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Priesthood: A Rich Life in a Secularized World

Knowing the challenges that Monsignor Marc Caron faced when he was assigned to be pastor of Prince of Peace Parish in 2008, people said to him, “Poor you, poor you.”

“Don’t say that,” replied the Catholic University alumnus who lives in Lewiston, Maine. “I feel very blessed to be a priest here and at this time. I enjoy what I do.”

“You look happy,” they told him in response. “But we don’t believe it.”

A year after the exchanges between the pastor and his parishioners took place, this man who has been a priest for 20 years remains puzzled over people’s assumption that he is not happy.

Monsignor Caron, 46, was assigned to consolidate five churches in Maine’s second largest city — including the parish he grew up in — into one parish community, in response to a declining population and fewer priests.

“We’re facing very difficult circumstances,” he acknowledges.

But — and this seems to surprise everyone but him — he is happy. “I feel great satisfaction doing what I do as the spiritual leader of the community.”

He is not alone in being happy in the priesthood. As a group, Catholic priests are highly satisfied in their career choice.

In a new survey of more than 2,400 priests by Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, a psychologist and author, more than 90 percent of respondents said they were happy.

“I think one of the best-kept secrets in the Church today is how satisfying the wonderful life of a priest is,” says Monsignor Rossetti, a 1982 and 1984 Catholic University alumnus who will join CUA’s faculty in January to teach courses in pastoral theology and pastoral counseling. His survey was sent to diocesan and religious-order priests who minister in 23 U.S. dioceses.

In explaining priests’ satisfaction with their work, Monsignor Caron says, “I presume it’s because we have had to make a choice, and we consistently have to make a choice each day about how we are going to spend our life. We have a unique role in the Church and in society, and it’s a great privilege.”

Monsignors Caron and Rossetti are two of the thousands of priests whose formation or education took place at Catholic University. They and six other priest alumni of CUA talked about their lives and work for this article written on the occasion of the Year for Priests declared by Pope Benedict XVI.

Rev. Dan Ruff, S.J., made a choice when he accepted the role of pastor of the 1,700-member Old St. Joseph’s Church, the oldest parish in Philadelphia, after serving as the director of campus ministry at Loyola College in Maryland.

In late summer, parishioners and friends asked him how he felt as his first year as pastor came to an end. The answer was simple: “I think I have the best job in the world.”

To Father Ruff, the priesthood is an appealing “people profession.” “I’d like to think most of us became priests because we felt that there was need and there was pain and there was struggle and there was hope around us, and that maybe in some way we could help people see that the Gospel was the answer.”

Some might view the life of a priest as hurdles to overcome, frustrations to face or uncomfortable situations to conquer. “People stress the negative,” laments Rev. Joe Carroll, president of Father Joe’s Villages, which provides housing, food and social services to the poor in San Diego and Indio, Calif. “If you love what you’re doing, you love Christ, you love the Church, you love your people, what could be greater than that?”

Rev. Michael Renninger, Bachelor of Sacred Theology 1989 and Licentiate of Sacred Theology 1993.

Most men who are priests live a life that fits them perfectly, observes Rev. Michael Renninger, 46, vicar for vocations for the Diocese of Richmond, Va. “Success in life,” he says of priests, “is defined by how they assist and have an impact on other people.”

“There are blessings in every day,” Rev. Kyle Ingels, 32, chaplain at the University of Maryland, says of his work. “It’s a beautiful life.”

But that beautiful life is not without challenges.

The high degree of satisfaction comes in spite of priests working extremely hard, many of them on call 24 hours a day. “This isn’t saying Mass and you’re done for the day,” says Rev. William Saunders, pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Potomac Falls, Va. “It’s about serving God’s people.”

Beyond the spiritual demands of celebrating Mass and providing the sacraments, Monsignor Caron notes, is “great unpredictability arising from need: This person is dying. This person is without food. This roof is leaking.”

“It’s like running a family, really,” Father Saunders, 52, says of being a parish priest. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

The pace of life as a college chaplain is like being on a runaway train, says Father Ingels. “There’s never a day that’s the same as the day before. You jump on the train and do the best you can.”

Monsignor Marc Caron, Bachelor of Sacred Theology 1989 and Licentiate of Sacred Theology 1997.
Photo: Jason McKibben

In places such as Father Renninger’s Diocese of Richmond, the number of Catholics is growing because of immigration and migration. In other places, such as Monsignor Caron’s diocese in Maine and other dioceses in the Northeast and Midwest, the Catholic population is aging and declining.

No matter whether there are more or fewer Catholics in a location, there is more work for priests. Since 1965, the number of priests in the United States has declined 31 percent. They are expected to work longer than ever, often to age 75, before retiring.

People “will start a sentence by saying, ‘I know how busy you are, but…,’” Father Renninger says. “I have made a determination to try not to let people ever hear me say ‘I’m really busy’ because the subtle signal that sends is ‘I’m too busy for you.’ ”

At the same time, priests say, more of their duties are becoming administrative in nature, partly because there are fewer priests to manage parishes and organizations. “We’re more and more expected to be oriented toward what is expected in general society in terms of human resources, financial management and other responsibilities,” says Rev. Frank Donio, S.A.C., vicar provincial and director of formation for the Immaculate Conception Province of the Pallottine order in West Hyattsville, Md.

Washington, D.C.’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate reported in 2002 that parish priests spend about 16 percent of their time on administrative and supervisory tasks, and, not surprisingly, most priests would prefer to devote less time to them.

That is an everyday reality for Father Carroll, who oversees a California charity with a $43 million annual budget and 600 employees. “When I go into the office in the morning, I’m trying to get blankets, and I’m trying to get shirts,” says the priest whose programs clothe, feed, house or train 4,200 people a day. “There are a lot of secular issues,” says Father Carroll. And he should know: his organization completed $100 million in construction projects this year. “But even if you look at Jesus, the first person he appointed was the treasurer.”

Since taking over five Lewiston churches in September 2008, Monsignor Caron has led his community in making difficult decisions. Late this summer, he followed the recommendation of a parish task force and asked his diocese for permission to sell two of the churches and their rectories.

“The priest teaches, governs and sanctifies. The way I see it right now, I’m doing a lot of governing, and I am doing quite a bit of sanctifying,” says the monsignor, whose parish conducts 400 funerals, 120 baptisms and 20 weddings a year. As for teaching, he has talked with his two assistant priests about finding ways to ensure that this role he cherishes isn’t getting lost amid other demands.

Rev. William Saunders, Ph.D. (in education administration) 1992.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was presented to Father Saunders in 2000, when he was named founding pastor of a parish in a suburb of Washington, D.C. In January 2006, Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church and an adjoining elementary school were dedicated, but not before Father Saunders raised money, dealt with zoning issues, coordinated a temporary location, and built and furnished the $17.5 million complex. He also hired a principal and teachers, developed a curriculum and selected textbooks for the school that now serves 215 students.

Thanks to an undergraduate accounting degree, a Ph.D. in education administration from CUA, and previous parish experience, Father Saunders believes he has the skills to meet the financial, administrative and spiritual demands required of him. He also credits the help of his parish staff of seven and 200 enthusiastic volunteers.

But even a dedicated staff and talented volunteers can tax a priest’s skills.

Fifty years ago, Catholic schools were managed by communities of nuns. With the number of women religious in decline, the responsibility for hiring, managing and coaching the lay administrators of Catholic schools has fallen to the pastors. And for a church to run effectively today, it needs well-qualified bookkeepers, facilities managers, secretaries, youth ministers, directors of liturgy and music, and others. They, too, need to be managed.

Rev. Frank Donio, S.A.C., B.A. (in history) 1989 and M.A. (in Church history) 1993.

“Good collaboration skills are one of the key things that a priest needs today — the ability to recognize the gifts and talents of people around him,” says Father Donio, 43, who in addition to his full-time role with the Pallottine order is a CUA doctoral student and chaplain of CUA’s Alumni Association and Knights of Columbus chapter.

Although the Second Vatican Council encouraged greater involvement of laity in the Church, lay volunteers still want their priests to participate actively in committees and organizations, which adds demands to already busy days. Father Carroll laughs as he remembers his first parish in California, which he says “had 101 organizations, and they all expected Father to show up” at their hours-long meetings.

To understand the variety of interpersonal experiences a modern-day priest may juggle, consider Father Renninger’s earlier assignment in Newport News, Va., where he simultaneously served a growing suburban parish, a diverse inner-city parish and a monastery of cloistered nuns. “It’s a wildly diverse day,” he says of being a parish priest, “interacting with everybody from infants to senior citizens in the broad sweep of human experience.”

Individual parishes that were once monolithic are now communities made up of smaller communities, each with different expectations. A Sunday at Monsignor Caron’s parish in Maine means nine Masses in English, one in Spanish, one in French and one in Latin. It’s a sign of what parish life is like in the United States — increasingly diverse, thanks in part to the growth in the Spanish-speaking population.

The role of a priest is “to unite all these people in Christ,” says Father Renninger, the Richmond vicar for vocations.

That’s not always an easy task, especially because many priests joined the seminary expecting to be priests like the ones they knew growing up — men at the center of a more homogeneous Catholic constituency.

Today, most of what priests stand for — the presence of God, the forgiveness of sin, eternal life, an absolute moral code, and a focus on people, not things — is counter-cultural, Monsignor Caron believes. “A priest is a religious symbol in a world that more and more lives as if it doesn’t need religion,” he says.

As a result, he and other priests in Maine now take an evangelizing approach when communicating to their communities, designing adult education programs and planning parish events. “You’re constantly fighting the prevailing attitude that religion is irrelevant,” he explains.

Father Ruff, 56, the Jesuit from Philadelphia, has concluded that he is co-opted by contemporary culture like anyone else, a theme that he turns to regularly in his preaching and writing.

“My underlying message to people, including myself, is that if the Gospel seems hard to live, it probably is,” he says.

Though the good news may be hard to live out, and secular society may appreciate it less and less, serving the Lord and his flock does bring joy and a sense of accomplishment. “While priests work themselves extremely hard, they feel they are making a difference,” says Monsignor Rossetti, referring to his survey results. “They’re busy, but they’re getting emotional support from their parishioners, from other priests and from their personal relationship with God.”

Every day, priests are invited into intimate parts of people’s lives, which often surprises and pleases them.

Father Carroll was a parish priest for eight years before being asked by his bishop to take over services for the homeless. He describes the experiences of a parish priest this way: “In your lifetime, you celebrate marriage once. I celebrate it every week. You celebrate your kid’s baptism once. I celebrate it every week. I hold people’s hands at the great moment of death. The moments you’ll remember the most, the priest has almost every day.”

“Complete strangers will give you full access to their life,” Monsignor Caron says. “You see that at the hospital when people are dying; you see that with people in crisis. At one level, there is an immediate relationship. I know it’s not me personally; it’s the office of the priest. And that is always remarkable to me.”

Some of the most powerful moments are when people are at their lowest, Father Ingels says. He felt that way ministering to the University of Maryland community after a student’s suicide. “I felt very blessed to be in a position to hopefully provide comfort through God to these people who were grieving,” he recalls.

Shortly after taking on the pastor role in Philadelphia, Father Ruff ministered to a family whose 11-day-old girl died. He admits that he doesn’t have all the answers in such difficult situations. “What I can do is try to walk with you and support you and assure you of the support of your faith community,” he says.

Working with people at intimate times can take a toll on a priest who opens himself up to sorrow and grief. But that’s what makes life rich, contends Monsignor Caron.

The richness of their lives and their many connections to people tend to keep priests from being lonely, even though they don’t have a spouse or children.

“I’m dealing with real-life stuff all day long,” Father Renninger says. “If I’m lonely as a diocesan priest, it’s my fault.”

Father Saunders of the 1,600-family Potomac Falls parish believes that if a priest feels lonely he isn’t working hard enough. “That doesn’t mean you have to be a workaholic,” he says. “But are you really doing what you need to do for God’s people?”

Priests often are surrounded by people, and Father Carroll says he likes to joke that he lives alone but he’s not lonely. He attends every wedding reception he is invited to, and he frequently goes out to dinner with people from San Diego-area communities he serves. For a priest, community is family, he says.

A priest can’t be living well, however, without working on his relationship with God, according to Monsignor Rossetti. “The Lord,” he says, “is really your best friend.” In Monsignor Rossetti’s survey, 93 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “I feel a sense of closeness to God.”

A healthy prayer life and generous service are part of a balanced life valued by Father Renninger, a runner and musician. “When life gets out of balance, that’s when trouble can begin,” he explains.

To contribute to his own sense of balance, Father Saunders grows roses and bonsai trees and exercises regularly. Father Carroll plays bridge and, at age 68, still camps with Boy Scouts as their chaplain.

Tokens of thanks from parishioners — stuffed animals, including elephants of all sizes and colors — sit atop the desk and table in Father Saunders’ Northern Virginia office, yet he hopes for another kind of appreciation. “Some people have taken us for granted in that they think, ‘There always will be priests.’ Well, there might not be.”

As a director of vocations, Father Renninger often hears men say that they worry about what their friends and family are going to think if they enter the seminary — a worry far greater than any concern about celibacy. “Most of the seminarians I work with are in the seminary despite the fact that their families raised strong objections,” he says.

Rev. Kyle Ingels, B.A. (in politics) 1999.

Father Ingels’ experience at CUA and the positive reactions of others helped him decide to become a priest. But the Maryland university chaplain acknowledges the resistance of family and friends that others run up against. “People just see the challenge in the priesthood; they don’t see the joy in it,” he says.

Father Saunders takes that thought even further: “If lay people could really appreciate what we do and appreciate that this is a very fulfilling life, we wouldn’t have a vocations crisis.”

What first attracted Father Renninger to the priesthood was the happiness he saw in the three priests serving his home parish in Pottstown, Pa. “That came across in the way that they dealt with people with compassion, openness, approachability and a good sense of humor,” he says. “I could also tell they were making an impact on people’s lives.” Now he tries to live by their example.

Happiness has stayed with Father Carroll, a native of the Bronx who was ordained in 1974. The priesthood still is the “greatest life in the world, far and away,” he says.

In the end, he would like his epitaph to say, “He was a good priest.”

“Not a great one,” he says, “but a good one. That’s enough for me.”

CUA degrees of others interviewed for this article:
• Rev. Joe Carroll, Bachelor of Sacred Theology 1973
• Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, M.A. (in theology) 1982 and Doctor of Ministry 1984
• Rev. Dan Ruff, S.J., Ph.D. (in theology and religious studies) 1999

Year for Priests

June 19, 2009–June 19, 2010

A one-of-a-kind academic and pastoral symposium drew about 300 priests, seminarians and students of theology to Catholic University on Oct. 6 and 7.

This year, on Aug. 4, the feast day of St. John Vianney, the new bishop of Allentown, Pa., wrote a letter to the priests of his diocese. In it, Bishop John Barres, a 1989 CUA alumnus, encouraged priests to follow the example set by the saint being honored that day.

Among the priests receiving Bishop Barres’ letter was Rev. Gerard Schubert, O.S.F.S., another CUA alumnus. St. John Vianney “was a priest for all seasons, as our new bishop calls him, a priest for all ages,” says Father Schubert, founder of the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa.

St. John Vianney spent more than 40 years as a parish priest in the remote hamlet of Ars, France. His humble ministry in the early 1800s drew thousands of visitors who sought the priest’s counsel and kept him listening to confessions up to 16 hours a day.

“So what do I have to do?” Father Schubert reflects. “I have to examine myself and look to what I’ve been doing.

“That’s what the Year for Priests means to me,” he says, “to become a better priest.”

Pope Benedict XVI has designated the 12 months from June 19, 2009, to June 19, 2010, as the Year for Priests, commemorated in the name of “all those priests who quietly present Christ’s words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world.” The Pope chose this year because it is the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests.

Announced by the Pope last spring, the Year for Priests is intended to highlight the importance of the role of the priest in the Church and in society. With “Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests” as its theme, the year is also intended to encourage the world’s 408,000 Catholic priests to deepen their spiritual life.

In recent history, popes have used letters, constitutions and homilies to address the priesthood, says Very Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., president of Catholic University. “But I do not recall an entire year ever being set aside and dedicated to priests.

“Let’s face it,” Father O’Connell adds, “the past several years have been very difficult for the faithful of the Church — especially in our own country — because of the actions of a few of her priests. It has been especially demoralizing and hard on priests who have been faithful and zealous in their priestly ministry.

“Pope Benedict XVI has addressed this often and even recognized it in his letter inaugurating this special Year for Priests, calling for a ‘joyful and renewed realization of the greatness of God’s gift’ of priesthood. This year is very important, and I hope that it will be a turning point in our recent experience in the Church.”

To mark the year, CUA created a Web site, http://yearforpriests.cua.edu, that includes multimedia slideshows featuring the personal stories of clergy who are graduates of CUA. The university also hosted an Oct. 6–7 symposium celebrating the Year for Priests that attracted about 300 participants.

Titled “Ministerial Priesthood in the Third Millennium,” the symposium featured a distinguished roster of speakers, including members of the CUA faculty and of the Society of St. Sulpice, the community of diocesan priests that oversees the formation of seminarians at Theological College, CUA’s national seminary. Co-sponsored by the college and CUA’s School of Theology and Religious Studies, the meeting is believed to be the only U.S. academic and pastoral symposium to mark the Year for Priests.

Catholic University has played a special role in the formation and education of thousands of priests. “For us,” Father O’Connell says, “this Year for Priests is one more special opportunity to celebrate a part of our unique history and heritage.

“At the same time,” he adds, “it provides an invitation to all our faculty and students — clergy and laity alike — to join hearts and minds and hands together ‘in service to the Church and nation,’ as our university mission statement suggests.

“St. John Vianney often referred to the priesthood as ‘the love of the heart of Jesus.’ That, truly, is something we all need, especially priests, and something we are all called to share, especially priests.” — K.K.

‘Something Magical Happens’: Preparing for the Priesthood at CUA’s Theological College

During a visit to a Louisiana hospital, seminarian Jared Suire was introduced to a family whose mother was dying. On the spur of the moment, he conducted a prayer service with the family and then returned another day to pray the rosary at the woman’s bedside.

The next week, he assisted with the woman’s funeral.

In addition to expressing their appreciation for his support, the family shared with Suire intimate memories of their mother. “It was a really great experience for me,” he says. “You feel such a deep connection.”

Being with people at important times of their lives, Suire says, reaffirms his decision to enter the seminary.

Suire is among 72 men preparing for the priesthood at Theological College, the national seminary of Catholic University. Operated by the Society of St. Sulpice, an international community whose mission is to educate priests, Theological College has contributed to the development of more than 1,500 priests, including 45 bishops and four cardinals, since 1917.

Theological College works closely with Catholic University’s School of Philosophy and School of Theology and Religious Studies. Since 1940, CUA has been responsible for the education of seminarians while the Sulpician fathers oversee the men’s spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation through relationships of advising and spiritual direction.

“Given Theological College’s relationship to Catholic University, its location in the nation’s capital and proximity to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, there isn’t anything like this in the country in terms of the excellence of the educational opportunities,” says Rev. Melvin C. Blanchette, rector of Theological College.

After their seminary studies — up to eight years, depending upon their prior education — the men become diocesan priests.

The current students at Theological College come from 38 dioceses in 20 states and from four other countries. In addition to geographic diversity, a range of backgrounds, ages and ethnicities is represented in the men living at the seminary on Michigan Avenue. They all share one thing, however — a devotion to God. “These men are deeply spiritual, highly educated, well motivated and invested in what they want to do with their lives,” Father Blanchette says.

“They do push you at Catholic University, without a question,” says Lenny Andrie, 32, a seminarian from South St. Paul, Minn., with an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and graduate degrees from the University of St. Thomas and the College of William and Mary. “They don’t give you all the answers. They really make you think.”

For Hugo Londono, 29, the formation experience at Theological College has been holistic — academic and spiritual — which he says he finds important for a priest during this time of the Church in America. “Theological College is very good at training not just a scholar priest, but also a human priest,” says the seminarian, who was born and raised in Yolombó, Colombia.

He says he finds encouragement in the examples set by his fellow seminarians. “Just living with them gives me more courage to say, ‘Yes, yes, yes. This is for me.’ ”

“In some way, shape or form, the Lord has touched them,” Andrie says of his fellow seminarians. “When you bring these guys together, something magical happens.”

Vibrant is how Suire describes Theological College. “There’s a lot of humor in the house,” he says, “a lot of joking, a lot of wit.”

Twenty-seven new seminarians entered Theological College this fall, joining Suire, Andrie, Londono and 41 other seminarians. The contingent of new seminarians is the largest in at least six years, consistent with a trend identified by Washington, D.C.’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which has reported that enrollment at graduate-level seminaries was up by 2 percent in 2008.

Rev. Frank Donio, S.A.C., a CUA doctoral student and chaplain of the university’s Knights of Columbus student chapter, says there has been more interest in vocations among CUA students in recent years. “They’ve grown up in a world that can change in an instant,” he says of today’s college students, who were in elementary or middle school during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. “Many of the students that I see are looking for lasting values. They would like to give of themselves.”

Andrie’s path to the seminary began with a volunteer experience while he was working in a financial-services job. As a parish volunteer, he enjoyed teaching children about their faith. That led him to change careers and become a math and science teacher. He then began considering a call to the priesthood. “The two years that I taught, it was on my mind every day,” he recalls. The hardest part of the decision, he adds, was taking the step to talk to a diocesan vocations director.

Men apply to Theological College through their diocese and complete an extensive application that requires writing an autobiography, filling out a seven-page questionnaire, undergoing psychological testing and a security check, and participating in an interview with Father Blanchette and another member of the college’s five-person formation faculty. To be admitted, men must be accepted to both Theological College and CUA’s philosophy or theology school.

After the rigorous process, not every applicant is admitted. Seven men who applied for admission this fall were rejected.

Once Andrie heard he was accepted, he says, “It was pretty amazing. A peace comes over you, and then saying ‘Yes’ gets a little bit easier.”

Suire, 30, said yes to the seminary after much thought and an experience during a July 1, 2004, Mass. “I felt at that moment someone was praying for me,” he remembers. Thumbing through a missalette, he realized that it was the feast day of Blessed Junipero Serra, patron of religious vocations. “That was my cue from God to quit my job and join the seminary.”

Growing up in predominately Catholic Colombia, Londono “played Mass” with his siblings as a child, was involved in youth ministry and sang at church. It seemed natural to attend a seminary after high school. His involvement with the Priests of the Sacred Heart brought him to Wisconsin.

A pastoral year assisting at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee proved to Londono that he would be happy as a parish priest, he says. He ministered at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee this past summer, and his ordination as a deacon is planned for April.

Determining whether the priesthood is right for them is a process that continues until men’s last days at the seminary, Father Blanchette says. Some decide that the priesthood is not for them. “When a guy decides to leave [the seminary],” Andrie says, “you naturally begin to wonder, Is this the right decision for me?” But, he adds, “Each of us has our own journey to walk. While we are called as a community, we each are called individually.”

Suire of Abbeville, La., passed a milestone in June, when he was ordained a deacon. This past summer, he assisted at a small Louisiana parish, where giving homilies that aim to captivate and motivate was an outlet for his creativity. He will be ordained a priest next June 5.

Andrie, in his second year of theological studies, spent the summer assisting one of two priests responsible for a four-parish cluster in Portsmouth, Va. A demanding schedule and constant interaction with people was challenging for this seminarian who draws strength from time alone in prayer. But he was energized by the goodness he saw in people.

“You will get back one-hundred-fold of what you give,” he says. “It’s striking how much people love their priest.” — K.K.

Hearing God’s Voice and Saying Yes to the Seminary

I attribute my decision to study for the priesthood in part to the intercession of Blessed Junipero Serra (1713–1784). Father Serra was a Franciscan missionary, who is largely responsible for colonizing California and establishing many missions there. Through these missions, approximately 5,000 Native Americans were converted to Christianity. Father Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987. Today, Blessed Serra is the patron of the Serra Club, an organization that supports and encourages priestly vocations.

My personal encounter with Blessed Serra occurred on July 1, 2004, at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Lafayette, La. I was attending Mass, and before the liturgy started I was flipping through the missalette. I saw that it was the memorial of Junipero Serra. I had not heard this name before, and I was intrigued to learn more about this person. I began to feel more and more excited about the idea of pursuing a religious vocation. I knew someone was praying for me. (This feeling had happened to me before, during a Mass for World Day of Prayer for Vocations.)

I began to look around the congregation, but recognized no one. The inward excitement of God’s call continued throughout Mass. During his homily, the priest spoke of the life of Blessed Serra and his intercession for priestly vocations. I had been debating the decision to enter the seminary for months, and I knew this was God’s way of affirming my decision to study for the priesthood. God was speaking to me through Blessed Serra.

Our church community celebrated Blessed Serra’s feast day on July 1st. Every other year the gospel reading for the feast recounts the call of Matthew (Mt 9:9-13). Jesus said, “Follow me” and scripture says, “And he got up and followed him.” It is that simple! St. Matthew did not know all the details of what Jesus would require of him, but he responded out of faith.

Most of us are not 100 percent sure whether God is prompting us to action. I know I’m not, and I think God doesn’t want us to be. He does not want to take away our free will — our ability to choose to act out of faith or not. Jesus continues to call each of us to follow him. As we listen, we hear God revealing His purpose for us. We will not find true fulfillment in life unless we follow God’s plan — a plan that requires faith and action.

May we listen to and follow God’s call for us.

Jared G. Suire of Abbeville, La., is a seminarian at Theological College, Catholic University’s national seminary.