{"id":257640,"date":"2017-11-30T13:15:59","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T18:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=257640"},"modified":"2017-11-30T13:15:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T18:15:59","slug":"want-more-priests-ask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/11\/want-more-priests-ask\/","title":{"rendered":"Want more priests? Ask."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

That\u2019s the great advice of Simcha Fisher:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On Sunday, our beloved pastor told a version of the story he often tells: He had already been through college, already had his own successful business, already owned his own home, and was fairly content with his life \u2014 until someone said to him, \u201cHey, have you ever thought of becoming a priest?\u201d<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t. But after that, he couldn\u2019t stop thinking about it. Eventually he joined the seminary (and found himself by far the oldest one there), took a year off, came back, was ordained, and is now one of the happiest men I have ever met. He is very clearly meant to be a priest. Thank God for the friend who asked him that simple question, \u201cHave you ever thought of becoming a priest?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked to many, many priests. I once took a freelance assignment to edit biographies by seminarians. The bios were, as you can imagine, extremely varied, just as priests themselves are extremely varied<\/a>). Some of them couldn\u2019t think of a day when they didn\u2019t want to be a priest. They used to play Mass from the time they were old enough to hoist a toy chalice, and they begged their mothers to bring them to church all week. Some of them had been lukewarm Catholics, had even left the Church, and only came back after much nagging and begging from teachers and friends, and suddenly got a dramatic sign from above. Some had been thinking of it off and on for years, and had a hard time pulling the trigger, but were so glad they did.<\/p>\n

The one thing they all had in common: Someone had made the idea of being a priest seem reasonable. Someone had said, \u201cHave you ever considered being a priest?\u201d or \u201cWow, you sure look like you want to be a priest!\u201d or \u201cFace it. You\u2019re gonna be a priest.\u201d Someone had asked the question.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read it all<\/strong><\/a>. There\u2019s wisdom here. And good old fashioned common sense.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s the great advice of Simcha Fisher: On Sunday, our beloved pastor told a version of the story he often tells: He had already been through college, already had his own successful business, already owned his own home, and was fairly content with his life \u2014 until someone said to him, \u201cHey, have you ever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":196795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11252],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-mind"],"yoast_head":"\nWant more priests? 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