Posted in Celibacy, Life, Priesthood, discernment on Jul 19th, 2010 No Comments »
Perhaps the most intrinsic question/obstacle that prevents young men from entering the seminary: “What’s the deal with priestly celebacy?”
While there are many good resources out there (including Cincy’s very own ) it may be enriching to hear this from a seminarian’s lowly perspective. When I ask guys in high-school why they are not [...]
Posted in Holy Hour, Priesthood, discernment, seminary on Jul 12th, 2010 No Comments »
This past weekend I attended a friend’s wedding in another diocese. Allowing extra travel time for potential construction delays and traffic, but encountering neither, I arrived at the church a bit early. Being a seminarian, I of course took the time to snoop around a bit, critiquing the architecture, artwork, etc. And, [...]
Posted in Holy Hour, Priesthood, Religious Life, discernment on Jul 3rd, 2010 No Comments »
So, now that I am on summer break, I’ve had some time to reflect on my first year in seminary. Mostly, I’ve been trying to figure out why God is calling me to the diocesan priesthood. I’m fairly certain it is my vocation (though obviously that remains a mutual discernment with the Church [...]
Posted in discernment on May 18th, 2010 No Comments »
This second installment of the “common objections to the seminary” series will attempt to address an issue that I inadvertently referenced to in the first post of this series. That is, “what does it mean to be in the world, but not of the world?” This actually references the topic of “self-abandonment,” which I [...]
Posted in discernment on May 11th, 2010 No Comments »
As promised, this is the first of several installments in a series of posts.
The preliminary focus question that must be asked here is, “What is it like to be in the seminary? What is formation?” This will attempt to address common misconception #1, that is, that when a young man enters the seminary [...]
Posted in discernment on May 8th, 2010 No Comments »
Soon I will be starting a series entitled “common obstacles to the seminary and possible solutions,” or simply “common obstacles,” that will attempt to address reasons as to why men, and particularly young men do not enter the seminary. Possible topics will include; “the true nature of the discernment process and seminary formation,” “celibacy, [...]
Posted in Prayer, discernment, seminary on Apr 30th, 2010 No Comments »
Inevitably when I go back home on a break this question always pops up; whether in the parish, giving vocations talks, or at the dinner table. At this point in my formation, I have been through four years of philosophy and nearly one year of theology, but what have I learned?
As one of my [...]
Posted in Prayer, Priesthood, discernment on Aug 4th, 2009 1 Comment »
Last year on his feast I posted this reflection on my visit to Ars and the continuing blessings of the life of St. John Vianney.
A couple new comments have popped up in the last few weeks. Then after our daily Mass at the parish today a young professor from the University of [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, discernment, seminary on Apr 20th, 2009 No Comments »
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has had a really great new program within the past year called Cast Your Nets. It is a coordinated effort by the Vocations office, Office of Youth & Young Adult Ministry, and some active and dedicated youth ministers. Fr. Schnippel has blogged on it previously.
I was able to [...]
Posted in Life, Prayer, discernment on Apr 1st, 2009 No Comments »
In the Christian tradition, being true to yourself means being true to the self that you are called to be.
Not Jack Handey today. This is good stuff, and the above is a gem from Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (recalled by Ramesh Ponnuru in First Things). I must say, the many heartfelt tributes paid [...]