| Question Title | Posted By | Question Date |
|---|---|---|
| Am I being called to be a Priest? | Jim | Monday, October 20, 2008 |
Question: Something strange has happened with my life. When I was a child I wanted to be a Roman Catholic Priest when I grew up. I never went to church and misguidance had later helped me lose faith I only recently regained. However I have had infrequent dreams of Angels teaching me how the Lord wished me to live. Dreams that seemed to take place in my bed room sometimes so I was not sure they were dreams at all. Most of all though is a strong voice of conscience. The moment I sin I know it and regret it horribly. There have been times when I worked in Public Safety where I very well should have been killed and was not, in fact a dozen armed men ran at the sight of me, unarmed as I was. There are other things that have happened but I wont mention them here. The thing is. The last dream I kneeled before an Angel and asked how I may serve the Lord. The Angel answered "Become a banner for the Lord." So my question is this. Am I being called to be a Priest of some kind? Everything seems to be pointing that way and every time I try to do otherwise it has gone horribly wrong and made life that much harder. I dont even know if I could be a Roman Catholic Priest like I wanted to be. Advice would be appreciated as prayer has not answered my questions. |
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| Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM
Dear Jim: Well, the first consideration in discerning the Priesthood is to determine if you are eligible, if you meet the qualifications. The first qualification is that you must be Catholic, of course. You listed yourself as non-denominational, so you would have to take steps to learn about the Catholic Faith, go through classes, and come into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Sacrament of Confirmation (I presume you are already baptized). Your conversion to the Catholic Church needs to be for its own sake, and not merely to seek the priesthood. You need to know that there is no guarantee that you will be allowed to be a priest. If, after you become Catholic and have volunteered in your parish for a few years, you still feel called to the priesthood you will need to contact the Vocations Director at the Diocese. He will then guide you into what you need to do to prepare yourself to be accepted as a seminarian. Once in seminary you will have around 6-8 years (depending on what education you already have) to discern whether or not you are really called. The Church, too, will discern your calling. To be a priest the Church must confirm and agree that you have a calling. All this is long way off. Your first step is to approach a parish priest and ask about converting to the Catholic Church. He can instruct you on what you must do to be Confirmed in the Church. However, this experience you described does not imply that you must be a priest. To "become a banner for the Lord" is something that God calls all of us to do. We are to be a light to the world, Jesus said. You can be a banner for the Lord with a wife and 12 kids and working as a garbage collector. If there are other things that seem to be leading you in the direction of the Priesthood, then you first need to become Catholic. Once you do that, then you can think about the possibilities. We will be in prayer for your vocation. God Bless, Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum
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