Can one serve/have more than one vocation?

[Lead_Me_Home]

I was just curious to know if someone can have more than one vocation. I don’t plan on becoming a priest any time soon but it interests me. I was wondering if maybe a situation like you take on the vocation of marriage you are a faithful husband and Roman Catholic. You raise all your children and if you become a widower could one take on the vocation of a priest? Is this tricky territory or a no brainer? If this were to occur one would receive all seven sacraments :yup:

 

[Sillara]

It is possible for a widower to become a priest.

 

[jimcav]

Don’t forget that you can serve the Church and yourself in a number of interesting ways while in the married state.

You could become a deacon, which can be very helpful to priests, or serve as a lecturer, lay minister or join a commitee at your local parish. You can also become a third order member of a religous order, or a confraternity member. Maybe even join the K of C who are always looking for motivated men.

While these things aren’t actually vocations per say, they are a good way to help the Church and your community. I mean I hope you and your wife live long and happy lives together and you won’t have to worry about becoming a young widower!

 

[OldRedleg]

A married permanent deacon has two vocations. His marriage and his ordained ministry.

There are also religious priest who have the vocation of being a brother in their order and the vocation of the priesthood.

So, the answer is yes.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Religious priests also can be seen to have two vocations (possibly)…

One to the religious life and a second to the priesthood.

 

[bilop]

Not to mention married priests, both in the Eastern Churches, and Protestant converts in the Latin Church.

God Bless

 

[withwind]

You must have a deacon at your church - he is probably a husband also.

 

[Lead_Me_Home]

You must have a deacon at your church - he is probably a husband also.

Actually I don’t have a parish. I’m too young to convert. At the Parish I’ve visited there is a man I believe is the Deacon. He is older and his wife is no longer living. He leads the Rosary before Mass so I’m assuming he’s the Deacon.

1 more question of curiosity can a Church have more than one Deacon?
I don’t think so but then I don’t know whether to capitalize “Deacon” like “Bishop.”

 

[Gertabelle]

Actually I don’t have a parish. I’m too young to convert. At the Parish I’ve visited there is a man I believe is the Deacon. He is older and his wife is no longer living. He leads the Rosary before Mass so I’m assuming he’s the Deacon.

1 more question of curiosity can a Church have more than one Deacon?
I don’t think so but then I don’t know whether to capitalize “Deacon” like “Bishop.”

My parish has two deacons, and another nearby parish has four. They are assigned, I believe, by the bishop to a particular parish which they serve.

Deacons receive the sacrament of Holy Orders, but to the deaconate rather than the priesthood. Permanent deacons are, for the most part, married men who discern the call to this second vocation. They do not have to wait for their wives to die in order to be ordained.

God bless you! And keep asking these great questions

Gertie

 

[withwind]

1 more question of curiosity can a Church have more than one Deacon?
I don’t think so but then I don’t know whether to capitalize “Deacon” like “Bishop.”

We have 5 deacons in our parish. It’s a big parish.

 

[hienieboo]

i remember hearing about this about having more than one vocation. i actually thought about becoming a nun… the convent life wasn’t what i thought it was though. a lot more than i thought i could handle. i learned sooo much more from the convent though.

 

[Nom_the_Wise]

1 more question of curiosity can a Church have more than one Deacon?
I don’t think so but then I don’t know whether to capitalize “Deacon” like “Bishop.”

The issue you’re having has more to do with *grammar *than spirituality, as you point out above.

Proper nouns (Deacon Joe, The Diaconate, Bishop Wilton Gregory) are capitalized. Otherwise, the words deacon or bishop are regular nouns and not capitalized.

Vocation can be capitalized when it begins a sentence (like this one) or when it refers to a job title like Vocation Director.

Metaphorically, you can have a Vocation and other vocations (note the cap “V” and lower case “v”). Fr. Andrew Greeley has a “Vocation” as a priest, but also other “vocations” as social scientist, journalist and fiction author. A married man has a Vocation to be a husband, but may have another “vocation” as a psychologist or lawyer. The word “Vocation” has more than one definition (consult your favorite dictionary).

But I assume you mean this: Today, in the Catholic Church, one cannot have both a Vocation to the Priesthood ***and ***a Vocation of Marriage, unless you were ordained a Greek Orthodox priest, got married, and then decided to convert to Catholicism and the Holy See let you keep both your faculties and your wife.

And any parish can have as many deacons as they can list *effectively *on the parish bulletin!

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

But I assume you mean this: Today, in the Catholic Church, one cannot have both a Vocation to the Priesthood ***and ***a Vocation of Marriage, unless you were ordained a Greek Orthodox priest, got married, and then decided to convert to Catholicism and the Holy See let you keep both your faculties and your wife.

This is not true. There are married priests within the Latin Catholic Church, as you point out, but the Eastern Catholic Churches do ordain married men to the priesthood who are not converts. My Church, the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church has does this, so have the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

 

[Nom_the_Wise]

This is not true. There are married priests within the Latin Catholic Church, as you point out, but the Eastern Catholic Churches do ordain married men to the priesthood who are not converts. My Church, the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church has does this, so have the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

Okay, you got me. It was late and I thougth I was making a joke; I appreciate the correction and the reminder. The truth is (and I was a Roman Catholic seminarian once, mind you) that this is not widely taught or known in the west. It is sad how little many of us know of the other rites of the Catholic Church (and I shouldn’t use third person there; it is sad how little *I *know).

I remember learning that during Vatican II, it was said, that there were many men whom became ordained thinking that married priests would be allowed and were unpleasantly surprised when this didn’t happen (and Roman Catholic priests still can’t be married). If other Catholic Churches allow marriage, why have the Popes up till now still maintained the ban? We’re all in communion, aren’t we?

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Okay, you got me. It was late and I thougth I was making a joke; I appreciate the correction and the reminder. The truth is (and I was a Roman Catholic seminarian once, mind you) that this is not widely taught or known in the west. It is sad how little many of us know of the other rites of the Catholic Church (and I shouldn’t use third person there; it is sad how little *I *know).

I remember learning that during Vatican II, it was said, that there were many men whom became ordained thinking that married priests would be allowed and were unpleasantly surprised when this didn’t happen (and Roman Catholic priests still can’t be married). If other Catholic Churches allow marriage, why have the Popes up till now still maintained the ban? We’re all in communion, aren’t we?

The thing to remember is that the Eastern Churches ordain married men. They do not allow priests to get married.

That is a big difference.

Once ordained one can not marry.

The reason for the difference is that it is a matter of discipline and a slightly different focus or view of the priesthood. The summit of religious life in the Byzantine tradition is the religious life, which is one of the reasons that any religious male that is in vows is addressed as father (as in spiritual father) where in the Latin tradition this man is addressed as brother unless he is a priest.

 

[Nom_the_Wise]

The thing to remember is that the Eastern Churches ordain married men. They do not allow priests to get married.

That is a big difference.

Once ordained one can not marry.

Of course. Which is why permanent Deacons can be ordained as married men, but once their wives die they cannot remarry.