Men heed the calling, continue to join priesthood

SAINT MEINRAD, Ind. -- About 100 miles south of Bloomington lies St. Meinrad Seminary, where about 80 students attend such classes as theology, the history of the Catholic Church, pastoral counseling, moral theology, preaching and sexual and medical ethics.\nThe manicured grass, historic architecture and generally pleasant atmosphere are key elements to the southern Indiana establishment whose arch abbey was founded in 1854 by monks of the Abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland.\nDespite recent sexual abuse scandals within the church, young men are still pursuing God's oath of the priesthood at places like St. Meinrad.\nJason Gries from the Diocese of Evansville and Michael Maples from the Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., are both in their third year at Saint Meinrad, where they are pursuing lives of priesthood. Since the recent scandals broke out relating to Catholic priests sexually abusing children and adolescents, many have questioned the motives of those who pursue lives, which entail the promise of celibacy and leading others toward God.\nBoth Gries and Maples described their "callings" that drove them to follow the religious paths they've chosen.\n"It's kind of like the engine light in your car," Maples said. "You can drive and drive but you can't ignore it after so long. Eventually you're going to have to give it some attention and do something about it. It's like a tugging at your heart. A calling from God isn't like a moment in time that you can pinpoint by a date. It's a feeling."\nGries said his calling came in first grade, and he didn't start acknowledging it until he reached high school.\n"It's not so much what I want to do as it is what God wants me to do," he said. "It's basically conforming my will to his."\nFather Joseph Moriarty, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and sacramental assistant at Saint Paul's Catholic Church in Bloomington, said he makes frequent calls to check up on seminarians to see how they're dealing with following their religious paths.\n"As a vocations director, I recruit men for the priesthood. I look after them and make sure there aren't any problems," he said. "For example, there was a young man who had been at the seminary who had been broken up from his girlfriend for a year, and she would come down to visit him."\nMoriarty suggested to the man that he spend time praying and ask God what he wanted him to do. To ask "Did God want him to be a priest or follow the path to marriage?" he said.\nGries noted that men like Moriarty are helpful because they are ensuring the intentions of seminarians and possible problems are avoided by having check-ups.\n"The priesthood has seen an increase in men, and that's great," Gries said. "But that means someone needs to watch them more and make sure their reasoning is because of a true calling and that they are standing up for the Church because of a genuine call."\nFollowing the path of becoming a priest includes moments of doubt, and for Maples this reevaluation is simply a part of the delicate process.\n"When I question why I'm answering my calling, that's when I do my hardest work," he said. "That's when I pray the hardest. I talk to the counselor here and every single time I question what I'm doing, I get confirmation that I'm doing the right thing. Reevaluation is a great way to realize this is what I was meant to do."\nMoriarty has consulted Catholics on how to get the message across to those who can't understand the scandals and the events that have been unfolding within the religion.\nOne student spoke with Moriarty about worries over doubting his faith and being unsure about how to deal with it.\nThe student said that, as a Catholic, he didn't know what to tell his friends about his religion. Moriarity advised the student to tell friends about the positive experiences he's had with priests. \n"(Say) they never hurt you," Moriarty said. "They led you toward God. Just speak of your experiences and at the same time, don't deny the tragedies.'"\nMoriarty said he that on a flight from Montreal to Cincinnatti a man from Boston confronted him about his doubts concerning the faith.\n"He said, 'Father, I need to talk to you. I'm very disturbed about the scandal. I was never abused, and I was educated in Catholicism. But I'm so outraged at what's been happening. I'm disillusioned,' he told me. 'I've been thinking about giving up on this Jesus-thing all together.'\n"I told him that I too am disillusioned and disappointed. I too have feelings about what has been going on," Moriarty said. "I told him my hope was that he'd be able to see the bigger picture. Faith is about your relationship with Christ Jesus. It's Jesus who saves you"