Being a priest generates many questions: the decision itself, the lifestyle, the challenges, the expectations, among others. “Men wanted. A book about priesthood for nonconformist youth” is a publication that seeks to provide adequate answers to help define life’s direction.
A vocation, any vocation, is a difficult matter. Getting married, for example, is a vocation to which not everyone is called, just like priesthood, a vocation that involves making a decision with many sacrifices that are placed in faith before God. Now, can one only serve God by being a priest? The answer is no. So, why is there a call to priestly vocation when one can serve God in so many different ways?
Faced with these questions, Father Julio Muñoz López de Carrizosa, L.C., decides to collect in a book the result of many encounters with young people who have eventually expressed their concerns about priestly vocation. “From those conversations arose letters that I wrote, letters on different topics and questions like how do I know that God calls me, how to know that I’m not making a mistake, what’s the difference between a religious priest and a parish priest, how is celibacy lived, among others,” indicates Father Julio, who took advantage of the pandemic to collect all those letters with those questions and unite them to give life to “Men wanted. A book about priesthood for nonconformist youth“.
The book has a clear purpose: to try to provide answers to young people who may have doubts about priestly vocation “in an enjoyable way, in a down-to-earth way and in understandable language”, emphasizes Father Julio. For this, he relies on texts, images, phrases from saints, among other resources. Thus, the father insists, “I try to make priestly vocation be seen as something normal and beautiful to which God calls some”.
I try to make priestly vocation be seen as something normal and beautiful to which God calls some
Additionally, and in a complementary way, Father Julio has created podcasts and videocasts with information that the book collects to be able to take advantage of multimedia resources and thus give young people more options to approach the book’s theme. “They are videos explaining the book, what it’s about and why a young person with concerns about priesthood should read it”. For example, in one of them, it addresses how to know that there is a call from God when it’s something so personal and intimate. Thus, and in a very natural way, one can have access to the different letters, messages, questions and answers.
You can listen to each topic here. To acquire the book, you can go to the Amazon store.
About Father Julio Muñoz López de Carrizosa, L.C.
Father Julio was born in Madrid (Spain) on October 25, 1983. After completing his studies in Classical Humanities, Philosophy and Humanities in Spain, Italy and the United States, he was ordained priest on December 12, 2015.
He has written several articles of a popularizing nature for Catholic Magazines and is the author of the book God yes. Church no. Easy answers to difficult questions for young people. He directs conferences, workshops and courses on apologetics, sexuality, bible and ethics oriented especially to high school and university students.
He is currently chaplain and professor of moral at Preparatorio Anáhuac de Monterrey, Mexico.