Hello my name is Chad Franklin. Entering the seminary was a big step in my life (giving up my house, a career, my dog), but it is also important to remember that it is not as big as it might first seem to everyone.
By deciding to enter the seminary, I’m simply stating that I feel the Lord calling me to discern a vocation to the priesthood.
I will first enter the seminary not to become a priest, but to discern if I am called to be a priest. It is, on the one hand, a small step because I have not made any commitment other than a willingness to spend the next year discerning a calling to the priesthood with the support and assistance of the seminary faculty, as well as my brother seminarians, so I’m not undergoing this discernment alone.
But at the same time, it was a big step because I stated for the first time publicly that I want to become a priest. All my friends and family reacted in different ways to this declaration. I wasn’t discouraged because I recall the phrase so often mentioned in Scripture: "Be Not Afraid!", or in my case “What are you afraid of!?!”
After my discernment if I’m not called to the priesthood, what have I lost?
A year or two spent learning more about myself, my spiritual life, the Church, my true vocation….all this will stay with me. If my discernment leads me to the sacrament of Holy Orders, then I will have found my mission in life. Either way, I see it as a win-win situation and time well spent.
The important thing is, if you think you’ve been called, what have you got to lose?
Pax Christi,
Chad Franklin
Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie