Age restrictions regarding priests

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Dedicated61 said:
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It is a practical matter. The formation of 6 to 7 years has a cost. In the Byzantine Catholic Church the ordination is not to be done after age 65, but I believe there is a one year extension that may be granted. Formation of a deacon takes five years and the program only starts every five years.
 
Dedicated61 said:
None of my opponents in here have any sense of social justice, any sense other than obedience to a Bishop; Bishops are men (largely white men); A Bishop is a man of God, HE is NOT God;
No Bishop of any church should be immune from criticism;

Its no wonder that a majority of Catholics do not attend MASS except on holidays or special occasions.

The church has become STIFLING in its ministries and in ITS attitude towards the mystical body;

Thats the REAL debate in here; You people view BISHOPS as being GOD, not a servant of the Lord but as a DEITY all by themselves;
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Bishops in the USA are white men.

Again can you come up with a coherent response, without yelling, regarding if Bishops have a right to say who they feel comfortable accepting to seminary?
 
Dedicated61 said:
However MERELY because of a persons AGE, they have no calling?
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To claim one lacks a calling because they are too old
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If you are called to be a priest, then the vocation of your life has always been to be a priest. (Just as, if you are called to be a husband and father, then the vocation of your life would always have been to be a husband and father.)

But, if you chose in your 60s to pursue your vocation as a father… does it follow that you must necessarily be successful in achieving your objective? Or, is it possible that, due to the timing of your acceptance of your vocation, is it just possible that it might not happen, purely because of the timing?

If so, then that wouldn’t be a denial of your conviction that you’re called to be a priest. It wouldn’t be an assertion that the Church is acting against your vocation. It would just be an acknowledgement that, ideally, the time to approach this vocation may have already passed for you. That doesn’t mean that your life has no meaning – it just means that, at this stage of your life, Jesus and His Church may have other plans for you.

I’m thinking of the story of Jesus and the rich young man. He approached Jesus, but wasn’t ready to accept His offer of apostleship. If, later in life, he eventually came to realize that he should have accepted the offer… should he have demanded the status of ‘apostle’ at that point? Should he have railed against the apostles on the basis of the timing of his acceptance of the offer?
How can the church deny the opportunity to become a priest
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Because the priesthood isn’t an ‘opportunity’… it’s a vocation. And that means that there’s a nuptial dimension to the vocation. You can discern a calling unilaterally, but for the conclusion to be reached that you are called to be a priest today, both you and the Church must say ‘yes.’. In much the same way that a man cannot demand of a woman that she marry him, a man cannot demand of the Church that she ordain him.
Does not their predjudice regarding age, ie AGEISM
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The U.S. military has age requirements for commissioning. Is that ageism? Or, is it a recognition of the fact that, beyond a certain age, it would be irresponsible stewardship of resources to commission a person an officer? Is not not, likewise, possible to make the same argument vis-a-vis the priesthood?
 
Dedicated61 said:
The CHARISMS I have MUST have expression, if not inside the Roman Church then outside it;
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It’s a perilous course to decide that one is personally the arbiter of truth, over and above and in contradiction to the Church that Jesus founded. Many have taken that course. History gives them a variety of names, none of which are terribly positive.

I hope that you have not decided to abandon the Church that Jesus gave to us as the fountain of graces. It sounds like you may have already made that choice. I’ll be praying for you.

Peace.
 
In Luke 10, Jesus says that the harvest is plentiful but that the workers are few. What this really means is, if you give yourself fully to the Lord for him to use as He wishes, you will find yourself doing vital meaningful work WITH Him. It might be wise to focus less on the one thing you (so far) cannot do, and more on the massive number of things you can do. You could lead RCIA, teach an adult bible study, Start a prayer meeting, spearhead life teen at your parish, volunteer in Calcutta with the missionaries of charity… the possibilities are endless! My mom was a Eucharistic minister and her parish sent her weekly to roam the halls of the non-Catholic hospital; she came home with amazing stories each time she went. God bless & lead you, I’m so glad you want to serve!
 
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