Vocation

[Didymus17]

Just some advice, please.

I am a relatively experienced Catholic, who loves his Apologetics. I am going to be a senior in High School, and the past eight months or so I have been discerning my vocation to the priesthood. Today I had a meeting with the vocations director for my dioceses. While I really would rather like to go to seminary out of high school, he said that I need to have a deeper relationship with Christ before seminary. I have been doing several youth groups and adoration hours a week, liturgy of the hours, as well as a full rosary and a Divine Mercy Chaplet a day. I have been going to (almost) daily mass and weekly reconciliation. I still (almost) agree with him that I focus to much on Apologetics, however. While this may be the proddy in me, I don't think I have a relationship with Christ, and I use logic too much.

In short, Do I need to be worried? If so, how can I have a better relationship with Christ? Should I go to seminary after high school? Wait two years?

[PerfectTiming]

Originally Posted by Didymus17

Just some advice, please.

I am a relatively experienced Catholic, who loves his Apologetics. I am going to be a senior in High School, and the past eight months or so I have been discerning my vocation to the priesthood. Today I had a meeting with the vocations director for my dioceses. While I really would rather like to go to seminary out of high school, he said that I need to have a deeper relationship with Christ before seminary. I have been doing several youth groups and adoration hours a week, liturgy of the hours, as well as a full rosary and a Divine Mercy Chaplet a day. I have been going to (almost) daily mass and weekly reconciliation. I still (almost) agree with him that I focus to much on Apologetics, however. While this may be the proddy in me, I don't think I have a relationship with Christ, and I use logic too much.

In short, Do I need to be worried? If so, how can I have a better relationship with Christ? Should I go to seminary after high school? Wait two years?

Trust what the vocations director says. He is much more experienced than you in these matters. Do you have a spiritual director?

[daisybee]

I don't think you need to be worried, as you're at a period of life which involves a lot of personal growth. It doesn't sound like the vocation director is saying "no;" it sounds like he's saying "wait," perhaps with the view that there will be growth as you wait and discern.

I agree with the previous poster's point about a spiritual director--often they can help someone's personal and spiritual growth. Jesuit retreat centers and Opus Dei are two organizations that come to mind who are known for a dedication to spiritual direction.

I'd be determined if I were you and keep searching; don't necessarily take this as discouragement. It may be a bit of hardship that God permits to test your dedication and perseverance. I've read of many saints who were turned away from communities, or whose entrance into communities was delayed, until they found the one community/place of formation meant for them.

Just curious--why do you identify as "Papist"? I don't know of any Catholics who voluntarily identify as such. That term is normally used as a pejorative by Protestants...

[iloveangels]

Originally Posted by Didymus17

Just some advice, please.

I am a relatively experienced Catholic, who loves his Apologetics. I am going to be a senior in High School, and the past eight months or so I have been discerning my vocation to the priesthood. Today I had a meeting with the vocations director for my dioceses. While I really would rather like to go to seminary out of high school, he said that I need to have a deeper relationship with Christ before seminary. I have been doing several youth groups and adoration hours a week, liturgy of the hours, as well as a full rosary and a Divine Mercy Chaplet a day. I have been going to (almost) daily mass and weekly reconciliation. I still (almost) agree with him that I focus to much on Apologetics, however. While this may be the proddy in me, I don't think I have a relationship with Christ, and I use logic too much.

In short, Do I need to be worried? If so, how can I have a better relationship with Christ? Should I go to seminary after high school? Wait two years?

He's not saying never; he's saying wait and see. This is good advice. Go off to college and mature a bit while you keep going to Church. See where you are in two years.

[pangaious]

Sometimes we do everything that you described and we think that we have a relationship with Christ and we really do not. It all has to be done for the right reasons and not because we think it is the right thing to do and/or because that's what a guy thinking about priesthood supposed to be doing. You have to do it because you want to. Now, I'm not accusing you of doing it for all the wrong reasons; I;m just saying to make sure that you are. If you haven't yet, read a good book on spiritual direction. Sometimes priests are just too busy to provide this and it is not their fault that they can't. Ask your pastor or vocation director to recommned someone and/or make your own search. Maybe it'll take time, but you will find someone eventually and in the mean time read a good book on the subject, like I suggested before.
I remember diescerning a vocation when I was about your age and been told very similar things to what you have been told. You need to get two years of college under your belt and while doing that stay active in your parish - become a eucharistic minister, a reader or anything else that has to do with liturgy and the mass. Other works that do not deal with the mass are beautiful too, but should only be done as an extra that will enhance your involvement in the mass. So, keep on going to daily Mass and stay active in your parish.
Also, most seminarians that made it there right after high school usually have worked with an Order either in a parish or a school. If you went to a catholic high school conducted by a religious Order, you were exposed to their way of life and knew members of that Order and worked with them and later you decide to join that Order. That would have given you what you needed. A guy that worked with members of an Order who conducted a parish as a sacristan or altar boy or any other capacity, also fulfill that requirement. You do not. Those are the only instances in which a guy is accepted in seminary right after high school. I don't know if one that has done the same with parish priests, if that also applies to them.
Finally, when we are young, we just don't know certain things and do not have the experience. The word adolescent, as you might already know, means, lacking of something. You need to acquire more life experience and stay active in your parish and away from sin while doing that. Beleive me, you have time; you're pretty young, some would even say too young. That's just life and it is just reality and there is nothing we can do about it. If you still want to be a priest two years after graduating from high school, that will speak well of your vocation. Concerning, apologetics, that is wonderful that you do it, so do I, but be careful and stay away from heated debates that miss the purpose and miss what you should be doing in the first place. Arguments can easily derail the effectiveness of what you're trying to accomplish.

[Friar David, O.Carm]

Get a spiritual director.