encouraging more priestly vocations thru TV and college campuses

I saw the "God or the Girl" series on A&E a week ago and I thought it was pretty good, it was a good peek at what some men go through in their discernment process and I was glad that the producers treated the men with respect and dignity. I was glad with the results, I thought all made the right decision but there is hope that a change in their decisions could happen later in life, I have a friend who was in his late 30's when he decided to be a priest and with the increasing life expectancy, he could be a priest for over 30 years which is a long time I think.

Also, I saw this news on EWTN web site, a new group called FOCUS that encourages and promotes Catholic beliefs in College students by having them form Catholic communities within the college campus life. I think this is a great idea as it is my belief that modern day men should not discern priesthood until either after college or after several years in the real job market (I would even say a man that has both non-seminarian college and work experience is a better priestly candidate than a man that doesn't). And during that time, they should feel free to date and discern marriage also, I would say foregoing dating should only happen when you are in the final stages of discernment for the priesthood. As priests need to know about their parishioners, the college and work years will be a help for this knowledge. Here is the EWTN link: College campus Catholics

We all need to pray for more vocations especially for the priesthood and we all need to encourage men and boys to consider the priesthood especially those who have an inclination to the Catholic faith - but even Catholic men that are not excited about the faith now can change over time and if they have been encouraged to think of priestly vocations, it may be the opening the Holy Spirit needs to start that process in motion.