Vocation w/out vow of celibacy

[passivesquid]

is there a vocation simular to the preist hood that does not call for a vow of celibacy?like ive often thoguht about the preisthood. many of my friends can see me as a preist. the only thing that i would say is holding me back is the whole ceilbacy thing. now im only 18 now and maybe my view will change, but im just curious about this. are there preist like vocation that dont call for celibacy. (i hope to marry one day)is teh only real detractor. so im just curious.

 

[church_child]

is there a vocation simular to the preist hood that does not call for a vow of celibacy?like ive often thoguht about the preisthood. many of my friends can see me as a preist. the only thing that i would say is holding me back is the whole ceilbacy thing. now im only 18 now and maybe my view will change, but im just curious about this. are there preist like vocation that dont call for celibacy. (i hope to marry one day)is teh only real detractor. so im just curious.

You could be a permanent deacon. Or you could be married. Whether you marry or you become a priest, you still get to be a Father.

 

[brotherhrolf]

(Boy, I never thought I would be responding to a thread like this). Passivesquid: all of us are called to be celibate outside of marriage. Many of us fall far short of the mark.

So, there is the single vocation. Followed faithfully, you elect to remain celibate. You dedicate yourself to livng a chaste life - in thought, word and deed. That’s a vocation - called to be single.

Then you discern a vocation to the married life. You dedicate yourself to living a chaste life - in thought, word, and deed to your lawfully married wife or husband. You are open to the sudden appearance of children and all that that requires.

Some of us are called from married life to the permanent diaconate. These folks are awesome! Man and wife! They are in the trenches with the rest of us in a way that our priests can’t be.

At your age, (not being married), you opt for celibacy period. I was 19 once and young and in the Navy and celibate. It can be done.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Actually we are all called to be chaste according to our station in life. For a single person that means no sex.

Celibacy, as understood properly by the Church, is abstaining from the vow of marriage.

Yes you could become a permanent deacon after you are married but that is a long way off. Most permanent deacon programs require you to be 35 or so to start and married for a number of years.

 

[Genesis315]

Educate yourself as to the beauty of celibacy and the reasons for it–look to the saints who lived that life.

Remember this too–a strong attraction to the married life and conjugal love is natural. It means you’re healthy. All people have a natural calling to marriage (it’s why we all have reproductive organs, for example). But some also have a supernatural calling to the celibate priesthood. So a spiritually healthy person with a callling to the priesthood should be attracted to both marriage and priesthood. But they renounce by sacrificial love their natural calling, and for the love of God and His Church they embrace their supernatural calling without reserve. They know His grace will help them remain chaste since it is His holy will. They realize that their call to fatherhood is simply more gloriously expanded to be spiritual fathers. Instead of being the father of a household, the priest is a father of a spiritual household, his parish.

 

[Andy_K]

Educate yourself as to the beauty of celibacy and the reasons for it–look to the saints who lived that life.

Remember this too–a strong attraction to the married life and conjugal love is natural. It means you’re healthy. All people have a natural calling to marriage (it’s why we all have reproductive organs, for example). But some also have a supernatural calling to the celibate priesthood. So a spiritually healthy person with a callling to the priesthood should be attracted to both marriage and priesthood. But they renounce by sacrificial love their natural calling, and for the love of God and His Church they embrace their supernatural calling without reserve. They know His grace will help them remain chaste since it is His holy will. They realize that their call to fatherhood is simply more gloriously expanded to be spiritual fathers. Instead of being the father of a household, the priest is a father of a spiritual household, his parish.

Excellent post Moreover, passivesquid, if you need resources in regards to Church teaching on chastity, you will find a plethora of information right here on CAF.

That being said, if you feel the call to be married (which, I should mention, also transcends a mere “natural call” as does the call to the priesthood) yet still feel a strong calling to the ministry of a priest, the deaconate may indeed be God’s call for you.

Of course, like the rest of us in discernment on CAF, always realize that obeying God’s will, whatever it entails, is your primary objective. He will let you know what He wants you to do.

 

[Genesis315]

That being said, if you feel the call to be married (which, I should mention, also transcends a mere “natural call” as does the call to the priesthood)

Thanks for clarifying that. The married life, as a sacrament also has it’s own supernatural dimensions. I was just trying to say that an attraction to the married life is healthy and not a sign that the celibate life is not one’s calling. The scandalous and criminal priests we read about in the papers are those who had no healthy attraction to marriage

 

[RevDrNorth]

Actually we are all called to be chaste according to our station in life. For a single person that means no sex.

Celibacy, as understood properly by the Church, is abstaining from the vow of marriage.

Yes you could become a permanent deacon after you are married but that is a long way off. Most permanent deacon programs require you to be 35 or so to start and married for a number of years.

Hey…a little off topic BUT…good to see you posting here now as Br. David. Congratulations:thumbsup:

Rev North

 

[puzzleannie]

If you are truly called to the priesthood in the Latin Rite you will be given the charism proper to the sacrament, namely celibacy and chastity, if you ask for it and nourish it through prayer and spiritual discipline. In the same way if your vocation is married life, you have the charism strengthened as one of the graces of the sacrament for marital chastity, continence and fidelity, as long as you ask for it and nurture through prayer and spiritual exercises.

If you have not got the charism, ask for it, take positive steps to nurture it–or forget it. In the same way, if you are a woman, you simply are not called to the priesthood, since you are lacking an essential element of the sacrificial priesthood–masculine gender. that is not to say you are deficient in person or personality, merely that you are not called. One body, many members, many gifts, many charisms, different vocations.