“Each person in this life is called to a particular vocation, which encompasses his or her entire life,” Allen says. “This vocation, a call from God himself, finds its roots in the very fact that we are created: ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them’ (Eph 2:10).”
Allen continues, “a vocation is the medium through which we are led into the truth, the truth that is precisely Christ Jesus. Each vocation is unique and unrepeatable; each has inestimable value for the building of the Kingdom of Christ. My column, which I have titled “Led Into the Truth,” is an attempt to relate the source and the process of my particular vocational call as it is manifested in my current situation. I am a seminarian studying for the Archdiocese of Atlanta in Rome, the heart of the Catholic Church. I hope to relate in this column some of my experiences as a seminarian living abroad, seeking holiness, and being formed into the heart of Christ.”
Allen is currently studying at the North American College in Rome and is in his second year of theology, having completed a pre-theology philosophy program at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD. Prior to entering seminary, Allen graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in finance and worked in private equity for several years.