A New, Old-fashioned Take On Discernment

[NotreDame]

So do allow me to ask a question: what would you suggest could be done to improve this state of affairs?

 

My take...

 

We should encourage all young people to look at their life in terms of vocation rather than just letting life happen to them. 

 

We should to some extent encourage young people to discern their vocation while realizing that discernment presupposes a certain degree of spiritual maturity as well as a need to discern something.  ie. not everybody needs to discern their state in life nor is someone who is habitually in a state of mortal sin may not be equipped to discern anyway .

 

We should make available traditional methods of discernment as taught by doctors of the church.  It doesn't need to be a mystery.  Unfortunately, the advice to "discerners" is just "Say the rosary and go to adoration", which is good, but isn't an approach to discernment, per se. 

[AnneLine]

Thank you, NotreDame, for your kind words... having 24 hours to think about it (Happy April Fool's Day!) helped with content and succinctness (hehehe).

 

I like what you wrote about what might help... I agree... and probably have a bit more to say (see below),

 

Bardegalois, thank you for what you said as well.  I'm glad we have helped you to think of the other side of this coin... because both are important.  

 

I will give you more of a response, but I want to think about it a bit..... or I could be less than coherent and EVEN LONGER!  heheheh.

[bardegaulois]

My take...

 

We should encourage all young people to look at their life in terms of vocation rather than just letting life happen to them. 

 

We should to some extent encourage young people to discern their vocation while realizing that discernment presupposes a certain degree of spiritual maturity as well as a need to discern something.  ie. not everybody needs to discern their state in life nor is someone who is habitually in a state of mortal sin may not be equipped to discern anyway .

 

We should make available traditional methods of discernment as taught by doctors of the church.  It doesn't need to be a mystery.  Unfortunately, the advice to "discerners" is just "Say the rosary and go to adoration", which is good, but isn't an approach to discernment, per se. 

 

I endorse this point of view 100%. Young people don't often have a lot of spiritual maturity or good judgment. So find them a director who does. Young people may struggle with habitual sins. So urge frequent confession and communion; or in the case of the catechumens, frequent examens and acts of contrition and spiritual communions. Make it very clear that the sacraments are the ordinary means of grace to the soul, and that victory over sin and a better following of Christ comes from this overflowing source.

 

Also, I'm a great supporter of retreats, in order first that those I assist might have some time away from the noise of the world to devote to prayer, and second that they might have a firsthand glimpse of the life of religious. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius also are of great benefit.

[arfink]

My two cents is that we need to form, for lack of a better word, houses of discernment which are not associated with any diocese or order and will not materially impoverish young people or risk their ability to survive in the outside world. These places would allow young people to receive the first round of spiritual nourishment they need to begin to discern, the stuff which for whatever reason they couldn't get at home or at their parishes.

 

Too often I see college seminaries and novitiates being used in this fashion but along with the sorts of things that can cause so much damage, such as long periods of time away from secular study, interaction with non-religious peers, or interaction in the workforce.

 

On the other side, I believe that seminaries and orders need to make very clear ahead of time what the process is for leaving an order and what they intend to do to help people transition out. I do not believe it is enough to simply say "We won't give you any help, you've been forewarned," and consider it enough. That's not very good either. Things I desperately would have liked to have and which would have not been too much to ask for, IMO, include:

 

-a continuation of spiritual direction for a duration of time after exiting, perhaps by phone-call, to help preserve the life of the soul and provide guidance during what for me and many others is the biggest test of faith to that point.

-referral to a professional job counselor

-referral to other mental health professionals as needed

-in the case of seminaries that operate on college campuses and can control such things, reduced fee or free access to retraining

 

Seminaries often make their men shoulder a large burden of debt in order to study topics which have no practical value and can financially ruin a person. Women leaving the convent may have a few dollars coming out or at least do not carry a burden of debt, but men leaving seminary have a large sum in the red. This is an unacceptable risk to encourage a young man to take if he is not absolutely certain about his vocation ahead of time. I applaud dioceses which provide college-level seminarians with full scholarships such as the diocese of Wichita, making discernment a much less risky process for their men. And it shows, they have large numbers of applicants, many of whom are much less fearful and much more open, and more of whom go on to become priests. Much larger diocese who have far more money per capita could be following suit.

Edited April 3, 2014 by arfink

[bardegaulois]

Arfink, I think that's a great suggestion. But it begs a certain question: if these "houses of discernment" are not run by any order or diocese, then who shall run them? Whence shall the spiritual directors come? Who shall have general oversight of the house? Is such a thing possible under canon law?

[Nunsuch]

http://clarionherald.info/clarion/index.php/news/latest-news/90-latest-news/1445-discernment-house-for-women-is-a-first

 

[marigold]

Don't I remember reading that Sr. Cecilia Maria at the Whitesville Passionists lived in a diocesan discernment house while she was studying at... was it... St. Thomas University? Is that a real place? Don't ask me where I picked that information up, but it's there as clear as day in my mind!

[NotreDame]

I know someone who stayed at a diocesan discernment house and entered an order:

 

http://austinvocations.com/index.cfm?load=page&page=151

 

(This house was not around when I was in Austin, unfortunately.)  I do think these are a great idea.  What's the cost associated with them usually?

[NotreDame]

I'm in a position where I'm advising several catechumens regarding their choice of a state of life. In this I'm foregoing a lot of the pop pastoral psychology floating around out there (which I've often found to be of dubious merit) and instead going right to the statements of the Holy See and of the better spiritual writers, like St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori. No doubt, I'm also drawing on my own experience of this process as well.

Barde,  which St Francis de Sales statements are you referring to here ^^^?  Or at least which texts were you drawing upon?

[bardegaulois]

Notre Dame, to my mind, St. Francis de Sales's 17th Spiritual Conference is his magnum opus regarding this: http://www.oblates.org/dss/spiritual_conferences/spirconf_17.pdf.