I started thinking about priesthood when I was in active duty in the Defence Forces while serving in Collins Barracks, Cork. That was in 2019 in which the call became very strong from within my heart.
The priest in work helped me with my discernment and I received good spiritual direction from another priest in the diocese but overall the discernment group really helped in regards to focusing my mind on taking the next step to go on propaedeutic year in Spain. The discernment group was an exciting time to journey with other men and the diocese.
The propaedeutic year was a good year to build a solid foundation for the next step of my discernment. It was a year of reflection, prayer, travel and working on building the four pillars of priesthood which are the human, spiritual, pastoral, and intellectual needs of priesthood, all done in a lovely community setting of St Albans English College in Valladolid, Spain.
Alan McNamara
