Vocational Course Change: Finding Abraham’s Gift
A change in vocational path, provided it remains on the path of God’s commandments, is never in itself a failure.
Resolved: A Rectory Full of Priests, Forever
Looking through my files, I see that I must have been suffering delusions of grandeur shortly before we came out here to Oregon in 2008. Must have been, since I asked to be put on the agenda to speak at the next meeting of the parish council at a beautiful parish in the far western…
Religious Life or Marriage? Vocational Wisdom from the Parents of Saints
For years, a friend of mine wrestled with his vocation. Should I be a priest? Should I get married? Which one, Lord, are you calling me to? One roadblock stood in his way. Surprisingly, celibacy was not holding him back; rather, it was the Church’s teaching on the superiority of celibacy over marriage. Like my…
On Discerning Vocations: How to Think about “States of Life”
A university student once sent to me the following heartfelt letter. He expresses well the thoughts and feelings of many young Catholic men and women his age, who are open to a vocation from the Lord, but struggle with how to think about the whole matter. In my response, I try to clear away some…
Vatican Specialists: An Attack on Celibacy is Next
Considering the upcoming 2018 Youth Synod, as well as the 2019 Pan-Amazonian Synod, we may now learn more from two Vatican specialists who predict that the real theme of these synods will be priestly celibacy, and its step-by-step process of attenuation. The two journalists – Edward Pentin and Julius Müller-Meiningen – have quite different backgrounds,…
Bold and Terrible Commerce: A Meditation on Why to Become a Priest
Photo credit: Paweł Kula Editor’s note: This article is Part I of a two-part series. For Part II, click here. Author’s note: This article dwells particularly on the vocation to the priestly life. For the most part, the things said about the priesthood are also applicable to the religious life in general. Also, even though about…
Fr. Willie Doyle: The Jesuit Called to the Battlefront in World War I
Editor’s note: The following comes from Genevieve Rose Kwasniewski, a homeschooled high school student who enjoys reading the lives of the saints, composing music, and playing the organ at her local traditional Latin Mass. I want you to know what I went through by volunteering for the Front. God made me feel with absolute certainty…
Nonverbal Interaction: Another Take on Why Women Can’t Be Priests
Editor’s note: The following is an essay from Dr. Gintautas Vaitoska, lecturer for psychology and religion at the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria. He has taught at Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University and St. Joseph Seminary, Vilnius, Lithuania, and has done extensive work with pre-Cana programs, marriage counseling, and chastity education. Nonverbal communication has always been…
How the Latin Mass Helped Me Discern My Vocation
Image: Interior of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Roanoke, Virginia. When I was a teenager, and when it came to considering the state of life to which God was calling me, I had strong, gripping hopes and dreams for what I wanted to do – but an even stronger, more gripping fear of letting my…
Late and Lost Vocations: the Extinction of “Traditional” Nuns
Hands up everyone who is a) a woman, b) single, between the ages of 40 and 50 and c) believed she had a vocation to religious life from her earliest memory. Come on, get ‘em up… you know who you are. What happened? Was it something like this? Reaching the age bracket, about 22-35, you…