Age for priest

[JimmytheButcher]

Why does the seminary require one to be at least 18 of age before you can enter.

Example, Padre Pio became part of O.F.M.C at the age of 15… (or joined the seminary to be more exact)

Why can’t we enter at a young age today?

There are good reasons.

You speak of Padre Pio. There is an order of Franciscans that were founded by one of his altar boys. (If I am not mistaken) Their other major influence is from the martyr St. Maximilian Kolbe, who composed Marian tracts. They are traditionally oriented, not exclusively, but in a way that is fully compatible with the Hermeneutic of Continuity, spoken of by the Holy Father.

With them you can first become a brother and let God work with you from there. Trust in Him, and He will put you were He created you to be. Always trust in Him. Without trust miracles do not happen, and be certain that the priesthood is miraculous.

Click the link and begin speaking with them. When you attain your majority you can go with them. For now observe the commandment of honouring your father and mother.

indiamariae.com/

EDIT: These particular Franciscans might provide you with the additional benefit by familiarizing you with the Syro Malankara and Syro-Malabar Catholic churches and their rites.

 

[JReducation]

There are good reasons.

You speak of Padre Pio. There is an order of Franciscans that were founded by one of his altar boys. (If I am not mistaken) Their other major influence is from the martyr St. Maximilian Kolbe, who composed Marian tracts. They are traditionally oriented, not exclusively, but in a way that is fully compatible with the Hermeneutic of Continuity, spoken of by the Holy Father.

With them you can first become a brother and let God work with you from there.
EDIT: These particular Franciscans might provide you with the additional benefit by familiarizing you with the Syro Malankara and Syro-Malabar Catholic churches and their rites.

Those are the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Several clarifications.

With them, you will always be a brother as with any Franciscan community.

Franciscans are brothers for life.

Once he makes solemn vows, the brother may ask for Holy Orders. It is up to the superior. If he is ordained he is both brother + priest. He never ceases to be brother. He makes solemn vows to be a brother until death. If he’s ordained, he is what is known as a regular priest.

They follow the same rule as the Friars Minor. The difference between them and the Friars Minor is that their ministry is Marian and the Friars Minor do not have a ministry. They do many kinds of work.

They are not Traditionalists, but the General Minister has given them permission to celebrate the EF for the public as long as they follow the Franciscan OF calendar. It’s the same EF mass, but it’s celebrated using the Franciscan form and following the Franciscan calendar, which is a little different from the Roman calendar. It contains Franciscan holy days and the seasons are divided differently.

The Indian Province is made up of European and Indian friars. The Indian friars alone may be bi-ritual. The foreign friars must be Latins.

Like the rest of the Franciscan family, you must have completed high school and reached the age of majority to become an aspirant.

The steps are:

Aspirant
Postulant
Novice
Student Friar
Solemn Profession

= 6 to 10 years.

After 2 more years, you can get permission to be ordained. Permission is never a given in the Franciscan family. Ordination is not a necessity for Franciscans, because we have a surplus of priests. However, as you go through the formation process from aspirant to solemn vows, you will discern with the community and they will give you feedback. By the time that you make solemn vows, you will know if the brothers believe that you should be ordained or not.

Then it’s up to you to choose. You can choose to stay and never be ordained, but you still make solemn vows and have the same rights and duties as any other friar or you can leave when your temporary vows expire.

If you tell them or any Franciscan vocation director that you want to enter the Franciscans because you want to be a priest, chances a pretty good that you will be sent to the secular seminary. Your desire to enter any Franciscan community is to become a son of St. Francis., Benedictines, Cistercians and Discalced Carmelites have the same requirements. You must want to be a religious as much as you want to be a priest.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[TradionalWay]

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Thank you brother for all the information! It gave me a clear view, and made me think more. May God bless you, and may He lead me to my true vocation

There are good reasons.

Thank u for the info

 

[otjm]

One of the simple, but often overlooked issues of a seminary is the financial end. In the 1950’s and early 1960’s there were a greater percentage of Catholics actually sitting in the pews; and it could be reasonably presumed from that, a greater percentage giving in general, and specifically to the seminaries ofr upkeep and costs. Running a high school seminary on top of a college seminary and the graduate school required adds a significant cost in food, housing, educational materials and teachers. None of that is free; and at lest when I was in seminary in the 1960’s (college) it was clearly subsidized heavily.

Coupled with that is the issue of how many students enter as a high school student (either freshman or along the line) and how many exit after (10, 11, 12 or more) years ordained; the statistics were not particularly attractive in terms of cost per student. No, I don’t have specific statistics; but the first two years I was there we had 30+ college students each year, the greater majority of whom started there in college; 7 made it to ordination.

So for no other reason than costs, it can be cost prohibitive to try to run a high school seminary.

Coupled with that is the issue of isolation; some think it is the best that can be done for a young person, and others think that it simply becomes a process by which some maturity growth is either missed or delayed. Others can argue the merit of the matter.

 

[JReducation]

One of the simple, but often overlooked issues of a seminary is the financial end. In the 1950’s and early 1960’s there were a greater percentage of Catholics actually sitting in the pews; and it could be reasonably presumed from that, a greater percentage giving in general, and specifically to the seminaries ofr upkeep and costs. Running a high school seminary on top of a college seminary and the graduate school required adds a significant cost in food, housing, educational materials and teachers. None of that is free; and at lest when I was in seminary in the 1960’s (college) it was clearly subsidized heavily.

Coupled with that is the issue of how many students enter as a high school student (either freshman or along the line) and how many exit after (10, 11, 12 or more) years ordained; the statistics were not particularly attractive in terms of cost per student. No, I don’t have specific statistics; but the first two years I was there we had 30+ college students each year, the greater majority of whom started there in college; 7 made it to ordination.

So for no other reason than costs, it can be cost prohibitive to try to run a high school seminary.

Coupled with that is the issue of isolation; some think it is the best that can be done for a young person, and others think that it simply becomes a process by which some maturity growth is either missed or delayed. Others can argue the merit of the matter.

The few Franciscan provinces that still have minor seminaries (high school), run them as open high schools. It’s the only way to finance them. You have the seminarians, but you also day students who attend the high school. A high school is a very expensive project these days. You have meet state requirements to grant a diploma. Without that diploma the college seminary will not take you.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[jesusmylover]

Why does the seminary require one to be at least 18 of age before you can enter.

Example, Padre Pio became part of O.F.M.C at the age of 15… (or joined the seminary to be more exact)

Why can’t we enter at a young age today?

Hey,

If the seminary require one age before to enter it’s just because of the evolution/changes in society. In the past, it was normal to enter in some order or seminary younger because of the social situation of those periods.

Today, maturity is really important; because the seminary have to improve your vocation and be sure that it’s not only a dream like you can have a dream to become policeman when you are young. In Europe and North America today, the majority of dioceses insist for example that all the candidates to the priest-hoots make a long pastoral internship which is really important for the priest-hoots after ordination.

Another reason is the legal age or majority. You have for example many families who don’t accept that their son become priest, and if a young man decides to enter in the seminary when he is younger that eighteen for example, the family can makes prosecution to the seminary or the diocese.

An other reason is that today, the studies to become priest are really long. you have to make three years of theology; one or two or three years of philosophy… And i’m not sure that at sixteen the young man could be able intellectually to follow all these courses. During the time of Padre Pio, they didn’t have a lot of studies like that, so it was possible for them to enter to the seminary or in any order younger.

Today, with globalisation, technology, development of sciences, society… It’s really capital to make many studies before to become priest. Priests have to answer to the preoccupations of christians in a society which changes everyday.

I don’t know if i answered to your question?

Good bless you.