Discerning the Priesthood

Fr. Mike Schmitz explains ​that it is best to focus on one thing at a time when discerning a vocation. Not only is it most prudent to discern ​​just one vocation at a time;​ ​it is​​​ also important to take discernment ​one step at​ ​a time. When we discern with this kind of care and commitment, the path God desires for us should become clear.

Finding the right prayer habit can be difficult, and the rote prayers we were taught as children are too often not prayed from the heart. In this video, Fr. Mike Schmitz offers prayer guidance, revealing a way to pray that priests are taught in their formation years which helps make their prayers both habitual and genuine.

Saint John Vianney College Seminary is one of the largest college seminaries in the United States, representing dioceses throughout the nation, with approximately 100 undergraduate men in formation annually.

Christ’s invitation to priesthood is an invitation to a way of life that is athletic in its intensity and heroic in its form. Discern the call. In this short film, Father Robert Barron and the seminarians of Mundelein Seminary present the demands and the joy of the priestly vocation.

Fr. Mike Schmitz and Fr. Josh Johnson give their vocation stories in this clip from Ascension's best-selling study ALTARATION.

Diocese of Joliet 2026 Priestly Ordination at the Cathedral of St. Raymond with Bishop Dennis E. Spies