Is it okay for a priest to have a crush on someone?

[1Lord1Faith]

“I see my attractions for what they are,…”

What are they?

Anyone feel free to answer this. I’m not necessarily asking edward_george alone. But it brings up a question about attractions to other people (in this case I suppose it’s the opposite sex), but friendships of the same sex can get out of balance as well, and how do we know what is causing the attraction and if the attraction is healthy.

I think some people will slam the door on a relationship because they are afraid of something, or have a concern that one or more parties involved won’t be able to handle it.

People - you can’t live with them… you can’t live without them.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

In my case, I have had some attractions to various celebrities, who are at a distance and who in my case I do not go around seeking out, trying to meet, fantasizing over, or doing anything more than thinking “they’re attractive and I enjoy watching them”. When I was much younger, I may have fantasized over some of these folks and sometimes in a sinful way, although from a distance - I wasn’t being a groupie and trying to score with the celeb themself. This is behavior I outgrew, but obviously it’s sinful to be sitting around looking at pictures of celebs if that will lead you to have prurient thoughts.

Setting that aside and going to people whom I meet in real life, I always thought an attraction crossed the line when I began to think beyond “that person is attractive” and instead think persistently about committing some sin with the person. When I was young and hormones were running high, this happened quite a bit. When I got older it was more rare, but there were a couple cases where somebody was just such a perfect 10 by my standards that I was in danger of losing self-control, or actually did lose it. Nowadays if I felt myself in any danger of losing self-control, I would walk or run away pretty fast.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think some people will slam the door on a relationship because they are afraid of something, or have a concern that one or more parties involved won’t be able to handle it.

This is a perfectly valid reason to end a relationship. You need to think of the other person’s good as well as your own. There are people who I stopped speaking to entirely because it was clear that continuing even as friends was not going to be good for one or both of us. If someone is an occasion of sin for you, you also need to “pluck them out”.

 

[pacomius]

Apart from the good answers which a couple of people have already given to the OP, I want to point again at the fact of affective maturity.
In the formation of priests, they are usually evaluated over years, and one of the most important aspects is their affective maturity (human formation).

My point is a priest cannot help feeling attracted to some persons (if that is close to the meaning of crush), but he is expected to be mature enough to handle his emotions.

So i believe it is not inappropriate for a priest to “have” a crush, but it is very inappropriate for him to dwell on it or act it out.
Btw, priests are not immune to temptations either.

God bless you

 

[modestobruce]

Priests are men and susceptible to feelings like this. I wouldn’t put too much thought into his comment.