Vocation Story

I first began to consider a vocation to the priesthood after I received the sacrament of confirmation my junior year of high school. At the time I had sent off for some vocations literature, but decided to put off any decision until after I graduated from college. This is not something I recommend doing since a vocation to the priesthood is a precious gift from God and should be nurtured and not set aside.

During my time in undergraduate studies, I continued to discern if I had a vocation to the priesthood. I would consider it off and on, sometimes for a longer amount of time than others. I read more vocations literature and visited numerous vocations Web sites. Upon graduating from Loyola, I went on to graduate studies in Theology at the University of Notre Dame, with the eventual intention of getting a Ph.D. and then teaching at a university.

It was at Notre Dame (Go Irish!) that my faith deepened greatly. My friends from Notre Dame are very devout Catholics, and it was this Catholic atmosphere that encouraged me in pursuing a vocation in the priesthood. I began to realize (and admit to myself) that being a professor was not very fulfilling to me; it seemed like a façade to me with an emptiness behind it. Only when considering a vocation in the priesthood did I not sense this “façade” but rather completeness. This reoccurring desire to be a priest as well as the sense of fulfillment I had when I thought of what my life would be like as a priest led me to believe I was being called to the priesthood.

While at Notre Dame, I was approached several times by people either asking me if I had considered a vocation in the priesthood or if I was a priest. People told me that they saw something in me that made them think of a priest. Despite all these comments, I was still hesitant because I did not think I had all the skills necessary to be a priest. However, I read somewhere that God does not call the enabled but He enables the called. This can be seen in examples from Sacred Scripture such as Moses, who did not think he was an adequate public speaker, and Peter, who said, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Through this I realized that candidates for the priesthood are not expected to have all the skills necessary to be a priest; it is in seminary and in their priestly ministries that they are formed to have these skills. Therefore, with the encouragement of my spiritual director, I decided to contact Fr. Aaron, the vocations director, and start the application process to be affiliated with the Diocese of Rockford.