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<\/a>When I saw this ad on facebook (thank you Lord for facebook), at first I read it as \u201cDo you need a vacation?\u201d and thought, \u201cyes!\u201d Then I saw the two smiling, happy priests and realized that I\u2019d slightly misread the text.<\/p>\nBut none the less, this was the sign I had been awaiting; perhaps it is what Buddhists call upaya<\/em>, or skillful means.<\/p>\nI clicked, I learned; soon I\u2019ll be confirmed. Surely this will not end my fascination with the east, but next time I go there, I will be a priest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After a long, arduous period of discernment, and with the help of many dear friends, I\u2019ve decided to return to my Catholic roots. As many of you know, I\u2019ve long held the identity of a \u2018baptised Catholic\u2019 and practicing Buddhist. But the calling toward a more devout spiritual life has grown much stronger in recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Becoming a Catholic priest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a long, arduous period of discernment, and with the help of many dear friends, I've decided to return to my Catholic roots. As many of you know,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2012\/04\/becoming-a-catholic-priest.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Becoming a Catholic priest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After a long, arduous period of discernment, and with the help of many dear friends, I've decided to return to my Catholic roots. As many of you know,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2012\/04\/becoming-a-catholic-priest.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-01T11:48:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/files\/2012\/04\/facebook-ads-4-1-12.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2012\/04\/becoming-a-catholic-priest.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2012\/04\/becoming-a-catholic-priest.html\",\"name\":\"Becoming a Catholic priest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-01T11:48:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-01T11:48:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"After a long, arduous period of discernment, and with the help of many dear friends, I've decided to return to my Catholic roots. 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