Doubts on applying to seminary this fall

[Aragon]

I just returned from an amazing pilgrimage to two seminaries at felt at home. I have never felt that happy in my life, and felt so much peace. I have been in the application process for my diocese, and have been getting to the point where I request letters of recommendation.

For the past week, I have had doubts whether right now is the right time for me to enter. I graduated undergrad last year and have a job to help gain life experience. I just do not think I have proven that I can remain chaste long enough to be accepted. I have received many graces to walk away from pursuing women in this manner, and even pursuing women in anything more than friendship. I told my vocations director about my doubts and how I think I would be told “No” or to “Wait”.

If I do withdraw my application this year, do I begin the entire process again next year, or do I pick up where I left off? Is it considered bad to withdraw an application to prove my strength in chastity? Seminary is not a question of “if” for me, it is merely a question of “when”. I want to be able to prove that I am living the Christian life and not just stating I am.

 

[KD8TZC]

These sound more like questions for the vocations director or your spiritual director that stranger on the web. I think either of the two people I mention would be better to answer these questions. I will pray for you though and you work through this.

 

[BoomBoomMancini]

Yeah, I think your vocations director would be the best person to discuss this with.

 

[3gahrh]

This is off topic but please pray for other people. It’s a terrible
thing to have student loan debt keeping you out of Seminary. You are
greatly blessed. Please pray for people who themselves are praying to
get in and can’t.

 

[JHFamily]

Your years as a seminarian will test your chastity. You won’t be living in a bubble, at least not all the time. A man of your age that has an undergraduate degree has passed the ultimate chastity test – college!

If you withdraw your application, you will probably will have to start over again.

 

[YourNameHere]

Pray to God for guidance. When your calling comes, I think you will know it. It may be today, it may be tomorrow, or it maybe down the line.

 

[LateranBasilica]

You are in my prayers. Please speak to the Diocese Vocation Director about your queries.

And why would anyone flag such a lovely post as the one hidden on this thread.

 

[phil19034]

speak to your vocations director.

However, also keep this in mind… part of the reason for the Seminary is to see if you have a vocation. You don’t have to be 100% of your vocation to enter.

There have been many great Catholic men enter the seminary and leave without become a Deacon or Priest. Tim Staples from Catholic Answers is a great example. He went to the seminary and decided he didn’t want to become a priest, while his brother did become a priest.

Obviously, talk to your vocation director, but don’t let a little cold feet stop you. Education is never a bad thing and the best way to know if you are called to this life is to live it in the seminary.

At least that’s my two sense.

God Bless

 

[Roguish]

You seem to believe that another year or two (or five, or ten) outside the seminary will allow you to “cement” your chastity by maintaining and thus proving it. I don’t think that’s how it works. Attraction to the opposite sex will remain with you throughout your life; your choice is how you act on it. “Exposure” and “practice” (resisting temptation) outside the seminary does not inoculate you for the rest of your life. Therefore this isn’t a good reason to postpone seminary. If anything, vows and communal life will protect you better than a couple more years “resisting” women out in the world.