The Catholic Priesthood is a way of following Jesus Christ with your whole life, body and soul. Catholic priests celebrate the sacraments, offer pastoral care and teach the good news of Jesus Christ.
The priesthood was established by Jesus Christ to sustain His Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that, through the priesthood, ‘the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry.’
Many people can feel unsure of how to process or respond to being called and it can be difficult to know who to talk to about it. If that sounds like you, you are not alone, our archdiocesan Vocations team are here to support you on your journey.
The journey to the priesthood is different for everyone, but the stages towards becoming a Catholic priest are the same for all. Here’s how it breaks down.
The best place to start if you feel called to the priesthood is to start a conversation. This might feel daunting, but every journey starts with a single step, and the journey towards to the priesthood begins with a conversation. This is not a commitment, but an opportunity to explore and discern God's will for your life. Talk to our Vocations Director. He is here to help guide you on your journey.
He will be happy to meet in person and be available to support over the years if you both discern that the priesthood is for for you.
In this early phase, you would also be offered and encouraged to have a spiritual director, who can help you grow in your spiritual life.
After a period of discernment, if you have decided that you want to be considered for the priesthood by the archdiocese, you will need to submit a formal application. This application goes to the Vocations Director.
Included in this process, is the preparation of an essay about your journey to the priesthood and why you feel called to this way of life.
There is an opportunity to meet with an interview panel who produce a report that goes to the archbishop and finally, you will then have a one-to-one interview with the archbishop.
If this all goes well, your training for the priesthood can begin!
Before going to seminary (a school for the training priests), you will likely first what is called a propaedeutic year; a foundation year.
This year often takes place at The Royal English College of St Alban in Valladolid, Spain.
This year is a great opportunity to live in community, deepen your spiritual life, experiment with different forms of prayer, and get a taste of what seminary life would be like.
If you still want to go forward after this year, you are on your way to seminary.
The training process to become a priest in seminary takes a number of years which takes into account your age and experience.
Seminary life is community life, as men studying for the priesthood live, pray and study together. Alongside the community life of the colleges, seminary training also provides plenty of opportunities for pastoral experiences, through local ministry, for example in parishes, schools and hospitals.
Seminary formation is made up of four pillars, human formation, spiritual formation, intellectual formation and pastoral formation. Intellectual formation usually consists of studies in theology and philosophy.
There are four seminaries that seminarians from England & Wales are sent to, Allen Hall Seminary, London, The Venerable English College, Rome, St. Mary's College, Oscott, Birmingham and The Pontifical Beda College, Rome.
During the course of your formation, you would receive the the ministries of Lector and Acolyte and then towards the end of your seminary foundation, you would be ordained a deacon.
Having completed all of your studies, training and pastoral experience, you would be ordained a Catholic priest.
Catholic priests celebrate the sacraments, offer pastoral care and teach the good news of Jesus Christ.
Celebrating the sacraments looks like saying Mass, hearing confessions, baptising children, celebrating first communion and first reconciliation (confession), marrying couples and anointing the sick and dying.
Pastoral care is amongst all of this. Priests for an archdiocese will most often minister as parish priests, being local to a place and a people, helping them to grow in the Christian life and helping them to become disciples of Jesus. They will often provide pastoral care through chaplaincy roles at schools, hospitals and universities.
Yes, priests receive an allowance for personal expenses, in addition to being provided with a place to live. Generally, everything a priest needs is provided for.
No, Catholic priests cannot marry. The Catholic Church views marriage and priesthood as two separate vocational states of life.
In recent years, some former Anglican priests who were already married were allowed to join the Catholic Church and become Catholic priests, meaning that the Church has allowed married men to become priests, but not priests to get married.
Priests being unmarried allows them to respond freely to the pastoral needs of the people of God. They can move from one part of an archdiocese to another without worrying about the difficulties of uprooting a family every time, making it easier for them to serve in all areas of the archdiocese.
