Discernment Resources

The Melchizedek Project Podcast is a free “crash course” on true Catholic discernment taught by Fr. Brett Brannen, following the principals in his book To Save a Thousand Souls. Each episode is approximately 15 minutes in length.

• Episode 1: What is the Priesthood?
• Episode 2: The Sacred Power of Priesthood
• Episode 3: What is a Vocation?
• Episode 4: God Said Go, and I Said No
• Episode 5: Celibacy, Chastity, Charity, and Cheerfulness
• Episode 6: Signs of a Vocation to the Priesthood
• Episode 7: Developing a Spiritual Plan of Life

• To Save a Thousand Souls: A Guide for Discerning a Vocation to Diocesan Priesthood – Fr. Brett Brannen
• Discerning the Will of God – Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV
• Personal Vocation: God Calls Everyone By Name – Dr. Germain Grisez and Russell Shaw
• What Does God Want? – Fr. Michael Scanlon
• Discovering Your Personal Vocation – Herbert Alphonso, S.J.
• Is Jesus Calling You To Be A Catholic Priest? A Helpful Guide – Fr. Thomas Richter
• Radical Surrender; Letters to Seminarians – Fr. Michael Najim
• Paths of Love: The Discernment of Vocation According to the Teaching of Aquinas, Ignatius, and Pope John Paul II – Joseph Bolin
• Could You Ever Become a Catholic Priest? – Christopher J. Duquin & Lorene Hanley Duquin
• Called by Name: The Inspiring Stories of 12 Men Who Became Catholic Priests – Christine Mugridge

• Priests for the Third Millennium – Archbishop Timothy Dolan
• The Priest is Not His Own – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
• Those Mysterious Priests – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, 2005
• A Priest’s Life: The Calling, The Cost, The Joy – The Word Among Us Press
• The Joy of Priesthood – Msgr. Steve Rosetti
• Reclaiming our Priestly Character – Fr. David Toups
• Maurice and Therese: The Story of a Love – Saint Therese of Lisieux
• Short Catechism on the Priesthood – St. John Vianney
• The Grace of Ars – Fr. Frederick Miller
• Together on the Road: A Vision of Lived Communion for the Church and the Priesthood – Massimo Camisasca
• Dear Father: A Message of Love to Priests – Catherine De Hueck Doherty
• Be Holy! God’s First Call to Priests Today – Thomas Forrest, C.Ss.R.
• A Celebration of Priestly Ministry: Challenge, Renewal, and Joy in the Catholic Priesthood – Cardinal Walter Kasper

• Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism – Douglas Brinkley and Julie M. Fenster
• The Cure D’Ars: St. Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney – F. Trochu
• A Priest Forever – Fr. Benedict Groeschel
• He Leadeth Me – Fr. Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.
• Edmund Campion – Evelyn Waugh
• From Slave to Priest: A Biography of the Reverend Augustine Tolton (1854 – 1897): First Black American Priest of the United States – Caroline Hemesath
• Treasure in Clay – Archbishop Fulton Sheen
• The Grunt Padre – Fr. Daniel Mode
• A Shepherd in Combat Boots: Chaplain Emil Kapaun of the 1st Cavalry Division – William L. Maher
• Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai – Gavan Daws
• The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann, OFM – Gereon Karl Goldmann

• The Courage to be Chaste – Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR
• When God Asks for an Undivided Heart – Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR
• Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (Priestly Celibacy) – Pope Paul VI, 1967
• Virginity – Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa
• “…And You are Christ’s” The Charism of Virginity and the Celibate Life – Thomas Dubay, S.M.
• Magisterial Documents Presbyterorum Ordinis (Order of Priests), 1965 – Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia (From the Beginning of Our Priesthood) 1959
• Pastores Dabo Vobis (I will Give You Shepherds), 1992 – Program of Priestly Formation (5th Edition),
  U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005