Future Priest?

[JohnSanzone5]

I think a lot depends upon his further education and gifts. For example, he could be director of the following chancery offices: Worship, Propagation of the Faith or mission office, chancellor, tribunal judge, director of priest personnel, vocations director, teach in the diocesan seminary if there is one; then there are committee positions that are often given to priests who are also in parishes. Also a lot depends on the diocese. If there are not enough priests for parishes, some of these positions are given to religious or laity who are well qualified.

Currently I am looking at the Archdiocese of NYC, or Diocese of Bridgeport which are both fairly affluent and don’t seem to be short of priests. Hopefully I will be able to score an excellent non-pastoral position, and do some real good with my academic gifts.

I am interested in the positions available that might lead to a career in the Roman Curia, or as some sort of legal or theological adviser on the diocesan level. At the very least missionary work.

 

[Joannm]

Currently I am looking at the Archdiocese of NYC, or Diocese of Bridgeport which are both fairly affluent and don’t seem to be short of priests. Hopefully I will be able to score an excellent non-pastoral position, and do some real good with my academic gifts.

I am interested in the positions available that might lead to a career in the Roman Curia, or as some sort of legal or theological adviser on the diocesan level. At the very least missionary work.

Again, that would be completely up to your bishop. Also, going into the seminary with high aspirations of getting a postition with the curia really isn’t going to go over big with the admissions board…or the bishop.

 

[JohnSanzone5]

Again, that would be completely up to your bishop. Also, going into the seminary with high aspirations of getting a postition with the curia really isn’t going to go over big with the admissions board…or the bishop.

I’ll be sure to keep quiet, nod & smile, as much as possible.

 

[bilop]

St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, Long Island are planning on merging. It still is to be determined which campus will house the seminary.

If they merge, it will almost certainly be at St. Joseph’s.

It is the oldest Seminary and the original Seminary of the metropolitan see, dating to when the NY Archdiocese covered the whole region. It has a very strong reputation for orthodoxy, and is proximate to other dioceses and orders that send men there,(currently and in the past, e.g. Bridgeport, CFRs, Albany, etc.).

God Bless

 

[bilop]

Currently I am looking at the Archdiocese of NYC, or Diocese of Bridgeport which are both fairly affluent and don’t seem to be short of priests. Hopefully I will be able to score an excellent non-pastoral position, and do some real good with my academic gifts.

I am interested in the positions available that might lead to a career in the Roman Curia, or as some sort of legal or theological adviser on the diocesan level. At the very least missionary work.

May God bless your vocation!

You should definitely contact Fr. Sweeney, the vocations director in NY, he’s a very nice man.

The young priests and seminarians in NY are an excellent bunch (I know many of them, having a relative who was ordained 5 years ago.) They are uniformly orthodox, passionate, and committed to their flocks.

 

[Young_Thinker]

I’ll be sure to keep quiet, nod & smile, as much as possible.

You sound somewhat like me. Father-general of my order and then a Cardinal with control of a congregation like the Holy Office(and not being 70 before that!) would be nice.

 

[JohnSanzone5]

You sound somewhat like me. Father-general of my order and then a Cardinal with control of a congregation like the Holy Office(and not being 70 before that!) would be nice.

Its a nice thing to hope for, but I am not even sure how appointments to the episcopate are regulated. I’ve heard about the nuncios and the list of available candidates (as well as the official criteria for what they select for), but I am not sure what the real mechanics behind it are… at least for diocesan clergy. I haven’t yet researched the methods used by the orders.

 

[JohnSanzone5]

May God bless your vocation!

You should definitely contact Fr. Sweeney, the vocations director in NY, he’s a very nice man.

The young priests and seminarians in NY are an excellent bunch (I know many of them, having a relative who was ordained 5 years ago.) They are uniformly orthodox, passionate, and committed to their flocks.

Thank you so much!

I’ve investigated a little into the process, and gotten in contact through e-mail with Fr. Sweeney to see how these things usually go. Though I am waiting until I graduate to actually make a serious commitment to him and go see the seminary, as I am currently investigating other orders.

 

[Young_Thinker]

Its a nice thing to hope for, but I am not even sure how appointments to the episcopate are regulated. I’ve heard about the nuncios and the list of available candidates (as well as the official criteria for what they select for), but I am not sure what the real mechanics behind it are… at least for diocesan clergy. I haven’t yet researched the methods used by the orders.

All right. In addition, there is an American seminary in Rome, but apparently one has be nominated by a bishop(so I guess that is for diocesans only).

 

[gregoryabq]

Ambition as such is not healthy in a priestly vocation, seminary will definitely beat that out of you. Your chief desire as a priest should be to save souls, if with a diocese you should be prepared to live in a parish the rest of your life, a religious order to live the charism of that order. As far as I know there are no religious order dedicated to working in offices in Rome. We need priests for the sacraments that is the function, to be a holy instrument of God in the world. You should not be asking questions on how to merge the will of your superior with your own, you should be praying on how to merge your will, with the will of God.

 

[JohnSanzone5]

Ambition as such is not healthy in a priestly vocation, seminary will definitely beat that out of you. Your chief desire as a priest should be to save souls, if with a diocese you should be prepared to live in a parish the rest of your life, a religious order to live the charism of that order. As far as I know there are no religious order dedicated to working in offices in Rome. We need priests for the sacraments that is the function, to be a holy instrument of God in the world. You should not be asking questions on how to merge the will of your superior with your own, you should be praying on how to merge your will, with the will of God.

I pray the Hours, give my money to the Church, and read dense texts on canon law. I love Her and Her Peoples.

I just want to make the most of my vocation in serving Her.

You can disparage office work in Rome, if you want, and talk about it as unpriestly. But I would wear a cilice and be celibate in 9 lives, if I could have refined Her abuse statutes in this one.

We need good priests in the parishes, but even better ones in the Curia, if you ask me. But no one asks me

 

[JohnSanzone5]

Ambition as such is not healthy in a priestly vocation, seminary will definitely beat that out of you. Your chief desire as a priest should be to save souls, if with a diocese you should be prepared to live in a parish the rest of your life, a religious order to live the charism of that order. As far as I know there are no religious order dedicated to working in offices in Rome. We need priests for the sacraments that is the function, to be a holy instrument of God in the world. You should not be asking questions on how to merge the will of your superior with your own, you should be praying on how to merge your will, with the will of God.

In principle, I agree with you, and I think that I should not have been so bombastic in my reply.

However, I think that what me and YT are concerned with–besides our recalcitrant egos and empty talk–is finding where we could serve best in the Church. I know that it is unlikely that I will ever make Monsignor, but I am still going to try to stretch myself to perform as much for the Church as possible. I hope sincerely that I will be given a chance to balance ministry (with an orthodox bent) and academic study for effective use.

All this talk of ‘careers’ &etc. is simply because we are still too worldly and used to worldly terms. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

 

[Diaconia]

Hi John:

I’m a permanent deacon but studied to become a priest years back.

I studied for a diocese, but also investigated religious orders (even while a seminarian).

My advice to you is this:

• Remember that a vocation is a two-way street - your interest in becoming a priest is one half – the other half is submitting yourself to Holy Mother Church to determine whether the call is genuine.
• A calling to a religious order is different than a generic calling to the priesthood – your posts are mostly about priesthood - I would suggest you start with a diocese. Visit the Vocations Director and seek his advice.
• Preoccupation with what you’ll do as a priest is not helpful. Just go and visit with the Vocations Director and listen. Your seminary will help shape and mold you, your bishop will decide whether you should take advanced studies and so forth.
• Spend more time with your spiritual director - he knows you best and can provide much better guidance than an online forum filled with lots of opinions (and, most likely) very few people who are priests or seminarians.

God bless,

 

[gregoryabq]

I’m sorry as well, that was quite harsh, but one (including myself) needs to remember the true need and reason for priests. I do the same, my ambition fuels my desire to become a priest, and inversely my desires fuel my ambition, I want to serve God the most, but I look back to the line in scripture
" So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."-Matt 20:16

“Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2: 5-11

Again, sorry for the misunderstanding.

-g

 

[JohnSanzone5]

Hi John:

I’m a permanent deacon but studied to become a priest years back.

I studied for a diocese, but also investigated religious orders (even while a seminarian).

My advice to you is this:

• Remember that a vocation is a two-way street - your interest in becoming a priest is one half – the other half is submitting yourself to Holy Mother Church to determine whether the call is genuine.
• A calling to a religious order is different than a generic calling to the priesthood – your posts are mostly about priesthood - I would suggest you start with a diocese. Visit the Vocations Director and seek his advice.
• Preoccupation with what you’ll do as a priest is not helpful. Just go and visit with the Vocations Director and listen. Your seminary will help shape and mold you, your bishop will decide whether you should take advanced studies and so forth.
• Spend more time with your spiritual director - he knows you best and can provide much better guidance than an online forum filled with lots of opinions (and, most likely) very few people who are priests or seminarians.

God bless,

I agree with everything you say here. Especially about the VD/SD.

To tell the truth, I have only contacted Fr. Sweeney (the VD for a giant swath of where I have been living since beginning college) and only e-mailed him once.

I am still in university (for a few months, still) and really nervous about the entire process. I will have to leave behind a lot of things (girlfriend, sexuality, etc) and re-make myself to a large extent.

So far, I have been successful, but I am waiting for graduation to really get in touch with him. So in the meantime, I have been eating up all the books at my college’s library regarding vocations (even one book about the priesthood in Austria after the anti-clerical reforms), and dipping my feet in on CA.

 

[Ocarm]

I am still in university (for a few months, still) and really nervous about the entire process. I will have to leave behind a lot of things (girlfriend, sexuality, etc) and re-make myself to a large extent.

Oh, you definitely won’t be leaving your sexuality behind, friend.

As far as re-making yourself goes, its also worth pointing out that when people enter the seminary or a religious house, they take with them all the damage, all the weakness, and all the sinfulness that they had to live with in the outside world. They don’t disappear at the door. In fact, they become more apparent in the confined spaces of the institution. and more obvious to us.

As Christians we are called to change and move towards God, of course. But this is a lifelong journey, not something that happens quickly and after which we can get on with the business of serving God. For some strange reason He wants us as we are, and is willing to work with us over the long haul.

One of my formators once said to me that although as religious we take vows early in our religious life, we only learn properly how to live them over many years of struggle, and never reach a point when its easy. Although the promises made by secular priests are different, the timescale needed to apply them isn’t.

Prayers and best wishes to you on your search.

 

[JohnSanzone5]

Oh, you definitely won’t be leaving your sexuality behind, friend.

As far as re-making yourself goes,

Prayers and best wishes to you on your search.

At first, it took me a second to understand what this meant, but I guess I am glad that I won’t have to leave my sense of humor behind!

I’ve taken to heart a distinction drawn by one of the <5 brothers who frequent the Vocations section: ‘celibacy and marriage are both commitments which preclude sex with the various women we might be inclined to have sex with’ (to paraphrase). Its sound advice, and I derive a great deal of consolation that my chastity will be for a nobler cause.

But regarding the rest, I have actually read something close to that: the seminary is not a reformatory, in essence. I don’t think my flaws are heinous, by the modern world’s standard, its just that I require an environment where I can study theology and devotional strategies exclusively, pray often, and reflect.

Thank you for the advice and humor!

 

[Young_Thinker]

Currently I am looking at the Archdiocese of NYC, or Diocese of Bridgeport which are both fairly affluent and don’t seem to be short of priests. Hopefully I will be able to score an excellent non-pastoral position, and do some real good with my academic gifts.

I am interested in the positions available that might lead to a career in the Roman Curia, or as some sort of legal or theological adviser on the diocesan level. At the very least missionary work.

Unfortunately, John cannot comment anymore. However, looking back at a few discussions to which I had contributed, I did not know that prospective secular priest could choose his diocese “just like that.” Can anyone comment upon this?

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Unfortunately, John cannot comment anymore. However, looking back at a few discussions to which I had contributed, I did not know that prospective secular priest could choose his diocese “just like that.” Can anyone comment upon this?

What do you mean “just like that”?

When you enter formation and go off to seminary you must be sponsored by a diocese, that is the diocese that you will be ordained in and serve.

To switch dioceses you need the permissions of your current bishop and the bishop of the diocese you are going to.

 

[Young_Thinker]

What do you mean “just like that”?

When you enter formation and go off to seminary you must be sponsored by a diocese, that is the diocese that you will be ordained in and serve.

To switch dioceses you need the permissions of your current bishop and the bishop of the diocese you are going to.

I meant a choosing a diocese where one is not resident to sponsor a seminarian. Maybe I was confused by his wording(perhaps he meant that he might live in one of those dioceses for a little while before seeking candidacy).