My friend Michael, a seminarian and a pre-novice in formation with the Augustinians, has written an open letter to seminarians addressing the ongoing revelations of sexual abuse of minors by members of the Catholic clergy. I encourage you to read the letter on his blog Psalm 46:11: A Journey to Truth.

This is a very tough topic and a terrible experience for the people who have suffered this abuse. It has also stirred much sadness and anger as well as outpourings of prayer and compassion. With Michael, we stand in prayerful solidarity with those suffering and we stand in direct opposition to their abusers and those who egregiously mishandled these situations. We must do everything in our power to protect children and to see that this does not happen ever again.

With the swirl of voices out there on this topic, Michael’s perspective on this is unique because he is a seminarian, someone who is in the process of becoming a priest. It is a difficult time for seminarians as well who are trying to come to terms with what is happening among their brother seminarians and clergy and with their own call to serve as priests. While intensely conscious of the wrongs committed and great suffering involved, Michael’s words are a voice of hope in the church.

I join Michael in his prayer request:

I would ask that you find it in your heart to pray for all seminarians and priests in the Church today, so that we might live in true integrity to our vocations as priests, so that we might truly be holy and humble priests, so that we might become part of the process of healing that our Church so desperately needs

What is your voice of hope? What is your prayer?

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Join the sisters for evening prayer tonight at 6 p.m. Central Time and every Monday through Thursday at http://anunslife.org/live

The January-March 2009 issue of Vocations and Prayer, the Catholic magazine on vocation ministry, features an article on people with hearing impairments pursuing a call to religious or priestly life. Many people have asked me about this and about having other disabilities or impairments. It’s an important issue which vocation ministers and other church leaders need to be aware of and to find ways to support and encourage.

The main article in Vocations and Prayer is “God Created Me a Deaf Person for His Glory: An interview with Fr. Tom Coughlin, OP Miss” by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, IWBS. In the interview, Father Tom tells of being turned down by several seminaries because of his hearing impairment. He eventually was accepted but faced a lot of opposition. He says,

Most people were not prepared to welcome a deaf person. I was all alone but the vocation director … told me “You have to open the door. You have to suffer so others won’t.”

Father Tom, with the encouragement of Father Timothy Radcliffe (former general master of the Dominicans), started a new Dominican community for people who are deaf. The community, called the Dominican Missionaries, has grown to 9 members.

While it’s not easy to pursue a religious vocation when you are deaf, there are resources out there. These are the ones listed in the magazine:

Religious Communities for Women

• Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, Saint Louis Province (interestingly, this community came from France to the US in order to teach persons who are deaf.)
• Sisters of the Lamb of God

Religious Communities for Men

• Dominican Missionaries
• Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales, Toledo-Detroit Province
• Redemptorists, Denver Province
• Redemptorists, Baltimore Province

Diocesan Seminaries

• Saint Patrick’s Seminary and University
• Saint Joseph Seminary College

If you know of any religious communities of sisters or nuns that can be a good resource for women who are deaf considering religious life, please let us know!

Rev. Michael A. Renninger and the Catholic Diocese of Richmond are doing some innovative vocation work on online. Behind the Collar is a website where people can have “an inside look at life as a priest”. Father Renninger, the diocesan vicar for vocations, worked with an advertising agency to develop a campaign to be present online to young men who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood and to give a “behind the scenes” look at the life as a priest.

Behind the Collar features an array of social media in order to give young men multiple doors through which to learn about a vocation to the priesthood. There are videos and podcasts of informal chats between “Father Mike” (as he’s known online) and seminarians discussing priestly life, family reactions, celibacy and more. There are links to Behind the Collar on the social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. And there are frequently asked questions about become a priest.

The website is a very good example being present to young people online and using the media and language that young people are familiar with. Kudos to the Diocese of Richmond! My prayers are with you.

Learn more at the Behind the Collar website and also in a recent article in the Richmond Times, Online campaign helps recruit priests in Virginia.

My home diocese is Rochester, New York. The current bishop, Bishop Matthew Clark, confirmed me when I was in grade school, and is a friend of the family. So I try to keep up on what’s going on in the diocese. I found this great article written by Bishop Clark — “Priest, nun offer faithful witness” in his column Along the Way in the Catholic Courier (10.23.08).

Of the priest and the sister, Bishop Clark writes,

“They teach us how to live. They remind us of what is important and what is not. They challenge us in their own gracious ways — to think about what drives us, about our deepest values and our final destiny.”

An article I wrote was just published in VISION Vocation Guide 2009, an annual Catholic religious vocation discernment guide. It is a publication of the National Religious Vocation Conference.

The article is called “How a 16th-century nun guides me in religious life” … can you guess who that nun might be? Here’s a clue: I write about her regularly!

OK, it’s no secret that the 16th-century nun who guides me in all of my life is Saint Teresa of Avila. The article I wrote for VISION began with a few posts here at my blog when I was reading Teresa’s The Book of My Life, her more autobiographical writing. It was a great article to write because I do love Teresa and I believe that she is very present to us today and can be a wonderful guide for people discerning and wanting to grow in their relationship with God and their understanding of life lived in the Spirit.

Order a FREE copy of VISION Vocation Guide from the VISION Vocation Network website or view the digital version of VISION Vocation Guide. The website is the number one place that I recommend to people who are discerning a vocation to religious life and other vocations within the Catholic tradition.

We have many exciting features to help you discern your life’s calling. Whether you are interested in consecrated life—such as becoming a nun, brother, priest, or monk—or simply looking for ways to deepen your faith through volunteer and study opportunities, you’ve come to the right place!

As luck would have it, the Monroe IHM ad appeared just when I was taking this screen shot!

A friend just sent me a copy of the newsletter Aspirant which is a publication of The Laboure Society. I’ve heard of The Laboure Society but never really knew much about them until I read this newsletter. Here’s what they say:

The Laboure Society affirms and encourages aspirants to priesthood or religious life in the Holy Roman Catholic Church and assists those with financial debt, which prevents them from fulfilling their vocational call.

In the past four years, The Laboure Society has helped 106 individuals to become ordained or professed or to be in various stages of formation: 74 sisters, 11 brothers, and 21 for the priesthood. What a wonderful work they are doing. I encourage you to check out their website.

Financial issues can often be overwhelming for people entering religious life or the priesthood. Aspirants to religious life (people aspiring to be a nun, sister, brother, monk) must be debt free upon entrance to the religious community. While certainly a reasonable requirement, it can be very difficult especially if you’ve just put yourself through school on student loans. I myself have had to deal with the question and I know many other young women and men who are discerning a call to religious life or the priesthood who must delay applying to enter or who give up all together because the debt is overwhelming to them or won’t be paid back for another 30 years on some high interest payment plan.

Here’s an article on just this topic: Debt, the Vocation Killer published by National Catholic Register (March 11, 2007).

If you are discerning a vocation to religious life or the priesthood and have financial debt, read The Laboure Society’s Procedures and Requirements for Aspirant Participation in The Laboure Society and Determination of Funds Allocation.

I can’t tell you how important it is that people like The Laboure Society step up and help out. They are a blessing and a source of encouragement. Without them, many of us might have given up on pursing God’s call to religious life or the priesthood.