When I mentioned this thesis to my classmate, he deemed it “peculiar.” I had to apologize after shouting, “My thesis isn’t peculiar, what’s going on is peculiar!” My thesis is that direct, monetary payment to a spiritual director from his/he … [Read more...]
Discerning a Call to Priesthood? Some questions you should be asking yourself.
October 13, 2016 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
As Catholic seminaries across the country commence a new academic year and re-engage in the crucial work of priestly formation, so too a throng of young Catholic men—some finishing high school, some in college, some into the first years of a … [Read more...]
Homosexuality and Vocational Discernment and Choice
A Call for Evidence-Based, Astute Priestly Discernment in a Framework of Overall Moral Character Development
August 11, 2014 by Fr. Paul Anthony McGavin
A seminary that is on-going in the cultivation and the learning of the skills of virtue as an expression of life-in-Christ, and as lived testimony to the Gospel, will be a seminary that is prepared to discern, and to equip, young men for a … [Read more...]
Searching for Clarity in Vocational Discernment
March 24, 2014 by Fr. Bryce Sibley
... The call of the Lord usually comes to us in a more subtle and indirect manner ... left up to us, with the assistance of divine grace, to discern whether we are being called to the priesthood or consecrated life. Christ calling Peter … [Read more...]
God and Caesar
November 20, 2013 by Fr. James Swetnam, SJ
In the Catholic view, the religious sphere is based on the virtue of faith. This faith is a gift of God ... In contrast, according to this Catholic view, the civil sphere is based on experience illumined by faith. That is to say, it is … [Read more...]
Discernment and Communion
June 6, 2013 by Fr. Bryce Sibley
If young people want to properly discern a vocation, they need an expert to help guide them. In the Church of San Luigi Dei Francesi in Rome, there are the three famous paintings of the life of St. Matthew by the great Baroque artist … [Read more...]
Chosen from Among Men
In Processu
January 1, 2012 by Msgr. Michael A. Osborn
When a bride makes thoughtful consideration of the necessary qualities to be found in her bridegroom, it surprises no one that she would look for a certain depth of heart in the relationship, an ability to properly perceive the difficulties … [Read more...]
Razing the bastions, yet again
Be confident, bold and loving, for Christ has won!
June 1, 2011 by David Vincent Meconi
In his 1952 Razing the Bastions (Schleifung der Bastionen) Hans Urs von Balthasar challenged the Church to replace any posturing of fear with a more world-friendly embrace.[1. Han Urs von Balthasar, Razing the Bastions, trans., Brian McNeil … [Read more...]
The will of God
Editorial, May 2011
May 1, 2011 by Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ
Over the years, in reading the lives of the saints, I have noted that they have tried to find God’s will in their lives. When they found it, they did all they could to follow it. There are many different paths to holiness—to which we are all … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
March 2011
March 1, 2011 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Priest altering the text of the Mass Question: I am a priest and very troubled by some of the mistranslations in the English edition of the Sacramentary, for example, “When he humbled himself to come among us as a man” in Advent Preface I. … [Read more...]
The ingredient for priestly vocations
In order to fulfill their ideals and challenges, young people are in desperate need of priestly inspiration.
May 1, 2009 by Fr. Jacek Stefanski
It is truly uplifting to read about the great number of people who are received into full communion in the Roman Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in so many parishes across the United States. This gives the Church a reason to rejoice and … [Read more...]
St. Paul and St. Ignatius on Retreat
SPIRITUAL EXERCISES BASED ON PAUL’S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. By Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49502 [2004]), 235 pp. PB $20.00.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Most priests and religious make a retreat of some days each year, often eight. Those in the Jesuit tradition follow the lead of the Exercises of St. Ignatius. Every retreatant likes to spend considerable time during these days with … [Read more...]
Dynamics of the Exercises
LIKE THE LIGHTNING. The Dynamics of the Ignatian Exercises. By David L. Fleming, S.J. (The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 3601 Lindell Blvd., Saint Louis, MO 63108, 2004), xv + 191. PB $18.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
In his introduction Father David Fleming tells his readers: “I do not intend to write a commentary on the Exercises…I am not writing a ‘how to’ book…I hope rather to reflect on the Exercises as a unit in their integral makeup and in their ov … [Read more...]
Priests and the Importance of Fatherhood
Priests are not just "hosts" to the parish community; they are really fathers and consequently the heads of their parish families.
December 1, 2008 by Prof. Paul C. Vitz
Many thoughtful people today recognize that the United States—and indeed much of Western society—is in a cultural crisis. It takes little reflection to note that this crisis is centered in the family. The increase in divorce, the decrease in … [Read more...]
Pornography, Electronic Media and Priestly Formation
The fundamental safeguard against sin and temptation is a deep and abiding relationship with God that is rooted in love.
April 1, 2008 by Sr. Marysia Weber, RSM
Pornography and electronic media have had a profound impact on American society, which includes the lives of priests and seminarians in the American Church. As a psychiatrist working with a team of physicians and therapists in a medical … [Read more...]
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