The 6 Month Family Ban

[tcravs]

Hello all, first post.

I’m most likely joining Corpus Christi Seminary next year and I hear that when you join new seminarians can’t talk to their families for 6 months. Could someone talk us through this rule, or if someone has been through this explain how they pulled through.

 

[puzzleannie]

did you hear this from the seminary rector or who is receiving you, or is it hearsay? why not simply ask, and ask for guidance on how to work through this.

 

[tcravs]

did you hear this from the seminary rector or who is receiving you, or is it hearsay? why not simply ask, and ask for guidance on how to work through this.

I’ve been told by the vocations director and other seminarians, so the practice is still in place. The problem is very little is said about this rule and most people break the rule anyway.

Be great to gain as much perspective as possible on the issue, not just the family ban but the seminary as a whole as well.

 

[idrum677]

When you are ordained a Priest, you die to the world and espouse the Church. That is why priests wear black.

Perhaps this “family ban” is a way for you to experience this feeling early on in your discernment. It also give you time to listen to that still, small voice without the distractions of your homelife and to reflect on your future ministry.

I would suggest speaking to your pastor or another seminarian who has been through this.
They may be able to offer some insight or reasons that I can’t think of.

God Bless

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

When you are ordained a Priest, you die to the world and espouse the Church. That is why priests wear black.

Nice thought but I believe that this is something that has been made up to explain why priests wear black at times. There is no requirement that priests wear black. Religious priests wear the habit of their order. My order, the Carmelties, wear brown and on occasion we wear a white mantle.

Also the idea of a priest “marrying” the Church does not always work as there are married priests out there. To say a priest marries the Church is to say that these priests have multiple wives.

 

[discerning92088]

…Also the idea of a priest “marrying” the Church does not always work as there are married priests out there. To say a priest marries the Church is to say that these priests have multiple wives.

Where are the married Priests at? i have never met an active Priest who is married…

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Where are the married Priests at? i have never met an active Priest who is married…

The Byzantine Catholic Church, specifically the Ruthenian Catholic Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church all have married priests serving in them.

The Latin Catholic Church has ordained a number of converts who worked as ministers in protestant denominations who are married and they now serve as priests within the Latin Catholic Church.

 

[Cloisters]

The Byzantine Catholic Church, specifically the Ruthenian Catholic Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church all have married priests serving in them.

The Latin Catholic Church has ordained a number of converts who worked as ministers in protestant denominations who are married and they now serve as priests within the Latin Catholic Church.

The married priests came in through the “Pastoral Provision,” which has its own website–just google it.

Blessings,
Cloisters

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

The married priests came in through the “Pastoral Provision,” which has its own website–just google it.

Blessings,
Cloisters

In the Latin Church, not all have come though the “Pastoral Provision” as that is just for Anglican/Episcopalian ministers.

In the Byzantine Churches they come though Canon Law as the celibate priesthood is only a matter of discipline.

But I think we are off track here.

For myself, I do not see anything good in this rule and would not feel bound to it if I went to this seminary but it would raise a red flag for me as a sign that this seminary is not for me.

 

[bpbasilphx]

There are three married Eastern Catholic priests in my city–two are pastors and one is a retired pastor. There is a fourth priest, a widower now, who was ordained when his wife was still alive.

I’m saying Eastern CATHOLIC here, not Eastern Orthodox.