Desire to be a diocesan priest

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I am not a diocesan seminarian I belong to a religious community.
I didn’t grow up in my diocese of origin.
The diocese I grew up in, I didn’t attend their minor seminary.
The minor seminary I attended, I cannot speak the local language of the people.
 
I can check up on the list if you send it.
Some Bishops in Nigeria send one or two priests to help out in some dioceses in the US where they have very little.
 
We have a wonderful priest in our Parish from Nigeria. I will pray for you, Marcel, that God and his Mother Mary, who loves her Priests, will answer your request for the Diocesan Priesthood.
 
Marcel1 said:
My Rector was not happy with my decision to leave. He felt i could make a good priest for my congregation.
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…There seems to be a lot of the story left out. Your priest is unhappy that you left. Why did you leave your congregation?
 
There are lots of mentions that there are African priests in different dioceses of the US. That doesn’t help the OP since he’s not a priest. And I’m not clear that he necessarily wants to come to the US. Assuming that he does, I think his only option will be to contact the vocation director of the diocese he is interested in serving and pursue things with him. He’ll have to be accepted by the diocese and they will have to handle the immigration issues involved.
 
My understanding is if a seminarian wants to transfer to another diocese then the bishops of both dioceses would have to agree on that. It could be that there is a need for priests speaking A, B and C languages in the neighbouring diocese but the need is not as great or non at all in the home diocese of the seminarian. In that case it is likely that the bishops would agree to transfer the seminarian to the other diocese where he will get to know the diocese during his seminary years.

The path forward is via your spiritual director and/or rector of the seminary, to contact the bishop’s office in your diocese and ask what could be done in your case.
 
Thank you So much Katrina for your prayers. I sure need them now more than ever.
Nice to know your priest is from Nigeria.
 
Hello Francis, thanks for your concern. I am in my 5th year as a seminarian. My journey of discernment is a very long story. I don’t think i can tell a story of 5years in one page. Seminary is a house of formation and discernment. With the help of my spiritual director, I came to discover I will make a better priest elsewhere but not in my present religious community. Note: each religious community has a particular way of life.
The reason I posted my story is because I need to share my experience and seek prayers. If there is anything you wish me to tell you. Feel free to let me know. Thank you and pray for me.
 
Yes, the question is why not in your congregation…you didn’t answer that.
 
Thank you but what is OP?
In Nigeria, we have about 18major seminarians or more with each having seminarians between 400 to 1000.
Here in Oyo State, we have 22 male religious community and 22 female religious community.
Like I stated earlier, I don’t want to be a religious no more. I know now that I am not called to be a religious.
The dioceses have criteria to join. I wish to try some dioceses in US because of the closeness in culture between the two countries than Asia or Europe.
If no diocese accepts me, I would quit trying. Maybe, it is not the will of God. That is why I need your prayers. Thank you.
 
Thank you HeDa.
The issue is; first, I am a religious seminarian not a diocesan. And the move is from a religious community to a diocese. So, it is not between Bishops.
Secondly, it is quite different here. The meeting is between the Seminarian and the vocation director of the diocese he wants to join. When his application is considered, he goes to his rector for a letter of recommendation. All the rector does is provide him with a letter of recommendation and nothing else. This I know of Nigerian Church.
 
O am sorry. I did mention that earlier. After years of discernment, my calling is not to the religious life for which my congregation is one.
Also, I stated the reason I feel my rector was sad. He thinks I would make a good priest for my congregation. However, I know otherwise.
 
Thank you.
I use to know OP to mean Order of Preacher. Those are the Dominicans. Thank you
 
Quite vague, what do you know that everyone else doesn’t know? What is wrong with being a Dominican… I’m getting a suspicious vibe that you simply want to travel and being a Dominican would mean you would stay in the same town that you are at.
Marcel1 said:
O am sorry. I did mention that earlier. After years of discernment, my calling is not to the religious life for which my congregation is one.
Also, I stated the reason I feel my rector was sad. He thinks I would make a good priest for my congregation. However, I know otherwise.
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I heard from Father Larry Richards, today, on EWTN radio -
that Tom Cruise, was actually on par, to becoming a Catholic Priest !
This was many moons ago…
Obviously , he chose Scientology instead. And Hollywood.
Kind of interesting though, how he got deflected away.

But then it all came to an end. Cruise and Dempler,
Dempler says, started to break the rules.
For one, they would regularly sneak out and smoke cigarettes.

But what really got them in trouble was much bigger:
Dempler and Cruise decided to steal some liquor from the private rooms of the Franciscans.
Dempler snuck into the room, found the liquor,
and tossed several bottles out the window to Cruise down below.
Most of the bottles broke, but they managed to secure a few.
Word spread among the other seminarians,
and soon a big group of them were in the woods drinking the hard liquor.
A few of them were later found drunk by the Franciscans,
and they confessed where they had gotten the liquor.
 
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This is a very harsh thing to say. I am deeply sad and disappointed. If you don’t believe me, you could send me a private message. Africans most times get insulted for vocation boom. They say it is due to poverty. However, you should note that Africans by culture are very religious set of people.
My parents wish I go for studies in Canada, but I asked them to give me till August because I feel priesthood is my call. If you read life of some saints, you discover that there can be a call within a call. Check Mother Theresa and the host of others. I am in a religious community yet feel drawn to a different kind of life doesn’t mean I have no vocation.
A theologian once said, for one who do not believe, no explanation is sufficient. If you don’t believe me, it is fine. I don’t know what your experience has been. But please note, discernment is not an easy process.
By the way, I am not a Dominican. Dominicans have a University and I study with them. Go back and re-read my write up. I am really SAD and DISAPPOINTED. Words can be powerful. They give life and take life.
God bless you
 
FrancisPio said:
what do you know that everyone else doesn’t know?
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I don’t know either. But if there is something to be said that I haven’t mention, it is because you have not asked. Or maybe you haven’t asked rightly. I feel really terrible right now. Please read the OP again and the chats that ensue.
I am sorry but I won’t reply any of your messages again. God bless you.
 
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