College Degree First?

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Schnitz

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Hi All!
I am currently 17 years old, and I am going into my senior year of high school. I am seriously considering serving our Lord in the priesthood, and I am looking at either the Legion of Christ or FSSP. Personally, I would like to enter directly out of high school, but my dad wants me to get my college degree first. Any suggestions? Yours in Christ, S
 
Your dad sounds extremely wise. It would give you something to fall back on. Be sure to pray on it, and seek-out the advice of those communities that attract you. Most would prefer you come to them with a completed degree anyway…
 
Schnitz said:
Hi All!
I am currently 17 years old, and I am going into my senior year of high school. I am seriously considering serving our Lord in the priesthood, and I am looking at either the Legion of Christ or FSSP. Personally, I would like to enter directly out of high school, but my dad wants me to get my college degree first. Any suggestions? Yours in Christ, S
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As a former seminarian and one who is still discerning God’'s willl, I would reccomend college and the reason is this. You will need Philosophy to enter the Theology program. There are sound Catholic schools such as Steubenville and Christendom that have pre-theology programs. You can live in a college atmosphere yet prepare yourself for the priesthood. It also allows you to interact with others and grow in your vocation. I will sincerely keep you in my prayers before the blessed sacrament.
 
Schnitz said:
Hi All!
I am currently 17 years old, and I am going into my senior year of high school. I am seriously considering serving our Lord in the priesthood, and I am looking at either the Legion of Christ or FSSP. Personally, I would like to enter directly out of high school, but my dad wants me to get my college degree first. Any suggestions? Yours in Christ, S
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I believe you can do both. Most seminaries require a college degree, but they also have a program where you can live at the seminary while pursuing your degree.

You get the seminary lifestyle/focus while also getting your undergraduate degree.

May God Bless your vocation!
 
I started out in college seminary and discerned to leave after one semester. Now, after one semester at a secular college, a private “Catholic” college and I really desire to go back to seminary. There are college seminaries that you would study for your diocese that would allow you to obtaina philosophy degree along with another degree in something you’d like. I wouldn’t recommend joining the legion or the FSSP right out of high school because you don’t have anything to fall back on if you leave because you don’t get awarded a degree you just take classes that are required for ordination.
 
It makes sense to pursue a college degree and live at the seminary if that is possible. I go to a small Jesuit college and we have many seminarians that attend undergraduate classes at the university level, but they live at the seminary as well.

Different Orders have different requirements for education. Some would like professional degrees because it helps them determine where to put their candidates as far as formation, but it varies from Order to Order and group to group.
 
Schnitz said:
Hi All!
I am currently 17 years old, and I am going into my senior year of high school. I am seriously considering serving our Lord in the priesthood, and I am looking at either the Legion of Christ or FSSP. Personally, I would like to enter directly out of high school, but my dad wants me to get my college degree first. Any suggestions? Yours in Christ, S
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I guess I’ll be the one who goes against the grain then. I think you should start applying if that is what you want, and if you believe you have a vocation to the Priesthood. Get in contact with FSSP and LOC asap, the application process takes a while. May God bless you abundantly!
 
I’ve never really understood the entire “fallback” mentality. It always has seemed to me like entering with an attitude of suspicion of seminary or expected failure or even lack of real commitment.

Is it possible that one will discern his vocation is not to be a member of a certain community? Sure. It is even fair to recognize that he may not get ordained a priest? Yes. But it isn’t like he is then out on the street with no future. The experience of discernment will have been worthwhile of its own accord. And one can always still attend university later. Perhaps some (if not many) of the courses taken in seminary will even transfer credit. Ultimately, the kind of education one is receiving is essentially everything any college degree program would be, as it is.

There might be other good and reasonable arguments for finishing college outside of seminary first. But having a “fallback”, in my opinion, is not one of them.

The real question, if one feels drawn to discernment, is where to best discern in what environment. That might lead one to enter a seminary program, join with a religious community, go to a solid Catholic college, or any number of other particularly suitable routes. I would say one should not exclude any of them as possibilities, but one should go where he feels most drawn to and let life play out according to Divine Providence, without any other worries about what is being lost.
 
iviking said:
I guess I’ll be the one who goes against the grain then. I think you should start applying if that is what you want, and if you believe you have a vocation to the Priesthood. Get in contact with FSSP and LOC asap, the application process takes a while. May God bless you abundantly!
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I agree with you, in so far as applying immediately. But, in any case, he will need to complete college before attending major seminary. College is not optional. The only option is whether or not to be in a seminary program while attending college.

God Bless
 
For all of you who have replied, thank you. Your words are of great help, and it is nice to see both sides of the story. You are all in my prayers. S
 
I second the advice to go to a sound Catholic college for a BA in philosophy and/or theology. I would discern this decision however with the vocations director of your diocese or the order in which you are interested. any good liberal arts degree would be good, such as history, literature, but not at a secular school, or secularized CINO school. college is now required for almost all seminaries, the only difference is where they send you. discuss financial aid and what happens if you have student loans to pay with your vocations director so you get straight with the practical side as well

get “fallback” out of your mind. any good liberal arts degree, esp. philosophy, is the basis of the sound education of any man in any field. career specialization should come in OJT or Masters study
 
My dad has this “fallback” mentality that if the priesthood doesn’t work out for me, then what? He wants me to get a degree in engineering (he’s an engineer) at a military academy (he also thinks that I am too young to enter a seminary, and that I need to “experience life more”). Obviously, going to a military academy means I owe years when I get out, so I will be about 30 before I can enter a seminary. I truly feel called by God to the priesthood, but I am not quite sure what to do.
 
Schnitz said:
My dad has this “fallback” mentality that if the priesthood doesn’t work out for me, then what? He wants me to get a degree in engineering (he’s an engineer) at a military academy (he also thinks that I am too young to enter a seminary, and that I need to “experience life more”). Obviously, going to a military academy means I owe years when I get out, so I will be about 30 before I can enter a seminary. I truly feel called by God to the priesthood, but I am not quite sure what to do.
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If you feel called to the priesthood you should discern your vocation now. Contact the vocations director for you diocese.

I don’t disagree with the idea of getting a BA, so you are employable if you turn out not to have a vocation. But, you can get a BA while you are in a minor seminary. Take a few extra classes, and you could get a double major philosophy and something professional (math, econ, finance, etc.).

However, the idea of going to a service academy as a “fallback” seems wrong. Not only are you committing to 6 years in the military, but the service academies are meant to train the nation’s military leaders, not as professional schools. If you go to the academies, it should be because you have that “vocation”, military service.

Why does your father think you are too young to enter the seminary, but not too young to pursue a military calling that will likely place you in combat? I am a huge supporter of the military, but let’s face it, it’s a serious thing to go into combat and potentially kill or be killed.

I say you should pursue the priesthood immediately, if you feel that is your calling.

God Bless
 
Thank you, bilop. I will definitely get in contact with my vocations’ director.
 
FWIW, if you want a military academy without the obligation there is always the Citadel in Charleston and the VMI, wherever in Virginia that is. I am sure you could get a degree in philosophy from either of those, but I am not sure about theology though.
 
A caution: Would there be money, either from your dad, grants, or scholarships for you to attend college?

Because if Dad is thinking you’d just take out student loans, if you do have a vocation, then you’d have to pay off the debts after graduation before you could enter most seminaries. Educational debt has killed numerous vocations. Confirm this with your vocation director, too, with the orders you’re discerning.

BTW, here are a list of people currently trying to get their student loans paid off before they can enter a religious order.

Here is another story about the issue.
 
As I mentioned earlier, I have been to seminary, left and am going to return in the near future. The whole fall back mentality as I mentioned allows one to obtain a degree, so if you go to a college seminary, like St. John Vianney Seminary or Immaculate Heart of Mary which is both at a university you will obtain a bachelors degree in Philosophy. But the gentlement who disagreed with this mentality has valid points as well and I agree with his post.

If your discerning a vocation my advice would be to discern that vocation in whateer setting will be most advantegous for good discernment.
 
Schnitz said:
My dad has this “fallback” mentality that if the priesthood doesn’t work out for me, then what? He wants me to get a degree in engineering (he’s an engineer) at a military academy (he also thinks that I am too young to enter a seminary, and that I need to “experience life more”). Obviously, going to a military academy means I owe years when I get out, so I will be about 30 before I can enter a seminary. I truly feel called by God to the priesthood, but I am not quite sure what to do.
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I don’t know you personally or as well as your dad, so I hesitate to comment here with insight of any sort into you actual situation. But, that said, it is typical for parents (in wanting what THEY think is “best for their children”) to try to push their kids in a certain direction which is seen as offering stability and opportunity. But, what if it isn’t the right life for the kid? What if it doesn’t suit the son’s personality. Often times one has to go against the grain in following that path which one is sincerely drawn to and, therefore, most likely to succeed in. That may include saying, “Thanks, Pops, but no thanks!”
 
You make a very good point chicago. My dad sees me getting a degree in engineering as something which guarantees me employment if I choose to not enter seminary or think that the priesthood isn’t right for me. I continue to tell him that I would like to enter seminary first, and that I would know if it was for me within 2 years of living there. However, he thinks that I am too young, and that I would be immersing myself in the priesthood (which he doesn’t think I could then get out of). So your conclusion that sometimes we have to go against the grain certainly applies here. Thanks
 
Really, I think it’s a shame that so many parents try to essentially talk their sons out of the priesthood. I mean, what if you “immersed yourself in engineering” and then found it was a way of life that you didn’t like and “wanted to get out of?” Wouldn’t THAT then be the “waste?”
 
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