I want to become a priest but I'm studying business in univeristy, what should I do ??

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At first I didn’t care much about Catholic when I entered the university. I wanted to study business so I could become a businessman and make money to get rich. But now after many events I have changed my mind, I want to devote my life for God and for many people in need, I want to become a priest and I no longer wanting richness. The problem is my parents want me to finish the university, I feel like it’s a waste of time and my parents’money because a business degree doesn’t have anything to do with being a priest. I know that I may fail on the path of being a priest and the degree can help me to find a job when I fail but of course I do not want to fail or even thinking about failing. Will a degree in business help me at all in the priesthood ? Should I just drop out of the university now or try to finish it ? Please I need some help or advices, I dont know what to do now, any help or advice is appreciated.
 
Welcome to CAF. 🙂

Please speak to the vocations director of your diocese. Where I live, prospective seminary candidates who are at university are encouraged to complete their studies before seeking admission to the seminary. I am acquainted with hundreds of priests; all the young priests I know except three are university graduates qualified in other fields before they entered seminary.

Business skills are not useless to a priest, particularly if he eventually becomes, for example, a pastor or the head of a foreign mission.

Praying for you in your vocation discernment!
 
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As well as speaking to your vocations director but having a degree is very useful as a Priest. A business degree will help to run a Parish, or a Diocese or in fundraising. It wont be a waste of time.
 
hagen said:
Will a degree in business help me at all in the priesthood ? Should I just drop out of the university now or try to finish it ? Please I need some help or advices, I dont know what to do now, any help or advice is appreciated.
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When I was in the seminary, somebody said that we’d have all sorts of business people on our finance committees and, while that’s true of one large, wealthy urban parish I’ve been in it’s by no means universally true and certainly not true of the parish where I am now. As a pastor I have to be concerned with the financial well being of my parish yet bizarrely, financial administration is not something which is taught in the seminary. Nobody expects priests to be financial gurus but at least a basic knowledge of financial matters is really essential to efficient operation of a parish. So, finish what you started - it may prove to be the most useful thing you ever did!
 
Reformed pastor here, and I concur with what Father said above.

During pastoral training, we had a one-day session about bookkeeping, and that was it. I dearly wish we’d had more.

I will be keeping your discernment process in my prayers.
 
Two things;
Having a good business acumen is an asset to whatever diocese you would live in. I remember that even today they talk about the first pastor of the parish I go to. He was good at managing money and when he was transferred, the parish had money.
Secondly would be in relating to business people. To understand the social teaching of the Catholic Church with an understanding of the perspective of business and entrepreneurs.
 
Welcome to CAF, Hagen!

At my alma mater, Berea College, Business was the number one major. We were founded for the sake of educating the poor of Appalachia. Our founder wanted to train teachers, then send them back into the mountains to educate the people. He also made sure that the student population was evenly divided between black and white. Additionally, we are one of six labor colleges, which was an innovation at the time.

That’s a roundabout way to get to my point – business degrees are needed, especially in the priesthood. If there were any classes to be added to the seminary curriculum, I would add cooking, cleaning, and business. Systems analysis and economic development wouldn’t hurt either.

While I am pleased that you’ve experienced a conversion, you still need your feet on the ground. Please persevere with this business degree!

I will give another case-in-point. The largest parish in the US is in our diocese. The former pastor asked the bishop to put a particular priest in as pastor because he had practical business experience. Fortunately, he did. What are you going to do if assigned a ten thousand family parish? Will you be able to handle it?

As the others have said, please speak with the diocesan Vocations director. May Our Lady and the Holy Ghost guide you!

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters, O.P.
Lay Dominican
http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/
 
Talk to vocation directors about your desire to become a priest. in general, talk to diocesan vocation directors and also within orders (Franciscans, others). Perhaps, you already know where you want to serve. Use your breaks from university (like summer break, fall break, winter break, spring break) to explore further. I never became a priest but did once attend a discernment weekend.
 
Talk to your vocations director.

And from a parish employee, your business classes will be very much an asset for a parish priest!
 
Agreeing with all the others.

A business degree can be helpful to a priest.

Certainly it’s not a negative for someone who plans to become a priest. People have gone on from the (non-Catholic) business school I attended and become priests.

And if for some reason you don’t become a priest you could do a lot of good for people in the business world. This ties in with the thread on business and social responsibility.

Good luck.
 
There is also a shortage of priests with business majors. And science majors. And law degrees. And medical degrees.
 
This one’s simple. Finish the business degree.

The priesthood might not be for you. If not, you still have your degree. If so, having the business degree does no harm, and could do a great bit of good. I never cease to be astonished by the people who have no clear idea where money comes from, or what a “profit” is.

FWIW, I have both — liberal arts and business. After I entered the working world, I went back to school nights and weekends and got my MBA — fairly respectable private East Coast school, back when that sort of thing was somewhat affordable, not one of these online pop-up colleges or brick-and-mortar schools that just tacked on an MBA option because so many people want one. Nowadays everyone has a master’s or is working on one — it’s the bachelor’s degree of the 21st century. (Let me be clear that I totally respect online education, in fact, that is becoming the only option many people can afford.)
 
It sounds like becoming a priest is a relatively recent interest for you. It would seem unwise to give up your degree to pursue something which may not come to anything. There are many things that could happen between now and your possibly being ordained one day. The Church does not accept every man who thinks that he has a vocation to the priesthood. Many seminarians drop out, whether because they lose their vocation, they struggle academically, they meet a woman they want to marry, etc. Therefore, it’s a good idea to have another option to support yourself and possibly a wife and children. As others have said, priests come from many different backgrounds. It’s useful to have priests who have backgrounds in less common fields, business being only one example.
 
There is a story that goes with that. During the time of St Teresa of Avila there was the question of the appointment of a certain administrator. Of the two priests who were being considered one was very pious and the other was not very holy. They chose the not very holy priest because he had a reputation for his very good administrative abilities.
 
Finish your degree. It is always useful to show anyone, be he a vocations director or some recruiting for a company, that you are someone who completes things.

It is quite common nowadays I think for those who enter the seminary to have completed an undergraduate degree and maybe even started out on some other career path before discerning a vocation to the priesthood.

I have a friend and for a time the priest in his parish was a former accountant. The parish finances had never been so well managed. Obviously, the spiritual welfare of one’s parishioners is of vital importance but the priest is also ultimately the CEO of a tiny little business and has to ensure it is properly run and if not at least breaking even to ensure everything is properly done.
 
Let me stress what others have said: talk to a vocational director and follow his lead. Now, assuming you decide to finish business school, that does not necessarily mean you are putting your preparation for the priesthood on hold. Get a spiritual director and develope your prayer and spiritual life. Business knowledge will be useful. Focus electives on subjects that will benefit your vocation, eg take an introduction to philosophy, maybe a Church history class, perhaps within business school some management classes, etc.
 
Talk to your vocations director. I personally think a business background would be super-useful for a priest and frankly I’d like to see more priests studying practical things and less of this pie-in-the-sky esoteric -ology and -osophy stuff that really doesn’t help them administer parishes or deal with managing a parish or a diocese.
 
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A business degree can be very helpful for a priest. Having a decent understanding of things like finances can help a parish pastor to be more responsible with money and keep the parish in the black.

How many years of school do you have left? If you’re close to graduating, it makes sense to finish your degree. If you’ve just started college, leaving to go to seminary might be the right option. You need to talk to your pastor and your vocation director and get things sorted out. They’d be able to help you more than we can.
 
Most men who enter the priesthood these days have university degrees and have worked for a few years. Finish your studies but get in touch with a vocations director. Business qualifications can be useful in all areas of life. You may be able to put that knowledge to work as a priest.
 
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