Frustrated, Unsure College Student

[HaveFaith8]

With school starting up in less than a month, I have been heavily procrastinating on getting myself prepared for my fifth year of college. I’m stumped with a lot of student loan debt, have academically performed at/below average, currently have two jobs (one back home and the other here at school) and have not been seeking to get more hours at work, and deciding if I should change my major in this fifth year. As of now, I have barely enough money to pay for one month’s rent. Clearly it’s taking me a long time to get the hint.

Much outside school has occurred within the last year (really within all my college life), and I have felt a noticeable shift in interest from originally considering veterinary medicine to now considering the priesthood or religious life, and within the last year have been watching a lot of videos on YouTube of EWTN shows and listen to Catholic radio and reading various materials on vocation discernment. I understand that despite much of this reawakening of sorts of the Catholic faith within me is important and profound, I have made mistakes that will now take much time to overcome and that I am avoiding the current challenges at hand. Even my parents, roommates, and one of the local parish priests are aware of my stagnance and remaining in “park” rather than “drive,” especially with having had my roommates pay my share of the rent for the last couple of months.

Though I am relatively young, I don’t want to continue to convince myself to use that as an excuse to put off resolving all this and finding the true vocation and occupation the good Lord is calling me to. I feel a great drive to be grateful and give to the Lord and His people, especially those right now who have supported me (though oftentimes I have not always been able to return the favor through a deed or gift). I would seek the aid of a school therapist, but much of it ( from past experience) is not all fully rooted in the Catholic faith, which is what I crave for. These are all of great concern to me, and I would appreciate any feedback and prayers. Thank you all so very much and God bless.

 

[Viki63]

Dear Faithful,
It sounds as if your best plan would be to be practical at this point. Other people are paying your rent, you’re not moving forward, you have a lot of debt. We have to take care of basic responsibilities for ourselves before we can follow our dreams.
I know nothing about a vocation to the priesthood, and suggest you talk to a wise local priest about it. Meanwhile, I suggest you work on graduating with a major in a well paying career, so you can support yourself, pay back your loans and increase your self respect.
Once you have made some progress there, perhaps you could consider, at your leisure, a vocation to the priesthood. But do discuss it with a priest. You’re right, you might get any or all kinds of counsel from a secular counselor.
God bless.

 

[Regina_Love]

You should talk to several priests, and find out who is in charge of vocations. Many orders have weekend get togethers with men who are decerning their calling. If you are close to graduating you may wish to finish your education & get your degree. This would probably be useful to which ever order you wished to join. Probably what you need most is a spiritual director! They often are very helpful in helping you move forward in life. This may be a turning point in your life. I am praying you are able to move forward with confidence soon!

 

[FIU_student]

Reading your post I was a bit unnerved at how similar we are. I wish I had a good answer for you but I don’t have one for myself, sorry.

For me, I’ve decided that my first priority is to finish my degree. I know I’m not telling you anything that society doesn’t tell us 500 times a day, but that seems most important.

After that,

I’m optimistic. The job market will improve one of these days, student loans can be repaid, and the priesthood will always be there.

So, I’ll pray for you. I hope you’ll do the same for me.

Good luck and God bless.

 

[coachdennis]

Dear Faithful,
It sounds as if your best plan would be to be practical at this point. Other people are paying your rent, you’re not moving forward, you have a lot of debt. We have to take care of basic responsibilities for ourselves before we can follow our dreams.
I know nothing about a vocation to the priesthood, and suggest you talk to a wise local priest about it. Meanwhile, I suggest you work on graduating with a major in a well paying career, so you can support yourself, pay back your loans and increase your self respect.
Once you have made some progress there, perhaps you could consider, at your leisure, a vocation to the priesthood. But do discuss it with a priest. You’re right, you might get any or all kinds of counsel from a secular counselor.
God bless.

I would add to this the possibility of getting a spiritual director to help guide you through your discernment.

I know from personal experience that when our daily lives looks daunting, other choices look more desirable. Or to put it more bluntly as my spiritual director said to me when I was discerning in my twenties: “For you, is the attraction to the religious vocation a way THROUGH life or a way to ESCAPE your current life?” Only you you answer that question honestly.