Q. I heard Eastern Catholic priests can get married. Is that true?
A. While already married men can become ordained, once a man is ordained he is not permitted to marry. So, there are married priests, but no priest can get married.
(c) 2009 by Therese Ivers, JCL
www.DoIHaveAVocation.com
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Happy Thanksgiving!
Q. Why don’t you do a lot of articles on specific religious communities, seminaries, and other institutions?
A. Other vocations websites give plenty of coverage to popular communities, seminaries, and to lesser known ones as well. This website is designed to give you tools for discernment so that you carefully learn who you are, what God wants you to be, and how to evaluate potential institutions. Also, just as with potential human spouses, each institution has its strengths and weaknesses. What can be tolerated by one person might be a deal breaker for another. Recommendations should come preferrably from an experienced person, such as a spiritual director who is familiar with the different vocations and areas to explore.
(c) 2009 by Therese Ivers, JCL
www.DoIHaveAVocation.com
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by Therese Ivers, JCL
An individual who had heard me introduce myself to a group as a consecrated virgin spoke with me at a table. He asked me whether I was thinking of “taking the next step”. Startled, I asked him what he meant, and he responded by saying that he was wondering if I was thinking about joining the religious life. Naturally, I wasn’t planning on joining a convent and explained to him that consecrated virginity is a vocation in its own right.
It struck me that I might have asked that same question of those religious women who find their identity in the thought of being a bride of Christ: “Are you thinking of taking the next step by receiving the consecration of virgins?” For, in my research, I discovered that the consecration cannot be dispensed and yet religious vows can be. I even read in the lives of the saints the story of how a solemnly professed nun, who was a daughter of a king, was for political reasons promised by her father to be the wife of another royal person. This king even obtained a dispensation of vows from the Pope for this to take place, which was to take effect upon her acceptance of the dispensation. Far from accepting the dispensation, the princess-nun took the unusual step (at the time) of receiving the consecration of virgins from her bishop, so as to forever cut off the possibility of marriage.
Another person approached me hours after the encounter I had with the young male. She expressed regret that she didn’t make it to my “private vow” ceremony. For the record, I didn’t make any private (or public) vows before my bishop. Instead, through the ministry of my bishop, I was made body and soul a virgin bride of Jesus Christ through the long consecratory prayer that constituted me a “sacred person” and which placed me in the consecrated state. The closest analogy I can make of my consecration is with ordination. The bishop confers Holy Orders upon a man, (it is not obtained by vow) and it makes him forever a deacon/priest/bishop of God. A deacon/priest/bishop cannot lose this fundamental sacramentally changed identity even if he ceases believing in God and acting as a cleric. In a similar way (although by an ontologically changing sacramental not by a sacrament) the bishop confers the consecration upon a virgin and through the action of God, makes her a bride of Christ, a consecrated virgin forever.
Yes, I will take the next step, which is to become holy in my own vocation as a bride of Christ. I thank God for my vocation and wish you all the best in yours!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Q. Why don’t you post the formulas for private vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience?
A. It is adviseable for a person who wishes to make a vow of this nature and magnitude to do so under the guidance of a knowledgable person. Otherwise, grave mistakes can be made. For instance, it makes little sense for a married person to attempt a vow of “chastity” because it implies singlehood for the sake of the kingdom and is null (void) unless the Holy See gives a dispensation. Also, it should be mentioned that the vow of obedience, while
essential for most forms of consecrated life, is not appropriate for a lay person in the world, because he has no legitimate superior.
(c) 2009 by Therese Ivers, JCL
www.DoIHaveAVocation.com
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Q. Can or should a person enter a seminary without knowing for sure whether he is called to be a priest?
A. A man can only be 100% certain that he is called to the priesthood at the moment of priestly ordination. Up until that point, he may engage in gradual discernment. It is sufficient that a man at first discern that he is called to try out the seminary and to discern in consultation with his formators and spiritual director a step at a time from there.
(c) 2009 by Therese Ivers, JCL
www.DoIHaveAVocation.com
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