Thread for all discerning priesthood and for those already studying for priests

[Joannm]

:doh2: Whoops, sorry! Got the two confused (M.Div and doctorate work).

Well keep your grades up and do the right thing and you just might find yourself doing doctoral work. Just be sure to take Italian lessons since that is the language used in the Pontifical Universities in Rome.

 

[zemi]

Juest greeting everyone here

 

[zemi]

Coudl you tell me more about the Pontifical Universities in Rome without first googling it up?

I’m learning also Italian… and thinking about going studying abroad…and I’m not far from there…

Is anyone from you studying there? (or already has)

 

[orgel_maestro]

Iv’e finaly had the psychological examination. It went really well, but the questions i had to answer on the computer were quite strange but necesary to see if i was crazy or not. The phsychologist recommended me to the vocations director as being fit to study for the priesthood.

Next im off to th doc’s to get checked up, hopefully i dont have to strip.

Anyone else in the process of applying for the seminary?

God Speed:thumbsup:

Wszystkiego najlepszego Paweł!

 

[ihartsig]

Hello Everyone-

As mentioned before, lets make sure to keep this thread alive!

During this semester at school, I have taken significant steps in relation to my discernment, but if anything the issue has become even more difficult to see the right way. My school work is very enjoyable, and the career that it is in pursuit of is something that I could see myself dedicating a very meaningful life to, along with raising a family. I suppose it doesn’t really help that there is kind of a girl in the picture now, too.

I still love the idea of the Priesthood, and am trying very hard to discern with a clear mind and heart. I want very badly to do what God is calling me to do, but I am trying to find that call.

I have been talking to my diocese’s Vocation director as well as the Priest at our campus center, and they have given me some very valuable advice.

Is there any type of prayer or reflection that has helped you with your discernment?

Thank you all for continuing to share your stories - it is an inspiration for me to read of your courage and strength in following God’s call for you.

God Bless -

Ian

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

Well, I made a progress in my discernment. I now have a spiritual director! Yey!

I’m also very happy for the place I live in, which is a Catholic chaplaincy. This means that my (almost) next door neighbor is a priest but also (and even more importantly) prayers every morning, ability to go to a daily mass, adoration each day, prayer group and reading group Thursday night, Lucernarium on Saturday etc. I can’t say that I can make it to all of them because I have other commitments, but I go to as many things as possible.

Other than that I’m still not sure. On one hand I have this urge to completely submit myself to the Lord, trusting him that he will take me wherever he wants me to be. On the other hand I have a concern with the fact that I often experience doubts (though I was told that this is not uncommon). How could a person like me become a shepard if I need a good shepard myself? I’m balancing on the edge and sometimes one is stronger than the other.

Oh well, I still have a long time to decide. Please pray for me. I will pray for you!

 

[zemi]

Well, I made a progress in my discernment. I now have a spiritual director! Yey!

I’m also very happy for the place I live in, which is a Catholic chaplaincy. This means that my (almost) next door neighbor is a priest but also (and even more importantly) prayers every morning, ability to go to a daily mass, adoration each day, prayer group and reading group Thursday night, Lucernarium on Saturday etc. I can’t say that I can make it to all of them because I have other commitments, but I go to as many things as possible.

Other than that I’m still not sure. On one hand I have this urge to completely submit myself to the Lord, trusting him that he will take me wherever he wants me to be. On the other hand I have a concern with the fact that I often experience doubts (though I was told that this is not uncommon). How could a person like me become a shepard if I need a good shepard myself? I’m balancing on the edge and sometimes one is stronger than the other.

Oh well, I still have a long time to decide. Please pray for me. I will pray for you!

Hi there!

That’s great! No worries. I’m too discerning (and surely will for some time) and have always doubts about both sides of the possible decision. You’re a step or two ahead I think as you have your spiritual director.

By the way…have you had any “girl-related problems”? I already have had one. Still recovering sort of. But it’s now incomparably better than some time before.

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

Hi there!

That’s great! No worries. I’m too discerning (and surely will for some time) and have always doubts about both sides of the possible decision. You’re a step or two ahead I think as you have your spiritual director.

By the way…have you had any “girl-related problems”? I already have had one. Still recovering sort of. But it’s now incomparably better than some time before.

Zemi!

Girl-related problems? Fortunately not.

I guess we all have our own problems. To be honest, if my faith was as strong as of many other people I think I would already be in a seminary (of course this is a hyperbole since that would be impossible but you get the idea).

 

[pawel15]

Hello All,

I hope everything is going well wth all of you fellas

Ive made some progress in my application to the priesthood,
i ve seen the first year moderator of Corpus Christi seminary, and by the time anyone has read this post i will have already undergone a full medical examination.
So things are finally moving on in my life again.
Whats more important is that i have been recommended by most of the priests that have interviewed me. They uslually tell me that i have their full support, But its up to me to decide if i really want to enter the seminary. So i cant wait to star next year.

Hows everything going with the rest of you guys, anything interesting happening.

Wishing you all Gods blessing,
Paul

 

[ozmatt]

Congratulations Paul… good to see some other Aussies on this site.

Hi all. I’m Matt, 17 and live in the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn in Australia. I’ve been discerning a call either to diocesan priesthood, or to an order (probably Marist fathers/brothers or cssr) for the last year and a half.

My concern is this: I’m trying to work out whether or not I should start a course of secular university study first, but I’m not sure why. I guess I would like a qualification in case things don’t work out, but that would be second-guessing the Lord and hedging my bets.

I also want to give my parents more time to get used to the fact. I talk about it quite frequently with my mates and they’re supportive, but my parents won’t accept me even talking about going to the seminary until i’m 25!

I feel like this is certain: God has given me the gifts and talents, and the inclination which tells me I am meant to be a priest. That thought fills my soul with such great joy. Should I allow my parents to hold me back, and start on a qualification that I may not even use in my ministry?

 

[PaulJohns]

I suppose that it is now my turn to update everyone on my status. About a month ago, I had a meeting with the Vocations Director for the Franciscan Friars, TOR in Loretto, PA, and was invited to apply for the fall. So, provided that I am accepted, I will be leaving the PhD studies for chemistry at Notre Dame behind, with the possibility of coming back to them at a later date. I have been working on the application quite a bit and only have the pyschological testing and the dental evaluations left. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Getting everything together took some work, but I’m nearly at the point, where I can sit back, pray, and hope that I will be accepted as a postulant for the fall.

Paul

 

[Michael_Saint]

Hi All,

Well, maybe I’ll revive a “dying” topic (well, dying in the sense of activity on this particular post).

I am now 30, and my vocation is still up in the air. I was in the seminary for the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, studying at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, MO. I was two years from Holy Orders, but took very ill with depression, and had to pull out. I wanted to go back after I recovered, but my diocese would not take me back, and a religious order in Chicago that I inquired with also would not take me because I was on anti-depressant medication. Then, all of a sudden, my interest in the priesthood disappeared.

Now and then I think about it, and sometimes I get excited about the idea again. But my thoughts turn most of the time towards marriage. The thing is, so many people whom I don’t know from Adam walk up to me at daily Mass, etc., and ask if I am a seminarian. I tell them no, but that I used to be. They encourage me to continue to pray about it and to think about it, and I love them for it because it shows they love the priesthood. If I was to just do what everyone thought I should (including my best friend and his parents, who have “adopted” me as a spiritual son), I would be a priest for sure. But the desires that were there for four years just aren’t there anymore. The heart seems to be saying “No”, even though everyone seems to disagree.

I think I have done all the discerning I can possibly do - now I am just at a point where I am waiting for God to guide my heart and to fulfill those desires. Vocations are usually decided by 30 - for me, it is a case of patiently waiting on God and bearing the Cross.

 

[zemi]

Hi All,

Well, maybe I’ll revive a “dying” topic (well, dying in the sense of activity on this particular post).

I am now 30, and my vocation is still up in the air. I was in the seminary for the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, studying at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, MO. I was two years from Holy Orders, but took very ill with depression, and had to pull out. I wanted to go back after I recovered, but my diocese would not take me back, and a religious order in Chicago that I inquired with also would not take me because I was on anti-depressant medication. Then, all of a sudden, my interest in the priesthood disappeared.

Now and then I think about it, and sometimes I get excited about the idea again. But my thoughts turn most of the time towards marriage. The thing is, so many people whom I don’t know from Adam walk up to me at daily Mass, etc., and ask if I am a seminarian. I tell them no, but that I used to be. They encourage me to continue to pray about it and to think about it, and I love them for it because it shows they love the priesthood. If I was to just do what everyone thought I should (including my best friend and his parents, who have “adopted” me as a spiritual son), I would be a priest for sure. But the desires that were there for four years just aren’t there anymore. The heart seems to be saying “No”, even though everyone seems to disagree.

I think I have done all the discerning I can possibly do - now I am just at a point where I am waiting for God to guide my heart and to fulfill those desires. Vocations are usually decided by 30 - for me, it is a case of patiently waiting on God and bearing the Cross.

Hi Michael,

thanks for sharing. I’m 22, a bit youger than you but I sometimes think I won’t be decided even by when I’m 40

It surely isn’t easy to discern. Guess we all must be patient…

May God help us all in this

 

[Tim_Kirchoff]

I am 15, discerning a call to the priesthood. I am relatively sertain of this call, and I am involved in a program offered by my diocese for high school boys interested in the priesthood. I am currently trying to decide if I am called to a religious order or to parish life.

I have been contacted by a religious order and invited on a retreat to a school they run out in New England someplace.

 

[Alterum]

Hi everyone! I’m 22, soon to be finished with college; and I’ll need to make what I’m afraid will prove to be a very difficult choice, either to enter a religious order (I’m looking at various missionary orders) or to pursue a graduate-level education. I do not have a spiritual director, and have thus far been guided by prayer, reading, my own wisdom, and the more reliable and less pliant wisdom of some good friends. Which on the whole means it’s been several years and I haven’t done nearly enough work toward discerning my vocation – but I’m trying.

For your interest, I’ve begun a vocational discernment LJ community here: community.livejournal.com/men_vocations/

Consider joining! I’ll keep all of you in my prayers

 

[vince2paul]

Hi All,

Well, maybe I’ll revive a “dying” topic (well, dying in the sense of activity on this particular post).

I am now 30, and my vocation is still up in the air. I was in the seminary for the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, studying at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, MO. I was two years from Holy Orders, but took very ill with depression, and had to pull out. I wanted to go back after I recovered, but my diocese would not take me back, and a religious order in Chicago that I inquired with also would not take me because I was on anti-depressant medication. Then, all of a sudden, my interest in the priesthood disappeared.

Now and then I think about it, and sometimes I get excited about the idea again. But my thoughts turn most of the time towards marriage. The thing is, so many people whom I don’t know from Adam walk up to me at daily Mass, etc., and ask if I am a seminarian. I tell them no, but that I used to be. They encourage me to continue to pray about it and to think about it, and I love them for it because it shows they love the priesthood. If I was to just do what everyone thought I should (including my best friend and his parents, who have “adopted” me as a spiritual son), I would be a priest for sure. But the desires that were there for four years just aren’t there anymore. The heart seems to be saying “No”, even though everyone seems to disagree.

I think I have done all the discerning I can possibly do - now I am just at a point where I am waiting for God to guide my heart and to fulfill those desires. Vocations are usually decided by 30 - for me, it is a case of patiently waiting on God and bearing the Cross.

Hi Michael,
I somehow feel the same way. I’ll be 23 in February. For some reason, it’s no longer me, but it’s the people around me that keep me in my vocation discernment to the priesthood.

I talked to a priest last week and he said it’s fine if I decide not to answer the calling (if I do have the calling in the first place!). I don’t know but priesthood seems so far away now. Maybe because I just graduated that I see myself more of a businessman than a priest.

I’ll pray for you.

 

[pawel15]

hi all,

I’m finally at the last check point of my application to the seminary. I will be meeting the Arch-Bishop of Melbourne tommorow afternoon at 3:00pm.

So i hope that (with the help of God’s grace), i may be truthful and say all i can say in the interview.

Please pray for me, that all goes well and that i may be accepted next year.

God Bless

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

hi all,

I’m finally at the last check point of my application to the seminary. I will be meeting the Arch-Bishop of Melbourne tommorow afternoon at 3:00pm.

So i hope that (with the help of God’s grace), i may be truthful and say all i can say in the interview.

Please pray for me, that all goes well and that i may be accepted next year.

God Bless

I’m going to an Adoration today so I will pray for you there!

My latest plan is this. Graduate this academic year and take a gap year. During my gap year get a job and apply to the seminary. Then, God willing, get accepted and start the following year. How exiting!

 

[ErnieFrance4]

Hey all. I am in the same boat as most other. I will be catholic two years this year and have been discerning for about two years. : ) I am graduating tomorrow actually and hope to apply to the archdiocese of atlanta this december. There are many parts to the application and I have the first part ready. There is a retreat in December that I am going to and hoping to turn the application in then. I went last year but since the vocation directors have changed so it has been a little hard because I went from someone who knew me to now someone who seems to think I am too young. Oh well the spirit of the lord will guide me and them. Pray for me as I will for all of you.

 

[pawel15]

God’s will be done!!!

I have been accepted to study at the seminary by his grace Archbishop Denis Hart on friday.

The interview was a very short one, but the archbishop gave me the good news at the end of the interview with a letter of accepetance. I’m very excited and humbled by this and i hope now i can persevere 7 years of studying.

u thank all of you for your prayers and advise in the last 6 months and i hope now we can continue this thread.

God bless all of you:thumbsup: