Jump to content
An Old School Catholic Message Board

Love And Vocation


ithinkjesusiscool

Recommended Posts

ithinkjesusiscool

Praise the Lord!
Are people allowed to become monks/nuns/Priests if the have feeling for a girl/boy? How does the Church deal with this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='ithinkjesusiscool' timestamp='1353189751' post='2511988']
Praise the Lord!
Are people allowed to become monks/nuns/Priests if the have feeling for a girl/boy? How does the Church deal with this?
[/quote]

Could you expound on what you mean? Do you mean if the person has a natural attraction for the opposite gender? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, ithinkjesusis cool.

I see from your profile that you hope soon to be Catholic, and I wonder if you are unclear because you don't yet know much about the Catholic faith.......

One can only have one husband........
If Jesus calls you to a vocation as a priest or sister/nun, then he calls you into a one on one intimate relationship that is like marriage, a sacred marriage. One gives oneself completely to HIm as one person gives themselves completely to another in human marriage.

This is why people take so long in deciding if the preistly or religious (as a vocation to be a nun or sister is often called) life is right for them.
This process is called 'discernment'.
It does not mean one never feels an attraction to another human being, it simply means that one gives up the joys of such an attraction and all that usually goes with it (falling in love, marriage, children), and instead falls in love with Jesus.

A priest or a nun may find they are attracted to someone.......but if they have been called by Him, then they are clear about not acting in any way on these feelings - not doing anything to increase them, like for example, seeking out the person to have their companionship. This is because they have given themselves to God.
In some cases people find they have made a mistake about the real nature of their vocation and may leave that life and choose human marriage instead, but this is less common than some people outside of the Church would like to believe.

I hope this helps, do keep asking................

Edited by maximillion
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ithinkjesusiscool

ok, so it's like a marriage, this is what's so strange. people can be free from their solemn vows by, i tihkn, the pope, when it's like a sacred marriage. seems strange to me.
I think your answer was great and yes, I don't know enough about the Church. I may actually be a bit confused. It's just too much theology to grasp for normal people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure others will correct me if I am wrong but, from my understanding you can be freed from your vows to a specific community but not completely of the vows themselves.
And yes religious do can at different points have feelings for another person. Its normal and natural, the important part though is how they respond to those feelings. My pastor will occasionally tell the story of how he fell in love after he had become a priest. But he realized that he made his vows to God and decided that he shouldn't pursue that relationship. Now many years later he is still a priest and very happy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='ithinkjesusiscool' timestamp='1353278679' post='2512508']
ok, so it's like a marriage, this is what's so strange. people can be free from their solemn vows by, i tihkn, the pope, when it's like a sacred marriage. seems strange to me.
I think your answer was great and yes, I don't know enough about the Church. I may actually be a bit confused. It's just too much theology to grasp for normal people.
[/quote]

Sorry, I don't know enough about the subject, but a friend's dad was a priest and her mom was a Sister-he was ordained and she was in solemn vows. She was released and he was laicized. This is rare though.

You can get great advice on here, but its hard to give such advice anonymously over the Internet without knowing the details of your situation. I would recommend a local Spiritual Director!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...