Priesthood???

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youngsaint

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I think I feel the call, but I’m not sure, how can I tell?.

And if I do decide to, I would like to as soon as possible, soooooo:
  1. How do I become a priest?
  2. What’s the minimum age?
  3. How many years do I have to train?
and most of all…
(Bonus Question :)) How do I tell my parents, who expect me to go to West Point?

Thanks A Ton!
 
#1 you go to a seminary for 6 years to learn about Christ and His Church i believe it is also sometimes necessary for you to go to university and get a degree first

#2 20 or however old you are after school and post-secondary education.

#3 See #1

#4 tell them your going to join Gods army of Sheep:rotfl:
 
  1. How do I become a priest?
A: You can become a priest by entering into a seminary after high school or college for 6 years.
  1. What’s the minimum age?
**A: The minimum age is usually the age after you leave high school, and the ages in college levels.
**
3) How many years do I have to train?

A: You have to train for 6 years (pretty much the answer to question 1).

and most of all…
(Bonus Question ) How do I tell my parents, who expect me to go to West Point?

** Is West Point a Military Academy?**

Congratulations on the fact that you might have a calling to serve God and His Church. I too have felt a calling. Maybe one day we’ll be at a parish minstering together. 😉
 
Discuss this with your pastor, spiritual director, and dicoesan vocations director.
 
It is VERY difficult to discern a vocation while you are “in the world” and distracted by worldly distractions. So, you must go to seminary to “try” your vocation. It may take an entire 6 years for you to determine that God is, without a doubt, calling you to the Royal Priesthood of Melchizedek. And it may also take the seminary rector that long to determine that you are called. It is a mutual decision by both him and you. If you feel the calling, make arrangements to visit one or two seminaries and ask permission to attend a week’s worth of classes during the study year to get a feel for the rigor and demands of the course of study, as well as the “heart” of each seminary.

Since you are posting on a Traditional Board, there are a few different seminaries which form priests around the offering of the Extraordinary Rite of the Mass, as well as seminaries attached to each diocese and/or religious order.

Tell your parents that you will have several years to decide your vocation and could conceivably still end up at West Point. But you will have given the Good Lord His measure in your life’s direction.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
** Is West Point a Military Academy?**
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Yeah… 😃
on the fact that you might have a calling to serve God and His Church. I too have felt a calling. Maybe one day we’ll be at a parish minstering together. 😉

Cool, I’ll see you in about 8 years 😃
 
youngsaint said:
I think I feel the call, but I’m not sure, how can I tell?.

And if I do decide to, I would like to as soon as possible, soooooo:
  1. How do I become a priest?
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First you enter into discernment with a spiritual director. Part of this discernment is to see whether you are called to religious priesthood or secular priesthood. Then you get in touch with a vocations director.
  1. What’s the minimum age?
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Minimum age for ordination to the priesthood is 25.
  1. How many years do I have to train?
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You will need a bachelors degree for entry into a Major Seminary to work on the Masters of Divinity degree which is the required degree for ordination in the United States. This is a 4 year professional masters degree program. Most dioceses and religious communities add a pastoral year. So just for the education from the start it is 9 years if you do not have a bachelors degree.

Another requirement to be aware of is that you must have 30 credit hours of philosophy and 12 credit hours of theology to gain entry into an M.Div. program. So if you do not have a bachelors degree get it in philosophy with a minor in theology but make sure you work with a vocations director and the seminary you will end up in to make sure that all your credits will be accepted.

Now if you end up going into a religious community there may be more time as you may have to complete a year of pre-novitiate/postulancy and a year or two of novitiate.

For my community, the Order of Carmelites, we have a year or two pre-novitiate (this is provided you have a bachelors degree and need to work on the philosophy, you can not officially enter into our formation program until you are a junior in college anyways), a year of novitiate, 4 year M.Div. with a two year internship after the first year of the M.Div., that can make 9 years before ordination to the priesthood.

For a diocese, with out a bachelors degree, it could be just as long.

Don’t know where the 6 years idea came from above.
and most of all…
(Bonus Question :)) How do I tell my parents, who expect me to go to West Point?
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That’s one you will have to work out, maybe with the help of a spiritual director.
 
giuseppeTO said:
It is VERY difficult to discern a vocation while you are “in the world” and distracted by worldly distractions. So, you must go to seminary to “try” your vocation.
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I know what you are trying to say but you never enter into any of this with the idea of “trying”.

I am in simple vows which are temporary, they expire after three years but when I made my vows I made them in the mindset that these are permanent.

Life is discernment. We are all called to continual discernment.
 
Well, about West Point, I would definately spend a lot of time in prayer about it and ask God what he wants of you. Let him reveal what he wants to you. I kept praying and praying asking “Lord, do you want me to be a priest?” Then I felt a warm jerk in my heart going “Yes.” Everytime I think of the priesthood I get a warm, calm, feeling, thinking that no career could satisfy my desire to be part of the priesthood.

Have you tried Vocation.com? The person who created the website is Fr. Anthony, and he has helped me somewhat. I emailed him in the discernment library of the website, and he emailed me back within a few weeks (he was away on a retreat) and he said he was praying for me and my vocation and remembered me in a special way on the following Sunday at Mass. A few weeks later he sent me a picture of his retreat where I found out it was a retreat for young men who desired to be priests. It was a picture of them on top of a mountain they hiked on and he explained that it was a picture of kids who wanted to be priests and he said that they were praying for me. I am sure he could help you too.

Another way that helps is if you talk with your parish priest. I am sure he knows what you’re going throught (he’s a priest afterall, right? ;)). I am sure he can relate.

Tips I give is: If you end up going to a college, get a major in Theology. A lot of priests have a major in this course and sometimes it’s a requirement. I am practically drawn to Theology.

God Bless You, and I hope all goes well with your vocation.
 
You know you could be a Chaplin in The US army if you wanted to right? Still a priest and still serving you nation. Just a thought:o
 
youngsaint said:
Yes, I am
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Wow. I can’t believe how hard it was to find contact information for vocations on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles web page. This stuff should be easy to find and access!

In any case. Here is the information from the web site. Give them a call. Don’t worry about taking the first step, you aren’t committed to being a Priest by making the call, there are many steps. The first one being to call and work toward determining if you have a true calling.

Fr. James Forsen, Director of the Office for Vocations
FrJRForsen@la-archdiocese.org
(213) 637-7515

Fr. Robert Juarez, Director of the Houses of Formation
JuandiegohouseLA@aol.com
(310) 516-6671

archdiocese.la/ministry/vocations/contact.html
 
ByzCath said:
I know what you are trying to say but you never enter into any of this with the idea of “trying”.

I am in simple vows which are temporary, they expire after three years but when I made my vows I made them in the mindset that these are permanent.

Life is discernment. We are all called to continual discernment.
Click to expand...
The “trying” was my word for the entire process. It is hard to find a secular word for a very spiritual process. Mea culpa.
 
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