What "jobs" can a priest have?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lane
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, regardless of whose history is correct, elected official is not an option open to priests, which is what the title asks.
 
I don’t know which he received first, his medical degree or his Orders. He was a religious priest, but I don’t recall which order.
 
dochawk said:
Cardinal Richelieu . . .
Click to expand...
Pope Urban VIII upon hearing of Richelieu’s death:

If there is a God, the Cardinal de Richelieu will have much to answer for. If not… well, he had a successful life.
 
Fr. Robert Drinan was always a sore point with the pro-life movement, since as a congressman he was always a reliable pro-abortion vote.
 
Huh. Why did I think that he wasn’t a priest… is there another famous political cardinal who was only in minor orders?
 
twf said:
Why did I think that he wasn’t a priest… is there another famous political cardinal who was only in minor orders?
Click to expand...
Richelieu was ordained a priest and consecrated as a bishop.

You might be thinking of his successor, Cardinal Mazarin, who received minor orders, but was never ordained a deacon or priest, and was never consecrated as bishop in spite of the fact that he held the title of Bishop of Metz.
 
twf said:
Huh. Why did I think that he wasn’t a priest…
Click to expand...
I think there’s something about never offering Mass again after his first, or some such, but it’s not an area to which I’ve paid much attention
 
I talked with the private secretary of His Eminence Cardinal Burke last year. Obviously, he too was a priest. 😉
 
Our vicar general is a practicing medical doctor. I don’t know if he finished med school before he was ordained, but given his age at the time of his ordination it’s possible. A couple of years ago we spoke casually about my impending knee operation…

*meaning he wasn’t officially involved in the matter as a doctor
 
dochawk said:
I think there’s something about never offering Mass again after his first, or some such, but it’s not an area to which I’ve paid much attention
Click to expand...
That’s not correct. There is even a painting by Delacroix of him saying Mass at the royal palace. And when, as military commander, he was besieging La Rochelle, he personally said Mass at least once for the senior officers. And when he finally took the city, he personally said a Mass of victory, restoring Catholic services to the city and reconsecrating the cathedral.

I think twf is mixing him up with Cardinal Mazarin, who never said a Mass.
 
I work for a big electrical company. we make things like transformers and switchgear for high power and high voltages. Now apparently the Vatican has its own utility company and they occasionally need to buy new hardware. I recently had lunch with the sales guy who covers the Vatican as part of his account portfolio. He says the managing director of the Vatican utility is a priest who is also an electrical engineer.

He says selling stuff to him is always an experience. This priest looks him deep in the eye and says in a very priestly voice, is this really the lowest possible price that you can offer me? Seeing he can’t lie to a priest he ends up letting him have it cheaper.
 
The Norbertine was Robert Cornell. He was a Democrat (as was Drinan), representing Green Bay, Wisconsin. I met him on a couple of occasions.

To tafan2, Note that it was not a violation of canon law till the 1983 recodification. Both were originally elected well before that. So were at least 3 Sisters of Mercy in public office, who also had to choose between resigning from office or their congregation.
 
I did not say it was against canon law at that time, but the Church officials tried to get them to resign. Finally JP II gave them an ultimatum. It was a new phenomena in the 70s to have priests seeking public office in a democratic country., despite the claims by other posters. And it extended to the revolutionaries of South America. It was always on the left.
But again, this is a digression, the question of the thread is “what jobs can a priest have”. Public office is one of the few that are specifically prohibited (perhaps the only one which for a lay person would be considered a perfectly moral occupation).
 
Last edited:
tafan2 said:
Finally JP II gave them an ultimatum. It was a new phenomena in the 70s to have priests seeking public office in a democratic country.
Click to expand...
Absolutely not. There were many more clerics holding public office in the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s. Pope Benedict’s great uncle among them.

Where you got the idea that this was something from the seventies is beyond me. It’s patently false and easily disproved.
 
I actually did a little research into this many years ago. That’s where I got the idea.

Here is a list: Catholic priests in public office - Wikipedia . I am sure it is not complete, but You will find a couple in Germany, Poland, France and other European countries. Most were either centrists or on the left, even back in the 19th century. It was never “many”. Especially considering the much higher number of clergy in those days. It was never encouraged by the Church.
 
In answer to the original question, there are many roles a priest can have beyond the obvious parish role. Some that I’ve met have run and taught at seminaries, acted as spiritual directors, worked as a human rights lawyer, and a growing number of psychiatrists and psychologists. As well as the more obvious roles like chaplain, vocations director, cannon lawyers, exorcist, and various advisors.
It really comes down to what a priest can do and what the Diocese needs.
 
CTBcin said:
There are are priests who have been scientists, for example. This is out of the ordinary, though. Two notable examples are Gregor Mendel and Fr. Georges Lemaitre.
Click to expand...
Even more recently, Fr. Stanley Jaki was a noted physicist. He died 10 years ago.
 
I know a priest who was a practicing MD for about a decade before he went to the seminary. He maintained his medical license after ordination and has a unique perspective on issues of Catholic medical ethics.

I know of another priest who was a CPA before entering the seminary. It was a given that he would work in diocesan administration once ordained, and he was fine with that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top