Encourage child to become a priest or nun?

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It’s pretty audacious to pressure you child to do anything. They should make their own vocational decisions in life free of parental pressure.
 
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Andyman1517:
It’s pretty audacious to pressure you child to do anything. They should make their own vocational decisions in life free of parental pressure.
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I did not ask about pressure, I asked about encouragement. IMO they are 2 different things. I was assuming the child had shown some interest in becoming a priest or nun. Yes, I know what happens when one assumes.
 
Lance,

It’s a great thing that you child is interested in religion at a time when few are. What I meant to say is that I don’t think “encouragement” is what you child needs. When a parent encourages their child to do something (ie become a priest) they may feel that their parent may be putting presure on them. This may cause the child to learn more about religion because his father wants him too and before long it may seem like a chore to him. My advice is to encourage your son by telling him he can do whatever he wants in life.

In Christ,

Andrew
 
Why is it not a parent’s job to encourage, yes even pressure their child to achieve their potential.

Life as a Christian isn’t necessarily doing what we want, it’s about doing what we can for others with the tools God gives us.

Read the parable about the servants and the talents.

If my child wants to bury their gifts instead of letting them grow, am I not doing a disservice to my child by not encourageing them to ‘invest’ their ‘talents’.
 
My mom wanted me to become a priest. I used to play “mass” at home with my little sister. She encouraged me to become a priest but I eventually told her that it wasn’t for me.

You bet I’ll encourage my children to at least consider the religious life. I am of the belief that everyone should be open to what God wants of them - this may include the religious life. 🙂
 
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Melchior:
I would only encourage my child to the priesthood (if I were Catholic) if I recognized the gifts that would make him a good priest. Assuming it is the Latin Church I would want to be sure he has the gift of celibacy. Not many do. I would then want to make sure he had pastoral gifts. If he does not then I would encourage him in the direction that I, as his father, should recognize and foster him in. I would encourage him in whatever profession/vocation that fits him as a person. a parent should Aknow their child well enough to know their gifts.

I think just generally encouraging a child in a direction that they are not cut out for is dangerous to them and others. If my son is an average student who hates science and has a shaky hand I would be foolish to encourage him to be a surgeon.

Mel
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Moses didn’t have what it took. God gave it to him. Whatever vocation one is called to, one should follow until called off by the voice in their hearts. After all, sometimes one’s vocation is seeking.

The other reason I say this, though, is that being told by your dad that you have a dream that is forever out of reach kills something inside you. A parent needs to point out prudent considerations, but leave open the possibility that with God’s help, the child can find a way in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Children need to know that they at least have that going for them, no matter what vocation they hear themselves called to in the end.
 
If my child told me they wanted to be priest, a nun, a married man or woman, I would encourage them. I do, however, think parents put roadblocks to children even considering a consecrated life these days. If your child told you they wanted to be a priest or nun would you be happy and encouraging? One young man I know told his family he wanted to be a priest and his uncle tried to hire a prostitute to have sex with him so the teen would know “what he would be missing”. Hardly an encouraging response!
 
I would, with the condition that the child not feel forced into religious life, or feel guilty if they are called to something else (like marriage)- I have had friends whose parents attempted the guilt trip on them in the hopes of having children in the religious life, and I’ve seen the turmoil it puts the children through. I will never speak badly about the priesthood or religious life to my children, will make sure that they see it as a valid life choice (along with marriage and lay single life), and will try to encourage any vocations they have.
 
I have a grandson who is 8 years old. Ever since he could talk he has always been interested in the Priest. He would make sure he got to him to shake his hand after Mass. He has always said that he wants to be a Priest. He wrote a paper last year for Catholic Schools week saying he wanted to be a Priest and they had him read it at Mass one Sunday. They had one from each grade I believe.

When my kids were young I probably wouldn’t have encouraged them to be Priests because I wasn’t that strong in my faith and I didn’t see how anyone would want that life. The stronger I get the more I realize how that Vocation would be wonderful for them and so much more important than anything else they would do in their lives. So I think that we parents play such a big role in what our children decide.

bb
 
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BLB_Oregon:
Moses didn’t have what it took. God gave it to him. Whatever vocation one is called to, one should follow until called off by the voice in their hearts. After all, sometimes one’s vocation is seeking.

The other reason I say this, though, is that being told by your dad that you have a dream that is forever out of reach kills something inside you. A parent needs to point out prudent considerations, but leave open the possibility that with God’s help, the child can find a way in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Children need to know that they at least have that going for them, no matter what vocation they hear themselves called to in the end.
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I hear what you are saying and agree in part. I certainly know what it is like to have my father discourage me from the ministry (I wanted to be a missionary). Ironically, even though was an unbeliever he was right. I would have made a lousy missionary. God had/has a plan for me that will not be thwarted. Imagine if my dad was a Christian!

On the same token how does God call people? Is it always a subjective internal feeling? Or does God use people, especially godly Christian parents, to help their children in all areas of life? God gives us parents for a reason. And God speaks to us through our parents on occasion. I think one of the big problems with all the Priests who should not have been priests is that the people in their lives who knew them should have been more active in influencing them. Way to many people end up priests who do not have the gift of celibacy or pastoral-ness or common sense for that matter.

My point is Christian parents should know their kids and guide them accordingly. It’s our job.

Mel
 
I do not push them nor do I discourage them. I also inform them that if that is a decision they make, I support them and think it is wonderful. The key is it has to be their decision.

Greg
 
As an expectant mother who will be 38 when I deliver in late April by c-section and labeled “high risk”, I feel God is calling me to something like this. So yes, I would defintely encourage my child.
 
We have spoken positively of the value of vocations. We have taken a seminarian as spiritual concern, too.

We have told our son what a gift our priests are to us – they can confect Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, they can absolve us of our sins. Who else has such wondrous gifts for us?

Ultimately, though, we say a vocation is between him and God.
 
But this question doesn’t list all the possibilities. There are also religious Sisters and Brothers who take Simple vows and then there are the Solemn vows taken elsewhere. Some orders who also have a forth vow, such as the Missionaries of Charity. There is the Deaconate which could hold both those who stayed Deacons like St. Francis of Asissi, and the up-and-coming married Deaconate for older vocations. There are even those who’ve been allowed to further their vocations as they’ve converted from other churches to ours.

On the other hand, there are the liberal-minded copyists who pretend most of the time to be faithful, obedient Catholics who’ve thrown off the gentle yoke in favor of a better idea, but I won’t go there or my blood pressure could get too high. Let’s just say that that fire is still burning out-of-control here where I live.

The lay apostolates, such as is found here at Catholic Answers is also a possibility. There are many faithful Catholic apostolates that need good, solid, faithful Catholics to help them weather this storm we’re currently in.

When it comes to living our own particular vocations, whether that is simply just being a mom or a dad, or becoming something else it still requires all the obedience, chastity and poverty one can allow to grow in one’s heart. But without the assent of the will of the person who may be trying to live such a vocation, the fruit might not even get close to ripe and could even fall to the ground.

In my own walk recently, I saw several potential vocations in a CCD class I got to teach for a while; I say for a while because when one very liberal minded DRE got through with me, I was fired and the man who got me that way was hired, all because I was irrate that the child I was teaching had no idea how to tell the difference between mortal and venial sins and had been receiving the Eucharist for over two years! I wasn’t even allowed to ask them if any of them had made it to Mass on Sunday! The DRE from hell slaughtered and fled. Nope it ain’t easy getting along with some folks who’ve got a better idea than God and His Church, but hey, I still love those children and I hope they remember a few of the things I did get to teach them before I was scrapped. They may send me on my way, but they sure can’t stop my prayers for the tender hearts I left behind.

Peace and all good,

Thomas2
 
If a child hears God’s call, then it is our duty to support and encourage him or her towards whatever vocation they are being called to.
 
I have often prayed for this very thing.

I would consider it an honor if one (or more) of my children were to serve in that capacity.

Z

.02 duly deposited.
 
Of course, sometimes I think that people who are called to a certain vocation aren’t happy until they fufill God’s calling.
 
As someone who was VERY hesitant to admit to ANYONE the fact that I was discerning a vocation to religious life, I think it is INCREDIBLY important for parents to make evident to their children that they would support them in whatever vocation God calls them to - even the priesthood or religious life! 😃 I don’t know how many times I’ve told people that I am discerning and they respond with an unenthusiastic “why?”… as if religious life is for the weak or boring or something. Puh-leeease!!
Anyway, in answer to the question, I think it is absolutely essential to encourage children to seek out whatever God wants for them. And if that is religious life or priesthood…fiat! 🙂
 
😃

I would not encourage it. I would mention how much the Catholic community needs Priests, but that is a decision, a calling, a vocation God needs to call him to personally, without influence.

I think parents should encourage whatever vocation their child feels called by God to do.!!! They have to make this decision. And any Priest that truly isn’t willing to 101% make the necessary sacrifices for this vocation, is not a good candidate. So you don’t want anything or anybody to influence them.
 
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