Dissolving of vows in the religious and priestly life?

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I just read the title of a post in this category that asked if a former priest can marry. That got me thinking and I know some people who have a friend who used to be a nun. Key word USED TO be one. Isn’t perpetual vows, just that, purpetual? And if one is excused of that vow- it is only done by one person- the Pope, and on grounds that are very rare and specific? How can this be?

Is this the same with a priest?

Thanks!

Jade.
 
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Jade:
I just read the title of a post in this category that asked if a former priest can marry. That got me thinking and I know some people who have a friend who used to be a nun. Key word USED TO be one. Isn’t perpetual vows, just that, purpetual? And if one is excused of that vow- it is only done by one person- the Pope, and on grounds that are very rare and specific? How can this be?

Is this the same with a priest?

Thanks!

Jade.
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There is a “process” for both priests and sisters to be released from their vows and remain in good standing with the church. Numerous priests have left and married and are active in their local parishes. There are some however, who choose not to go through the process, accept the conditions of being released from their vows and that is a different situation entirely.
 
Religious people take vows of chastity and they can be released from those. One can even belong to an order for a limited prescribed period of time. Priests take similar vows and abstinence is tied with their priesthood. They can never be un-ordained but they can be released from the vows. I haven’t heard of a single priest being released from the vows of chastity without previously being dismissed from the priesthood (still priest but not allowed to serve as one).
 
Diocesan priests don’t make vows of chastity; only religious priests do. Diocesans priest do still however have an obligation to be celibate and their being priests is an impediment to marriage. They can be released from this obligation in addition to being laicized, meaning reduced to the lay state so that while sacramentally they are still priests, they are no longer clerics.

Some vows expire after a certain period of time. Before making perpetual vows, one makes temporary vows. The temporary vows can be dispensed as well and they are easier to be dispensed than are the perpetual vows made by religious. I know there is some class of vows that must be dispensed by the Pope, but I don’t remember exactly what falls under the class. I do believe some other vows can be dispensed by someone other than the Pope.

In addition, anyone, including regular lay people, are able to make private vows and these can also be dispensed. For example if you vow to God that you will say a Rosary every day but then at some point you do not wish to be under the obligation of that vow, you can approach your parish priest and have him dissolve your private vow. Vows are distinguished from mere resolutions. So resolving to pray the Rosary every day doesn’t place you under any obligation and thus doesn’t require any dispensation from the Church.
 
As the previous poster mentioned. Only religious take vows. Diocesan priests only make promises. Promises can be dissolved easier than vows. I also thought that private vows are not necessarily binding, but public ones are. Not sure on the last part though.

matt
 
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marty1818:
As the previous poster mentioned. Only religious take vows. Diocesan priests only make promises. Promises can be dissolved easier than vows. I also thought that private vows are not necessarily binding, but public ones are. Not sure on the last part though.

matt
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So a diocesan priest can get out of being a priest easier than one who belongs to an order? I’m confused.

I know a priest who left the priesthood 30-some years ago. He still performs weddings and has been known to occasionally perform a mass (against the wishes of the bishop.) He’s married and has a family now. I wondered how he did that but always felt it was too personal to ask.
 
From what I was told by my parish priest when I asked him this question, is that there is no difference between a dioceasan and a religious priest on this subject. Priests cannot appeal for a dispensation until they turn 45 years old. The Pope is not the sole person to dispense a priest, the magesterium does this. A priest however at any time can resign and be laicized. But I am getting mixed messages from this thread, maybe I’m wrong, does anyone else know more about the process of a priest recieving a dispensation?

As for the subject of ex-priests celebrating mass and weddings, once the priest has been laicized, he is forbidden to present himself as a cleric and to celebrate the sacraments with only one exception (a laicized priest can administer extreme unction under the condition of if there was somebody about to die, such as a car accident on the highway, and there wasn’t a priest available.) Although a priest has been laicized, he still bears the mark of the priesthood on his palms, any sacrament celebrated by a laicized priest is valid, but illicit, due to disobedience to their bishop. The only exception is what I already mentioned.
 
I’ve read more about dispensations, once a priest has been laicized not only can he no longer perform clerical duties, but he also cannot: teach at a Catholic school or Catholic University, hold a position at a parish, be a lector, be an extra-ordinary minister of communion, take communion to the sick, teach Sunday school, basically all he can do is sit in the pew, pray, and recieve the sacraments.
 
My ex-pastor, the retired but still Mass-saying Father Busch, finds it very discouraging that so many priests leave the priesthood. He said over half of those he started with decades ago left the priesthood, including some who have died.

In his opinion, that is a tragedy because he considered his ordination to be a marriage to the Church, and he looks at priests and nuns who leave as at least as big a problem as the divorce rate among the laity. He said this in his sermon, I think on World Marriage Day maybe. He was talking about divorce rate and made the point that he was NOT standing there as a priest blaming the laity, that it was the same thing as far as he is concerned.

Alan
 
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AlanFromWichita:
In his opinion, that is a tragedy because he considered his ordination to be a marriage to the Church, and he looks at priests and nuns who leave as at least as big a problem as the divorce rate among the laity.
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I blame this on poor formation in the seminary. Yes we have a shortage of priests, but that does not mean we slap a guy together at seminary and then push him into the diocease. Formation is important, it aides in discernment; a seminarian enters his schooling with the hope of becoming a priest, not with prior knowledge that he is truly called to be priest.
 
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