#12326 Can We Bring More Men to the Priesthood? w/ Fr. Marc Gandolfo - Fr. Marc Gandolfo

Catholic Answers Live

Catholic Answers

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“How can lay people support vocations, prayer, and service?” This episode explores the vital role of the laity in fostering vocations, alongside Fr. Marc Gandolfo’s personal journey to the priesthood. Tune in as we discuss the meaning of “pray without ceasing,” the experience of a life dedicated to service, and practical steps for laypeople to assist in promoting vocations.

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Questions Covered:

03:24 – How did you end up being a Catholic priest?
16:30 – On “Pray without ceasing.”
17:30 – What is it like to live a life dedicated to serving others?
29:18 – Could you give examples of listening to God and listening outside structured prayer?
22:24 – What can a lay person do to help vocations?
29:18 – Could you give examples of listening to God and listening outside structured prayer?
41:48 – What degree of certainty does a young man need in order to apply to seminary?
46:04 – Do you normally work with local Catholic high schools to promote vocations?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Buying or selling your home, real estate for life can connect you with a pro-life real estate agent.
0:05.2	When Real Estate for Life receives a referral fee, they donate 65% to Catholic Answers.
0:11.5	Learn more at realestateforlife.org. Welcome back to Catholic Answers Live.
0:31.6	I am Cy Kellett, your host, delighted to be here with you.
0:36.4	And I'll tell you what, a lot of people in this world would find a
0:40.7	tremendous happiness in the priesthood or the religious life. And for one reason or another,
0:47.8	the noise of the world or the temptations of the world or the difficulties of the way the modern
0:52.5	world is structured, people are missing that call.
0:56.2	So I think it's a service to get to talk about vocations. I think there are so many young women who
1:01.3	would find they are just delighted to be in a monastery or working as a sister. There are so many
1:08.7	young men who would find their life utterly fulfilled by working as a sister, there are so many young men who would find their life utterly fulfilled
1:11.8	by working as a priest or a brother, maybe an order priest, maybe a diocesan priest.
1:17.7	So that's what we are going to talk about this hour.
1:19.7	And look, if you're a person who's maybe for you, you've considered vocation, or you have
1:25.2	it's something that you want to do, but you have challenges to overcome,
1:30.3	or you just don't know how to discern that kind of thing. We're going to spend this entire
1:33.9	hour talking about vocations. Also, you know, you might just have questions about vocations.
1:39.8	You know, like many people don't know, you know, are you barred from being a priest if you've, yeah, I don't know, committed a crime
1:48.6	or if you've held up a 7-11, you know, can I still be a priest even though as a kid?
1:54.1	Well, I actually don't know the answer to that one.
1:56.5	I'm pretty sure someone's going to call and ask it now.
1:59.7	Talking about vocations, you're welcome to call 8883187-884, triple-8-387-884. We have a new bishop here in San Diego, and we also have a relatively new director of priestly vocations here in the Diocese of San Diego. So we asked him to come in, and he was gracious enough to say yes. Father Mark
	...

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