Can a divorced man with a child become a priest?

[Red81]

I have been married but am now divorced, I have a child who lives with her mother who I love dearly. I am now celibate and devoting my life to God. I strongly believe I have a calling to be a priest and spread his word. I feel that my life has been split into two chapters. The first chapter has now closed and this new chapter has called me to the priesthood. I want nothing more than to devote my life to to God and help others. I believe this is my vocation but feel it may be blocked by previous events in my life. But my calling is now, I was not called eight years ago when I married, I believe God has a purpose for me and it is only now that he wishes for me to start his teachings.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

It’s important to understand that a desire on your part, however strong that desire may be, does not necessarily constitute a call from God. All vocations that are fulfilled ultimately must include a desire on the part of the recipient to follow the call, but not all desires are true vocations. That’s the essence of why, for example, women can feel a strong desire for the priesthood and have no vocation to the priesthood.

Someone who feels that he might have a vocation must submit that vocation to the Church for discernment. In your case, a vocations director is likely to tell you that you have responsibilities to your child and her mother that preclude you from entering formation for the priesthood at this time. Unless you have received an annulment from the Church, you are also still considered a married man. That means that while the life you are living is laudable, it is not properly called “celibacy” but the chastity appropriate to a married man legally separated from his wife.

God does indeed have a plan for you, and wants you to become a great saint. But you must do so within the context of your life as it is in the present moment. Within that context, at least as you have described it, you are not able to become a priest at the present time. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to determine what it is that God is actually asking of you right now.