Article :from Prospect To Priest

[TheresaThoma]

A Dominican Friar friend posted this to Facebook recently. I thought you all might enjoy it as well, it is really well written.
[url="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/from-prospect-to-priest--grant-desme-leaves-the-a-s--becomes-a-monk-and-tries-to-find-his-peace.html"]http://sports.yahoo.com/news/from-prospect-to-priest--grant-desme-leaves-the-a-s--becomes-a-monk-and-tries-to-find-his-peace.html[/url]
There were a couple of points in there that I found really resonated with me.
The first was on the issue of the child abuse scandals (I know most of us at some point will face this question "How can you give your life to the Church, the Church is full of and protects child molesters!!")
[quote][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]He believed in the Catholic Church, in its virtues and its mission. He couldn't explain away the child-molestation scandals that devastated the church's reputation, and that of the Norbertines, who for decades declined to report serial abuser Brendan Smyth, the most notorious pedophile in [/font][/color][url="http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/london-2012/ireland/"]Ireland[/url][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]. He recognized that as the country's opinion on homosexuality and gay marriage evolved, the church would be prone to criticism about an unwillingness to adapt. He would need to own religion when so much of the world snarked at it. The Catholic Church in which Grant Desme believes stands for good. God needs priests to resurrect the church's standing and lead people to heaven, to counsel the troubled and bring peace to the sick, to understand the supernatural for those who can't.[/font][/color][/quote]

The second was giving up a promising career to enter religious life. I know a few of us, myself included feel very conflicted about leaving behind a potentially very successful career.
[quote][color=#000000][font=Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]It was easy to look at Grant Desme and think he was crazy, for leaving behind the sport, the riches, the lifestyle, the family, the wife, the kids, the spoils of the bubble in which athletes live, giving that up for the same day, every day, forever. He needed to trust. God hadn't spoken to him, not one-on-one. He doesn't call like that. It's more an emptiness that only something bigger can fulfill, even if that something still has questions.[/font][/color][/quote]

[MarisStella]

You beat me to it!

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='TheresaThoma' timestamp='1348902110' post='2487933']
A Dominican Friar friend posted this to Facebook recently. I thought you all might enjoy it as well, it is really well written.
[url="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/from-prospect-to-priest--grant-desme-leaves-the-a-s--becomes-a-monk-and-tries-to-find-his-peace.html"]http://sports.yahoo....-his-peace.html[/url]
There were a couple of points in there that I found really resonated with me.
The first was on the issue of the child abuse scandals (I know most of us at some point will face this question "How can you give your life to the Church, the Church is full of and protects child molesters!!")


The second was giving up a promising career to enter religious life. I know a few of us, myself included feel very conflicted about leaving behind a potentially very successful career.
[/quote]

Thanks for posting!

The only bit I went at was the part oncerning how God calls. God certainly spoke to (S)Paul one on one, and He calls that way today as well, though it is rare. I do like how he described his personal call, though, as an emptiness that needs to be filled.

[TheresaThoma]

[quote name='emmaberry101' timestamp='1348955008' post='2488178']

The only bit I went at was the part oncerning how God calls. God certainly spoke to (S)Paul one on one, and He calls that way today as well, though it is rare. I do like how he described his personal call, though, as an emptiness that needs to be filled.
[/quote]
I agree that it does happen but I think it is really important for young potential discerners that you don't have to experience that one on one call to have a vocation. I think that all religious though would define their call in some way shape or form as "an emptiness that needs to be filled"