Paths to Padre: A Seminarian's Journey

9/22/2019 Warning - for one of the first times in my life, there is vulnerable stuff about me down below. I know some of you are already shocked. It has been nearly two weeks since I last wrote. It seems like only yesterday that I posted my second update from the seminary. The weeks truly seem to fly by. They are so filled with classes, meetings, and other activities that you blink and it is Friday already. The main reason a young man (or older man for that matter) comes to seminary is to discern a vocation to the priesthood. When a person enters the seminary, they are not committed for the long haul. The person is free to leave at any time they wish, as long as the decision is made through careful prayer and discernment. We are all living a life of prayer, studying, and building fraternity, to discover what God is calling us to do. A huge part of discovering what God is calling us to do includes realizing we have to be vulnerable and realizing there are people (experts in their ...

September 7, 2019 - Beginning of the 3rd Week! Since I have not posted in a few weeks, this might be slightly longer than normal. I will try to break down the first three weeks of Seminary life as best I can. Our daily schedule is fairly routine for the most part - classes fluctuate based on the day and the group with which we pray sometimes adjusts, but below is a fairly exact example of the day. 6:00 AM - Holy Hour 7:00 AM - Morning Prayer 7:30 AM - Mass 8:00 AM Breakfast 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Classes 12:00 PM - Lunch 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Classes 5:30 PM - Evening Prayer 6:00 PM - Supper 10:30 PM - Quiet While I am not in classes the whole blocks of time, class time takes up a decent amount of time. We are enrolled in a full time load of classes. I will describe briefly those classes below. Philosophy is a different animal when it comes to learning. It takes me longer to read the material and to process it, as it is mostly new to me. After being at the front of the cla...