I would like to know what your first impressions are about Pope Francis. Please leave me a comment. I am anxious to hear thoughts beyond the seminary walls.
The last few days have been very exciting! We saw the election of a new Pope and, on a much smaller scale, I received my Call to Orders. What is that you ask? Well, in order for a man to be ordained, he must be called by Holy Mother Church. It doesn't matter how much he may want to serve, if the church doesn't ask him then it is not going to happen. This applies to deacons, priests and Bishops. In the case of the first two, Deacons and Priests, this invitation from Holy Mother Church comes through the Bishop or, in the case of religious orders, the competent major Superior. Their decision to extend the invitation is based upon the recommendation of faculty members and votes from the clergy overseeing the man's formation. This letter states that the Bishop or Superior is calling the man to appear at a certain place, at a certain time to receive ordination to the appropriate order. Thus, I have been called by Bishop Sheridan to appear on May 25, 2013 at 10:00 A.M. to receive the ordination to the diaconate. All very exciting. It is one thing to know that this will happen, and another thing entirely when it actually happens. But, enough about me...
I would like to know what your first impressions are about Pope Francis. Please leave me a comment. I am anxious to hear thoughts beyond the seminary walls.
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I always find it amazing how fast time really moves when you’re not paying attention. I end my summer assignment, spend a couple weeks with my mom and then go back to seminary, only to find that I get involved with my studies and 2 ½ months have gone by since I made a post. So much for consistency. I was actually trying to build up some readership on my website, but I have probably lost whatever readers I had. If you’re actually reading this, thank you for your patience and persistence.
So since I last posted, as I said, I spent a couple weeks with my mom and then returned to Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis. This is my last year before ordination and I can’t believe how fast the previous four years have gone. I get ordained to the diaconate this May and then I only have one year of seminary left. As I look forward to the next eighteen months it seems like there’s an awful lot to do in a very short amount of time. And yes, in case you’re wondering, my ordination date has been confirmed. I will be ordained to the transitional diaconate on May 25, 2013 by his Excellency Bishop Michael Sheridan. I am very excited! The classes I’m taking have been pretty light compared to previous years, but on the other hand, I am working on my thesis so that takes up a significant amount of my free time. This year the classes are a little bit different in that many of them address more practical aspects of the priesthood rather than theoretical. In fact in my Deacon practicum we have just completed practicing Baptism and this coming week we will start practicing the Mass. As my professor Fr. Swift said to our class, right now it’s fun but about March it’ll hit you how fast things are moving and you will take this much more seriously. Not that were not taking our class seriously now, but he says there is a much greater intensity the closer people get to ordination. He says this happens every year. Over the next few weeks there will also be some changes to my website. I plan on developing a new page which contains videos which people can view and download. The current video regarding the fire in Colorado Springs this past summer will be moved from the front page to this video page. I will also be adding videos the people have sent me, or which I have discovered, that I think may be of interest to my readers. So look for this new and exciting page. Two days ago we started the Year of Faith as ordained by his Excellency Pope Benedict XVI. There are many great and beautiful prayers associated with this year faith as well as several indulgences and I will try to share these over the next few weeks. Certainly if you have any questions regarding these prayers, indulgences or special activities feel free to drop me a note. I look forward to these as it gives me something to talk about other than myself and my life, wich isn’t that exciting to begin with. Also over the next few weeks I will be adding to the ordination pages but primarily to the diaconate ordination page. Things will be added as time permits and I find what is needed for my ordination. Again if you have questions don’t hesitate to contact me either by email or directly through the website. I guess that’s it for now and I hope that there is someone in the wide world who actually still watches my website. For you wonderful readers I promise not to let 2 ½ months go by again without adding some new content. Of course if I slip and some time does go by, feel free to call me on it. I love hearing from my readers. May God be with each of you and may we all pray for an increase in the virtue of Faith as we enter this Year of Faith. So it was just announced that President Obama will be flying into Aurora Colorado tomorrow to visit with the families of the victims of the shooting. Is this just because it is an election year? I would like to hear your comments. So please vote below, but also feel free to leave a comment. I am still working through some issues with the new site. I am trying to get a better system for commenting on my blog and I am researching some good HTML code for a site search box. I expect that these will be coming along over the next few days, so watch for updates. Of course if anyone has some suggestions on either of these issues, please let me know. There is a “Contact Me” form under the “About Me” link. Also if you have any other suggestions about the site, feel free to let me know.
I am also looking for good topics to post about and would be grateful for suggestions. Feel free!! For now I will keep this short and go back to writing code. Stay tuned! |
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AuthorI am a Roman Catholic Priest for the Diocese of Colorado Springs. I am currently assigned to St. Dominic Catholic Church in Security, CO. Follow me on Facebook by clicking on "Follow this blog" below.
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