Sunday, July 19, 2009

Update part deux, electric boogaloo

It seems only courteous that I inform my readers that I received my acceptance letter from the seminary on Friday. So I am now officially a seminarian. I no longer need any adjectives to hedge my bets against a possible, if unlikely, change of circumstances. I am a seminarian.

I move down to the seminary on August 26. I'll be spending the remaining month trying to tie up a number of loose ends on various other fronts, as well as making sure I have everything I need. I am going to have to go get measured for a cassock so I can have a properly fitted one for cassock day in October. This is simultaneously very cool and a little scary.

Your prayers, as always, are very much appreciated.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Incredible claims

"Incredible claims require incredible evidence," can only mean, "claims that I choose to reject willfully and a priori require evidence that I will not choose to reject willfully and a priori." This is entirely a matter of the speaker's intellectual and volitional dispositions. But a speaker's intellectual and volitional dispositions have no effect on the truth, i.e. the reality, of a claim. Thus the the idea that, "incredible claims require incredible evidence," is not relevant to judging the truth or falsity, i.e. the reality or non-reality, of any particular claim.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

An Update

I know that some are interested in an update on my status as a candidate for seminary.

Here it is: I am in. After reviewing my information and the recommendation from the diocesan Commission for Orders and Ministries, my bishop has given his approval for my sponsorship as a seminarian.

I literally just got the letter from the diocese this past Saturday. And on that same day the diocesan vocations director called me and invited me to the seminarians' summer get together on Tuesday and Wednesday. So I spent Monday getting ready and taking care of various errands.

I still need to be accepted to the seminary itself, since it is run by another, neighboring diocese. According to the vocations director, as well as every other priest I know, this is a formality. No one approved by their bishop has every been denied acceptance. So I am now, for all intents and purposes, a seminarian.

I would like to thank everyone who has prayed for me and my discernment. If you could continue to remember me in your prayers and ask God to help me further discern His will in my life, I would be grateful.