Can you become a Priest if

[HailHolyQueen90]

Hello,

I was wondering if an individual can enter a seminary if he was on depression medications or has been in the past. Is there a time limit for you to have to be off the meds beforehand?

• God bless

 

[NewsTheMan]

Hello,

I was wondering if an individual can enter a seminary if he was on depression medications or has been in the past. Is there a time limit for you to have to be off the meds beforehand?

• God bless

Hello there!

It all depends. Most seminaries ask that you have a psychological test, and they also interview you. It will depend from seminary to seminary I suppose. The best way to find out is to email your vocations director or the local seminary and ask them this question. In the meantime be patient and ask God to open up your heart to His will every day.

God bless you!

 

[anruari]

This would be a very personal decision between the aspirant and his spiritual director and the panel who’s job it is to assess his application.
It may be appropriate to wait for some time to ensure that you are not entering the seminary as an escape from the “reality” of normal life which you are finding difficult to bear. - That would bode ill for your ability to make an informed decision about your lifelong vocation, and on your ability to perform the work of a priest or religious.

Antidepressants can be prescribed for a wide variety of reasons. for some people they are a band-aid on the heammorage of a poorly formed personality causing the person to have jhuge difficulty in coping with life. for others there the depression or anxiety is because of genetic pre-dispositions towards an unbalanced brain chemistry - which the drugs can help to alleviate.
On the other hand if the antidepressants were prescribed to help the person through a specific very stressful period in his life, and that period has now passed (e.g. a bereavement or similar).

 

[HailHolyQueen90]

Thank you!

Just now another question popped into my head after reading this. Would it be the same for potential missionaries? For example, depends from organization to organization.

 

[NewsTheMan]

Thank you!

Just now another question popped into my head after reading this. Would it be the same for potential missionaries? For example, depends from organization to organization.

If you mean missionary religious prietsts, the answer is still the same. If you mean missionary lay organizations I expect the requirements to be much less strict and varying from place to place.

God bless.