My name is Owen Dugan and I come from a small town called Gosport on the south coast. I grew up in a Catholic household and was inspired in my faith from a young age by my maternal grandparents who originate from Malta.
I had a notion of wanting to be a priest from quite a young age and seriously began discerning a vocation to the priesthood around the age of 15. What initially caused me to seriously consider a vocation to the priesthood was a great sense of admiration for the role of the priest in the lives of the faithful – being that instrument of grace which brings them nourishment through the celebration of the Holy Mass and forgiveness and healing through the Sacrament of Confession – to be that alter Christus present in the Church for others.
I initially entered seminary at the age of 18 before joining a Franciscan community in southern Italy where I spent 5 years before arriving here at Oscott.
Life at Oscott, like anywhere, has both its joys and challenges.
Being able to spend an hour each day before the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration, the possibility to study in depth the treasures of our Faith and the human formation programme are just some of the positive aspects of life at Oscott.
Community life and “institutional living” can be challenging at times, but ultimately even these are useful for growth in the life of virtue and arriving at a greater maturity.
The experience of seminary life has continued to assist me in my ongoing discernment of who I am before the Lord, of how He wants me to shape my life, of how in particular He wants me to live my entire life for Him and to understand with ever greater clarity “my vocation within the vocation”. This whole journey is carried out under the maternal gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the seminary at Oscott is dedicated, and under whose patronage we live each day.
As I continue on the path to priesthood, I am continually spurred on by my desire to offer my life completely to Christ in His Church, for it is in the generous giving of ourselves that we are ever more satisfied. Love by its nature is diffusive and, growing each day in my understanding of God’s great love for me, I feel an ever-greater desire to share that same love of God with others for His greater glory.
Psalm 115:3-5 sums it all up:
‘What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things he has rendered unto me? I will take the chalice of salvation; and I will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people.’
To anyone discerning a vocation to the priesthood, I would encourage you to spend time each day listening for the voice of the Lord, asking Him with a sincere and humble heart to make known His Will for your life.
Be generous with your heart towards God, and He will repay you a hundredfold (Matthew 19: 29)