Feeling tortured

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MarianD

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All my life, I’ve always wanted to be a politician. Ever since I could remember.

Then, when I converted to Catholicism, I had a quick flash of the thought I would never ever think in my life: “Become a priest”

I laughed it off. I want a wife and children. I want to be a politician.

Then, I received a Miraculous Medal I ordered in the mail (see my thread in Spirituality to see how to order a free one if you need it). I put it on, and the thought of becoming a priest came back stronger than ever. It’s been torturing me, in a sense, ever since.

I want to be a priest, I want to be a Bishop, and a Cardinal. I want to lead others in the Faith and let my theological ideas be presented before all Catholics. But I want a family, and I want to be a politician.

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. What do I do here?
 
Firstly; there are many callings we get in life. A short but not exhaustive list would be;

Married life
Priesthood
Diaconate
Religious life

Now; I would advise the first course of action would be to speak to your Priest; if possible get a spiritual director as well.

From there; I would contact a vocations director who will work through your feelings with you and try and help you discern if the Priesthood; or another vocation is most suitable to you.

Time and patience will reveal all; if you are undecided pursue neither for six months or a year and see how you feel after that.
 
MarianD said:
All my life, I’ve always wanted to be a politician. Ever since I could remember.

Then, when I converted to Catholicism, I had a quick flash of the thought I would never ever think in my life: “Become a priest”

I laughed it off. I want a wife and children. I want to be a politician.

Then, I received a Miraculous Medal I ordered in the mail (see my thread in Spirituality to see how to order a free one if you need it). I put it on, and the thought of becoming a priest came back stronger than ever. It’s been torturing me, in a sense, ever since.

I want to be a priest, I want to be a Bishop, and a Cardinal. I want to lead others in the Faith and let my theological ideas be presented before all Catholics. But I want a family, and I want to be a politician.

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. What do I do here?
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I agree with the advice of discussing this with your parish priest or another priest you may know better, and/or contacting the diocese about your possible vocation.

I think that we each have that desire to pass things on, and in our society that is most commonly accomplished by marrying and starting a family. If God is calling you to the priesthood, you will be able to pass things along, you will have a “family;” it’s just that it will be different from the common view of these things.

Additionally, with your love for politics, as a priest it is unlikely that you would become a politician, but you can use your love for dealing with political issues to good effect in the priesthood.

Check out Father Barron, Fr Pavone, and others to see what can be done. In the Catholic news forum, there is mention of a Fransican friar who is also a doctor who has just been appointed to a federal panel on bioethics, as another example of someone in the religious life doing other things as well.
 
St_Francis said:
Additionally, with your love for politics, as a priest it is unlikely that you would become a politician,
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AIUI, Pope John Paul II disallowed priests from holding political office. So it’s not unlikely, but mutually exclusive to do both.
 
MarianD said:
All my life, I’ve always wanted to be a politician. Ever since I could remember.

Then, when I converted to Catholicism, I had a quick flash of the thought I would never ever think in my life: “Become a priest”

I laughed it off. I want a wife and children. I want to be a politician.

Then, I received a Miraculous Medal I ordered in the mail (see my thread in Spirituality to see how to order a free one if you need it). I put it on, and the thought of becoming a priest came back stronger than ever. It’s been torturing me, in a sense, ever since.

I want to be a priest, I want to be a Bishop, and a Cardinal. I want to lead others in the Faith and let my theological ideas be presented before all Catholics. But I want a family, and I want to be a politician.

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. What do I do here?
Click to expand...
Let’s assume God is calling you to be a priest (ignore the possibility for the moment it could be the devil trying to get you into the wrong vocation).

The parallel assumption then is that you cannot become a politician. Yet you feel a strong drive towards becoming a politician. The key to this conundrum is your motive..

**Why **do you want to become a politician?

If your reason is to help people, then maybe God is telling you that you can do more in this way by being a priest. If however your motives are less charitable, and more selfish, then that impulse doesn’t come from God.
 
Bob_Crowley said:
Let’s assume God is calling you to be a priest (ignore the possibility for the moment it could be the devil trying to get you into the wrong vocation).

The parallel assumption then is that you cannot become a politician. Yet you feel a strong drive towards becoming a politician. The key to this conundrum is your motive..

**Why **do you want to become a politician?

If your reason is to help people, then maybe God is telling you that you can do more in this way by being a priest. If however your motives are less charitable, and more selfish, then that impulse doesn’t come from God.
Click to expand...
I’ve always said “I want to become a politician because then you have the power to change the world for the better and help those without a voice”

…Uh oh. This sounds like Priesthood…

But I prayed about it. I asked Mary to pray that God lets me know what He wants for my life, and I asked her to send me or sign or anything that’ll tell me what I should do. As I was praying after this, I heard a voice in my head (I know, I know, but it was pretty loud and overshadowed my thoughts) that said “Be a patron and guardian for your family”. I’m still praying about it, asking for a sign to tell me what God wants me to do, but perhaps this was the sign? Who knows.
 
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