Can priests work in other professions?

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UnityofTrinity

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Throughout the Church history, we have seen lots of priests, men of the Lord who work not just in God’s service but also in other services that profit mankind like science or medical. So can a priest work in other professions or jobs than just being a priest?
 
Most secular Priests in the Latin Church have their hands full with just their pastoral duties. But, religious often work in a trade within their communities, such as a field laborer or a cobbler or in computers or as a woodworker.

It is, from what I’ve observed, more common for Eastern Catholic Priests to have a paying job outside of their normal priestly duties.
 
I don’t think it’s forbidden, but indeed most parish priests have their hands full at the helms of their churches, saying Masses, administering sacraments, and being available for weddings, funerals, calling on the sick, and so forth. A priest is essentially on duty around the clock and really only sleeps when there isn’t something to attend to.

There are rare exceptions, and I imagine that most priests who have another profession are not parish priests, and that their extra-clerical work is done as a part of their service to God, not just (or even at all) for pay.
 
i think that orders, like Franciscans and Jesuits, would be more likely to have secular jobs as part of their ministry
 
There’s the occasional exception, of course. Although, as you say, the exceptions usually aren’t diocesan priests.

Plenty of priests do work in the area of education, for one thing. Most often in fields relevant to the priesthood such as theology, church history, canon law and whatnot.

Having said that, one of our most well-known human rights lawyers here in Australia is a Jesuit priest, Fr Frank Brennan. It’s inspiring to see such great examples in a much-maligned profession.
 
There are still many priests who work in the fielding of teaching/scholarly pursuits. It is much less common though as the OP points out. In Medieval Europe when one in every 10 men might have been a priest or religious, there wasn’t the same demand on priests as there is in today’s dioceses.
 
what about fields like science? Weren’t there many priests and bishops and monks who worked as scientists and discovered many scientific discoveries like the Big Bang or Genetic?
 
UnityofTrinity said:
what about fields like science? Weren’t there many priests and bishops and monks who worked as scientists and discovered many scientific discoveries like the Big Bang or Genetic?
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Yes, but generally today those pursuits are carried out by Jesuits and their likes. Again, I don’t think diocesan priests have the time, especially with fewer and fewer priests.
 
I know my priest worked alongside his parishioners in the fields when he was a village parish priest back in Africa–everyone had to work when it was harvest time.

Like others have said, a priest may have another job if necessary, but his first duties are to the Church, and anything else would take a backseat.
 
Unity,

You may want to look into Gregor Mendel. He’s known as the father of genetics in the science community; however, he was also an Augustinian priest from Austria-Hungary. Of course, this was a few hundred years ago, too. 🙂
 
The wonderful Jesuit, Father George Coyne is the head of the Vatican’s observatory. Did you even know the Church has an observatory? I met Fr Coyne when he came to our parish (were are a Jesuit run parish) and he gave his talk entitled The Dance of the Fertile Universe - Chance and Destiny Embrace.
 
Why most priests that work in other fields are usually Jesuits?
 
Has anyone heard of the ‘worker priest’ movement?

It was a European movement that tried to bridge the gulf between the clerical class and the people. In effect it was a way helping the priests to identify with their flocks, and the people to intimately identify with the church. Had it succeeded, Europe would probably be far more devout today.

The attempt arose because the disconnect between ordinary people and the ‘church’ was already painfully obvious for a very long time, and this was decades before Vatican II.
 
UnityofTrinity said:
Why most priests that work in other fields are usually Jesuits?
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It may seem that way, but I wouldn’t be able to confirm it. Perhaps because they are so numerous to begin with?

Part of their charism is adaptability in service, they pioneered the ‘active’ religious life and their rule became the basis of other religious orders, particularly teaching orders.

One of the earliest manifestations of this charism of the Jesuits was the establishment of schools (as an adjunct of missionary efforts), and the the need to serve as educators. One can see this in clearly the Reductions of Paraguay among the native Americans there, and also in parts of Europe which were in the grip of Protestant intellectual ferment (like Poland). From the position as educators (and the need to prepare novices for all aspects of that work) it is a small step to research and scientific study, the liberal arts, the authoring of books, administration of properties and all sorts of interesting professions.

However this really means the Jesuits are normally ‘professionals’, not just priests who hold down a job. In their profession they are not mixing with the laity in the same manner as a priest or brother who would be working shoulder to shoulder with dock hands, farmer hands and industrial laborers with the punching of a clock and all that implies.
 
The scientist who developed the Big Bang Theory (the actual theory, not the sitcom) was a priest, Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître.

I remember Fr. Robert Levis on EWTN once said that some of the most interesting priests he has met are those who are also scientists. He said he was amazed how they could go from debating particle physics and splitting atoms one minute to confecting the Eucharist the next, running the gambit from the physics and the natural to metaphysics and the supernatural, and being perfectly comfortable in both camps.
 
UnityofTrinity said:
Throughout the Church history, we have seen lots of priests, men of the Lord who work not just in God’s service but also in other services that profit mankind like science or medical. So can a priest work in other professions or jobs than just being a priest?
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Short of political office, I don’t recall any prohibition, but your average parish priest already has enough to do concerning the cure of souls, that to take another job would be to give him a nervous breakdown.

On the other hand, you have quite a few religious who do other work - the Jesuits are the biggest example, of course, but there are others, as well - one of the nearby Norbertine abbeys here have their members teach school.
 
PacoG said:
The scientist who developed the Big Bang Theory (the actual theory, not the sitcom) was a priest, Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître.

I remember Fr. Robert Levis on EWTN once said that some of the most interesting priests he has met are those who are also scientists. He said he was amazed how they could go from debating particle physics and splitting atoms one minute to confecting the Eucharist the next, running the gambit from the physics and the natural to metaphysics and the supernatural, and being perfectly comfortable in both camps.
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Father Teilhard de Chardin comes to mind.

*“You are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience.”

“It doesn’t matter if the water is cold or warm if you’re going to have to wade through it anyway”*
 
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