/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>>803941

flip a coin

How long have you been dating your girlfriend? Have you talked about marriage?

God's will wouldn't cause such a rift in your life and relationships. You may just be romanticizing the priesthood and yearning for it, but remember that most people's vocation is marriage. I think that if you were called to the priesthood, you wouldn't have a loving girlfriend to be with.

>>803942

kek

>>803941

Not a whole lot of info you've given and online isn't a good place to be figuring this out.

begome :D

>>803941

If your gf is heartbroken she doesn't love you. If you are called to serve the Lord who is she to ignore that call? Remind her that this world is a test and we all need to focus on the Kingdom. Good luck in your discernment anon, the world needs good priests of heroic virtue.

>>804021

>If your gf is heartbroken she doesn't love you

pls dont cut yourself on that edge

>>803941

Begome ordodogs

Im catholic but in your shoes I would convert without hesitation.

Celibacy isnt even that central to the life of a good priest.

>>804026

>hello fellow Catholics, how do you do?

>>803944

I want to say you're right, but this whole thing has started making me question if God's the one who made this relationship happen or if it's all been by my own means. But our relationship is very much centered around God. We even met at a prayer group. But we've only dated since March.

> You may just be romanticizing the priesthood

This is possible too. I just feel like I can't trust my ability to hear what God wants from me anymore and I'm losing my mind. I'm seeing my spiritual director tomorrow morning but I don't know what to ask her yet.

>>803941

>I'm worried I have a vocation to priesthood but I just want to get married.

Seems like you have two vocations.

Guess which one is easier.

>>804081

You can have two? Doesn't that mean you should always pick the harder one?

>>804083

Or maybe, just maybe, one is a vocation and the other a trap from the devil.

I'd stick with marriage since wanting a gf is not a good trait for a priest to have.

>>804026

>Don't cut yourself on that edge

To love is to will the good of another and the best good is the kingdom of God, brainlet.

>Begome Ordodogs

>I would convert in your shoes

Holy shit religion is just an accessory to you.

Go eastern rite Catholic and marry her. GG no re.

>>804135

A priest is just a teacher and administrator of the sacraments. Papacy tried to make priests into monks and messed up both in the end.

What does the Bible say about leading a church and having a family?

>>803941

>I'm worried I have a vocation to priesthood but I just want to get married

It sounds like your vocation is marriage, friend. At church today, I had an older fella (my sponsor into the Church) greet me and tell me that, once I'm Catholic, I should enter ministry. I figured he meant the priesthood and (somewhat dickishly) chortled, as despite being single and a virgin all my life, I feel strongly about having a wife and children… I know that's what I'm being called to do, whereas the priesthood does not beckon to me in the slightest.

>>804217

A priest is a direct successor of the Apostles.

>Papacy tried to make priests into monks and messed up both in the end.

Only if you're someone with an axe to grind against Priests, the Pope, and Celibacy.

>>803942

This tbh. Let God's physics decide.

>>804325

Jesus entered Peter’s house and found Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever. He took her by the hand and the fever left her (Mt 8:14-15).

St. Peter himself was married (before becoming an apostle but nevertheless). St. Paul also supports this.

That's not even the point. The point is that this was never an issue in the church if a man is married and then becomes a priest. A monk is a different story obviously, A monk is very different from a priest.

>>804341

>St. Peter himself was married

and? the marriages of the Apostles isn't the reason why the Church instituted it; Christ gave the Church canonical authority in Matthew 16:18

> The point is that this was never an issue in the church if a man is married and then becomes a priest.

It actually did become an issue when clerical celibacy was instituted, the Church grew exceedingly powerful and realized the bishoprics became political pawns; the celibacy was put to curb this. moreover, St. Paul's recommendation and Jesus Christ's celibacy themselves gave the Church more than enough scriptural precedent.

>>803941

Why do you think you have a vocation for priesthood?

Serious question. I had the same feels, not having gf, but finally realizing my place is in marriage, not celibacy.

Furthermore I heard a sermon about vocation and they said there that God has outlined a few ways…few of them may be harder for you (like if you were for marriage and chose priesthood instead or otherwise..) but that your salvation would not be threatened.

tl dr you should really consider his well before dumping your gf

>>804135

>To love is to will the good of another

Yes and being married in a fruitful relationship is the good of another person, unless you argue in bad faith in which case your opinion will be discarded.

>religion is just an accessory to you.

Religion IS an accessory. The important thing about christianity is Jesus, His sacrifice & resurrection and the sacraments. All the rest is non-essential to salvation. Given how Orthodoxy provides all that AND allows OP to pursue a marriage along with priesthood, its a clear advantage without any drawbacks.

inb4 pussy is more important to you than Jesus

The requirement to choose either marriage or priesthood is an arbitrary standard set up centuries ago for inheritance reasons, and it was an unintended invitation for homosexuals into the clergy because they could have a respectable excuse for not having

wives.

Being a man of God should not be mutually exclusive with marriage and only catholics fail to realize this foolishness.

t.catholic

>>804378

>t. Catholic

You're ipso facto excommunucate, don't stain the faith by calling yourself Catholic.

>>804342

Okay. Always fall back on Mt. 16:18.

>It's not like other people could have different interpretations of that. It's not like there were patriarchates or anything and the pope was the first among equals. No, no he had complete authority from day one. It's not like Christ gave the other apostles keys too.

t. sarcasm

>>804451

Christ says He gave the Keys to Peter quite clearly.

> It's not like Christ gave the other apostles keys too.

He didn't. The only thing the other Apostles received was the same authority to bind and loosen, later, in Matthew 18.

The other Apostles never received the Keys, nor the Promise that Hell would never prevail. The Church is built upon Cephas, nobody else.

>>804446

Im a catholic whether you like it or not and priestly celibacy is dumb.

It is an excuse for homos to become priests and as such its responsible for the current crisis in the RCC.

To deny this is willful ignorance and there is no reason at all for a man to be celibate in order for him to fulfill his priestly duties.

Celibacy is fine for monks, but not for priests. For priests simple chastity is sufficient.

More heterosexuals would entet the clergy if the dumb celibacy requirement were to be lifted. It would bring virility to the church and would affirm the importance of family and fatherhood. Men could once again look up to priests as examples to emulate instead of effeminates who preach without understanding.

t.catholic

>>804492

>not an inkling of understanding of how the church worked for the first 1000 years

>matthew 16:18 only supports muh current brand of papism

The Orthodox Church cites that same passage to support their catholicity. There’s no way that Mt.16:18 can be used to support absurdities like Vatican I or Unam Sanctam. You’re going to have to make an actual argument instead of repeating talking points.

>>804492

If Christ didn’t give the other apostles keys, then they would have no authority to forgive sins or make pronouncements about dogma, which the apostles did. Christ wasn’t saying that they needed to get Peters approval every single time they did something. That doesn’t make any sense and was also logistically impossible in the ancient world.

>>804586

The cases we are talking about are ones where the man is already married and seeks to join the priesthood. He obviously wouldn’t join the priesthood if he didn’t have time for it anyway.

A priest should imitate Christ but ultimately he is just a teacher and it is just a comparison. Deacons are often married.

>Easterner

>came home to Rome

How long were you Orthodox?

>>804595

Too long.

Again, one cannot be polygamous and catholic. A man cannot have two brides. If he is already married to a woman he cannot be married to the Church much like an ordained priest is. For one wife will demand more than the other, thus making the other feel neglected.

>some deacons are married

They also don't have the same duties as a fully ordained priest does.

>>804597

>St. Paul is a polygamist

>St. John Chrysostom is a polygamist

wew lad

>'A Bishop then,' he says, 'must be blameless the husband of one wife.' This he does not lay down as a rule, as if he must not be without one, but as prohibiting his having more than one. [p.438, First Series, Vol. 13, St John Chrysostom, Homily X, Homilies on Timothy]

>>804502

Early in the church there were problems with nepotism in the selection of Bishops and the fact that small parishes can't necessarily afford to support a priest and his family. That is the practical argument… but, in addition, Scripture teaches that celibacy is superior to the married state. What you're arguing here is to undermine the tenets and foundations of the Church for some nebulous notion of posterity. This isn't far removed from the "progress without principle" ethos of your average neo-liberal. Religion is not a mere cultural institution, it is an ideal and it is a path of transcendence for those that reject the zero sum game of earthly material existence. It should not be compromised to accommodate mundane convictions. What most people don't understand about canon law is that any minister, priest or deacon, married or not, is called to clerical continence (that means no sex at all). I believe when the married diaconate was re-allowed back in the middle of the 20th century, deacons were encouraged to be older since there would be no touchy-touchy with the wife. Wives needed to give their consent to this too. The Catholic Church is not Eastern Orthodoxy and there is no reason we should ape their practices. The Eastern Catholics are very similar to Orthodoxy in that they are structured around ethnic groups, the liturgy is in that ethnic group's language and the majority of the congregation is of that ethnicity. There is far more trust there. The last thing the Church needs to do right now is give in to the modern idea that sex is paramount. There is also the issue that many parishes are in debt and can barely afford to run themselves, much less support the priest's family. It also prevents dilettantish curate-types from becoming priests, which appears to be on balance a good thing. If you want to look at why the protestant denominations have become so trashy and diluted, this looks like just another point. The priesthood is regarded as an incredibly serious vocation. It's not to be divided among other pursuits; a priest with a wife is as self-contradictory as a priest running a Fortune 500 company or hosting a talk show. It has always been a vocation for men willing to devote themselves to it completely. The progression of gays through the ranks, in my opinion, had little to do with the marriage prohibition, and is a fairly recent trend that picked up speed with the dissolving of moral restraint mid-century. The decline in men pursuing the priesthood had more to do with changes in family structure, the centrality of religious life, and the rise of consumerism and mass society. If the marriage prohibition didn't cause it, then abolishing the prohibition won't fix it.

>>804378

>hey bro im totally catholic and all but i think you should join this schismatic church instead cause it would be better for you bro also religion is just an accessory bro only jesus matters

What the winnie the pooh?

>>804597

Whoops! I guess you better go tell that to all the Eastern Catholic priests who have wives, then! As well as informing the Vatican that all of its present doctrine about the treatment of the Eastern churches is incorrect!

>>804080

>my spiritual director

>her

I think I’ve found your problem.