Proud Catholic considering becoming Anglican

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TikhonAthanasiusD

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I am as the title states a proud Catholic and at the same time I am conflicted I have received my vocation through discernment to be a priest at the same time I also have received the same vocation in terms of marriage. I cannot sacrifice one vocation over the other because both are from God. I believe everything the church teaches other than the idea of mandatory celibacy it is not an early church teaching it has only been around for 900 years, the eastern church does not teach this nor do the oriental churches. Their are no other ways around it for me I either have to become Episcopalian or I have to give up a calling from God to be a priest.
 
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Well as the Catholic Latin Rite priests are celibate, then there are two possibilities -
  1. Accept it really is your calling to be a priest and offer up this sacrifice of remaining celibate.
  2. It really isn’t your calling due to the fact you also believe you are called to marriage.
God does not create a situation wherein you feel you have to abandon His Church in order to fulfill what appears to be your calling.

I would suggest you speak to a vocations director about this. Secondly, go to Adoration and ask Our Lord to make clear to you which path He wants you to take. Then watch for his answer. But be open to whatever His answer may be - the priesthood and accept the celibacy part in order to please Him. Or if it is to marriage, then let go of you desire to be a priest and look for other ways within the church in which to be of service.

Have you considered that you are not being called to the priesthood, but instead to be a married permanent Deacon?
 
TikhonAthanasiusD said:
I cannot sacrifice one vocation over the other because both are from God.
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You are confused. God is not the author of such confusion. God does not call you to leave the Church.
TikhonAthanasiusD said:
I believe everything the church teaches other than the idea of mandatory celibacy it is not an early church teaching it has only been around for 900 years, the eastern church does not teach this nor do the oriental churches.
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Priestly celibacy is not a doctrinal teaching, it is a discipline of the Latin Rite.

Celibacy in the priesthood is much more ancient than 900 years ago, you don’t seem to be aware of that. Moreover the other churches you mention definitely have celibates, from which their bishops come.
TikhonAthanasiusD said:
Their are no other ways around it for me I either have to become Episcopalian or I have to give up a calling from God to be a priest.
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Episcopalian churches do not have valid holy orders or apostolic succession, so that certainly gets you nowhere— definitely no closer to being a priest.

You sound rather young. I encourage you to work with your diocesan vocations director for some spiritual direction and assistance with discernment.
 
TikhonAthanasiusD said:
I am as the title states a proud Catholic and at the same time I am conflicted I have received my vocation through discernment to be a priest at the same time I also have received the same vocation in terms of marriage. I cannot sacrifice one vocation over the other because both are from God. I believe everything the church teaches other than the idea of mandatory celibacy it is not an early church teaching it has only been around for 900 years, the eastern church does not teach this nor do the oriental churches. Their are no other ways around it for me I either have to become Episcopalian or I have to give up a calling from God to be a priest.
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There are eastern Catholic Churches with married priests. (Marry first, for matrimony is not possible after holy orders are received.) If you were not Catholic before and come from Orthodoxy (by baptism in it) then your proper Catholic sui iuris church is the one that corresponds to it. There are twenty-three eastern Catholic sui iuris churches.
 
You can always become Eastern Catholic. You get to be a preist and be married at the same time. No need to schism/become a heretic just because you are confused about your vocation discernment.

You also have to remember that marriage is a vocation itself. You could still be a part or make your own apostolate and share the good word of our Lord Jesus Christ while raising a family. Just look at Dr. Taylor Marshall, the man is married with at least seven kids and has a successful apostolate. You could do the same thing or something similar.
 
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The Anglican Church was founded by King Henry VIII in England. The Catholic Church was founded in Jerusalem by Jesus Christ. And it was Jesus who recommended celibacy, as did St. Paul:

An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—and his interests are divided-1 Cor. 7:32-33

As an Anglican priest you might yourself officiating at gay weddings and running rollercoaster rides inside your church

 
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-Do I think there should be more options for married men to become Catholic priests? Yes!
-Do I think a man can have both the calling of a priest and marriage? Absolutely!
-Do I think you should become an Anglican so you could become a priest? No!
-If the Catholic Church had more opportunities for married priests, do I think you should become one?.. Not at this point in your life.

Here are my reasons. Yes, St. Paul clearly lays out the model for married priests in the New Testament. It is 1 Timothy 3:2-5, and I would encourage you to read it. The thing it the model St. Paul described is the model of an older man who is well established in his community. This man would have children and be able to support them financially and manage them.

You sound like a young man. To think that right now you’d like to be a young married Catholic priest who would be starting a family. That’s not what Saint Paul described. Nobody is going to hand you that, nor should they in my opinion.

Perhaps find a nice young woman and start a family. If you still have a calling you can look into becoming a Deacon. After that, we can always hope this Viri Probati model of Catholic priesthood finds its way to the US. I sincerely hope so!
 
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Some good suggestions overall have already been stated.

Not trying to disrespect Episcopalians, but that particular denomination is drowning in a cess pool of immorality. Do you really want to anger the Lord by entering into that place where they profane that which is supposed to be holy by ordaining openly practicing homosexuals and women? I would spend a lot of time in prayer over this.

My particular suggestion is stay home and become a deacon. You know the priestly celibacy thing is just a discipline that can change – and in fact, in time i believe it will change as we struggle to meet our quotas on priests nowadays. You could be a Deacon now and a priest later.
 
As others have said, the Church doesn’t “teach” mandatory celibacy. It is a discipline and one which the Church may lift at some point in the future. There are also already hundreds if not thousands of married priests in the Catholic Church. Are you aware of that? If not, then I would respectfully suggest that you have more research and searching to do.
You could also be called to be a married deacon…

Regardless, you claim to be certain that God has called you to both the priesthood and marriage. You cannot be certain of this. We can never be certain of our vocation, as fallible humans, until the Church confirms it for us… no man is definitively called to be a priest until the bishop ordains him such. Period.
 
TikhonAthanasiusD said:
I am as the title states a proud Catholic and at the same time I am conflicted I have received my vocation through discernment to be a priest at the same time I also have received the same vocation in terms of marriage.
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I would strongly suggest you get in touch with your Vocations Director and discuss this. It does sound very confusing. I am sure God is not saying be a Priest and a husband , and leave the Catholic Church.
 
You say you’re a proud Catholic, but your profile says you’re a non-Catholic in RCIA. Which is it? If it’s the latter, you’ve got a long way to go before you’d be able to enter seminary anyway. Most dioceses require a 2-3 year waiting period after conversion. This is to give you some time to learn the ropes, so to speak, of just being Catholic. Seminary is a very different way of life and one needs a good foundation of simply practicing the faith before entering.

-Fr ACEGC
 
TikhonAthanasiusD said:
I am as the title states a proud Catholic and at the same time I am conflicted I have received my vocation through discernment to be a priest at the same time I also have received the same vocation in terms of marriage. I cannot sacrifice one vocation over the other because both are from God.
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How do you know that both “vocations”, in your case, are from God? Are you working with a spiritual director on this? Could it be that you are called to be a priest, and that this means you are going to have to sacrifice your desire to marry, no matter how much you may want to marry? Alternatively, you could indeed be called to marriage, and will have to sacrifice your desire to become a priest. Sometimes God calls us to make sacrifices that we find puzzling, counter-intuitive, or just plain difficult and “unfair”. It is all in His hands — not ours.

As for becoming Eastern Rite, I have to question whether Almighty God wants a man to switch rites just because he wants to be married and be a priest at the same time. You are either born into a rite and are raised with its spirituality, or you come later in life to prefer that rite’s spirituality over the one you already know. It is a bit more than just an administrative matter, even less is it an “escape hatch” to avoid celibacy.
 
CarmeliteKnight said:
You can always become Eastern Catholic. You get to be a preist and be married at the same time. No need to schism/become a heretic just because you are confused about your vocation discernment.
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That is an overly simplistic statement.

Eastern Catholic Churches in the US (actually the entire diaspora) have only been allowed their married clergy for 5 years, since Pope Francis lifted the historical ban imposed on immigrants to the US in the 1800s by the US bishops petition to the Vatican at that time.

A Latin Catholic would have a lot of historical obstacles to overcome for an Eastern bishop to accept a Latin Catholic who transfers Churches into the seminary. IMHO.
 
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Just becoming Eastern Catholic so you can be a married priest is unacceptable and I don’t think would even be allowed for acceptance into their seminary. Also, you have to be married already. It isn’t like you can be a single priest and be trying to find a wife after you say Mass.
If anything just be a Deacon. You weren’t given the gift of celibacy. Neither was I and I discerned the priesthood for sometime myself. Never did I have thoughts of abandoning the truth for heresy because of my own struggles.
 
One shouldn’t “just become a deacon” as though it’s a consolation prize. It’s a vocation which must be discerned, just like priesthood and religious life.

Edited to add: making bold statements about the matters of another’s conscience isn’t helpful. “You weren’t given the gift of celibacy” and “you aren’t called to the priesthood,” you say to the OP. How could you possibly know that? The OP has posted exactly once and has given a very small amount of information. Both of those are determinations that take quite a while to make, in careful discernment with a spiritual director.

Please exercise some prudence in how you advise people.
 
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You really need to talk with a priest or spiritual director. God does not want you to abandon Christ’s Church just because of a calling you may or might not have. Anglican churches do not have valid sacraments or valid Holy Orders. If you become an Anglican, you would be missing out the beauty of the Catholic Church. Christ encouraged celibacy in 1 Corinthians. 7:32. Priests are not forced into being celibate, it is a discipline and a gift. Being a celibate priest is also practical. There are married pastors at my Anglican church and they are not doing their jobs well. Sometimes, priests have to get up in the middle of the night to give last rights, they hear confessions, celebrate Mass and many other things. Being a priest takes a whole lot of commitment and so does being a husband and father.
 
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