Category Archives: Holy Orders

What’s Required for a Valid Ordination?

Q1.  Can a deacon be ordained to the priesthood, less than six months after his ordination to the diaconate?  For example, a congregation or diocese is urgently in need of priests, can their ordinary actually anticipate it and release an … Continue reading

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Can I Become a Priest, If I Have an Illegitimate Child?

Q1: I have been discerning a call to the priesthood … [and] I have met with the vocations director and the bishop of this diocese.  The bishop said I cannot be ordained a priest because I have a child out … Continue reading

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Can a Laicized Priest Return to the Priesthood?

Q:  I was ordained a priest for the Diocese of X, and then left the priesthood to get married.  Here I am sixteen years later, the marriage ended, no children.  I have been reassessing my life … [and concluding that] … Continue reading

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Can a Latin Catholic Man Enter an Eastern Catholic Seminary?

Q:  My 17-year-old son wishes to pursue his vocation to the priesthood in the Byzantine Rite (having been mostly raised in this rite) even though both of us parents are Roman Rite. Our Byzantine pastor informs us that we parents … Continue reading

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Why Would a Bishop Refuse to Ordain a Seminarian?

Q:  I was a seminarian for nearly five years, and in fifth year I was suddenly and unexpectedly dismissed as a seminarian by the bishop.  He gave me three reasons for the dismissal, each of which I protested.  For example, … Continue reading

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