Inside
Contact Us
Get Help    
Vocation Guidance in Your Area
Find a Spiritual Director
Ask Your Vocation Question
E-Mail Newsletter
Enter your e-mail address to subscribe now:

  

read latest issue...

MultimediaAll About PrayerPersonal Vocation GuidanceNewsletterAdoration for VocationsEvents
Home  /  FAQ's  /  Discernment
FAQ's
Page Options
Back to Discernment
Previous
Next
Add to Favorites
Ask Your Vocation Question
Email This Page
Printable Version
Send Feedback
I have so many choices: how do I know which order to choose?

Joe asks:

I am currently discerning my possible vocation to the Priesthood. I feel very greatly that the Lord is calling me to be a Priest, and that I should be in a seminary; the only problem is: I just don't know where.  

I have looked at countless Religious Orders within the Church and, funnily enough, I narrowed it down to about 17, which doesn't help. Now and again, I have great feeling for each of those orders, something like: Yes! It would be great to be in that order etc.  

I feel the same about a lot of the different congregations that I have looked at. What distresses me is that many Priests have told me their vocation stories, and they describe something along the lines of knowing straight away where the Lord wanted them to go etc. You might imagine how hard this is for me to discern. The one thing I don't have is a Spiritual Director, the reason being that I haven't found anyone living locally whom I would like as my Spiritual Director. Only one Priest I can think of lives in my diocese, but quite a distance from me, making regular visits very difficult. However, I do have a regular confessor whom I go to regularly. What should I do in this time of distress? Thanks for your help.  

Dear Joe,  

I get the impression that you are doing your vocation search through catalogs or on the internet. That would explain the wide variety of options you have in front of you.  

Some priests were attracted to their particular vocation by a description they read or a story they heard, but most were attracted by a person they met. So I think that what you are missing might be the personal contact.  

Why don't you start corresponding with a few of the orders or congregations you are interested in, and then arrange to visit those that still interest you one by one. It is in visiting them that you will be able to see more easily if that is where God means you to be.  

God bless.

Type your question here to search the responses in the AnswerBase. If you don't find an answer, send your question to Fr Bannon online...
  
Related Links
Religious Orders
                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Search
  Go
Adoration for Vocations
Today
(In GMT time)
11:30 PMColegio Cumbres Femenino (Chile)
Tomorrow
MidnightSección Señoras Santa María de Guadalupe (Santiago de C...)
1:00 AMkouame jean louis abouho (abidjan, COTE...)
3:00 AMLa Natividad del Señor (Chile)
View entire week...

what is this?...

An apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi at the service of vocations for the Universal Church.

ADODB.Connection error '800a0e78'

Operation is not allowed when the object is closed.

/content.asp, line 804