I Want To Be A Priest...

[dlz7486]

Don't be really freaked out by the title of this topic.

There are times I feel so called to a religious vocation, and sometimes when I am at Mass and I watch what the priest does and I think to myself, "now [i]that[/i] would be such an awesome thing to be able to do for the rest of my life." I know that I could always be a nun/sister, but I feel drawn to a vocation where I could play a more active role in Mass. Consecrating the Eucharist, celebrating Sacraments, interacting and molding faith communities... that all just sounds so wonderful to me. But I think the femaleness just puts a stopper in that.

Any thoughts?

[MJS]

I am so proud of you for hearing God's call upon your life to consecrate the sacraments and be active in worship. This just shows that God calls all people, not just half of the population. Sadly,you will never be able to fulfill this calling in the Catholic Church as it is today.

I hope that you find a good mentor who will show you how you can be in leadership. I suggest that you pray and listen to God. Remember part of prayer is silence. God will show you the way and the ministry God wants you to do.

Live it out! Do not be afraid! It is truely awesome!!

[sista2b]

i disagree with mjs
yes its wonderful to want to take a more active role in the Church, and to have a great respect for the priesthood. However as a woman you are called to be a mother. Mothers (physical or spiritual) mold the Church. Look at St. Augustine, this boy seemed to be destined for strip bars. St. Monica didn't let up though. She prayed with all her might, and she did that annoying mom nagging thing. notice we now call this rebelious boy SAINT Augstine a docter of the church. While women genarally aren't called to take very public roles, thier role is no less important. Another great woman St. Theresa. All she wanted to do was be hidden away for Jesus. Yet she is the patroness of missionaries, and i think shes a doctor of the Church too.
If you want to take a public role in the Church, be a youth minister, a sister in a community with an active apostalate, a missionary....
there are public roles for women, just not the priesthood. The priesthood is for the Fathers. If Jesus wanted women priests he would have appointed some himself. Though women weren't leaders back then, he didn't seem to care about what people thought anyway, I don't think that would have stopped him.
hope this helps a little,
i'll be praying for you,
ali

[FaustinaVianney]

I must agree with Sista2b on this matter.
First of all and I say this with all the love in my heart, but if you are female and believe you are called to the priesthood you are wrong. God would not give you a vocation that you cannot possibly fulfill. We also must note that it was God Himself that established the male-only ordination. Maybe not in words, but in actions. Jesus had the utmost respect for women. We see this many times in the Gospel. His mother is the best example. Without Mary's Fiat we would not have a clue as to who Jesus is. There would not have been a Jesus. Her 'Yes' made her a leader in the Church. She was a mother of a Son and she took this 'role' seriously. She did not understand yet that her Son was God. It didn't matter. She loved her Son as only a mother can do. She taught Him the faith that was passed on to her. Jesus loved her and respected her very much, but Mary was still not at the Last Supper. Mary was not able to celebrate the Sacraments not even consecrating the bread. Why should we believe that any other woman would/should be able to do such a thing? As Sista noted women are called to be mothers and nurturers and that takes place either spiritually or physically. Today the 'modern' women seem to only value themselves if they are able to do a 'man's' job. I do not understand this ideology. I do not want to know I am only valued if I can do a 'man's' job and how well I can do it. I am a female and I want my 'job' to be appreciated. It may not be the glory position, but so what! My glory here on earth matters not because the glory here does not mean that I will get into Heaven. (That is all I long for.)
As Sista also noted there are many other ways to be active in the Church than to be a priest. Look into them. The Church is full of wonderful possibilities for women.
Keep praying. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you, pray for the Blessed Virgin to show you the way to her Son, ask for you patron Saint's intercession.
Many prayers go out to you my friend.
*HUGS-n-PEACE*

[qfnol31]

I have just a few words:

St. Thérèse de Lisieux.

[yiannii]

Don't be freaked out by this... I would love to be able to have a baby, to have my child grow in me and then to give birth to him/her, but I hear that the natural law only allows women to do so. Figure of speech.

[musturde]

The Blessed Virgin Mary is like the most important woman in history and she wasn't even a priestess. Whenever you have those urges, remember that she wasn't even called by God to be a priestess.

[Guest JeffCR07]

I just have a few little thoughts to add. All too often we get wrapped up in one specific issue or another, and I think it can help to take a step back and observe the question from a different angle. Having said this, I'd like to give you some of my meager insight:

We believe that all vocations "come from God," in that regardless of which vocation an individual is called to, it has, as its ends, the glory of God and communion between us and the Holy Trinity. As such, we can expect that, because God wants us to be in union with him, he would send his Spirit to help us towards our vocation. Now, let’s step back for a second and consider what we know of the Spirit (this is so cool, because it’s also the Solemnity of the Trinity today):

We know the Holy Spirit to be one of the persons of the Trinity, and we know that Christ poured it out upon his Apostles at Pentecost. However, our knowledge of the Trinity as Catholics is not limited merely to this. As Catholics, we profess that the Spirit has inspired Scripture, Tradition, and the teachings of the Magisterium. This is, really, a beautiful thing, because when one really looks, it becomes apparent that nothing in any one, whether Scripture, Tradition, or the teachings of the Magisterium, contradicts anything in the other two. Thus, there is perfect unity between the three, just as there is between the Holy Trinity in Heaven.

Now, all of this having been said: let’s look at your dilemma. You feel that you are being called to a vocation, and that vocation is the priesthood. However, this is directly opposed to the teachings of the Magisterium, as well as the Tradition of the Church. Both, we profess as Catholics, to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. If a vocational calling is truly from the Holy Spirit, and Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterial Teachings are also inspired by the Holy Spirit, they must be in union with each other - the Spirit doesn't contradict himself.

My advice is to contemplate these things that we know and really pray about them. Spend time meditating on these things, pray the rosary, if you have a spiritual director, go to him. Just consider, is it [i]truly[/i] a vocation, or are you simply wishing that you could do something that you cannot (this is not a bad thing, so long as you acknowledge that it is something you cannot do, just as Yiannii does with regards to childbearing). Just remember, all true vocations must be accepted in a spirit of humility. Christ prayed to the Father "[i]Thy[/i] will be done." We too, must be humble, and allow God to work in us, not for our own ends, or as we want him to work, but for His ends, in such a way as He deems fit.

I know how hard it is to find one's vocation, know that I'll be praying for you!

- Your Brother in Christ, Jeff

[ThyWillBeDone]

I just wanted to say I agree with Jeff, he always seems to have a something smart to say. I went to school with Jeff and quickly realized the value of his advice. Jeff, I am gonna miss your insights and wisdom next year, so keep an eye on the phorum and your emails in case I in need of some.
God Bless,
Chris

[Guest JeffCR07]

lol, thanks Chris, you better keep in touch too

[Iacobus]

[quote]I know that I could always be a nun/sister, but I feel drawn to a vocation where I could play a more active role in Mass.[/quote]

You could probly get a role helping run the parish as a nun. I know of many Parishs that have this and all of whom love it. However, active role in the Mass is iffy. I mean you could probly be an extraordinary commuion person and/or a lector or something.

[quote]Consecrating the Eucharist[/quote]

Nope. CCC says that only a properly ordined priest can consecrate the Eucharist. Seeing as females cannot be ordined you could not consecarte the Eucharist.

[quote]celebrating Sacraments[/quote]

The only one I can think of that you could celebrate would be baptism in case of impending death. You can't recive holy orders. You could recive marriage but not celebrate it. You cannot preform things like hearing confessions and consecation.

[quote]interacting and molding faith communities[/quote]

This you can do. You can do it as a lay person or as a religious person.

[daugher-of-Mary]

[quote]784 On entering the People of God through faith and Baptism, one receives a share in this people's unique, priestly vocation: "Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, has made this new people 'a kingdom of priests to God, his Father.' The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood." 209 [/quote]

[quote]941 Lay people share in Christ's priesthood: ever more united with him, they exhibit the grace of Baptism and Confirmation in all dimensions of their personal family, social and ecclesial lives, and so fulfill the call to holiness addressed to all the baptized. [/quote]

While women cannot be [b]ordained[/b] to the priesthood, the Catechism says that we share in Christ's priesthood by the Sacraments. Think and pray about that. I'm sure God will reveal your vocation to you in good time! Ask Our Lady to help you. Even she, the Mother of God, could not be ordained! Have you read [u]Story of a Soul[/u]? Please do! If you need a copy, PM me, and I'll mail one to you.

[timb_nz]

[quote name='MJS' date='Jun 3 2004, 11:08 PM'] I am so proud of you for hearing God's call upon your life to consecrate the sacraments and be active in worship. This just shows that God calls all people, not just half of the population. Sadly,you will never be able to fulfill this calling in the Catholic Church as it is today.

I hope that you find a good mentor who will show you how you can be in leadership. I suggest that you pray and listen to God. Remember part of prayer is silence. God will show you the way and the ministry God wants you to do.

Live it out! Do not be afraid! It is truely awesome!! [/quote]
No Neither today nor anywhere in the future.

The Catholic Church infalibly that a Woman cannot be ordained.

However everyone is called to Full Conscious Active Participation in the Mass,
This does not mean through doing the Readings, or through being an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, or being in the Music Group (which are all good things)

To Participate Consciosly first of all we must be awake
Our Participation as laity is to Unite ourselves with the Sacrifice of Jesus, the infinite and eternal offering to the Father.
We bear witness as we remember Christs Crucifiction
at the Mass, Christ Glorified becomes present under the Form of Bread and Wine.
Christs death is present, This is my Body (was bread), This is my Blood (was wine).
These are seperate, when the Body and Blood are Seperate we are dead.

NOTE:
Christ (Glorified) is every bit as present (Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity) in what was bread as in what was wine.

The way in which we participate in the Mass is incredibly beautiful.

God Bless

[cathgirl]

[quote name='yiannii' date='Jun 6 2004, 09:01 AM'] Don't be freaked out by this... I would love to be able to have a baby, to have my child grow in me and then to give birth to him/her, but I hear that the natural law only allows women to do so. Figure of speech. [/quote]
Good way to put it! I was reading something in a youth letter onetime and it made me so mad!! THis boy thinks that Jesus' manhood wasn't as important as is role as MEssiah. He thinks that women should be able to become priests b/c having an x-chromosome shouldn't make a difference/ :angry: I was upset.

[Guest JeffCR07]

To me, its just all about humility. A vocation is what God wants us to do, not what we want us to do. As Catholics we believe that the Spirit works in the Magisterium, and that the Church speaks with the same authority as Peter and the other Apostles did 2000 years ago.

Pride is what we need to worry about. All to often I have heard "catholic" women and men both say something like "Women have the right to become priests"

My response is that [i]no one[/i] male or female has the "right" to become a priest. No one, male or female, even deserves salvation. Christ has given us a tremendous gift in the Most Holy Eucharist, and Christ's Bride has taught us, infallibly, how that gift is to be given. How dare I think that I might know better. Christ has given us everything of value that we have. Sure, it is our "right" to deny Christ, but it is our calling to love him. and that means humbly accepting whatever he tells us.

- Your Brother in Christ, Jeff