I Need Your Prayers

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I’ll try to make this quick, but I’m not good at that. I just sat down to confession a few hours ago after stations of the cross at my Traditional Roman Rite parish. I’ve been confessing to this particular priest for about a year now, and I know from the counsel he gives and his homilies that he is a good priest and a good man-his love for Christ and His Blessed Mother are unmistakable, and he constantly exhorts us to live holy lives for His sake, to seek to do our Our Lord’s will at all times and avoid sin.

That being said, he is not my regular spiritual director, though he does hear my confessions most of the time. My regular spiritual director is back in my home diocese in another state, a long way away (I’m at college). My home diocese is quite orthodox, just like the parish I’m at now. As for him, I would say absolutely the same thing- holy through and through, and a real man, as well. He gives sound advice, and you can just tell that he loves being a priest of Jesus Christ and administering the sacraments to the faithful, especially hearing confessions and offering up the Sacrifice. I stay in regular contact over the phone with him, mainly for the advice since you can’t confess over a cellphone. Despite the fact that we’re separated by distance most of the time, he is my priest, my spiritual director, and that’s not going to change. He has my trust.

For about two years now he has known of and adamantly supported me in what I believe to be my vocation, at least for 4 years immediately following my college graduation: to serve as an active-duty officer in the United States Marine Corps, hopefully in an infantry or armored unit. He has also known that in addition to this, I have for some time felt very seriously that I may have a vocation to the priesthood. We both agree, for a variety of factors (some of which may indicate that I don’t in fact have a priestly vocation), that it would be best to serve in the Marines first, and go from there, to enter seminary afterward if I still believe I have a vocation.

After today’s confession at my local traditional parish, though, the priest here in my college town asked me if I had plans for my life after college. So I told him what I’ve told you. He flat out stated that he thought this thinking was wrong, and that I should seriously consider seminary now, make a visit over Easter to the Institue of Christ the King and possibly apply to seminary right after college. He said that four years in the Marines could “destroy” my vocation, that it might be “lost” afterward. I respect and appreciate his advice and I told him so, but I also told him, of course, that I found it very hard to reconcile with what I’ve come to believe about God’s plan for my life. I just don’t see how it could “destroy” a priestly vocation, if I have one.

This has me confused, and to be honest somewhat scared. Now I’m starting to re-think things and I’m not as sure about continuing in this Marine officer program, though I’d definitely like to.

More than anything, I need your prayers for discernment, and if you have any insights you wish to share, perhaps from similar personal experiences, please don’t hesitate. Thanks.
 
A retired visiting priest said Mass at my parish a few years ago. He joined the Army during WW2 (enlisted man, though, not officer). He had wanted to be a priest but got drafted. He promised to be a priest if he survived the war. He did and entered the seminary after he got out of the Army.
 
I will pray for you. I would also encourage you to pray. Ultimately, everyone is different and can only get the answers God has for them through prayer.

I can give some particular advice, because I am also discerning a call and am hoping to enter the seminary as soon as possible. I spoke with the assitant vocation director in my area, someone I believe to be a rather holy man, about a similar question. Basically, I have been patiently waiting the time to apply for the seminary, finishing regular college first. However, I also feel very stifled in my situation, as if I don’t have nearly enough time for God. So whereas you have been planning/hoping entering later, I have been hoping to enter sooner but nevertheless planning to enter later.

The assistant director told me that he feels strongly that when God calls you, you go. Matthew did not finish counting taxes when he was called, nor did Peter finish up with his fishing busniess - they just went. “Let the dead bury their dead.”

Does this mean you ought to abandon the military? I cannot say. I certainly won’t suggest it would be the only option. What I will encourage you very strongly to do is to consider it with an open mind, and especially and open heart. I say this by no means to try to push you in that direction, but because if my experience is any indication, you might need to be told to consider it. As open as we are to God, and it requires great openness to discern a vocation, it is very very easy to get an idea of what we are going to do in our minds and even without realizing it close ourselves off to other possibilities. Sometimes, what seems like the best and most rational idea to us may not be what God has in mind.

It may well be you ought to go into the military first. What you need to determine is if that is God’s idea. Do you, in general, think that God calls people to priestly vocations as a second role in life, or only as a first? Of course some people miss their calls early in life and eventually find them after doing other things, but I am not referring to this. I am talking about God’s call, not men who miss it. If it were not you, but you were thinking about people in general, do you believe God calls people to be X first and then enter the priesthood, or do you believe God calls priests to the priesthood exclusively? I have, for example, a friend who feels called to the priesthood, but who wants to become an orthodontist before entering seminary. Do you believe God calls people in this way? This is a question worth meditating on prayerfully. Perhaps you do believe He does that; perhaps you don’t. If you can see God working this way in general, you have a better indication to go with your original idea. If the concept does seem odd to you, perhaps that is a sign to go with this new priests idea.

I am just trying to give you as much advice as I can here, in addition to my prayers. What I can say for certain is you have no need to fear. God loves you, and has a plan for you. Pray to Him, and find His plan, and you will be happy and fulfilled no matter what you do. If you are called to give up the military and go straight to seminary, or if you are called to go into the Marines first, either way you will be truly happy if it is God’s plan for you.

Find a chapel with a tabernacle that you can at some occasion be alone with. Go inside and kneel in prayer for a few minutes, then just sit back in the pew, get comfortable, and look at Jesus. Just look at Him, and be quiet. He’ll lead you right.

God bless
 
Voluntary homicide is an impediment to Holy Orders. Have you considered the chaplaincy?
 
I think you have to be careful when deciding, decision are yours.
God’s calling us to do something, but He doesn’t force it, we have the freewill to decide.

I’m doing my bachelor of commerce degree, if I’m careful, I can lose the calling easily. I often have thought that how wonderful it is to be rich and able to travel around the world and buy stuff that I want. That’s when I don’t discern properly. When I do, I know that my vocation is towards religious life/priesthood. The world can offer you so much, that you may neglect your true vocation. 🙂

Let say your friend wants to become Catholic, would you ask him to look around to other churches first? I know, it’s poor analogy 😛

Pray, pray and pray! Nothing more powerful than that and the decision is yours!
 
I know of several priests who found their true calling after service in the Armed Forces. However, if you do believe that you might have a calling to the priesthood, then you should look into that before joining the military. Or you could go into the chaplaincy.
 
Spirithound said:
Voluntary homicide is an impediment to Holy Orders. Have you considered the chaplaincy?
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I really don’t appreciate that. As someone who admires the dedication of our men and women serving in the Armed Forces with so much courage and as a member of the Catholic Church, which teaches that in some instances war is in fact justified, I have to admit comments like yours that blanketly condemn our troops as homicidal really get under my skin. If you actually feel this way about military service, make an intellectual and philosophical case for your point. Don’t just throw out a canard at me.
 
CollegeKid said:
I really don’t appreciate that. As someone who admires the dedication of our men and women serving in the Armed Forces with so much courage and as a member of the Catholic Church, which teaches that in some instances war is in fact justified, I have to admit comments like yours that blanketly condemn our troops as homicidal really get under my skin. If you actually feel this way about military service, make an intellectual and philosophical case for your point. Don’t just throw out a canard at me.
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I agree… That swipe at the military was uncalled for.

I have mixed feelings on your initial question. One of my best friends enlisted years ago and was beaten-up so badly by his fellow Marines, that he has never been the same since his discharge. Just keep in mind that soldiers serve an important calling to defend and safeguard those we love, but there is the potential or possibility that the experience will change and harden you. Be careful and God bless.
 
If only the other poster had been so temperate and measured in his response. Thank you.
 
Just a thought…and you may not get any response, but Fr. Corapi talks frequently about his stint in the special services branch of the military. It was well before he recognized that he had a vocation to the priesthood.

This is the contact information from his website, fathercorapi.com
fathercorapi.com/contact.aspx

The website admits that Father receives thousands of emails and cannot respond to all of them but perhaps, someone would look at yours and give it to him.
I can tell by the tone of messages that you are really discerning a calling but are torn between both calls. Going to your spiritual director is very effective. Talk also to your family. You will be in my prayers.

God bless you!🙂
 
CollegeKid said:
I really don’t appreciate that. As someone who admires the dedication of our men and women serving in the Armed Forces with so much courage and as a member of the Catholic Church, which teaches that in some instances war is in fact justified, I have to admit comments like yours that blanketly condemn our troops as homicidal really get under my skin. If you actually feel this way about military service, make an intellectual and philosophical case for your point. Don’t just throw out a canard at me.
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My deepest apologies. I was using the term homicide in its most technical sense. I also have high regard for the American and other troops serving abroad, and I support the War on Terror.

Homicide is simply defined as killing a person. There is nothing there regarding the justification of the killing.

Canon 1041 The following are irregular for receiving orders:
4/ a person who has committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either;

So even judges who have justifiably and lawfully condemned a person to death, once that person has been executed, the judge is impeded from Holy Orders.
Lifting of the irregularity is reserved to the Holy See.

I am very sorry for my harshness and simple dogmaticity in my previous post. Please accept my apologies. I will continue to pray for your discernment.
 
Spirithound said:
My deepest apologies. I was using the term homicide in its most technical sense. I also have high regard for the American and other troops serving abroad, and I support the War on Terror.

Homicide is simply defined as killing a person. There is nothing there regarding the justification of the killing.

Canon 1041 The following are irregular for receiving orders:
4/ a person who has committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either;

So even judges who have justifiably and lawfully condemned a person to death, once that person has been executed, the judge is impeded from Holy Orders.
Lifting of the irregularity is reserved to the Holy See.

I am very sorry for my harshness and simple dogmaticity in my previous post. Please accept my apologies. I will continue to pray for your discernment.
Click to expand...
From the Catholic Encyclopedia: “Homicide signifies, in general, the killing of a human being. In practice, however, the word has come to mean the unjust taking away of human life, perpetrated by one distinct from the victim and acting in a private capacity. For the purposes of this article, therefore, account is not taken of suicide, nor of the carrying out of the penalty of death by due process of law.” newadvent.org/cathen/07441a.htm. Killing an enemy in a just war would not be homicide.
 
I have 3 friends, 2 of them relatives actually, who were in seminary, dropped out for various reasons, got drafted (this was a while back-Vietnam ere), 2 went into the Navy, one to the Marines, and all three went back to seminary afterward, but not the one they had planned. One had been in a Benedictine setting and later went into diocesan priesthood, one went to the Jesuits, and one left his diocese and joined a missionary order, working most of his life in missions in Central and South America. All are still active, though within 10 years of retirement age. A 4th friend also dropped out, joined the Navy, spent a lot of time on the road as a hippie after his discharge, had a varied career and troubled life, and returned to the Church in later life, and is now a SFO.
 
Spirithound said:
My deepest apologies. I was using the term homicide in its most technical sense. I also have high regard for the American and other troops serving abroad, and I support the War on Terror.

Homicide is simply defined as killing a person. There is nothing there regarding the justification of the killing.

Canon 1041 The following are irregular for receiving orders:
4/ a person who has committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either;

So even judges who have justifiably and lawfully condemned a person to death, once that person has been executed, the judge is impeded from Holy Orders.
Lifting of the irregularity is reserved to the Holy See.

I am very sorry for my harshness and simple dogmaticity in my previous post. Please accept my apologies. I will continue to pray for your discernment.
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Apologies accepted, and thank you for the clarification, and for the prayers. I see what you’re getting at, but as lak16 noted, I don’t believe that all killing in a given just war would count as “homicide,” even in the word’s broadest sense. I think we’re all aware of recent tv news stories about the killing of Iraqi families in isolated instances that certainly don’t appear to have been just killings but were in fact homicide/murder, but I differentiate the nature of these killings with those that happened on battlefields between U.S. troops and the Iraqi Army, Republican Guard, the Fedayeen, etc.
 
CollegeKid said:
Apologies accepted, and thank you for the clarification, and for the prayers. I see what you’re getting at, but as lak16 noted, I don’t believe that all killing in a given just war would count as “homicide,” even in the word’s broadest sense. I think we’re all aware of recent tv news stories about the killing of Iraqi families in isolated instances that certainly don’t appear to have been just killings but were in fact homicide/murder, but I differentiate the nature of these killings with those that happened on battlefields between U.S. troops and the Iraqi Army, Republican Guard, the Fedayeen, etc.
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Here’s the answer from Ask an Apologist. forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=141835
 
CollegeKid said:
I’ll try to make this quick, but I’m not good at that. I just sat down to confession a few hours ago after stations of the cross at my Traditional Roman Rite parish. I’ve been confessing to this particular priest for about a year now, and I know from the counsel he gives and his homilies that he is a good priest and a good man-his love for Christ and His Blessed Mother are unmistakable, and he constantly exhorts us to live holy lives for His sake, to seek to do our Our Lord’s will at all times and avoid sin.

That being said, he is not my regular spiritual director, though he does hear my confessions most of the time. My regular spiritual director is back in my home diocese in another state, a long way away (I’m at college). My home diocese is quite orthodox, just like the parish I’m at now. As for him, I would say absolutely the same thing- holy through and through, and a real man, as well. He gives sound advice, and you can just tell that he loves being a priest of Jesus Christ and administering the sacraments to the faithful, especially hearing confessions and offering up the Sacrifice. I stay in regular contact over the phone with him, mainly for the advice since you can’t confess over a cellphone. Despite the fact that we’re separated by distance most of the time, he is my priest, my spiritual director, and that’s not going to change. He has my trust.

For about two years now he has known of and adamantly supported me in what I believe to be my vocation, at least for 4 years immediately following my college graduation: to serve as an active-duty officer in the United States Marine Corps, hopefully in an infantry or armored unit. He has also known that in addition to this, I have for some time felt very seriously that I may have a vocation to the priesthood. We both agree, for a variety of factors (some of which may indicate that I don’t in fact have a priestly vocation), that it would be best to serve in the Marines first, and go from there, to enter seminary afterward if I still believe I have a vocation.

After today’s confession at my local traditional parish, though, the priest here in my college town asked me if I had plans for my life after college. So I told him what I’ve told you. He flat out stated that he thought this thinking was wrong, and that I should seriously consider seminary now, make a visit over Easter to the Institue of Christ the King and possibly apply to seminary right after college. He said that four years in the Marines could “destroy” my vocation, that it might be “lost” afterward. I respect and appreciate his advice and I told him so, but I also told him, of course, that I found it very hard to reconcile with what I’ve come to believe about God’s plan for my life. I just don’t see how it could “destroy” a priestly vocation, if I have one.

This has me confused, and to be honest somewhat scared. Now I’m starting to re-think things and I’m not as sure about continuing in this Marine officer program, though I’d definitely like to.

More than anything, I need your prayers for discernment, and if you have any insights you wish to share, perhaps from similar personal experiences, please don’t hesitate. Thanks.
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I have to agree with the 2nd priest not your parish priest. The reason being that a holy man is not always the best advisor. St. Theresa of Avila says that it is better to have a very well educated orthodox spiritual director.
The reason I would say the 2nd one is right can be put into military terms.
If the Church is your true native land wouldn’t you defend it before your country on earth? The Church is under attack and if you have no impediments then sign-up and defend her. A lot of souls maybe counting on you at least trying. How many go to hell because there are not enough good priest to help guide them?
The choice simplely stated is: save souls or save lives
 
I might look into a way of fulfilling your vocation in the Military as others have said if you really feel the need to serve your country in the Military.
That being said, I will strongly recommend not going into the Military if you cannot remain dedicated to the Church. Entering the Military myself, I can say that the only way it can bring you closer to God possibly is by a situation which brings you to realize the dependancy of your life on God.
The amount of immorality and constant barrage of temptations that go on in the military make it quite a trial to maintain a healthy religious relationship with God.

Be careful what you put in your head, it stays in there and even if you don’t fall into temptation, filling your life with it is bad for your future.

That being said, I served our country in the Military and benefited from it financially, spiritually it didn’t work out so hot.

God Bless
Scylla
 
As a former enlisted man in the US Army (2000-2006) I can share my story with you so far as Im able. I can indeed confirm that military service can shake your faith to its very foundations. This is especially true in the case of a combat arms unit. The nature of these units is such that immorality does indeed run rampant. The very purpose of these units gives rise to a live for today and a devil may care attitude. They also instill within an individual a deep sense of pride and empowerment. The very world that you are currently familiar with will be turned on its head should you see combat (or for that matter the aftermath). Lastly, after a very short time you will realize that you have changed. Nothing is the same anymore. Old friends, old feelings, old values, views all very much different in a profound way which is beyond my ability to describe. That being said please dont think that I am even remotely trying to stear you away from the military. If you can keep your devotion to God, if you can truly live the life of a good Christian while you serve than you will emerge from your service a much stronger man than when you entered. Know that it is not easy. But I have served with those who where able to do just that. To my misfortune I was one of the many who lost my way while in the service. Even still I havent managed to reconcile myself with the church though with Gods help I soon shall. You have my prayers sir, for what they are worth.
 
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