This comes up occasionally in the “Ask an Apologist” forum. The response has always been that a man in such a situation has a responsibility to be a father to his children until they are fully grown.
This isn’t for me, but for others who are in this situation that feel the call to be a priest but have to pay child support. This is also for those that aren’t married but made the mistake outside of marriage. I want this to be a answer for people that are searching for an answer on the web but couldn’t find it. Please forgive if offended.
No offense taken - I didn’t think of a man who had never married the mother of his children.
Such a man, or a man who is divorced and paying child support, should see to the rearing of his children before he tries to discern a vocation to the priesthood. It might still happen, but while the children are minors, he owes them more than that.Father Serpa, the chief apologist on this site, has answered this question often. He says that a father’s duty is first and foremost to his children, and that such an individual would not have a vocation to the priesthood, at least not until the children are self-sufficient adults.
???
I dunno. I traced that user’s posting history and the comments rarely seem related to the topic. I think Leigh might be an English learner and not quite far enough along to grasp the full conversation.???
Or… troll alert.
