My 8 Year Old Son Wants To Be A Priest

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You are very articulate. I never would have guessed by reading your words that you are that young. Your parents must be very proud. 🙂

…and do tell the story. I will only laugh for a minute. 😉
 
chicago said:
WHAHAHAHAHEEHEHE WHOOO

(Oh, sorry.) I won’t laugh… I prooooomise!
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Too late! You just ruined it for everyone:p
You are very articulate. I never would have guessed by reading your words that you are that young. Your parents must be very proud.
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…and do tell the story. I will only laugh for a minute.
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Thank you… but no:p You can blame chicago.
 
Pious_Mat said:
On the one hand, he’s still a child, but on the other, it is not uncommon for a person to realize their vocation as young as 5. Many older priests will say that they knew they would become priests when they four or five.

I think the best thing you can do is make it clear to him:
a) Becoming a priest is a positive thing. Saying Mass and hearing confessions is something that not even the angels and Our Lady can do, and he can make a positive impact on people by persuing that lifestyle.
b) You support him 100% no matter what he wants to be. You will be there for him while he is discerning, during his education, and while he works in his chosen profession. You’re there for him no matter what.

As was said before, ensuring that he is well educated in matters of faith is very important. A prayer life is very important as well. Make sure that he prays on a daily basis, and begings developing a personal relationship with Our Lord. Take him to Adoration (you can look on the internet for resources on a child’s Holy Hour), and frequently to Mass. Also, family prayer helps. If the whole family has spiritual life, he will truly see it as a way of life.
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👍 I second what Matt has stated. You never know when God will call you.

I had a calling as early as age 6 and it never really went away thorugh childhood. There was a time it was really strong and sometimes it was less. It had a big impact on how seriously I took my faith- somthing that has helped me to this day.

Fast forward to today and I have been called to the vocation of marriage and family- no doubt about that. However, there is still a call to service and I have been discerning the permanant diaconate for several years. (not old enough yet)

We are all called to serve God in our own way. Let your son listen to the Lord to find his vocation- he has plenty of time. Be there to support him.

On a related note- my son(3 next month) plays “Mass” all the time. He’ll hold up his cup and plate at dinner and try to immitate the bells- very cute. He’s a hellraiser :eek: most of the time, so this gives me some comfort. 🙂
 
Hi there my son is ten he will be eleven this year and he has been saying the same since he was 7, we talk about marriage and careers and of course children and he doesnt want any of those things only to be a priest.
He goes to a catholic school, he serves at mass every saturday and any school masses, he also asks father if he can serve for any special occassions coming up ie first holy communions etc.

We talk often about this he brings it up everytime and i say to him thats great if thats what you would like to do, we recently had a lovely man with us in our parish who is currently training to become a priest he will be ordained deacon in a year i think it is, and my son quizzed him non stop on how he knew he wanted to become a priest etc, father is great with him and answers any questions he has.
I am aware however that as time goes on he may change his mind and decide on another path in life i pray that he is happy in what he chooses to do in life church already plays a huge part in our lives so i pray that continues whatever he decides.
x
 
ConfirmaMe said:
He says he wants to be a priest. He recently started as an altar server at Latin Mass. Sometimes I think he says things just to hear himself talk or for the shock value, but he’s been saying this since he was about 5.

What could/should I be doing to encourage, or more to the point NOT discourage him? I’m not sure if I should be taking him seriously or not.

The last thing I want is for him to feel pressured by what he said, and be afraid to say he changed his mind. Can he even have that level of discernment at this age? :confused:
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I would disagree with many of the posters on this website. I would certainly encourage it - let him know how special the vocation to the priesthood is, how wonderful the call to the priesthood is, etc. It would be beneficial if he begins (or continues) to foster a good relationship with a good priest. This will provide him with that role model (though there can never be enough “good” role models). Biographies of the Saints might help too - esp. St. John Vianney, St. Don Bosco, etc.

Two precautions: 1. He must know that a vocation is something GOD chooses and we discern, not something we choose on our own. 2. He must not feel pressured - you should encourage him in his desire for the priesthood, but if later in adolescence he begins to take an interest in girls, then although you might feel some disappointment, make sure he does not see this, but encourage him to continue to discern well.
 
mahalia said:
I think the best thing you could do is, when you talk to him about future, try to point out that priesthood and marriage are equally important and valuable.
When he says he wants to be a priest, say something supportive, but also talk about girls, marriage and stuff.
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No offense mahalia, but do not - I repeat DO NOT follow this piece of advice! It is one of the main reasons we have a shortage of priests!

Catholic dogma (that’s right - infallible DOGMA) says celibacy is SUPERIOR to the married state (Pius XII, encyclical “On Sacred Virginity”, 32; Vatican II, "Decree on Priestly Training, paragraph 10); Canons of the Council of Trent, Session 24, Canon 10 - in fact, this canon proclaims “anathema” on anyone who does not hold celibacy to be a higher call than marriage - no, I’m not kidding: read it for yourself everyone!). As soon as a young man hears that “they are equal”, immediately he is going to think marriage is better - because he thinks that if they are essentially no different, marriage must be better cause it has one huge “perk” over celibacy - you can get married and have kids. See what I am saying?

DO NOT tell him they are “equal” calls - make SURE you stress the superiority of celibacy over marriage (Luke 18:29; Matthew 19:11-12; 1Corinthians, etc). In fact, if you are teaching him from the St. Joseph’s edition of Baltimore Catechism 2, there is an excellent section on this that makes this clear, and also the quotation from Pius XII where he calls it dogma.
 
Pious_Mat said:
On the one hand, he’s still a child, but on the other, it is not uncommon for a person to realize their vocation as young as 5. Many older priests will say that they knew they would become priests when they four or five.

I think the best thing you can do is make it clear to him:
a) Becoming a priest is a positive thing. Saying Mass and hearing confessions is something that not even the angels and Our Lady can do, and he can make a positive impact on people by persuing that lifestyle.
b) You support him 100% no matter what he wants to be. You will be there for him while he is discerning, during his education, and while he works in his chosen profession. You’re there for him no matter what.

My parents did not do this for me, and it has caused (and is causing) innumerable difficulties as I discern my vocation. If I could have been open with them, things would have been very different.

As was said before, ensuring that he is well educated in matters of faith is very important. A prayer life is very important as well. Make sure that he prays on a daily basis, and begings developing a personal relationship with Our Lord. Take him to Adoration (you can look on the internet for resources on a child’s Holy Hour), and frequently to Mass. Also, family prayer helps. If the whole family has spiritual life, he will truly see it as a way of life.

Hope this helps!

Mat.

P.S. – Does he go to Catholic school?
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Touche! Awesome advice.
 
ConfirmaMe said:
He says he wants to be a priest. He recently started as an altar server at Latin Mass. Sometimes I think he says things just to hear himself talk or for the shock value, but he’s been saying this since he was about 5.

What could/should I be doing to encourage, or more to the point NOT discourage him? I’m not sure if I should be taking him seriously or not.

The last thing I want is for him to feel pressured by what he said, and be afraid to say he changed his mind. Can he even have that level of discernment at this age? :confused:
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Sorry for asking but I think that it is important to know? Are you the mother or the father of the child?
 
I am his mother.

Tracy07, that is wonderful. 🙂

Michael Saint…thanks for all the advice. We have some awesome priests and a very strong Knights of the Altar group, which he is part of. I’m very grateful for these role models in his life. And yes, we have discussed the fact that God will choose this and, in the meantime, he needs to draw close enough to hear Him.
 
i’m so glad you posted this thread as my 7 year old also wants to be a priest he’s been saying this since he was 5 loves going to mass he would go an hour early if he could and he loves it when i read the bible to him and loves to pray what age should i teach him the rosary i’m not sure how to encourage him as i’m a convert myself any suggestions would be appreciated thanks
 
My son used to nurse while we did rosary, if that tells you when we started. 🙂

I’m sure your son is plenty ready for that. For my SO’s son, who is 4 and largely unexposed to all things Catholic, I got him a kids rosary coloring book. We use that to go through the prayers. If he wants to space off and color in the middle of a decade, I let him, but I try to get him to do at least 3 with us at each mystery, and tell us about what is happening to Jesus in the picture on each page. We’ll build up from there (baby steps).
 
ConfirmaMe said:
He says he wants to be a priest. He recently started as an altar server at Latin Mass. Sometimes I think he says things just to hear himself talk or for the shock value, but he’s been saying this since he was about 5.

What could/should I be doing to encourage, or more to the point NOT discourage him? I’m not sure if I should be taking him seriously or not.

The last thing I want is for him to feel pressured by what he said, and be afraid to say he changed his mind. Can he even have that level of discernment at this age? :confused:
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Hmmmm…I think it would be best to pray for him. I have heard stories about people knowing about their vocations at an early age.

Keep encouraging him to go to Mass often and especially when he serves as an altar server. My guess is that he loves this ministry very much. I have a cousin who is 8 and an altar server as well.

You can also talk about this with a priest.

God bless and my prayers are with you and your son.

Eileen Lucia
 
I have wanted to be a priest since I was around your son’s age as well- and I have just begun seriously considering a vocation.
 
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