I’m a convert, and I was dead-set on becoming Catholic for well over a year before I felt a “call.” At first I dismissed it (“I’m not even Catholic yet, so thinking that I am called to be a priest is ridiculous!”) but shortly after, my priest who was doing RCIA one-on-one with me asked if I hadn’t been thinking about religious life. I deflected at the time, but the priest told me that he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see me become a priest. Since that experience, I have frequently had Catholics (and even a few Protestants) ask me if I intended to join the seminary or tell me that I would make a good pastor. Again, I’m still very much aware of the perception, and perhaps the reality, that converts’ zeal may be at work, so I generally avoid answering people who say things like that, but I have been talking to my diocesan vocations’ director.
My diocese holds to the 3-year rule as well, which I think is probably a good thing. I’ve been Catholic for less than 6 months at this point, so what’s the rush? I’m learning to deepen my faith in new ways all the time, and I’ll bet that in the next two and a half years I’ll have grown enough to know whether this “call” is genuine or if God is just using it to develop me for another purpose.
God only knows the future. I have no idea where I’ll end up, but I’m content to go anywhere, as long as it’s with Him.
