The last post I put up was about community life and one thing that I intentionally left off was community prayer. Prayer was the most important thing that we did as a community; its the glue that holds the community together and without it, living together really didn’t make much sense. The heart of our day is our meetings in the chapel. We met every morning at 6:45 for Mass and Morning Prayer and in the evening for Evening Prayer and three times a week we had a Holy Hour in the Evening. Meeting twice … Continue reading →

Last week was the annual retreat for all seminarians in pre-Theology I through II Theology.  In the past we have gone up to the Spiritual Center of Maria Stein, but this year our retreat was at Bergamo Center in Dayton.  Our retreat director was Fr. Nathan Cromly of the Community of St. John, a contemplative order.  He recently launched a website, Marian Faith Network, to promote consecration to Mary.  Needless to say, his spiritual conferences were infused with Biblical material from St. John, devotion to Mary, and contemplative life. One of the highlights (for me, … Continue reading →

This past weekend I attended a friend’s wedding in another diocese. Allowing extra travel time for potential construction delays and traffic, but encountering neither, I arrived at the church a bit early. Being a seminarian, I of course took the time to snoop around a bit, critiquing the architecture, artwork, etc. And, like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to the diocesan seminary poster in the vestibule. Looking over the photos and parishes of each guy in formation, I noticed that five of them came from the same parish. Granted, they’re all at … Continue reading →

So, now that I am on summer break, I’ve had some time to reflect on my first year in seminary. Mostly, I’ve been trying to figure out why God is calling me to the diocesan priesthood. I’m fairly certain it is my vocation (though obviously that remains a mutual discernment with the Church via the seminary formation team until ordination). However, my gut tells me the diocesan priesthood is the path God wants me to walk. When I began seriously discerning a call to priesthood, the diocesan seminary was low on my list–and when I … Continue reading →