Andy Rota/The Observer

Diocesan priests spoke about their vocation discernment, the joy of priestly ministry, and the future of the diocesan priesthood.

Students at Boston College had the opportunity last Thursday to hear about the life of a priest not from the perspective of a Jesuit but rather from the point of view of four diocesan priests. Father J. Bryan Hehir, Father Paul O’Brien, and Father William Lohan participated in the Church in the 21st Century panel on “Diocesan Priesthood in the 21st Century: Perspectives from Three Generations.”

The panel was moderated by Father Robert Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and a Boston College Associate Professor of Theology.

Father Imbelli first asked the panelists what initially attracted them to t he priesthood. Father Lohan, who was ordained in 2008, said that when he was about 30 years old he experienced a radical reconversion to the faith.

Father Lohan said he had “a very, very intense and grace filled confession,” which caused him to rethink how he was living his Catholic faith. H e said that it was prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament that moved him to discern the priesthood.

Father O’Brien, the Pastor of Saint Patrick Parish in Lawrence, MA, said that he felt the call to the priesthood suddenly as well.

“I didn’t have any attraction whatsoever,” said Father O’Brien, until one day it felt like “God giving me a hit over the head and a call […] that ‘I want you to be a priest.’”

A professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Father Hehir said that he did not experience a sudden call or decisive event that made him consider the priesthood.

“I entered the seminary out of a sense of duty,” said Father O’Brien, who said that discernment for him was not a single event, but a process. He said that his theological formation at the seminary, in the midst of the Second Vatican Council, was an important part of his discernment until he was ordained.

The men also shared their thoughts on what gives them a present joy as a priest.

Father O’Brien said he finds joy in “any outbreaking of the Kingdom […] when love conquers hatred.”

For Father Lohan, joy comes with “the one on one encounters with people, [especially] those who have been away from the Church or [those] on the margins of the Church.”

Saint John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests, once said that “If we had faith, we would see God hidden in the priest like a light behind glass, like wine mixed with water.”

The panel was an opportunity for Boston College students, who generally have little exposure to non-Jesuit priests, to learn about the importance of the diocesan priesthood and the great joy of this vocation.