I will did not say that you said counseling is a sacrament. I replied to you and to RobNY, who seemed to imply that it is. Here is where he said that.
I did not say you said it and I apologize that you assume I was talking to you even though I had RobNY’s quote (though without his name linked to it).
Well, then we are in a happy position, because none of us intended to call counseling a sacrament.
Let me briefly explain what I meant to say. My point was that “clericals” and the clerical state are distinct in notion from a sacramental state. The former treats of how one stands according to canon law, the latter treats of how one stands according to (1) an indelible mark on the soul, and (2) the authority to confer sacraments. Thus, wearing clericals in no way should imply that one has anything whatsoever to offer, except from our (as David Hume would say) constant experience of the conjunction of the clerical state and the sacramental state… and that’s the reason why we tend to associate clericals with sacramental authority. But that isn’t
necessarily the case.
Now, I did group “counseling” in what I said, but under this interpretation: that since the clerical state is a juridical state, it is absolutely irrelevant what one can “offer,” only how one stands according to the Church law. Now, I treated primarily of sacraments in my response because it seemed most important, but I included hitherwood’s listing of “counseling” because that too is something irrelevant to the clerical state. No one should see the roman collar and assume that this man must be able to counsel oneself.
All I meant to do was exclude even “counseling” as something necessary for the clerical state, not to imply that it was a sacrament. God bless.
Can you see why teens are totally fed up with so-called experts? Can you begin to suggest why so few teens even think about vocations. If expert adults in their wisdom have all the answers to the crisis in vocations, why are we not attracting thousands of vocations?
I think the lack of vocations is a crisis in holiness. We don’t merit by our prayers the graces needed. It is surely a failure of the church.
There is only one answer, as there is in every age: “repent and believe in the gospel.”
I could get down to more concrete reasons (which in no way contradicts the more general reason), but I don’t think excluding ordinary laymen from using clericals counts.
What do adults do except moan?
You’d be surprised. There’s a great Mark Twain quote, about how when he was a boy of 14, he found his father to be so ignorant he could hardly stand a word he said. But, by the time he was 21, he was surprised how much the old man had learned in seven years.
I think experience bears this out for most of us. It’s very easy when we’re younger to judge our elders harshly, but as we ourselves become adults we start to see the wisdom in how our elders treated us.
I don’t doubt that there are a lot of spirit o’ V2 dinosaurs pushing hand-holding, kumbayah, relativism, mininalism and indifferentism on you guys, wondering why in the world more people don’t commit themselves to the consecrated life. Steer clear of such nonsense. But still, make sure you’re careful to really prayerfully consider what your elders tell you. Whether any of us like it or not, as future men in consecrated life we have to learn the habit of careful and loving obedience to our elders and superiors. Be very careful about the habits you form now, because they will follow you into consecrated life. Remember that how you treat your own parents and elders now is going to be the basis for whether you follow your calling well in consecrated life.
God bless you and good luck with discerning. Get holy!
-Rob
If you think you are being called to the priesthood you should start working on humility. I am not saying this to be mean but you come across as rude when replying to some of the people on here
