Help! Anxiety over Entering Priesthood

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Dear all,
Code: 
 Thank you so much for allowing me to come here and seek advice.  It is a true honor to be part of a internet Catholic community wherein charity and instruction are given with the spirit of Christ Jesus.  I am facing really hard questions regarding entering the priesthood, and I pray and hope that someone will please, please help me.  

 I am currently a junior in high school, and I am considering becoming a priest. For a very long time, I have felt called to the priesthood, and I desire so much to give my entire life over to serving Christ and ministering the Eucharist.  When I see faithful Catholic priests hold up the Eucharist during the moment of consecration, my heart pounds because it is at that very moment that I see what my heart yearns so ardently for.

 However, I am afraid of the major possibility that, after I enter the seminary for a few years, I might discover that I am not called to be a priest, or that I do not have the spiritual qualifications to become a priest.  Considering the major possibility that I might fail at the priesthood and drop out of the seminary midway, my parents gave me some advice in which they poured out their hearts for me.  My parents advised me that, before entering the seminary, I should first get a DDS in dentistry, so that, in the case that I do drop out of the seminary/priesthood midway, I still have a degree within my hands to go out and find a stable career for myself.
I am so scared. If I do get a DDS degree in dentistry before entering the priesthood, I am afraid that I will be too old to enter the priesthood. In order to get my DDS degree, I will first finish dentistry school around the age of 26 or 27 if I am not late and pass all my years. Then, it will take approximately ten years later for me to pay off my student loan. By then, I will average at the age of 37 years old. Then if i want to pursue the priesthood, it will take six years in the seminary. Then I will be approximately 43 years old before I celebrate my first mass. Question: do any seminaries accept people who are as old as 43? If I follow the path mentioned above, will I be too old to be a priest?

Question: should I get my DDS in dentistry before entering the seminary to secure a stable career and future for myself in case I do drop out of the seminary/priesthood midway?

Please help me. Please, please help. If you could hear the tremble in my voice right now. . . please help me. I’m confused and worried.
 
NguyenKimPhat said:
Dear all,
Code: 
 Thank you so much for allowing me to come here and seek advice.  It is a true honor to be part of a internet Catholic community wherein charity and instruction are given with the spirit of Christ Jesus.  I am facing really hard questions regarding entering the priesthood, and I pray and hope that someone will please, please help me.  

 I am currently a junior in high school, and I am considering becoming a priest. For a very long time, I have felt called to the priesthood, and I desire so much to give my entire life over to serving Christ and ministering the Eucharist.  When I see faithful Catholic priests hold up the Eucharist during the moment of consecration, my heart pounds because it is at that very moment that I see what my heart yearns so ardently for.

 However, I am afraid of the major possibility that, after I enter the seminary for a few years, I might discover that I am not called to be a priest, or that I do not have the spiritual qualifications to become a priest.  Considering the major possibility that I might fail at the priesthood and drop out of the seminary midway, my parents gave me some advice in which they poured out their hearts for me.  My parents advised me that, before entering the seminary, I should first get a DDS in dentistry, so that, in the case that I do drop out of the seminary/priesthood midway, I still have a degree within my hands to go out and find a stable career for myself.
I am so scared. If I do get a DDS degree in dentistry before entering the priesthood, I am afraid that I will be too old to enter the priesthood. In order to get my DDS degree, I will first finish dentistry school around the age of 26 or 27 if I am not late and pass all my years. Then, it will take approximately ten years later for me to pay off my student loan. By then, I will average at the age of 37 years old. Then if i want to pursue the priesthood, it will take six years in the seminary. Then I will be approximately 43 years old before I celebrate my first mass. Question: do any seminaries accept people who are as old as 43? If I follow the path mentioned above, will I be too old to be a priest?

Question: should I get my DDS in dentistry before entering the seminary to secure a stable career and future for myself in case I do drop out of the seminary/priesthood midway?

Please help me. Please, please help. If you could hear the tremble in my voice right now. . . please help me. I’m confused and worried.
Click to expand...
Dear brother in Christ,

A few things…If you feel called to the priesthood, don’t put it off. That calling won’t just go away and delaying something like this can become disobedience in time. I would consult my priest if I were in your shoes. He can help you discern or put you in touch with your diocesan vocational director who can also help you. I would perhaps spend some time with the Blessed Sacrament in adoration and ask for guidance.

Your parents want what is best for you because they love you. They know the harshness of the world and want to ensure that you are financially secure. But, you need to discern whether you are called to the priesthood or to become a DDS (or something else). I do not believe you would be too old to become a priest if you decided to wait, but that would also be something to ask a priest or vocational director.

Keep praying and hang in there.

Peace,
Brad
 
Hello friend,

I would say to you that you may want to enter the seminary after high school rather than wait. If you feel like it is something you would enjoy, it would be easier (strictly from a starting-over viewpoint) to enter right out of high school, and then if you feel it is not your call, to enter college, rather than begin college and still feel the call and maybe be tempted to drop out, then realize it wasn’t really your call and have to go back to dental school again.

I understand what you say when you are trembling; I have a sort of similar situation to yours. I will be praying for you!!!

Sincerely,

Phil
 
This one is so *easy *compared to other “Help! Anxiety of Entering Priesthood” threads. **Fear not, NguyenKimPhat! I know exactly what you should do! (and I was a seminarian once, and I know about these things).

Get the DDS. Once you are ordained (*if *you get ordained) you won’t have time to get it anymore (most likely), and your bishop might not even want you to get one (and you’d *have *to listen to your bishop). A classmate of mine was going to be ordained for a diocese in southern Illinois and wanted to get a PsyD as well as become a priest, but his bishop said they’d pull the plug on his scholarships if he got the PsyD, because in a farming area, the bishop felt the degree would be wasted. Anyway, my classmate got his PsyD, and didn’t become ordained. I mean, you want the DDS, right? Father Dentist! That’s you!

BUT this is my genius idea for you. Why not apply for the Alexians? Or another order that is involved in medicine. Or a Jesuit! The thing is, you want to be able to do both at the same time; study for your DDS while in contact with an order, doing spiritual direction, etc. Then, when you have the DDS, you just jump into the seminary because they know you already! You could even work on the side pulling your classmate’s wisdom teeth! I can’t tell you how many MD’s, lawyers or other secular professionals enter the seminary. As long as you’re not, say, 70 years old, there will be an order that would absolutely *love *to have an in-community dentist! You could give dental care to the poor, and later give them sacramental care! *Open up your mouth and say “Ahhh!” *One time you’d be sticking a needle in their gums, and another time you’d be giving them the Host!

Brilliant! I figured it out! All hail me! Dear God, I actually *helped *somebody today! 😃 I am the King of the Vocations Forum!
 
Don’t be afraid to go into the seminary. I went through the discernment process, and even though I did not become a priest, I learned a great deal about the world, about prayer, and about myself, just from going through it.
 
If it helps you, I am in 30’s and in the process of applying to seminary. My friend is 45 and has recently been accepted to seminary; another friend is 32 and entering seminary this fall. Another who is near 50 is also applying. 😃

I hope you feel that 26/27 is not too old.
 
withwind said:
If it helps you, I am in 30’s and in the process of applying to seminary. My friend is 45 and has recently been accepted to seminary; another friend is 32 and entering seminary this fall. Another who is near 50 is also applying. 😃

I hope you feel that 26/27 is not too old.
Click to expand...
The main point of my post above is about age.

I am not sure if you have a Spiritual director yet or at least talked with vocation director of your diocese. It is important to talk with them.
 
If you -are- called, you should begin a proper discernment process immediately.

Speak to a good and faithful priest about this, so that he can get you started on it.

I would highly suggest listening to some of the sermons below in the links, and consider doing your best to go to an F.S.S.P. seminary or its nearest equivalent where you will get a proper priestly education, which I might add, even if you eventually did drop out will be spiritually priceless compared to any secular education you could ever acquire.

Not all seminaries are equal.

And by the way if you -are- called to be a priest (and even if you aren’t) be certain to be living a chaste and clean life. Nothing kills a vocation to the priesthood and imperils a soul more than dating when one is actually called to the religious life. None of this ‘testing out’ business, near occasions of sin and stirring up the passions destroys vocations and imperils a soul.
 
Hi, I think that it’s important to take things step by step… is Jesus calling you to enter the seminary, with the possibility of being a priest? then - it’s a good idea to enter the seminary! 🙂 maybe He wants you to think about that first step right now, not about the 5th step, or the 10th step… such as staying in the seminary, or being ordained, etc… when you are at peace…what do you feel? Do you feel you’re called to be a priest? Is this something you can’t ignore? If so, those are good signs that this is a calling from God…

it sounds like you do have a vocation just from what you described. If you ever feel less certain of it… keep on going, try not to rely on feelings, cause they might change… but how you feel when you’re at peace and close to God, those are good signs.

Try to TRUST Him… and don’t worry!! Talk to your parents more…

also maybe it might help you to get a spiritual director and he’ll help you work things out?

remember what matters is obedience to God… simply answering when you are called.

God bless!!
 
Just listen to me. I am now 60 years old and can’t believe I got here so fast, I was called by God to be a Priest. Beyond any question I knew it, and for reasons beyond my control could not follow that vocation. There is not a day that goes by that I have not regretted my decision. If you feel God calling you I say GO. If in a couple of years you find that you really didn’t have a calling you still have plenty of time to learn how to pull teeth:thumbsup:
 
And what if you got the DDS and decided you didn’t want to be a dentist?
 
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