chrysostom Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I sometimes wonder what men are lurking here (I'm not lurking, I'm posting!), and what they find, and if it is helpful, since most VS users are women even though there are plenty of men on Phatmass in general. Also a question for those of you who have read all those studies: what gets men interested in religious life? Knowing priests? Encountering religious? Seeing their beards? Reading Thomas Merton? Drinking Cistercian beer? I have found VS helpful since at the time I joined I knew so few Catholics let alone religious. And it's been a good sounding board at times when I wanted to put my thoughts into words. Probably the most encouraging and motivating thing I could think of is seeing other young men, especially friends, strive to be holy. Adoration+Mass goes without saying of course. Threads: Resources for authentic male spirituality Male communities Monkish humor Men in habits (unfortunately new formatting means old pictures at the beginning of the thread aren't showing) Men in habits 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysostom Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 please observe the beard in its natural habitat. For you young 'uns, meet Rolando Rivi, the first beatified seminarian. He was 14. Brief biography More on Bl. Rivi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysostom Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 And what would get some more male phorum members currently posting elsewhere to go on Vocation Station, if only once in a while? Just some indication of prayers and support at the very least would be rather nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katherineH Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 @Gabriela would likely know some figures or some studies addressing men's discernment experiences. She knows just about everything It is my understanding that men first gravitate towards discernment to the priesthood before discerning of religious life. It seems like dioceses have more resources and groups for men discerning the priesthood, so maybe discerners don't feel such a strong pull to use the internet since they can get support in real life? Just a speculation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Paul Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I like seeing the priests and reading about religious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriela Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 @Gabriela would likely know some figures or some studies addressing men's discernment experiences. She knows just about everything It is my understanding that men first gravitate towards discernment to the priesthood before discerning of religious life. It seems like dioceses have more resources and groups for men discerning the priesthood, so maybe discerners don't feel such a strong pull to use the internet since they can get support in real life? Just a speculation. Did someone call me? I don't know everything, or even close to everything, and I don't know of any study that has looked at this topic. But I think I don't know in this case because it really doesn't exist. I considered conducting a study of men, but since I'm female, it seemed like a bad idea, cuz cross-gender interview dynamics often don't work out with topics like this. We need some men to study this. That being said, my impression from talking to men is the same as katherineH's. They do seem to consider priesthood first, and RL only secondarily. Which is one reason I always really admire brothers (who are not priests) when I meet them. There was a CARA study that surveyed people already in religious life, and men were involved in that. But it didn't ask them about their discernment process, so far as I recall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman82 Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 In times past, being an altar boy was an inspiration for vocations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starets Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I've talked to the Formation Director of the Norbertine community in Albuquerque. He says that the LA community gets lots of vocations because they run a school and many vocations come from their former students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Five-minute video depicting "a day in the life" of seminarians at Conception Abbey. The seminarians are not all Benedictines -Conception trains priests for lots of Midwest dioceses. The soundtrack is The Hunts, "Lifting the Sea." https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/y4/r/-PAXP-deijE.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bardegaulois Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I sometimes wonder what men are lurking here (I'm not lurking, I'm posting!), and what they find, and if it is helpful, since most VS users are women even though there are plenty of men on Phatmass in general. Also a question for those of you who have read all those studies: what gets men interested in religious life? Knowing priests? Encountering religious? Seeing their beards? Reading Thomas Merton? Drinking Cistercian beer? I have found VS helpful since at the time I joined I knew so few Catholics let alone religious. And it's been a good sounding board at times when I wanted to put my thoughts into words. Probably the most encouraging and motivating thing I could think of is seeing other young men, especially friends, strive to be holy. Adoration+Mass goes without saying of course. Threads: Resources for authentic male spirituality Male communities Monkish humor Men in habits (unfortunately new formatting means old pictures at the beginning of the thread aren't showing) Men in habits 2 This is a good question. I too have noted a relative dearth of postings regarding men's vocations here and thus came to presume that the majority of posters here were women. Thus I came to figure that if any men had a question, they would ask it, which few have. I can say from experience, though, the religious life probably isn't too strongly on the horizon for most men. A young man who talks to his parish priest about a potential vocation is usually met with the sales pitch for the (generally diocesan) priesthood. When religion is considered, it often isn't thought of in and of itself but rather as a means to the priesthood. In many ways this seems to run at countercurrents to the trend among many ICL/SALs, who have issued many documents trying to move away from that sort of clericalism whereby any brothers capable of seminary work would be sent there, and often sent to a short-handed bishop in order to do parish work, thus becoming, in effect, little different from diocesan clergy. This was, of course, not what the founders of many of these groups intended. Thus, any talk about religious life in a men's context will have the cast of the dynamic of clerical brothers as opposed to non-clerical brothers involved, which you of course won't find in groups of women religious. In spite of this, though, brothers seem much rarer than they once were, and censuses of religious would probably confirm this. Thus, very few men nowadays would have a brother that they know and could look to as a model in this regard, but would see a surfeit of priests. This in mind, I'd think it very difficult for a young man to discern whether they are truly called to the priesthood or to the brotherhood nowadays (I won't even open another can of worms by bringing up the diaconate). No set of criteria for each vocation (as opposed to each other) really seems to be established, and the popular point of view that a brother is a religious who was somehow not smart or gifted enough to become a priest still seems to hold in some quarters. I can also simply cite the present forum Phatmass, where we have a few priests posting, a number of nuns or sisters, but insofar as I've seen, no brothers. Another Catholic forum once had a few brothers, but they have alas since become ill or gone to their reward. So I'd dare to ask, how have other men perceived this in the past? And how would we like young men to frame this issue more in the future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Upcoming Come and See - Dominicans friars - southern province (St. Martin DePorres) and central province (St. Albert) http://www.opsouth.org/vocations/come-and-see-weekends/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo in Deum Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 I usually lurk. I am discerning a vocation to the priesthood (FSSP). You have my prayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 On November 15, 2015 at 7:19:26 PM, Starets said: I've talked to the Formation Director of the Norbertine community in Albuquerque. He says that the LA community gets lots of vocations because they run a school and many vocations come from their former students. The St Michael's Abbey Norbertines? They definately get lots of vocations from that school! I think the reason many men don't consider the religious life is that most people have more experience with diocesean priests. Though, I have several male friends discerning... And they all started off with attractions to the religious life. (I think waiting monasteries helps with that). Of course, none of them would ever post on here, though they might lurk. I think discerning young men tend to keep things quiet and want to figure stuff out on their own (though I'm very bossy and send guys off to spiritual direction.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Thank you for this thread Chrysostom. I've been lurking on and off on VS since I joined Phatmass. For most of that time, I did it mainly to pray for people, as I thought my vocation was to marriage. However, I stop by more now, as I am unsure where the Lord wants me to go, and am again considering religious life or the priesthood. I don't know why so few men post here. I think that Julie is right about the keeping quiet and the desire to figure it out on our own. Apart from that I don't really know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 On 11/15/2015, 11:40:00, Luigi said: Five-minute video depicting "a day in the life" of seminarians at Conception Abbey. The seminarians are not all Benedictines -Conception trains priests for lots of Midwest dioceses. The soundtrack is The Hunts, "Lifting the Sea." https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/y4/r/-PAXP-deijE.gif God-willing my school in the next year. Represent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now