Casey Cole, O.F.M., is an American

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

, writer, and blogger. Cole runs his own online blog and YouTube channel called ''Breaking in the Habit'' and is the author of the books ''Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship'' and ''Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God''.

Biography

Early life

Cole grew up in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

, before moving to

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest muni ...

. He was a parishioner at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Cary. Cole attended

Green Hope High School Green Hope High School is a secondary school located at 2500 Carpenter Upchurch Road in Cary, North Carolina. It is a part of the Wake County Public School System. History Green Hope School origins The school is named for the historic Green Hope ...

and, in 2011, graduated from

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

with a degree in religious studies and a minor in poverty studies. In August 2011, Cole was received as a

postulant A postulant (from la, postulare, to ask) was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the p ...

in the Order of Friars Minor.

Media career and onward

Later in 2011, he began his blog called ''Breaking in the Habit'', writing about considering joining the priesthood, later adding a podcast and a YouTube channel. He was received as a Franciscan novice in August 2012, where, in 2013, he made his first profession with novices from seven North American provinces in

Burlington, Wisconsin Burlington is a city in Racine and Walworth counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, with the majority of the city located in Racine County. The population of the city was 11,047 as of the 2020 census. History Prior to the arrival of Europea ...

at the Franciscan Interprovincial Novitiate. He studied at

The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution ...

from 2013 to 2016, working towards a

master of divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...

degree. In 2016, Cole began serving at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

, a Franciscan parish, and professed his final vows as a

in 2017. In March 2018, he was ordained a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

. In 2019, he received a master of divinity from

Catholic Theological Union Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a private Roman Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world and trains men and women for lay and ordai ...

in Chicago. On June 22, 2019, Cole was ordained a priest of the

Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

by Luis R. Zarama, the Bishop of Raleigh, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. At Cole's insistence, all lay liturgical ministers who assisted in the celebration of the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

were women. Since 2020, Cole has served as the chaplain of Mount de Sales Academy in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

Writings

Cole has written two books, ''Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God'' and ''Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Casey Living people 21st-century American Roman Catholic priests American Friars Minor American male bloggers American bloggers American Roman Catholic religious writers American TikTokers American YouTubers Catholic Theological Union alumni Furman University alumni Franciscan writers People from Cary, North Carolina People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people)