Discernment & Desire
When Pope Francis was a young seminarian in his twenties, he had to think about celibacy very carefully. A few years ago, when he was a cardinal, he recalled in an interview: “I was dazzl...
STORIES
Fr. Bethge’s Corner
Vocations Director for the Diocese of Brooklyn
Priestly Courage
The extreme heroism of a few priests is well known. You’ve heard stories of priests who were martyred, or sacrificed their own lives for others, or endured great hardships for the sake of the Go...
How to Pray
In a previous E-Newsletter, we talked about what prayer is (and is not). This article focuses more specifically on how to pray. To begin, here are some important points to consider: Rely on God. We ca...
Climbing the Mountain
Becoming a mountain-climber is not a one-time event. You don’t just “go climb a mountain” without ever having done it before. It takes knowledge, hours of practice, patience and perseverance. It...
St. John Vianney
Can you imagine the Church today without the influence of one of the greatest priest-saints of the 19th century, St. John Vianney? It easily could have happened. The world could have been completely u...
Fear of Commitment
We live in an age when life moves fast, information comes nonstop, and sometimes it may seem the best way to deal with millions of options is not to lock into any of them. That’s the consensus of a ...
Saints Not Superheroes
Many saints struggled with temptations; some even led very sinful lives prior to their conversions. As St. Paul said, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Rom 7:15). W...
What is Prayer?
We hear a lot about how important prayer is in the Christian life, and especially when discerning one’s vocation. It’s the the essential way we connect with God. So it’s obvious that prayer is i...
Your Vocation: Destiny Or Free Choice?
Take a moment to consider some big questions: Did God make you for a definite purpose? Or can you be happy choosing any number of courses for your life? If God already knows your future, do you...
Celibacy and Fatherhood
Celibacy isn’t just about “not having sex.” There’s an aspect of celibacy that is more important for a man to consider when discerning the priesthood: the inclination to natura...
Biography to come…