Free Republic

Saturday, May 31, 2008 "He Called Them Forward" After Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles ordained the nation's largest priesthood class for the year -- 12 candidates for the nation's largest diocese -- earlier today in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a friend in attendance sent the following brief: [Mahony] reminisced about the one thing the seminary never prepared him for all those years ago: that God is the God of surprises. He then reviewed his priestly life and spoke of each surprise and how God gave him just what he needed not only to endure but...

Dear beloved Freepers, this early Thursday morning I am catching a flight to Birmingham. I'm entering a convent as a postulant there. Try not to be too scandalized! :) This is their website: Sister Servants If you have any questions about the particulars, please mail me! I just wanted to say good-bye and ask for your prayers, especially for fortitude. (Extricating myself from the world is more painful than I thought it would be) Have a holy feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe! Love y'all! God Bless!

Kevin Gallagher bounds down the rectory stairs at 8:25 - cutting it close as always - a few steps away from ready for weekday morning Mass. He's every Irish mother's son - dark hair thinning and freshly combed, ruddy face scrubbed and shaven, polo shirt neatly tucked in over a frame beginning to show his love of cooking.The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, where Gallagher ministers, is no different. In 1975, 15 men were ordained for the archdiocese - but Gallagher was one of only five in his 2002 ordination class. That same year, emerging national news of sexual abuse of children...

Young conservatives in DC apparently like intellectual stimulation in a lecture format, but then again the free beer might have been on more than a few minds. Last Wednesday night, more than 80 young conservative intellectuals crowded into a back room of The Brickskeller on 22nd St, NW to listen to a professor talk about vocation, to eat and drink, and to meet their peers and colleagues. It was the first meeting of “Conservatism on Tap” presented by the ISI (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) Young Alumni group of DC founded by Princeton graduate Evan Baehr. The event was a success, with...

How does receiving "the call" feel like? How does one know this is "the call"? As many of you know already, I have been admitted to the diaconate program in my home diocese. I'm not even yet a "candidate," not a "student," perhaps the right term would an "aspirant" or "discerner." Call it what you want, what it is an open door to something Big. How did I get here? The deeper question is this: How do I know that God is calling me to serve him in formal, active ministry? I need to answer this question to myself and...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A few years ago Teresa Min-Sook Kim was a young Korean immigrant in Minnesota, a non-Catholic who spoke little English. Jay Toborowsky was a young Jewish man working as an aide to the mayor of Woodbridge, N.J. Carol Derynioski had been teaching more than 25 years and had her own home in Boca Raton, Fla. What do a Korean immigrant in Minnesota, a Jewish political aide in New Jersey and a Catholic teacher in Florida have in common? Now they are called "Sister" or "Father" and each was recently featured in a local diocesan newspaper as an...

Hi everyone, I need some informational help in regards to conservative seminaries, preferably in the New Jersey area, but anywhere in the US is fine. I was hoping that some of my fellow Catholics here would be able to provide me with the info I need.

…… began to consider priesthood and religious life from the standpoint of a successful business career which provided everything I was supposed to have and which I found unfulfilling. …… have wanted to be a priest since I was five years old (I am now forty-seven!). …… have thought about the priesthood since my Confirmation retreat at 13. . . . have studied and traveled through Europe for a year. . . . have a sister who will graduate law school the day before I get ordained a priest (my only sibling). …… that I wanted to be a priest...

A waitress at one of my favorite Strip District restaurants last week used one of the industry's oldest cliches. She delivered a meal and reminded me that she "really didn't do this" for a living. Waiting tables, she explained, was simply something she was doing until a well-paying job opened up in the field she studied during six years in college. While this is rote conversation for wait staff in places like New York and Los Angeles, where everyone with a tray of linguini in their hands is waiting for a slot on NBC's "Fear Factor," it's unusual for Pittsburgh....