I was about 14 years old when my big brother came home from college one weekend and told us that a good friend of his was leaving school to join the seminary and become a priest. Me, I’m my teenage wisdom, thought “what kind of weird people are you friends with? Don’t you know priests clearly just pop into existence without any sort of childhood or normal life?” Fast forward 20 years and here I am with a number of college friends and acquaintances that have become priests or are currently in seminary, and mothering my nine year old son who is considering becoming a priest, right after he concludes his professional baseball career.
In my humble opinion, it’s the “right after his professional baseball career” that makes me most proud. Because it shows that I have succeeded in making a vocation to the priesthood just another option and not what those “weird people” do. Of course this vocation is nothing but extraordinary. It’s not “just another option,” but to encourage more young men and women to consider a vocation to religious life, we need to make the option of considering it accessible to our children. I have found that three things are essential to achieve that accessibility.
Exposure
Show your kids that Father is just a normal person, living an extraordinary life. Priests are never as busy as after Mass, especially if they’re headed to say another Mass, so this may not be the best time to chat and relate with Father. Invite him over for a weekday dinner and let you kids ask questions and have a normal, relaxed conversation. Or invite him to the next little league game when kids from the congregation are playing so they can see him in the stands and he can cheer on the team. Seeing Father (or any Religious) outside of church helps young children see that a vocation to religious life is dynamic and not just saying prayers and Mass over and over and over again.
Talk About It
A possible call to religious life is right there when we talk about what our kids want to be when they grow up. When they ask about what college is (they’re all nine and under) and we discuss that college is not the only option after high school—trade schools, apprenticeships, straight into the workforce are all legitimate options—we also make a point to tell them that religious life is an option too. That yes, that would include more schooling, but because it’s not something you think about when thinking of a “job,” we always want to be clear that it’s not weird. It’s a great option if you’re called to it.
Pray About It
And that’s just it. Entering religious life is not just a career or a job, it’s a calling. It’s a vocation, written on each heart individually. So the number one thing to do is pray about it. As a parent, I pray that my children follow their vocation and that I never cease to be supportive and receptive to God’s plan for each of my children, no matter how my “vision” of the future may differ. And I pray that my children can clearly hear the call of the Lord. I encourage them to pray and listen to what God is telling them, always reminding them that they have time to figure it out and the best thing to do is be patient and quiet and ask God often what He wills.
Our world needs more vocations to religious life. I don’t know if it’s God’s will that any of my children will enter into religious life, but I do know that they are open to it, and praise the Lord for that!
