I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day and he asked me where my fourteen-year-old son was at with his discernment of the priesthood. He wanted to know what I was doing to encourage him to be open to this vocation. My initial response was….to cringe. ...
Fifty years is a lifetime for most people. Fifty years in the same profession is almost incomprehensible in the modern age. Priesthood, however, is not a career. It is a vocation, and one that a priest takes seriously. As a lifelong commitment, it is akin to marriage,...
God is calling your child to be a saint. But how? Which vocation will He lead them to? Teaching your children to listen to God’s call in their lives and uncover how He wants them to love and to serve Him in this world is a great gift. There are a few simple things we...
Did you know that studies consistently show that 70% of the newly ordained first heard the call to the priesthood between birth and 18 years of age? (1) At the risk of stating the obvious, these are the prime educational years for faith formation. Children should...
Summer months allow for seminarians to spend time in parishes and embrace pastoral and apostolic work more readily. Many priests recall lasting, grace-filled lessons, friendships, and memories that began on summer assignments or in home parishes as seminarians.As...
Fr. Ambrose, Director of the Norbertine Father's Novices, has witnessed several young men hear and answer the call to a priestly vocation with the Norbertines. Currently, there are thirty-eight seminarians living at St. Michael's Abbey with two more on the waiting...
Good things are happening somewhere in Middle America: Vocations are booming in Lincoln, Nebraska (and Wichita, KS). It's not a secret in the American Catholic world, though it is somewhat perplexing that more bishops have not looked to imitate certain successful...
In this video posted to the YouTube channel Breaking In The Habit, Br. Casey Cole debunks five commonly held myths most people believe about the shortage of priests. 5 Myths About The Priest Shortage...
A little while ago, TIME magazine published an article about a phenomenon that’s becoming more and more common in the United States: the increasing number of millennial seminarians and priests. Millennials are the generation born between the 80s and mid-90s. They are...
Being a seminarian, I’m surrounded by other seminarians and I’ve heard a variety of vocation stories. What always amazes me is how the Lord calls each man differently to the priesthood. Some felt urged to explore this vocation through promptings from the Holy Spirit,...
In the United States, on Sunday, October 28th, we celebrate Priesthood Sunday. Hopefully, your parish has something planned that will raise awareness of vocations to the priesthood. It is important for young people to begin to open their minds and hearts to the...
While almost anyone knows who Mark Wahlberg is and has seen at least one of his movies, few know about his Catholic faith. While my goal here isn't to present Mr. Wahlber as model (seeing how I don't know him), I think he shares an inspiring message about the...
One of the great joys of being a teacher is watching my students’ growing awareness of who or what they want to become. When they finally voice that decision for ‘engineer’, ‘designer’, ‘university student’, ‘apprentice’, I very often see a mix of composure,...
Saint Augustine, upon arriving at one of the most intense moments of his phenomenal work, The Confessions, once wrote these words to God: "Too late did I love You, O Fairness, so ancient, and yet so new!" Speaking from my own story, perhaps no other phrase summarizes...
