discerning the vocation and, while you might seek advice from parents in the decision making process, unless you are truly called by God to that vocation, it would be foolish of parents to push their children to a life that they aren’t called to. If God has not called the children of any famous Catholics to the religious life it hardly makes them less Catholic. You named a number of non-famous families that have produced religious from among their children, but I’d be willing to bet you could name many more families that have not. Are we to judge their Catholic parenting as well? Or are we only going to hold the famous Catholics to a higher standards simply because they are well-known?
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Here is what Vatican II says:

Though parents must “prudently help [their children] in the choice of their vocation”, they must “carefully promote any sacred vocation which they may discern in them” (AA11). Therefore, they “should so prepare [boys and young men] that they will recognize the solicitude of our Lord for his flock, will consider the needs of the Church, and will be prepared to respond generously to our Lord” (PO11).

In other words, parents aren’t just suppsed to say “well, son, you can be a priest and you can be married, so take your pick”. No, parents are supposed to give children an understanding of both these calls, and emphasise the “higher call” of celibacy, and why they should thus have a special love for their priests and religious, why they should be seen as “heroes” (please don’t argue with the point that celibacy is a “higher call” - it is Church dogma).

So yes, a vocation cannot be “forced”. But we have great power as parents and teachers (as well as other members of the Church) to lead our young people to a love and admiration for these calls, and to thus make it more likely that they will respond, rather than turn them away and turn them off, which we have done since the late 1960s.
 
My parents aren’t even Catholic and I feel a vocation to religious life…

Whereas I can’t think of any of my friends who ARE Catholic who think they have a vocation …

🤷
 
No…you’re missing what I’m saying. We all have a responsibility to bring our children to the waters of vocatios [metaphor]. But that does not mean that if parents and teachers do not do their part that a child will not have a vocation…nor does that mean they will not follow a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. Let me do something

Who is responsible for teaching children the faith? Parents
Parents are in essence the childrens first teachers. Teachers are alos responsible for fostering vocations…Catholic teachers I assume… Or do you really think a public school teacher would foster a vocation to the priesthood. You should have seen the reaction of my high school counselor when I told her I was going to the seminary.

Children left unattended may not make it through to their true vocations. I strongly suspect that the reason for the high divorce rate is that many of those people did not find their true vocation as a priest or religioius brother or sister thus expanding the culture of death in people not having enough discipline of sticking to what they chose. I believe that many of our priests are working as married men in the domestic church. There are many good candidates form which to choose for the priesthood among these husbands and fathers who were not led or encouraged to consider a vocation to the priesthood before checking if they would be married. Today we almost start our children “dating” in elementary school hoping to insure our boys heterosexual tendencies or make sure we have grandchildren one day. It’s part of this twisted culture of death thing. Many Catholic are contracepting and have bought into believing that “true happiness” is found in having anywhere from none to 2 children at the limits of “acceptable responsible child birthing”. We kill our own vocations. I’ve seen it so many times. Years ago when people celebrated the large families priest were numerous.

It very possible to have a vocation and choose to do something else… There would be no divorces if we didn’t have free will to choose. Once we decide to follow a vocation we must form ourselves into the vocation… It just doesn’t happen like a miracle. There’s much more to it that saying oh well I’m going to be a priest because I feel called to it. Discernment is also about finding out how you feel about doing it. I learned some very important lessons in my walk away from the Church into a Protestant faith that is filled with the emptiness of preaching just being a “job”. I feel called to be a priest or at least a deacon. The diaconate is even much more than any Protestant preacher or “elder” could ever be. So I suspect that maybe God was sending me to my wife and her to me, answering both of our prayers and all the while opening a door to still be a cleric - a deacon. I pray that that door will continue to open for me. But there are so many regulations, screening and such that could possibly get in the way. For example I have to either go through the Light of Christ Institute, a 3 year program, or obtain a theology degree by the time I go through diaconate formation. Well, I don’t have a problem with that, but the age requirement may hinder me depending on what happens. We have a new bishop, but the applications typically are screened through lay people that get stuck on unimportant requirments. Some of those people get fired, leading one to believe that someone elses misplaced vocation could derail another’s vocation…
 
Alycin said:
My parents aren’t even Catholic and I feel a vocation to religious life…

Whereas I can’t think of any of my friends who ARE Catholic who think they have a vocation …

🤷
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You probably DO have a vocation to the religious life and should pursue it…might I suggest something rather profound…“protect your protection from ill meaning people that intend to derail your vocation for their selfish reasons.”

Many of your friends may be in lame Catholic families or may be afraid to admit they feel called. It happens more than you think. If your parents do not support you you may have problems. My mother was very anti-Catholic. I was the only Catholic or at least practicing Catholic of my 2 brothers. The oldest commited suicide and the youngest tried twice in his youth and has never practiced anything. Why, my parents…mainly my mom doing nothing and my dad going extreme Catholic into a schimatic grouop that told me the Catholic Church doesn’t exist anymore. So protect your vocation. Find friends similar to you and jump into saying the Liturgy of the Hours daily, because that will be part of your daily life and will help you discover whether or not you feel called even more. Daily mass and frequent confession are also needed. But you should also be volunteering in as much as possible to be doing before you are even chosen.

I’m hoping to be teaching CCD by the end of this year. The existing CCD teacher asked me if I’d be interested because her schedule /obligations/situation is changing. If you only knew how excited I am. My wife teaches CCD and this is exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to do as a Protestant…teaching the youth, especially 12 and 13 before they get twisted by lukewarm Catholic friends and family. I hope to inspire the the children to want to learn more.
 
Actually, the last I heard, one of Marcus Grodi’s son’s was discerning a call to the priesthood…haven’t heard where that has led or if he’s in seminary or what…
 
It may be that the ‘famous’ Catholics are trying to shield their children’s discernment by not advertising their every move or thought. It is also true that in several of the families you mentioned there aren’t really any children old enough. Since a priest (for the most part) has to finish college before seminary, even a son in their early twenties may not be quite ready.
 
Michael_Saint said:
I am My question is, why might this be? My thinking would be that these “models” of Catholic parents and families should be leading the way in offering their children to priesthood and religious life. Why is this not happening?
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I would think 3 or 4 families is not a very representative sample
God calls those he choses, not those we think should be chosen.
 
Another factor, I think, is that there is little focus on developing vocations among youth in the Church, today. It isn’t typically even given much thought at least until people are in college. So it isn’t just about families, but the larger Church’s lack of support and encouragement, also.
 
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s son is a priest.

Sometimes you just have to look a little harder.
 
I agree that the parents and society do not encourage younger people to become priests. I think we as parents are to foster in our children the desire to be serve God in whatever capacity it is.

My parents were not very practicing Catholic but I’m more religious than they are and my brother. Not sure why that is. I take my children to church, to CCD classes to church events. I try to instill in them a love of God in them. Before I even got married I prayed that my son would become a priest. I got married and had a son, and I thought, wow, a future priest. He’s 8 years old now. Do I see a calling in him, no. Not yet. Maybe he will have a calling maybe not. Maybe he needs to experience some things before. Maybe he’ll decide to be a writer or a chef. I don’t know. My job is to instill in him the love of God. God does the calling not me. I can direct, I can advice, I can pray. I know he’ll get the calling because I prayed about it all the time. Not sure why. I will not be disappointed if he doesn’t get the call or if he gets it and decides otherwise. You know what, I’ll be proud of him no matter what he chooses. My job as a mom is to guide him. We all have free will. But wouldn’t it be wonderful!
 
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