Oakland, Calif., Jan 25, 2010 / 14:18 pm
Last Friday, 23-year-old Grant Desme, a minor league baseball player and top prospect for the Oakland A's, announced he was retiring from the sport to pursue the higher calling of the priesthood. According to the Norbertine Fathers' vocations director, Desme chose the order because of its religious life and its educational and liturgical orthodoxy.
The A's noted recruit plans to begin his seminary studies at St. Michael's Abbey in Silverado, Calif. this coming Fall. Speaking to CNA on Monday, Nobertine Fathers' Vocations Director Fr. Ambrose Criste said that he and the community are “just very grateful to God for blessing us with new vocations.”
Desme announced his decision to leave minor league baseball on Friday and told reporters in a news conference that he is “doing well in baseball,” however, “I had to get down to the bottom of things, to what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. Baseball was a good thing, but that felt selfish of me when I felt that God was calling me more.”
“It took awhile to trust that and open up to it and aim full steam toward Him … I love the game, but I'm going to aspire to higher things.”