Applying

After reaching out to the vocation director, you and he would meet several times. Perhaps a meeting will be at his parish office while another may be over a cup of coffee. The goal of this initial stage is to get to know one another, to begin guiding and answering any questions you may have. Meeting with the vocation director never means you are going to or must apply, but is rather a way of taking a that "next step" with the church.

Through these initial meetings, together the discerner and vocation director will get a sense if he is able and ready to receive the application. A man may be eligible to apply for seminary within the Diocese of Rockford only after discerning with the vocation director and receiving a formal invitation from him to apply to the diocese.

Given the nature of the Diocesan Priesthood, all men interested in becoming a seminarian for the Diocese of Rockford must live on a familial or self-sustaining basis within the diocese for a period of no less than three years prior to seeking an application.

The first part of the application is primarily written.  From general information, questions like “why do you want to be a priest?,” writing a spiritual autobiography, gathering sacramental records, to describing familial and education history.

The second part of the application involves various interviews, whether from the vocation director himself or by a member of the vocation team that assists him.  The goal of these interviews is to help support the written application in gauging whether a man has what it takes to discern with the church and be formed.

The third and final part of the application process is the psychological and medical evaluations. These each help the man and vocation director see if he is healthy enough to enter seminary, gauging if he has the freedom and capacity necessary.

With all of these parts completed and in hand, the vocation director will process and review the application, ultimately giving his recommendation to Bishop Malloy. Taking the application himself, Bishop will then read through everything carefully, taking it all to prayer, before giving the applicant the final decision through the vocation director.

All said, the application process, from starting the first part to finishing the third and receiving an ultimate answer, takes an average of two to three months.

The application process revolves around a normal college academic year, with the first applications becoming available in early fall and may be received through early springtime.