Fr. Ian Van Heusen provides a Gospel commentary and video each week for Catholic-Link. He loves being a priest, but there is one thing that bothers him about his vocation. In this video, Fr. Ian shares that people actually asked him more spiritual questions when he...
Vocation
This Tennis Umpire Who is Also a Catholic Priest Shows that God Can Serve Up Anything In Your Life!
It’s tennis season here in the UK, and fans all over the world will be tuning in to watch the All England Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, which are followed up several weeks later with the final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, at Flushing Meadows in New York....
If You’re Confused About What God Wants You To Do With Your Life, You’ve Got To Hear This Testimony
"Spotlight of a Calligrapher", published by Ascension Presents, tells the story of Erica Tighe, a designer and calligrapher. Erica's story of how she came to be a full-time calligrapher is moving and poignant. She tells how she came back from a year and a half of...
9 Images That Take The Confusion Out Of Identifying Religious Orders Of The Church
Do you ever get confused by the many religious orders that the Catholic Church has? Each individual order has their own particular character, or charism, attracting different people with the same common style of prayer, work and way of life. The religious orders are...
How Can I Seek My Mission And Discover My Vocation?
In today's Gospel reflection, Father Ian VanHeusen presents a spiritual exercise based on the readings for the Mass of Our Lord's Ascension. St. Ignatius of Loyola explains, “By the term “Spiritual Exercises” is meant every method of examination of conscience, of...
These Nuns Took A “Frozen” Song And Made It About Vocations: Do You Wanna Be A Sister?
I can't believe it took me two years to find this video! Happy Nun has turned "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" into "Do You Wanna Be a Sister?" and the result is a very inspirational song about how to discern the call to pursue a religious vocation. If...
The Georgia Tech Player Who is Leaving Football to Become a Priest
Last week Catholic-Link published an article about Esmeralda Solís Gonzáles, a young woman who left behind her life as a beauty queen in Mexico to pursue a religious vocation with the Poor Clare Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament. Today, we have another inspiring...
She Traded Her Life as a Beauty Queen to Live a Vocation of Beauty for God
“You mustn't be afraid. If God is calling you, he'll take care of everything. All you need to do is receive him with a lot of peace, joy, and confidence. I believe fear is a big excuse that is responsible for truncating the true happiness that only God can offer,”...
6 Reasons The World Needs You To Follow Your Dreams
“Follow your dreams!” the world tells us when we are young, but as we grow up, we learn that living our dream is not only hard, it’s also often criticized. Especially dreams involving radical vows in a religious order, low-income paychecks at a non-profit, or...
Building the Church: One Man’s Incredible Story Teaches Us What We All Must Do
I was once walking around the outside of an incredibly beautiful cathedral; I walked around it twice just gazing in marvel upon the architecture, and trying to work out, or glimpse an understanding of what must have gone through the architect’s mind as he designed and...
Do Seminarians Celebrate Valentine’s Day?
I may be a seminarian, but I’m a huge fan of romantic tales. I like movies with happy endings when the boy gets the girl. I enjoy hearing stories about how couples met or what they did on their anniversary. And one of my favorite things is watching friends of mine...
See The Passion In These 7 Young Men Who Have Heard “The Call”
Have you ever been on Facebook and suddenly found yourself looking at wedding pictures of someone you've never even met? I'll admit, it's happened to me more than once. There's something about the joy in the life of another that draws us in. We want to see it,...
The 9 Bible Verses That Will Help You Discern God’s Will For Your Life
The new year is only a few hours away and with it comes the setting of goals and resolution lists. Whether it’s switching jobs, choosing what colleges you want to apply to, deciding if you’re ready to have another baby, or going back to school (among other...
Is God Calling Me? 7 Tips To Discern If God Is Calling You To Consecrated Life
When I talk about vocation, many get scared at just the though of it. The first things that come to their mind are religious habits, endless prayers, people living in the same house, having to live far from their families, etc. However, the truth is that vocation...
How To Encourage Your Child’s Religious Vocation? 8 Essential Tips
Events like World Youth Day or a young saint's canonization (recently, Saint José Sanchez del Río), tend to spawn a boom in vocations to the consecrated life like fungi after a storm. It’s only logical. These celebratory events in the Church can be very moving and...
A Must See Tap Dance Duel Between Two Seminarians
The video shows Reverend David Rider, 29, of New York and Reverend John Gibson, 28, from Milwaukee, engaging in a bit of healthy competition and sharing their tapping talents during a fundraiser at the North American College (NAC), an American seminary in Rome, near...
National Geographic Reveals “The Secret Lives of Mexican Nuns”
“When I began this project, I thought of nuns as always dour and serious.” So says Marcela Taboada in her beautiful photo-story “the Secret Lives of Mexican Nuns”. She quickly proves this wrong with her photos of cake-slice waving sisters, a habited exercise biker and...
5 Things To Know About Consecrated Virgins
In the history of Catholic-Link, we've never recommended that you read an article from Cosmopolitan, but that changes today! On September 12th, Cosmopolitan.com published an article titled, "I Am Happily Married to God — as a Consecrated Virgin" and we highly...
10 Catholic Quotes You Can Use When You Want To Take A Nap
A common answer to the question, "How are you?", is often "Busy." Yet, many times we don't have to be quite as busy as we schedule ourselves to be. Though there is great importance and dignity in the work we do, we often forget that there is also value in...
Meet Two Former Olympians Now Leading Others to Religious Vocations
Throughout the Olympics, I have grown attached to some of the athletes competing for Gold. Many of them quickly went from names I had never heard of to people I desperately wanted to see win. I'll admit that after the Olympics conclude I probably won't continue to...
“So, what are you doing after you graduate?” – What to do if this question makes you nervous
What to do when this question, "So, what are you doing after you graduate?”, makes you a little nervous. When someone finds out that you are a senior in college, there seems to be a typical conversation that goes something like this… “Oh wow! You’re a senior! So… what...
18 Catholic Colleges That Are Proud To Be Catholic!
Worried about going to a university and forgetting your Catholic roots? Choosing a school can be a nightmare, especially when you have no idea about the college lifestyle. Many Universities claim to be Catholic, yet the types of programs, speakers, and groups they...
8 Times “Bad Moms” Actually Taught Us About Being Good Moms
I recently went to see Bad Moms and, yes, I should probably make plans to go to Confession at some point this week after watching it. The Catholic News Service rated the movie as an "O - morally offensive" and that rating is definitely accurate. The film is morally...
An Extraordinarily Beautiful Video Series About The Value Of Family And Marriage
One of the most misunderstood teachings of our time is what the Catholic Church says about sexuality, marriage, and family life. The beauty of what our Church truly believes is often overshadowed by what the media distorts it to be. As a result, there is truly a lack...