Can you tell a priest is a priest?

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BrianLC

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Maybe this is the wrong place to put thi and if so I apologize.
could it be possible to recognize a priest as a priest even if he is not dressed clerically? because at ordination an ontological change comes about him and he becomes different. there was another post on here asking the same question about those who have recieved confirmation, I think, and it got me thinking, what about Holy Orders? could it be possible?
 
Like, how? It’s not like they all bilocate. That’s just the good ones.😉
 
Sure he does. I think it’s the celibacy thing, plus the Blessed Mother’s presence, keeping special watch on her very special children. :bible1:
 
This has now passed over from Catholicism into superstition.
 
You mean you’ve never had a feeling about something that turned out to be right?
 
I have sensed a number of times that a woman was a nun or was one. Maybe because I been there done that, I don’t know. But I cannot say that if a priest is out of his clericals, I would never know that he was a riest. because maybe you find them everywhere…like shopping at malls, at the bars, at parties, etc.

My spiritual director is rarely out of his white collar, but when he is, he wears the Madonna House associate cross over his clothes. And it is a big enough cross…
 
You can’t always tell, esepcially in the older orders and the more traditional orders, even if they are young orders. In the monastic and mendicant orders all monks and friars dress the same, do very similar ministries, have very similar or the same level of education and have equal rights and duties in their religious communities. Unless you have some inside information, you should not be able to tell one monk from another, meaning one who is a priest and and one who is a lay brother. If you visit my community, not only do we wear the same habit, but we’re all called Brother. It’s done very deliberately to place the focus on the Franciscan life, both of the friars and of the laity who come into contact with us. We want them to look at our men and think, 'FRANCISCAN!!!"

The hope of many monastic and mendicant orders is to move the world to a deaper life of prayer, conversion, penance, charity and fidelity the the faith. It never ocurred to the founders to have different habits or different titles among the monks or friars. Calling a mendicant or a monk “Father” is a very modern development. By modern, I’m saying, post Renaissance. Remember that these orders date back to the Middle Ages and earlier. In any case, no one ever thought of being able to tell a priest apart from the other members of the community. I guess it was not that important to the founders.

I’m remembering how in my own Franciscan tradition we never called anyone Father except for Father Francis, who was not a priest. Everyone was Frater until the 1800s. No one is sure how that started. I know that when people see us they call us Father and we’re always redirecting them to call us Brother, even if one is a priest. When we don’t wear a habit, which is very rare, we all wear a Roman collar.

I would love to know how one can tell if a man is ordained. Among monks and friars, I can’t tell, unless they say so.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
According to my son, you can tell. He told me so today as we were walking out of the health club. 🤷
 
maryjk said:
According to my son, you can tell. He told me so today as we were walking out of the health club. 🤷
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Did he way how he can tell? That’s what I would find interesting.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
JReducation said:
I would love to know how one can tell if a man is ordained. Among monks and friars, I can’t tell, unless they say so.
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Your reply just reminded me of a funny story…

Lost on a rainy Friday night, a priest stumbles into a monastery and requests shelter there. Fortunately, he’s just in time for dinner and was treated to the best fish and chips he’s ever had.

After dinner, he goes into the kitchen to thank the chefs. He is met by two brothers, “Hello, I’m Brother Michael, and this is Brother Francis.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you. I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful dinner. The fish and chips were the best I’ve ever tasted. Out of curiosity, who cooked what?”

Brother Charles replied, “Well, I’m the fish friar.”

Father turns to the other brother and says, “Then you must be…”

“Yes, I’m afraid I’m the chip monk…” 🙂
 
Sonic said:
Your reply just reminded me of a funny story…

Lost on a rainy Friday night, a priest stumbles into a monastery and requests shelter there. Fortunately, he’s just in time for dinner and was treated to the best fish and chips he’s ever had.

After dinner, he goes into the kitchen to thank the chefs. He is met by two brothers, “Hello, I’m Brother Michael, and this is Brother Francis.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you. I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful dinner. The fish and chips were the best I’ve ever tasted. Out of curiosity, who cooked what?”

Brother Charles replied, “Well, I’m the fish friar.”

Father turns to the other brother and says, “Then you must be…”

“Yes, I’m afraid I’m the chip monk…” 🙂
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I love it. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF
 
The problem is that if you are saying that you can tell who is a priest based solely on the ontological change that occurs at ordination then you must be able to know every single priest out there.

If you get it wrong once, either missing a priest or thinking someone is a priest who is not, then you are not able to sense this change in the man.

Simple logic.
 
JReducation said:
Did he say how he can tell? That’s what I would find interesting.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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According to him, they have a look of confidence that shouts Priest.

(Keep in mind he is 14 and I don’t know that he has ever seen a priest, that he didn’t already know, out of his collar.)
 
In our diocese, you can tell by the picture id they carry with the faculties and the bishops signature. There are problems with fake priests from time to time.😉
 
plato3 said:
In our diocese, you can tell by the picture id they carry with the faculties and the bishops signature. There are problems with fake priests from time to time.😉
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Everyone who works for our diocese has to have a badge too, laity, deacons, priests, religious and other. You can’t enter any of our schools, religious education centers, hospitals, social service centers or the chancery without a badge. If you’re a guest you have to get one at the front desk. The only place that you can go without a badge is to mass. Even if you’re in a habit, you must wear a badge in our diocese. You can only get the badge from the place where you work. Priests and religious who do not work for the diocese, but are in the diocese, do not have them. They have to go through the pain of getting one at the front desk every time they go into a Chuch facility and surrendering their driver’s license.

Now we have something else in place in our diocese. If you are a priest, brother or sister, you must be Virtus trained, finger printed, ID and have a police clearance to enter any facility where there are children under 18 and there must be two of you at all times, even if you’re in full habit or a diocesan cleric in a collar. Not even the bishop gets in to any place where there are children, unless there are two people visibly present.

You still can’t tell who’s a priest and who is not, if they’re wearing a habit, because the badge does not say priest. It simly has your name. If you’re religious, it has yoru initials after the name. Mine says, Jason Richard, OSF. It does not say Rev. Br. or Fr. For those of you who want to know, you’ll have to sniff out the deacons, priests and lay brothers. LOL

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
I have never been able to tell if they are not dressed as priests or religious. I was sort of thinking out loud if because of the ontological change the presence of a priest could be somehow sensed or percieved, If it where possible I dont know how it would work, I do think its interesting to ponder these things sometimes.
 
BrianLC said:
I have never been able to tell if they are not dressed as priests or religious. I was sort of thinking out loud if because of the ontological change the presence of a priest could be somehow sensed or percieved, If it where possible I dont know how it would work, I do think its interesting to ponder these things sometimes.
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The ontological change is not a physical change so I do not see how one could sense such a thing.

IMHO this is bordering on superstition.
 
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