Priestly Vocation

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chipper17

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Hi all.This is my first post so if it is in the wrong place I apologize in advance. I have a question I hope someone can help me with. I am 48 years old and have a high school diploma with NO college at all. I was born and raised Catholic and still am a practicing Catholic. I was married for 12 years and am now divorced.I have no children and have an annullment. I received it 6 months ago. My question is am I too old to enter the priesthood at my age or is there anything else that would prevent me from becoming a priest.I think God is calling me and if he is,I know there has to be a way to become a priest.Sorry if this seems a silly question but I don’t know where to turn.I have not talked to my pastor about this.He is hard to get a personal audience with.Thanks
 
As far as I know there is no age requirement on the priesthood. There is only a calling requirement. If you think you have a calling, talk to your priest. I had a friend that needed to be out of debt before she joined a convent. I am not sure if this is the same way with the priesthood. You need to have a discernment talk with your parish priest. A priestly calling is all that is required from all that I have studied.
 
Being prepared, though, years of study. I think that one usually needs to have received at least a baccalaureat(normally graduate in the U.S.) in sacred theology or canon law in order to be ordained. I, for one, am also concerned about the annulment- it is still not the same as having never married or being a widower.
 
I’ve known priests who were ordained at a mature age.

I ask God to guide you. Don’t hesitate to contact your priest as you matter and so does your vocation. Don’t be easily deterred if your call is from God.

God bless you 🙂
 
Hi Chipper. I hope I still could offer a little advice although I’m no longer active in the priestly ministry and got my dispensation last year. When I was still in the seminary there was one guy who was I think 50 years old when he started theology and he eventually became a priest. Now I think the following Norms from the Code of Canon Law will help settle some issues:

Can. 1029 Only those are to be promoted to orders who, in the prudent judgment of their own bishop or of the competent major superior, all things considered, have integral faith, are moved by the right intention, have the requisite knowledge, possess a good reputation, and are endowed with integral morals and proven virtues and the other physical and psychic qualities in keeping with the order to be received.

Competent authority (Your pastor, Seminary Fathers/Formators,etc) will determine your suitability to accept you in the seminary. You have to be ready to submit yourself to the process of the Church in ascertaining your calling.

Canon 1031 §3. The conference of bishops is free to establish norms which require an older age for the presbyterate and the permanent diaconate.

Your diocese may or may not have an age limit for the acceptance of seminarians so kindly check this out with your pastor.

Can. 1032 §1. Those aspiring to the presbyterate can be promoted to the diaconate only after they have completed the fifth year of the curriculum of philosophical and theological studies.

You will definitely have to undergo at least 5 years of academic training before you are recommended for ordination. But depending on what you have taken up in college you may be given some exceptions.

I wish you all the best and hope God’s will be done.
 
chipper17 said:
I think God is calling me and if he is,I know there has to be a way to become a priest.
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Think or know? When God calls He wants you as you are, regardless of your age, male or female, because this time serves His purpose. Mary or Anne, Samuel or Simeon and many others…they are all callings of various ages to fulfill God’s greater purpose.,

Think or know? Who is deciding what you are to be?

God bless
 
Ferds_Guiang said:
Hi Chipper. I hope I still could offer a little advice although I’m no longer active in the priestly ministry and got my dispensation last year. When I was still in the seminary there was one guy who was I think 50 years old when he started theology and he eventually became a priest. Now I think the following Norms from the Code of Canon Law will help settle some issues:

Can. 1029 Only those are to be promoted to orders who, in the prudent judgment of their own bishop or of the competent major superior, all things considered, have integral faith, are moved by the right intention, have the requisite knowledge, possess a good reputation, and are endowed with integral morals and proven virtues and the other physical and psychic qualities in keeping with the order to be received.

Competent authority (Your pastor, Seminary Fathers/Formators,etc) will determine your suitability to accept you in the seminary. You have to be ready to submit yourself to the process of the Church in ascertaining your calling.

Canon 1031 §3. The conference of bishops is free to establish norms which require an older age for the presbyterate and the permanent diaconate.

Your diocese may or may not have an age limit for the acceptance of seminarians so kindly check this out with your pastor.

Can. 1032 §1. Those aspiring to the presbyterate can be promoted to the diaconate only after they have completed the fifth year of the curriculum of philosophical and theological studies.

You will definitely have to undergo at least 5 years of academic training before you are recommended for ordination. But depending on what you have taken up in college you may be given some exceptions.

I wish you all the best and hope God’s will be done.
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Signor Guiang, I know that you are no longer a priest, but I was just curious; do you know if one can enter a Licencite(sp.?) program in canon law with a secular law degree and baccalaureat(e.g. J.D., B.S.)? I am not intending to enter the priesthood or a monastic order, but I wanted to know as for a hypothetical situation(i.e. becoming a priest with a Doctorate of Canon Law).
 
Pilgrimage said:
Think or know? When God calls He wants you as you are, regardless of your age, male or female, because this time serves His purpose. Mary or Anne, Samuel or Simeon and many others…they are all callings of various ages to fulfill God’s greater purpose.,

Think or know? Who is deciding what you are to be?

God bless
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Just so were clear for the OP (and hopefully not to drag this off topic), it looks as though some older men have discerned a vocation to the priesthood. But it is restricted to men only. We cannot be so arrogant as to think we can change what Christ has ordained.
 
Young_Thinker said:
Signor Guiang, I know that you are no longer a priest, but I was just curious; do you know if one can enter a Licencite(sp.?) program in canon law with a secular law degree and baccalaureat(e.g. J.D., B.S.)? I am not intending to enter the priesthood or a monastic order, but I wanted to know as for a hypothetical situation(i.e. becoming a priest with a Doctorate of Canon Law).
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Forgive me for asking something like that.
 
Young_Thinker said:
Signor Guiang, I know that you are no longer a priest, but I was just curious; do you know if one can enter a Licencite(sp.?) program in canon law with a secular law degree and baccalaureat(e.g. J.D., B.S.)? I am not intending to enter the priesthood or a monastic order, but I wanted to know as for a hypothetical situation(i.e. becoming a priest with a Doctorate of Canon Law).
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Hi Young Thinker. I appreciate your question and I hope my answer could be of help. In Europe one can take Canon and Civil law side by side. I think this is a unique arrangement that the Church and the State has forged as far as Law degrees are concerned. I presume you’re not in Europe so I really can’t say whether a Catholic university can accept you right away for a degree in Canon Law. You might be required to get a Bachelor degree in Theology first. You can call any of the Catholic universities in your country and ask the minimum requirements for acceptance to a degree in Canon Law. I’m impressed at your interest to get a degree in Canon Law.
 
Ferds_Guiang said:
Hi Young Thinker. I appreciate your question and I hope my answer could be of help. In Europe one can take Canon and Civil law side by side. I think this is a unique arrangement that the Church and the State has forged as far as Law degrees are concerned. I presume you’re not in Europe so I really can’t say whether a Catholic university can accept you right away for a degree in Canon Law. You might be required to get a Bachelor degree in Theology first. You can call any of the Catholic universities in your country and ask the minimum requirements for acceptance to a degree in Canon Law. I’m impressed at your interest to get a degree in Canon Law.
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Thank you very much.
 
Catholic University of America is the only place in the United States that is allowed to offer a degree in canon law (see here).
 
Each diocese will have its own age and educational requirements.

There are seminaries that focus on older vocations that do not have a degree or do not meet the philosophy requirements.

One of them is Sacred Heart School of Theology.

You could contact them but they will tell you that they do not accept seminarians who are not sponsored by a diocese, so you will need to get a diocese to sponsor you there. I believe that they have a list of all the dioceses that they have worked with in the past.
 
curlycool89 said:
Just so were clear for the OP (and hopefully not to drag this off topic), it looks as though some older men have discerned a vocation to the priesthood. But it is restricted to men only. We cannot be so arrogant as to think we can change what Christ has ordained.
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My friend, your soul seems restless and disturbed by its challenge. Why is that? God has always used whom He choses to do His work, not man. The fruits of labour interest Him greatly, the labourer has already become obedient to his Master. S/he that is least will always bring forth good fruits for the Kingdom of God.

All are vessels for the Holy Spirit, none more worthy than the other if they are sanctified.

Here you are nothing but word, of no age, you are not male or female as you have no flesh in this place. This is what The Word was until It took on flesh and dwelt amongst us. But you are here, a place where you are known to be only what you say you are. Can you or any man do this miracle that God did?

It is God who puts His Holy Spirit into the flesh and circumcises the heart.

God bless
 
Pilgrimage said:
My friend, your soul seems restless and disturbed by its challenge. Why is that? God has always used whom He choses to do His work, not man. The fruits of labour interest Him greatly, the labourer has already become obedient to his Master. S/he that is least will always bring forth good fruits for the Kingdom of God.

All are vessels for the Holy Spirit, none more worthy than the other if they are sanctified.

Here you are nothing but word, of no age, you are not male or female as you have no flesh in this place. This is what The Word was until It took on flesh and dwelt amongst us. But you are here, a place where you are known to be only what you say you are. Can you or any man do this miracle that God did?

It is God who puts His Holy Spirit into the flesh and circumcises the heart.

God bless
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Even the Devil can use sweet sounding phrases to deceive the faithful, but sounding sweet and smart does not make it anymore right. Wrong is still wrong no matter how many people declare it to be “right”.

Only a man can be in persona Christi, and only a man can stand in for Christ the bridegroom with His bride the Church. Anything else can only be described as objectively disordered and an abomination.
 
Young_Thinker said:
do you know if one can enter a Licencite(sp.?) program in canon law with a secular law degree and baccalaureat(e.g. J.D., B.S.)? I am not intending to enter the priesthood or a monastic order, but I wanted to know as for a hypothetical situation(i.e. becoming a priest with a Doctorate of Canon Law).
Click to expand...
Ferds_Guiang said:
You can call any of the Catholic universities in your country and ask the minimum requirements for acceptance to a degree in Canon Law.
Click to expand...
The requirements for obtaining a licence or doctorate in canon law are defined in the Decree of the Congregation for Catholic Education revising the order of studies in the faculties and departments of canon law, as promulgated in 2002. See:

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20021114_decree-canon-law_en.html
 
curlycool89 said:
Even the Devil can use sweet sounding phrases to deceive the faithful, but sounding sweet and smart does not make it anymore right. Wrong is still wrong no matter how many people declare it to be “right”.

Only a man can be in persona Christi, and only a man can stand in for Christ the bridegroom with His bride the Church. Anything else can only be described as objectively disordered and an abomination.
Click to expand...
It’s interesting that you use the words “objectively disordered and an abomination” When the Pope is venerated as ‘Pope’. The word Pope is taken from the Greek word for ‘father’, and Mathew 23:9-10 says “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.” NIV

Therefore with the knowledge that this is a scandal, and I am not the person who has coined the word ‘scandal’ for the Pope; how certain can you be in what you say?

I am simply pointing out the anomalies of what is being practiced, said and thought in this present age.

God is love and anyone who loves knows God, man or woman. If we love one another, then God can live in us and His love is completed within us.

This perfect and all consuming love is no different for man or woman, young or old. His presence within us is not about power or gender, it is about achieving a Christ like love between us through His Grace. It is man who has made it an issue of power and gender, and yet true power comes from the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, which was an act of ‘love’ for all, men, women, children, old and young. Oppression is not an act of love, it is an act of man.

Would the Devil have recognised your disquieted soul?

God bless
 
Firstly may God Bless you ‘chipper17’ and may you know His plan for you,if it is His will that you should serve him as a priest then I wish you all the best.

In response to ‘Pilgrimage’, The “fatherhood” of the Pope is the same as that of Abraham, St. Paul, and all Catholic Priests, it is biblical:
“I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.
For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel". (1Cor 4:14-15 RSV)
If you take Mt 23:9-10 literally It appears that Our Lord also commanded no man to be called teacher yet he himself bestowed the title (Cf Mt 28:19–20.)

If I have to decide on Whose example to follow, I follow Christ, and he gave us an ordained Priesthood comprised only of men.

Christ gave us our certainty when he founded the Church on Peter (Mt. 16:18-19). He gave His Church the Authority to teach (2 Peter 1:20-21),
but we must remain faithful to the examples he gave the Apostles (2 Thess. 2:15),these examples have come down to us through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

Yours in Christ
 
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