I'm considering becoming a priest

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Harmony1988

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Not sure if I ever will go ahead with it, infact I never thought I would say it, but recently as I’ve become more ‘aware’ and educated on the Church, the Bible, the teachings and etc.

I’ve felt a gravitation towards priesthood, but at the same time, I don’t want to give up a married life, it gets confusing sometimes. I guess I have to pray and wait, as what the right thing would be to do.

I’m also studying engineering, so that complicates things a bit.

Anyone else going through something similar?
 
Im a lay student studying theology. all my lecturers are priests and most people in my class are studying for the priesthood. I occassionally find myself contemplating but a) am kinda seeing an amazing girl at the moment and b) the lads in the seminery are up for morning prayer at 6.45 EVERY DAY!🙂

One of the best friends I met said that he wasnt sure when he was going in and thought he’d give it a shot and if it worked out it worked out, and if it didnt it didnt. He got ordained a five years ago and hes never been more content.

Hope that helps!
 
I’m going through a similar situation myself. The thought occurred to me over this past lent. I made an effort to attend daily Mass and spend more time in adoration. It was something that I had never seriouslly considered as an option until very recently.

I recently graduated college with a degree in history, am struggling with the idea of giving up my dream of being a commercial pilot, as well as the desire to have a family as well.

I will be praying for your discernment.
 
I’ve been thinking about that a fair amount too. I am a recent convert to the Church (I was an Episcopalian, not one of liberal kinds). I have just been accepted to medical school. I haven’t told anyone I have been considering the priesthood. Hopefully, the school will allow me to take a year off for discernment. I have a meeting scheduled with my priest on Monday with the intention of bringing this up. I hope I have the guts to actually do it. Not so sure why I have all this anxiety about it… You are in my prayers.
 
StatCrux said:
I’ve been thinking about that a fair amount too. I am a recent convert to the Church (I was an Episcopalian, not one of liberal kinds). I have just been accepted to medical school. I haven’t told anyone I have been considering the priesthood. Hopefully, the school will allow me to take a year off for discernment. I have a meeting scheduled with my priest on Monday with the intention of bringing this up. I hope I have the guts to actually do it. Not so sure why I have all this anxiety about it… You are in my prayers.
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Will be keeping you in prayer and especially for the scheduled meeting on Monday…
 
StatCrux said:
I’ve been thinking about that a fair amount too. I am a recent convert to the Church (I was an Episcopalian, not one of liberal kinds). I have just been accepted to medical school. I haven’t told anyone I have been considering the priesthood. Hopefully, the school will allow me to take a year off for discernment. I have a meeting scheduled with my priest on Monday with the intention of bringing this up. I hope I have the guts to actually do it. Not so sure why I have all this anxiety about it… You are in my prayers.
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Yea, I haven’t told anyone either.

Don’t just force yourself into it though, it has to come naturally, if you are afraid to do it, you shouldn’t, or at least wait for a while longer.

Prayers for everyone.
 
Harmony1988 said:
Not sure if I ever will go ahead with it, infact I never thought I would say it, but recently as I’ve become more ‘aware’ and educated on the Church, the Bible, the teachings and etc.

I’ve felt a gravitation towards priesthood, but at the same time, I don’t want to give up a married life, it gets confusing sometimes. I guess I have to pray and wait, as what the right thing would be to do.

I’m also studying engineering, so that complicates things a bit.

Anyone else going through something similar?
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The priest in my old parish actually had a career as a nuclear scientist before heading to the seminary. He was a really cool guy.
 
A voice cries in the wilderness “GO FOR IT!!!”
Contact a vocation director for the religious orders or dioceses you might think you are called to- they can be extremely helpful in aiding your discernment. And keep in mind, even if you do decide to enter seminary- that doesn’t mean you’re going to be ordained the next day- you’ll have plenty of time to test your vocation and if it is God’s will that you should be something else, you can take what you’ve learned from seminary and apply it to your calling! I know I did! Plus, during my time as a seminarian, you wouldn’t believe that amount of happily married men that approached me and said “You know, when I was young, I thought about priesthood and never bothered to go further about it- sometimes I wonder how my life would’ve been if I did” at least by applying, you’ll know the answer!
 
jdemnyan said:
A voice cries in the wilderness “GO FOR IT!!!”
Contact a vocation director for the religious orders or dioceses you might think you are called to- they can be extremely helpful in aiding your discernment. And keep in mind, even if you do decide to enter seminary- that doesn’t mean you’re going to be ordained the next day- you’ll have plenty of time to test your vocation and if it is God’s will that you should be something else, you can take what you’ve learned from seminary and apply it to your calling! I know I did! Plus, during my time as a seminarian, you wouldn’t believe that amount of happily married men that approached me and said “You know, when I was young, I thought about priesthood and never bothered to go further about it- sometimes I wonder how my life would’ve been if I did” at least by applying, you’ll know the answer!
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You are right, in what I must do, well not only me, but plenty of others who feel the same way. It’s just that it’s rather scary thinking that if you do get accepted into the priesthood, you will never marry 😦

And no I don’t want smart comments like ‘but you will be married to the Church’ 😛

That being said, I think I will contact one before June this year and see how things go. Cheers
 
Priesthood is such a wonderful gift!
I don’t know if I’ll ever have children, but I hope I’ll give birth to a sister/nun/priest/brother.
If you have a call, then explore it, search your soul - talk to someone, a priest preferably…

God bless you all discerning people out there!
 
Question: Chastity aside, are there any reasons why one shouldn’t join the priesthood?

I feel as though chastity is a great thing and is attainable through faith and prayer. I just don’t think that being content with chastity is directly correlated with being called into priesthood; I also see chastity as incredibly valuable in dating and up unto marriage as well. In what other ways is it possible to clearly see that you are being called?
 
BCven86 said:
Question: Chastity aside, are there any reasons why one shouldn’t join the priesthood?

I feel as though chastity is a great thing and is attainable through faith and prayer. I just don’t think that being content with chastity is directly correlated with being called into priesthood; I also see chastity as incredibly valuable in dating and up unto marriage as well. In what other ways is it possible to clearly see that you are being called?
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By far, it has to be the will to help others, to serve others, not the chastity itself. Infact the only thing that hinders me is the issue of celibacy. I believe all roman catholic priest should be celibate, but I believe it takes a certain cream of the crop. A dedicated group, i’m not sure if I’m one them
 
Harmony1988 said:
By far, it has to be the will to help others, to serve others, not the chastity itself. Infact the only thing that hinders me is the issue of celibacy. I believe all roman catholic priest should be celibate, but I believe it takes a certain cream of the crop. A dedicated group, i’m not sure if I’m one them
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Code: 
  First of all, I used the word 'chastity' which means 'abstaining from sex', not 'celibacy' which means 'without marriage'. They work a little differently.  Making the decision to be celibate is a big issue, I agree, but it wasn't exactly what I was talking about.

 I think the mark of a truly mature man, i.e. one that is able to make the decision into the priesthood or into marriage, is one that is free from the enslavement of lust and one who sees true peace in the freedom of chastity. I personally would not make the choice into marriage **nor** priesthood unless I felt as if I was not free of that enslavement. Not that I would ever expect to ever be free of the temptation, but confident in my own self control. 

  That being said, since this type of mindset is one (at least in my mind) that leads down both paths, I don't think that it should be considered as the mark of somebody who should become a priest. I guess my question is this, just because we are *able* to become a priest doesn't necessarily mean that we *should*, so what other indicators are out there to look for when considering this decision?
 
BCven86 said:
First of all, I used the word ‘chastity’ which means ‘abstaining from sex’, not ‘celibacy’ which means ‘without marriage’. They work a little differently. Making the decision to be celibate is a big issue, I agree, but it wasn’t exactly what I was talking about.
Code: 
 I think the mark of a truly mature man, i.e. one that is able to make the decision into the priesthood or into marriage, is one that is free from the enslavement of lust and one who sees true peace in the freedom of chastity. I personally would not make the choice into marriage **nor** priesthood unless I felt as if I was not free of that enslavement. Not that I would ever expect to ever be free of the temptation, but confident in my own self control. 

  That being said, since this type of mindset is one (at least in my mind) that leads down both paths, I don't think that it should be considered as the mark of somebody who should become a priest. I guess my question is this, just because we are *able* to become a priest doesn't necessarily mean that we *should*, so what other indicators are out there to look for when considering this decision?
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This is so true, excellent post, I have to say, yes the sex issue is a big deciding factor, and I know it shouldn’t be. For freedom and peace doesn’t come because of it.
 
Well, I just talked with my priest today and it went great. He was very supportive and helpful. I don’t know why I thought he wouldn’t be anything but that…

If you really like engineering it doesn’t have to be an either/or decision. The Jesuits have many priests who have advanced degrees in everything from Chemistry to Theology. Granted you will have to put up with a lot of liberal junk, but hey you can help transform the order one priest at a time… 😃

My suggestion is talk to your priest. Don’t go talk to him if you aren’t ready of course. But if you are ready and just anxious (like I was), man up and do it! You won’t regret it.

-SC
 
Thanks starcrux, but I’m still not ‘ready’ I guess. But I will keep in mind what all have said, infact something to that effect keep recurring often in my mind.
 
Hey,
I’m wondering if any of you can help me out. I think i’m in a bit of bind ha ha. I’ve had thoughts of the priesthood quite a bit over the past 2 years or so. But there are some circumstances in my life that are a bit troubling to me ha ha. One, I’ve been dating an amazing girl for over a year. She would make the perfect wife, attends daily mass, weekly adoration, says the liturgy of the hours, elementary teacher, beautiful.
I know if I left her for the seminary it’d be a huge sacrifice. Strangely I’m ok with it on my part. I think I could handle it, I know the priesthood is all about sacrifice, dying to self to live for the Church.
My main problem is what it would do to her. I’m not trying to be egotistic here, but she’s been let down by quite a few guys before, and I don’t know what it would do to her if I left. I know she wants to get married in the next year and a half or so, her expectations are high, I keep thinking if I leave, it will be catastrophic for her.
Help???

Thanks and God Bless,

Brady
 
Brady_W said:
Hey,
I’m wondering if any of you can help me out. I think i’m in a bit of bind ha ha. I’ve had thoughts of the priesthood quite a bit over the past 2 years or so. But there are some circumstances in my life that are a bit troubling to me ha ha. One, I’ve been dating an amazing girl for over a year. She would make the perfect wife, attends daily mass, weekly adoration, says the liturgy of the hours, elementary teacher, beautiful.
I know if I left her for the seminary it’d be a huge sacrifice. Strangely I’m ok with it on my part. I think I could handle it, I know the priesthood is all about sacrifice, dying to self to live for the Church.
My main problem is what it would do to her. I’m not trying to be egotistic here, but she’s been let down by quite a few guys before, and I don’t know what it would do to her if I left. I know she wants to get married in the next year and a half or so, her expectations are high, I keep thinking if I leave, it will be catastrophic for her.
Help???

Thanks and God Bless,

Brady
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Don’t not go into the Priesthood for anyone, let alone her. You may end up resenting her, which would not be good for either of you. (Does that make sense–I’m not saying to go, but that if you do actually have the calling, to go for it.)
 
Pray to GOD and Ask Him if this is the right thing for you now. He will not force you if you are not ready.

Join the Men In Black, when you are ready.

“Men in Black, protecting the church from the scum of hell.”
 
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