What can i study after theology?

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Arbnor_Lumezi

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If i decide to be a priest can i study anything I want after my ordination?
 
May the SACRED HEART Bless You for feeling this desire

Im sure that you could. Perhaps a further doctrorate from Rome in Philosophy, Theology, Canon Law, Church History etc.??
 
Arbnor_Lumezi said:
If i decide to be a priest can i study anything I want after my ordination?
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What you study in your free time would be up to you. However, futher formal education would depend on the will of your Bishop or the head of your congregation, association, or order. 👍
 
Well, always allowing that the Church accepts your candidancy for the presthood, you will undergo a minimum of 4 year, most likely 6 years, training. If, by the end of that time you believe that you have finished with theology, then you’ve been badly trained!

trust me, the study of God has no end, and I’m sure that any of your future (by the grace of God) fellow priests would reccommend that you continue in such studies, as well as the Church Fathers, doctors of the Church and spirituality.

And there’s nothing to stop you reading a bit of light fiction for relaxation.

God bless
 
Linusthe2nd said:
What you study in your free time would be up to you. However, futher formal education would depend on the will of your Bishop or the head of your congregation, association, or order. 👍
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Exactly. No priest is a priest in a vaccuum. When you’re ordained a priest, it comes with a promise/vow of obedience to someone. It would be up to that “someone” as to whether and what you might formally study. You can certainly make your request known and explain the benefit for such study. But the final decision would not be yours.

But if you want to read books about a certain topic in your free time, there probably wouldn’t be anything preventing you from doing so (unless you are in a religious order with a more strict time schedule).
 
I know many priests who have gone to school for various things after ordination. Some priests from Africa helped out at the Catholic center at the secular school where I went to undergrad. I forget exactly what they were studying, but it obviously wasn’t theology.

I also know priests who went back to school for degrees in theology, canon law, liturgy, etc. That’s not uncommon. Every diocese needs experts in these areas. If a certain priest displays an affinity for one of these, then it makes sense to let them continue on in their studies. They’ll be able to serve the diocese in that area for the rest of their life.
 
Linusthe2nd said:
What you study in your free time would be up to you. However, futher formal education would depend on the will of your Bishop or the head of your congregation, association, or order. 👍
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That is not completely correct. If you are a religious person your order has a say in what you can and cannot do. If you are a secular priest then you are faced with two different scenarios: 1- If you want your education to be paid by the bishop because it has to be part of your development as a priest, then you need permission from your bishop. 2- If it is something that you want to pursue during your spare time then you can pursue whatever degree, you do not need an approval from the bishop, that is the advantage of being a secular priest.
 
I know diocesan priests who have gone for degrees in civil law, nursing and social work with the permission of their bishop.
 
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