Our Seminarians

Jeremy Canna

Home Parish: St. Thomas Aquinas, Flatlands
Pastoral Year Parish: Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, Forest Hills
Seminary: Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington

What makes the Brooklyn Diocese so unique is the fact that it is an "all-urban" diocese, containing a great number of people within a relatively small area. It provides the blessings and challenges of the universal Church at close range. I have always found it a tremendous blessing to live and work in this Diocese.

I entered the seminary in 2004, immediately following high school, where I attended Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Elmhurst. I have a B.A. degree from St. John's University where I double-majored in Psychology and Philosophy. I have studied and played piano for most of my life, beginning at the age of four and have served as organist at the seminaries I have attended as well as at parishes and other diocesan events.

Having assumed that my willingness to pray and learn more about Catholic tradition could only have come from the Holy Spirit, I have depended on those who know me best and who have a mature and holistic understanding of the priesthood to guide me in discerning my calling to priesthood.

One of the reasons I decided to enter the seminary was my close ties with our diocesan seminarians and the students at Cathedral Prep, especially those students with an enhanced interest in seminary life. This allowed me the opportunity to develop a great appreciation of the seminary and all that it has to offer.

Seminary life cannot be described adequately in brief. Every day carries different obligations, joys, and challenges. I am able to see myself growing in God's grace, and I know that every day is better than the day before.

My advice to a young man who feels he may have a vocation would be not to delay in presenting yourself to the diocesan vocation office. The diocese, knowing your needs as well as those of the Church, will determine the best way for you to proceed. And should you find that you are not truly called to the priesthood, you will still take with you a great deal of self-knowledge that will be invaluable to you for years to come.

Including my four years in high school at Cathedral Prep Seminary, I have been in priestly formation for over ten years. If I was to find out tomorrow that I was not called to the priesthood, I would still not regret the past ten years in the least. Making any major life changes carries inherent risks, but it is better to pursue a vocation as soon as you believe that you may have one and see the extent to which it can be formed rather than to let the years pass in uncertainty.