Princess_Abby:
That’s what was explained to me by my college campus Roman Catholic priest.
Maybe he has the source and you could ask him. In the meantime, you might want to consider something else.
Canon 1040 provides, “ Persons who are affected by a perpetual impediment, which is called an irregularity, or a simple impediment are prevented from receiving orders; the only impediments which can be contracted are contained in the following canons.”
Canons 1041 and 1042 then proceed to list those impediments.So you might want to read the canons, and they are accessible on the internet. I do not think think impotence is mentioned as an impediment in those canons.
Clearly, there is not a right to be ordained. A bishop is to ordain those who possess the necessary qualities for the order and whom he judges suitable for the service of the diocese or institute or personal prelature. Certainly, there could be another basis, associated with — but not identical to — the condition, by which the bishop determines someone does not have the necessary qualities or would be unsuitable. As well, there could be doubt about the motives of the person who believes he has no other choices in life. If the impotence was caused by serious and malicious self-mutilation, it would appear to fall into the list of impediments though.
Celibacy, for secular priests, is a choice in a way, but juridically, it is a promise (c. 1037) by which one assumes the obligation of perfect continence. Although obviously and repeatedly recognized as of great value and esteem and usefulness to the service of the Latin Church, it is not constitutive of the priesthood but disciplinary (since it is dispensible). It strikes me as more something accepted rather than selected judicially per se, with the exception of those in religious institutes who select it as the direct object of one of their evangelical professions .
The US Norms governing seminaries and admission are found at
nccbuscc.org/vocations/ProgramforPriestlyFormation.pdf. They may be of interest.
Sometimes things should not be done because they are not prudent, and sometimes things should not be done because the Church renders them illicit or even invalid. So you may want to look up those canons and determine which category this discussion fits into, and see where you end up. Something to think about.
