Entering the seminary is a journey that doesn’t always end in ordination

Published: June 18, 2011

By Msgr. Scott Friend

Msgr. Scott Friend

It is a true blessing when a diocese begins to produce seminarians, and it is especially a grace when the parish we belong to has a seminarian studying for the priesthood. Excitement can build, and we want to do everything that we can to help a young man as he begins his life as a seminarian. We also have great expectations for the day when he will be ordained to the priesthood.

In our excitement, we can forget that the formation process in the seminary can take six to eight years or even longer for some. We also need to remember that a young man goes to the seminary to discern if God is indeed calling him to priesthood. At the same time, the formation staff at the seminary discerns this question for each seminarian. The diocese too is in the same process of discernment.

We all hope that the seminary journey will end in priesthood, but sometimes that is not what happens. Often the case is that a young man may discern that God is not calling him to the priesthood, or that he may choose not to say yes. At the same time, either the seminary or the diocese may not feel that a particular candidate is suited for priesthood.

This can be very disappointing and make us question what has happened. What could we have done to avoid this happening? Was there something that we didn’t do that would have made a difference? Sometimes we can even become jaded about the whole process and lose our enthusiasm for supporting seminarians and vocations. We can even stop praying for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

It is helpful if we can understand a few things. First of all, discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life is a process that really involves every aspect of a seminarian’s life. He must grow to know the Lord as well as come to know himself. He will be challenged intellectually, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually -- just to name a few.

It is important to note that a seminarian is ultimately on a faith journey, and that means that it is a process that happens over time. As with any faith journey there are also moments to celebrate and ordination to priesthood is certainly the most hoped for moment. However, we humans can get caught up in "getting there" to the point that this is the only thing that matters. Therefore, anything less than getting there is undesirable to the point of making us unhappy because we are not "there" yet.

We have all experienced this way of thinking especially when we were children. Just think about any long trip in the car to a desired vacation destination. The only thing that mattered was "getting there." Anything else like sitting next to brothers and sisters in a car became plain miserable. It is only when you become an adult that you are able to see that the time "getting there" was also an important part of the adventure of being with family, which turns out to be the whole reason you set out together for vacation.

While we hope that our seminarians might all be ordained, what we really should hope for is that they are able to follow the will of God for their lives. That means that we should accompany them where they are at this moment in the bigger process of "getting there." For some, that may mean priesthood, but for others it may be something else. In either case, our prayers and support need to be there with our seminarians.

It takes real courage and faith to enter a faith journey without knowing where it will end. What makes it a bit easier to take is knowing that the people of God will support you and pray for you. Ultimately, "getting there" is out of our reach and is up to Our Heavenly Father. Our continued support and prayers show our trust that God knows where we are going and if our seminarians learn that as well, getting there becomes easier to live.

Msgr. Scott Friend has been the vocations director since 2005 and vicar general since 2008.

Click here to see the index of stories in Arkansas Catholic's Vocations 2011 special section.