In a few weeks our entire seminary will attend the March for Life in Washington D.C. I am really excited because it will be a great experience for a worthwhile cause.

Some people have asked me what we do outside of class in the seminary. There are a lot of leagues and student organizations that seminarians can choose to get involved in. I participate in Project Warm. This is a program where seminarians chop and deliver wood to poor families that use wood stoves and cannot afford to buy their own wood. I also am a proud member of the Champion Intramural Volleyball Team!

On the weekends I sometimes go out to eat with my friends or go to a movie. There is actually a restaurant on our campus where students like to hang out and watch football. I go there sometimes to play pool, listen to the seminarian band (the SEMI’s), or play board games. My favorite game is Scrabble, and I have been playing one of my monk teachers regularly. He is by far the better player, which made my one win all the much more enjoyable!

Since we have seminarians from all over the country and from all over the world, the seminary is doing a nice job of teaching us about different cultures. Our supper one night consisted of an ‘Around the World Party.’ My most interesting experience was probably with the Kentucky Booth. They gave me a deep fat fried Twinkie and Oreo. Although these both were delicious, I didn’t have the same success with the mystery meat, which turned out to be pickled bologna.

On Halloween I attended my first Diaconate Ordination, and the Mass was very moving for me.  I became emotional at points during the Mass. Just as a man and women give themselves to each other in marriage, these Seminarians were giving themselves in marriage to the Church. My favorite part were when the seminarians laid prostrate during the Litany of Saints, a symbol that they were becoming obedience servants of Christ.

I thought I would close this blog entry by sharing with you a recent experience I had. I was sharing my vocation story with some students, and one student asked me, “But won’t you miss girls?” This was a very good question. In my response, I answered that a person cannot have everything in life. Whether single, married, or religious, and no matter where a person lives or what job they have, they cannot have everything in life. There are always trade offs and sacrifices will always be made. Just as married couples do not know the joys of ministering and administering the Sacraments, priests and religious do not know the joys of having their own family. A vocation is a calling, and is something God cannot and will not pressure someone into. Although each of us is responsible for discerning God’s will for us, He will not force a vocation on us that we do not want or that will not make us happy.

Merry Christmas!!!

Michael Cronin