A visit to heaven: A Protestant visits his brother in seminary

P-squared Blog:

My brother is a Roman Catholic seminarian, and I visited him at Mount Saint Marys Seminary the last couple days to see him installed in his second-to-last office (acolyte) before hopefully being ordained a priest (in about two years). I’ve been hoping to visit John for a long time, and finally got the opportunity.

My Evangelical brothers and sisters typically misunderstand and mischaracterize the Catholic Church, its leaders and theology and practices, so I felt compelled to write this to them, an “open letter” if you will.

First off, much of what Evangelicals believe about Catholicism, what they believe and who they are, is flat out incorrect. I will not dedicate any space here to that, except to say that people don’t listen to each other all that well in the 21st century, even though it’s easier than ever, technologically, to do. We should all try harder.

So let me tell you what I found among the more than 150 seminarians I spent a couple days with.
I found men who love Jesus with a passion and wholeness that I find rare among Christians of any stripe in these days.

I found men who struggle with the same kinds of things that we all do, regular guys who are dealing with what we all deal with… with the amazing support of Christ, of their brothers, and of the church.

I found men who can chuck a frisbee way farther than I ever will be able to.

I found a place where worship is very deep, even sublime, and regular and intentional and heartfelt… and amazing, and where prayer is an intentionally regular and essential and practiced part of every day. I found that Jesus was palpably present in every room and hallway.

I ate one of the tastiest meals I’ve had in forever.

I found generosity that is inspiring.

I found a group of guys that, when it’s time to have fun… have someserious fun.

I found real intelligence, insight and wisdom being leveraged for the kingdom of Heaven. Almost any of these guys could probably lead, and lead well, in any secular company and probably make a lot of money.

I found the presence of Christ in community that I was, frankly, a little envious of.

I found a love of Christ’s body on earth that you don’t find very often anywhere.

I found that not everybody will make it, but if they don’t, it is handled with grace and love. I didn’t find any ambition, though, really.

I didn’t actually really hear anybody say anything that wasn’t uplifting and encouraging.

I met leaders and instructors who care for those under their charge with passion and charity.

I found the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit elevated and exalted and magnified in every single thing. I found some things that are not my particular practices, but even those things did nothing but lift up and exalt our Lord.

Men, what a blessing you were to me! I have news for you. Heaven will be just like this!

If these men are any indication of the kinds of people who will emerge as the priests and leaders of the Catholic Church in this new century, there are great days ahead for them, and more and more people are going to experience the Gospel in real, tangible ways.

Note: In the past two days, this post has become about half of my internet traffic for the entire year. Thanks for sharing my joy in people who are passionately in love with Jesus and His Church. But… I have received some comments (VERY few) I am not allowing to be posted here that were, in my opinion, inflammatory or negative. Sorry. It’s my blog… You’re welcome to start your own… but divisiveness among those who love and follow Jesus, especially divisiveness built on prejudice and ignorance and even past hurts, is not something I can stand any more at this stage in my life. My life’s background has included mainline and evangelical Christianity as well as Roman Catholocism. I know what I speak of, and many of you that are saying the things you are saying are flat out wrong, and I’m sorry for your hurts or feelings, but they have no place here. Blessings!

USCCB Report on new priests

The US Catholic Bishops issued this hopeful data recently:                                                                                    

The average age of men ordained to the priesthood in 2011 is trending younger with the average age for the 2011 class at 34, with more than half between the ages of 25 and 34. This is slightly younger than in 2010, and follows the trend over the past five years of ordinands becoming younger.

These figures stand out in The Class of 2011: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood, an annual national survey of men being ordained priests for U.S. dioceses and religious communities, conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a Georgetown University-based research center. The entire report can be found at www.usccb.org/vocations as well as on the bishops’ vocation Web site, www.ForYourVocation.org.  It is the 15th annual survey of ordinands commissioned by the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Some other stats that jumped out at me:

Half between 25 and 34 years of age
Seventy-one percent were altar servers
Sixty-seven percent attended Catholic college
Four in five report that both parents are Catholic
A third have a relative who is a priest or religious
Nearly a quarter report having five or more siblings(!)

Finally, the number of priests to be ordained this year:

480 potential ordinands [were] reported by seminaries , houses of formation, dioceses, and religious institutes. They included 275 men being ordained for 128 dioceses and 54 ordinands for religious orders, such as the Jesuits, Dominicans and Franciscans.

Deo Gratias!

From CatholicVote.Org 

Diaconate Ordination

The following men will be ordained as transitional deacons on Saturday, April 30: David Carr, Johnny Johnson, Stuart Priddy, and Christopher Rhodes. 

They are entering the final year of formation before being ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Louisville next year. The Ordination Mass will be at Mary Queen of Peace Church (St. Helen campus), 4005 Dixie Highway. 

All are invited to attend. Please keep David, Johnny, Stuart and Christopher and all of our seminarians in your prayers.

Pope Benedict to seminarians: God calls each person by name

From the Catholic News Agency

The life of the Christian is a response to God's call, Pope Benedict XVI told seminarians in Rome last week.

During his annual visit to the Diocese of Rome's major seminary on March 4, the Pope taught on the Christian call to vocation, humility, community and unity from St. Paul's writings.

A “coherent life” is not just the result of Baptism, but “the fruit of the will and a persevering commitment to collaborating with the gift, with the grace received," said the Pope.

One must pay a "personal price" and commit himself to follow Christ by sharing his Passion and Cross, he explained.

"Christian life begins with a call and is itself always a response, until the end," he told the seminarians.

Christians must meditate "again and again" on the mystery that God has called each person and that he knows them and awaits their response," he said.

That God was born into the world, suffered and died for man is a lesson in humility, explained the Pope. "We must always see ourselves in the light of God, so as to appreciate how great it is to be loved by Him and, at the same time, to see our own smallness, our poverty, and thus rightly comport ourselves not as masters but as servants."

God's call is also an "ecclesial call," he said. It is a call to community, united in "a single body" by the Holy Spirit.

"We also have to bear in mind how beautiful it is to be part of a company ... having friends in heaven and on earth, experiencing the beauty of this body, being happy that the Lord has called us into a single body and given us friends all over the world," he said.

“The unity of the Church," he concluded, "is the result of harmony, of a shared commitment to act like Jesus, by virtue of his spirit. ... In order to conserve unity of spirit, it is necessary to model our own behavior on the humility, sweetness and magnanimity which Jesus bore witness to in his Passion.”

The Pope said that the Holy Spirit is essential in uniting man to God's call.

He capped off the visit by joining the seminarians for dinner. They congratulated him for his 60-year anniversary of priestly ordination to be celebrated on June 29.

Seminarian's rap video about Saint Lorenzo Ruiz...the first Fillipino saint

The video last six minutes. You may think you don’t care for rap music, but I promise you that you can’t help but fall in love with it by the end!  


The video was created for the feast of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz by seminarian Jeremy Santos.  St. Lorenzo was the first Filipino saint and a martyr for the faith.  If you listen to the rap, Jeremy gives an amazing account of St. Lorenzo’s life.  I LOVE the scenes with all of the priests and seminarians and the “bloopers” at the end of the video.  


This is the type of video that we can show our sons and grandsons to say, “See, seminarians and priests are cool!”  Keep all seminarians in your prayers!