To Parents: Where Would Your Only Son Joining The Priesthood Leave You?

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IrishDude45

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This thread is not focused on the vocation aspect of the priesthood but on the family aspect so I thought it should go here but feel free to move it if someone feels that it should be moved.

I am an only child who is very seriously considering the priesthood and I am taking steps to enter the seminary after I graduate from high school. This thread arises out of a lot of introspection since my ailing mother had a rather major back surgery a few weeks ago. She is unable to walk by herself and is confined to bed with the use of a walker and corset needed when she has to walk. I fear I have been given a glimpse of the situation to be faced in her old-age. Constant health problems have plagued her for a decade and when my father sustained a back injury the full extent of their combined health problems came to my attention. When I enter a seminary and pursue the priesthood far from home my mother’s health-care would be left even more so to my father and if he were to get ill or hurt, it would be left to my grandparents or neighbors. Another thing, I converted when I was 14 to Catholicism and my parents are NOT Catholic, the priesthood is a difficult thing for them to understand.
My questions are:
If you were ill would you allow your only child to pursue the religious life?

How are priests ever able to ensure care for their parents?

Anyone face a family situation similar to mine that would be able to provide some much-needed insight?

I would like to thank any posters in advance for their time.

Pax Vobiscum
 
Our vocations are a calling that we receive. When I joined the military my parents refused to sign however; eventually I still went. You will know better than your parents what path God has chosen for you. Pray without ceasing my friend. And today I will pray for you too.:signofcross:
 
I know a priest who comes from a family of 3 brothers and 1 sister. All 3 brothers are priests and the sister is a nun.

They do worry about who will care for aging parents, but trust that God will take care of them.

They all followed God’s call and know that God will bless the entire family through them.
 
A priest I know looked after his father from home until his father died, meantime saying Mass in his father’s local parish, and conducting a prayer ministry.
I know a Jesuit priest in your situation. His parents were unbelievers. He became Catholic, and a priest. I always thought this an extraordinary thing for his parents to accept. He was their only son.
 
I have 3 sons and would be very happy if they all became priests.

There are other means for helping your parents with their health issues. What if your vocation was marriage? It would pose some of the same problems. There are professional people who’s job it is to care for those who are ill. It doesn’t mean you have to physically be there to help them. Of course when you went into the seminary they would help you discern this issue.

I can’t help you with the non-Catholic issue. Do you know a good priest in their area that might be willing to meet with them so they could get to know him? Then the life of a priest might not seem so foreign to them.

Good Luck! Don’t allow this to be an obstacle for you. Remember God does provide.
 
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