The World Needs Heroes...

I'm reminded of this often.  It's the Archdiocese of NY's new slogan, if you will.  And my brother has a shirt that he often wears that has it on it.

I've been thinking about it alot lately.  Yes, the world does need heroes.  I'm thankful that my brother answered a call he got a long time ago.

You see, one of the common questions I get asked when I tell people that my brother is in the seminary, is when did he make his decision?  Is he SURE this is what he wants to do with his life?

I can't remember exactly how old he was when he made his decision.  I want to say around 3rd grade or so?  But he knew.

We come from what alot of people would call a deeply religious family.  My grandfather went to Mass daily.  My great aunt is a Dominican Nun.  Both my brother and I went to Catholic School, me from Kindergarten through 12th grade, my brother from Kindergarten through 2nd Grade.  We were both Acolytes or Altar Servers, in fact I was the first girl server in our parish.

That's where our similarities end though. I began questioning my faith sometime in high school, my brother's grew stronger.

Golden Boy has always had it easy at home.  9 times out of 10, I'd get blamed for whatever he did :P.  But in school, he didn't have it so easy.  He's classified as learning disabled.  It takes him longer to learn things, and he learns differently than I do.  Looking back now, I think this might have been part of the reason why he had it easy at home, because all day in school was a struggle.

You can't tell by looking at him that he's different.  And really, he's not.  Catholic school didn't have the resources to help him, and our public school wasn't the best place for him either.  My mom tried to home school him for a year, and I helped with some subjects she had a hard time with.  Then they found the Crossroads School.  This was the perfect fit for him.  Small class sizes, and individual attention.  And they taught to the student, not to the test.  Golden Boy excelled and ended up getting accepted to Landmark College in VT.  Again, another perfect fit for him.  My mom had become his advocate, and when college neared, she looked all over for schools who helped kids like Golden Boy.  Landmark is a 2 year college, and it gave Golden Boy the experience he needed to help him excel.

He's now in Iona, and doing great.  He's getting good grades, and enjoys school.

Backtracking for a second, I knew Golden Boy was "different" when he was around 9?  When most normal kids are playing house, cops and robbers, he was holding "mass" in his room.  He made up his own bulletins.  He put up a prayer schedule.

Golden Boy was thrilled when I moved out, because it meant that he could have my room and his room could be his "rectory".  So, yes, he got the Call at a very early age.  And accepted it.

In high school, he entered the Cathedral Prep program at the seminary.  It's a weekend program for high schoolers who are thinking about entering the priesthood.  Golden Boy looked forward to his weekends at the seminary and I believe sealed the deal that this was what he wanted.

I am proud of him.  It's taken him alot to get to where he is right now, and it's going to take alot to get to where he wants to be.  But, I truly believe that he'll get it.  I am 110% sure this is what he wants with his life.

Anyways, back to the world needing heroes...it DOES.  And not just priests!  We all can be a hero, even if it is just to one person.  And it doesn't matter what faith you are, we're all needed, just the same.  Whether is the homeschooling mom raising her children to be the best that they can be, or the seminarian answering his call, whether it's a person donating to help pregnant women and infants in places that need help, or a cub scout den donating food to the food pantry.  What can YOU do to be a hero?

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