Becoming a Priest

[DiscerningDave]

What a cool and heartwarming story!
Thanks for posting it. May God give you the grace and strength to continue down the path He has for you.

Rev North

Thank you, Rev North.
They say God draws straight using crooked lines, well, for me he drew straight via a labyrinth, lol!

Peace

 

[mercygate]

Bob,

Those Anglican priests who returned to the Catholic faith and then made recourse to the pastoral provision did so in good faith. They were typically young when they left and did not do so to avoid the law of the Church but did so for other reasons, whether of accident (came over as children under the control of parents) or conscience.

Their return, reconciliation, and consequent ordination into Catholic priesthood was motivated by reasons of conscience.

Reallly? There are men who left the church for reasons of “conscience,” who were married and ordained in ministry outside the Church and then returned and were ordained as Catholic Priests? Really?

It boggles the mind.

 

[cameron_lansing]

Reallly? There are men who left the church for reasons of “conscience,” who were married and ordained in ministry outside the Church and then returned and were ordained as Catholic Priests? Really?

It boggles the mind.

I couldn’t think of a better term at the time. Perhaps you can. In retrospect, the term “by their own choice or decision” in contrast to the situation of a child brought over “by the choice or decision of his parents” would have been a better way of presenting the matter. Of course, it might have been a drift more than a decision at the time. Who knows?

I used this term in the broad and neutral sense and did not assert that their departures were objectively correct moral decisions. Conscience may be erroneous and ill informed, as you know.

Without doubt, assessing their suitability involved an especially serious scrutiny by both their diocesan bishops and officials of the Roman curia.

 

[mercygate]

Without doubt, assessing their suitability involved an especially serious scrutiny by both their diocesan bishops and officials of the Roman curia.

I should hope so. If I were wearing a pointy hat, I would scrutinize 'em right out of the process. I can possibly imagine ordaining a celibate who left the Church and returned, but someone who actually who left the Church in adolescence or young adulthod and got himself ordained, and then came back home . . . and wants to become a priest? It wouldn’t happen on my watch. Some mistakes are irreparable – or ought to be.

It boggles the mind.

 

[brobes]

can a deacon from an an indapendent catholic church become a priest in union with rome

 

[RevDrNorth]

can a deacon from an an indapendent catholic church become a priest in union with rome

I woud say there are too many variables to answer that. Marital status, education and so on. If their orders were valid it maybe possible he could be recognized as a deacon and continue on with seminary studies. The best thing to do is to talk to a Vocations director ina dociese and ask questions. They are going to have to know so much more even beyond whether the order may or may not be valid. Someone who is mentally unstable, financially unstable, living an immoral lifestyle, and on and on would likely be screened out no matter what.

Two words…Vocations director. Begin a dialogue and do not expect fast results. Be patient through discernment.

North

 

[DiscerningDave]

I woud say there are too many variables to answer that. Marital status, education and so on. If their orders were valid it maybe possible he could be recognized as a deacon and continue on with seminary studies. The best thing to do is to talk to a Vocations director ina dociese and ask questions. They are going to have to know so much more even beyond whether the order may or may not be valid. Someone who is mentally unstable, financially unstable, living an immoral lifestyle, and on and on would likely be screened out no matter what.

Two words…Vocations director. Begin a dialogue and do not expect fast results. Be patient through discernment.

North

I have to agree with you, Rev. North.
The two most important words for discerning are Vocations Director.

So many people who are discerning ask questions on here when they really need ot be going to the vocations director.

There is so much disinformation on the net and on this site (including the apologists who often get answers wrong) that it is best to go talk to you VOCATIONS DIRECTOR.

There is a lot that cannot be trusted on forums, and for someone discerning a vocation…the wrong information can be misleading and harmful.

So, the moral of the story is VOCATIONS DIRECTOR!!!

 

[chris_molter]

Dcn John,

I was under the impression that the Pastoral Provision did not permit any Catholic (including those that had left the Church in their youth) to be ordained through the provision. I thought all the candidates and ordinands who were granted dispensations through the PP had to be born and raised non-Catholic.

Do you know any specific cases of a married cradle Catholic being ordained through the PP? I’d be very interested in hearing about it.

 

[Bradleycr]

Great information. I am divorced and discerning the priesthood (pending an annulment) in the diocese of Tulsa (Oklahoma). I hope to hear something soon from the dicoese last I checked my annulment was a the “defender of the bond” stage. I think a previously civily married man would make a great Catholic priest.