“Part of our job here is to challenge guys to make sure they are not floating into the priesthood, to make sure they are asking the tough questions. So sometimes we say—as much as we hate to see a guy leave—when a guy leaves the seminary thoughtfully and prayerfully, you rejoice. If the seminarian has decided it’s right to leave, we say, ‘Bravo. Thanks for letting us help you make the right choice.’

“That’s not happening now and that could be because the New Men are indeed called and thinking about it and probing and are at peace with their vocations. But I’m always thinking, ‘I hope there is no malaise here. I hope there are no zealots disguising themselves as prayerful and compassionate seminarians.’

“If anyone said to me, ‘Yes, I’ve heard the voice of Christ directly telling me to be a priest,’ well, he might as well not even unpack. I’d put him on the next plane home.”

— then-Monsignor Timothy Dolan, 

on his experience as a seminary rector in the book “The New Men.”