Jeremy-Marie Joly says his household and buddies have been shocked when he advised them he was abandoning engineering research to change into a priest.
Sports activities was extra essential than faith in his household when he was rising up in Gatineau, Que. He performed hockey and faculty soccer, had a girlfriend, and labored a guide labour job in Alberta for some time earlier than deciding to review electrical engineering.
His household, which incorporates six brothers, didn’t perceive when he determined to move to Montreal to review on the seminary, he mentioned. “They noticed it as, I received’t have my brother beside me to dwell this life that we think about, the place you have got your individual youngsters,” mentioned Joly, 40.
Joly’s option to change into a priest stays a extremely uncommon one in 2026. Nonetheless, he’s finishing his research at a time when some church buildings say they’re seeing rising attendance and a renewed curiosity in Catholicism from an more and more youthful crowd, after many a long time of decline.
Joly says the choice to change into a priest got here after he began to have philosophical and religious questions in regards to the world and his position in it. “We dwell in a world the place cash is basically essential and we are likely to ignore the dignity of many individuals simply on the nook of the road,” he mentioned in an interview at Montreal’s Grand Séminaire, the place Catholic monks dwell and practice.
He mentioned he was notably consumed by questions of affection — of what love is and why it’s essential — and concluded that the very best reply got here from the picture of Jesus on the cross. “It’s the reward of 1’s life for one more individual, freely by selection, not by obligation, not by pressured liberty, and so I needed to observe that to impression the world in a greater means than engineering can ever do,” he mentioned.
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It was that revelation that introduced Joly to Montreal to pursue his vocation.
Rev. Robert Gauthier, a priest and head of the Grand Séminaire, says the establishment often has between 10 and 12 monks in coaching, and ordains about two per yr. That’s down from lots of of candidates within the Sixties and as much as 60 a yr within the late ’80s, when he began coaching.
Six years in the past, the seminary moved from its spacious constructing on Sherbrooke Avenue to a useful however unfancy former nuns residence within the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie borough, the place the aspiring monks dwell and research in modest dormitories.
Regardless of the adjustments, he sees purpose for hope.
Throughout Quebec, some Catholic church buildings are seeing an increase in attendance, with lots of of individuals within the pews every Sunday. The Montreal diocese reported that in March, greater than 300 adults — a lot of them younger — gathered at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral for a gathering to organize for affirmation or full communion.
“There’s a motion, there’s one thing that’s taking place,” Gauthier mentioned.
That development has been evident at Cathédrale Saint-Jean-l’Évangéliste in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., the place officers report weekly mass attendance of between 450 and 500 folks. Isabelle Brulotte, the top of the group that manages the church, says the rise in attendance started three to 5 years in the past, and is rising every year.
“I consider that it in all probability comes from the whole lot that has been taking place on the planet,” she mentioned. “Individuals really feel a have to consider, to collect, to get collectively.”
She additionally credit the church’s efforts to adapt to youthful tastes. These embody music-heavy gospel and even country-style companies and cultural occasions — together with Montreal Canadiens watch events — which have helped folks really feel comfy strolling by way of the door.
She additionally believes {that a} cohort of youthful monks present spiritual companies which can be extra relatable to different younger folks.
Gauthier, too, believes there’s a mixture of causes for the seeming rise in reputation of Catholicism. He sees God working within the hearts of individuals combating existential questions, but in addition in younger folks attracted by the standard of the music, the fantastic thing about church structure and the partaking preaching model of monks.
Gauthier says it’s unclear how most of the newly devoted will change into monks. Whereas he’s heard from extra potential candidates than regular, he says many don’t make it by way of the coaching, which lasts as much as seven years and consists of intense research in philosophy and theology in addition to stints in church buildings.
And never everybody can or ought to pursue a life that requires candidates to be “poor, chaste and obedient,” he mentioned.
He says his purpose as a rector isn’t to fill the seminary, however quite to seek out and information candidates, or “the suitable man on the proper place.” He says the common age of somebody coaching to be a priest is 37 — which means they probably had a earlier profession, which will be something from truck driving to pharmacy.
As for Joly, he’s now accomplished his research on the seminary and has been ordained as a transitional deacon. He says his subsequent steps embody “visiting plenty of sick folks” as he works towards changing into an ordained priest.
His household’s worries, he says, have been assuaged. And he mentioned he has a detailed relationship along with his younger nieces and nephews, including that he was scheduled to baptize 4 of them.
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