Casey Cole

Casey Cole OFM is an American Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, 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.

Early life and education

Cole grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania before moving to Cary, North Carolina. He was a parishioner at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Cary. Cole attended Green Hope High School and, in 2011, graduated from Furman University with a degree in religious studies and poverty studies. In 2019 he received a master of divinity from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Ecclesiastical career

In 2013 Cole made his first profession with novices from seven North American provinces in Burlington, Wisconsin at the Franciscan Interprovincial Novitiate. In 2017 Cole professed his final vows to become a Franciscan friar, moving back to North Carolina to intern at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Durham, a Franciscan parish. In March 2018 he was ordained a deacon.

On June 22, 2019 Cole was ordained as a priest of the Fransican Order 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 were women.

Writing

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.

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