Does a priest earn any money?
 
Diocesan priests receive a modest salary from the parish (or other Catholic institution) they serve. Ordinarily, priests receive room and board, limited professional expense reimbursement, and health care insurance. Thus, their modest salary is more than sufficient for their personal expenses. Out of it they buy their clothes, automobile (and auto insurance), vacation costs, taxes, and charitable contributions.

Diocesan priests do not take a vow of poverty like religious order priests. Nevertheless, they are encouraged to live a simple lifestyle and be generous to the poor. The black clerical clothes typically worn by a priest are an outward sign of the modest standard of living that is proper to priestly life and ministry.
 
 
How long does it take to become a diocesan priest
 
It takes four years after college or eight years after high school, the same as for many professions. There is no certain age to start preparing for the priesthood. Some people go to high school seminaries; others enter the seminary after high school, after college, or after they have been working for years.
 
 
How often does a priest have to pray?
 
Every day! Prayer occupies a central place in priestly life and ministry. Think for a moment of praying in terms of a close friendship. Can you imagine not speaking to your best friend regularly? A priest discovers that prayer – personal time with Christ Jesus – provides the source of strength, enabling him to be about the business of Heaven on earth. The Church in her wisdom knows how vital it is for the priest to be a man of prayer. One of the promises a priest makes at his ordination is to pray daily for God’s people.
Of course it is not always easy to pray! Just like an athlete does not always feel liking practicing or a student doesn’t feel like studying, or a wage earner does not feel like working, so too there are times when a priest does not feel like praying. Like parents who must rise in the night to care for their children, so too do priests receive the necessary grace to honor their commitment to pray.
 
 
Is prayer always easy for you?
 
Definitely not! There are lots of times when we don’t feel like doing things that are basically important to us; for example, the athlete doesn’t always feel like practicing, a student doesn’t always feel like studying, the wage earner doesn’t always feel like working, etc. However, in all the cases mentioned, because the activity in which we participate is important, we act on motives deeper than feelings, and do what we know need to be done.
 
 
What about personal debt; do I have to pay all my debt off before I decide to enter the priesthood?
 
The most common mistake is to hold off making a decision about your vocation until you have paid off all your bills. Although dioceses and religious orders vary in their policies, you need to make a firm commitment in favor of your vocation. Be resolute and passionate about hearing God’s voice in our noisy world. You will discover that as soon as you make the decision to clarify God’s calling, your needs will change along with your spending and saving habits.

The key is to say “yes!” to God and to yourself. Wish no more than this: to do God’s will. Then, make it so in your life.
 
 
What does a priest do all day?
 
A priest labors each and every day to build bridges between Heaven and earth. He brings God to people and people to God. Every day is different and brings with it new opportunities to make real contributions in lives of people and families and advance God’s Kingdom.

In the Archdiocese of Dubuque most priests work in parishes. Priests celebrate Mass daily and administer the Sacraments regularly: hearing confessions, anointing the sick, baptizing the young and old, witnessing marriages, burying the dead and comforting those who mourn. Priests preach God’s Word from the pulpit, teach God’s ways in the classrooms and extend God’s mercy to all whom they encounter. It is a busy, varied, rewarding life that demands physical stamina, mental discipline and spiritual maturity.
 
 
Do you have to be a virgin to enter the Priesthood?
 
While it is not an absolute requirement for a person to be virgin, if a person has fallen, it is necessary that the person now be living chastely. He should properly order his passions and demonstrate by his actions his ability to live celibately.
 
 
Do you lose your freedom as a priest?
 
A diocesan priest makes a formal promise of obedience to his bishop. This pledge of loyalty binds the priest to his bishop in a manner that ensures that the needs of God’s people will be met. Freedom in priestly life and ministry changes in a way that is not unlike children becoming a part of parents’ lives. The best parents always take their children into account. So, too, a priest considers others first when making decisions: namely, the people entrusted to his care, and his bishop who is responsible for the entire diocese.
 
 
How do I know I have a vocation?
 
The short answer is that you can only be certain when you are ordained by your Bishop. Before that, your sense of vocation will grow, it will be affirmed by your family and friends and your parish community. The Seminary is the place where the seed of vocation will mature, guided by priests and a spiritual director.
 
 
If I go to the Seminary, do I have to become a priest?
 
No – your vocation is personal. If you are not content to be a priest or the staff at the Seminary think you may be unsuitable or unhappy, they will help you. There is no shame in trying your vocation and then deciding to leave. You can expect students to leave the Seminary, but they will leave enriched by their experience as they discover that their vocation might be something else.
 
 
Why does it take so long to train to be a priest?
 
Obviously there are many academic demands, such as Philosophy, Theology, Scripture, Liturgy, Church History, Homiletics etc, but you are also being prepared to be a good shepherd – that involves spirituality, discernment, maturity, prayer-life, pastoral experience and sexual integrity. You are preparing for the most important ‘job’ the world has to offer – to be Christ to other people, to better their relationship with God and each other, to celebrate the sacraments, to urge people to lead better lives through your preaching. By the way, it took the Lord thirty years to prepare for his public ministry!
 
 
The Church has been rocked by child-abuse scandals – why would I want to be a priest?
 
It is a scandal and a sin that even a single priest has ever hurt a child and I’m deeply ashamed by this. I don’t know how a priest could exhort people to live by the Gospel, and then do something so wicked. Priests and seminarians I know feel that their extraordinary ministry has been dented by a few bad apples. Worth remembering amid all the talk of statistics – biological parents are more likely to abuse their children than any other sector of society!

I want to become a good priest – one who would live a life in total harmony with the Gospel and protect children. There are bad teachers, bad parents, bad police and bad clergy – the good ones are all betrayed by a few evil people who will have to answer to God.

“We are deeply grieved by the fact that priests and religious workers have caused such abuse and scandal to the young. In many ways the entire Church is viewed with mistrust. This crisis is an appalling sin in the eyes of God.” Pope John Paul II;
 
 
What is celibacy?
 
Celibacy is a gift from God and enables a priest to live his vocation to offer his life for others 100 per cent. Rather than something negative (giving up marriage), it is a positive calling to love (and in return be loved) in a unique way. I see Catholic Priests loved and trusted in a way that no other individual is – I also see them as men who are deeply human and heroic in living out their God-given vocation. Just recently John in the UK was asked to take part in a BBC TV programme on whether priests should be allowed to marry. So we asked our story tellers for their views on celibacy. Remember that in an age when most teens are boasting about their sexual conquests, this is counter-cultural – teens who are living in purity and are happy to embrace celibacy for Jesus Christ. We have some of our thoughts here
 
 
Why do priests dress differently?
 
We live in a secular society which thinks that God is dead and religion is for dummies. The sight of a priest wearing his collar challenges this lie. He doesn’t even have to say anything! My parish priest says that his uniform is not a barrier as some people claim – it does two things – it lets him into hospitals, homes, schools, prisons without any problem and secondly he was wearing his collar on a railway station when someone asked him to hear his confession for the first time in thirty years. Wear your collar with pride! There is a good article written by a Presbyterian Minister on the plus points of wearing a clerical collar.
 
 
I’m not worthy to become a priest!
 
Nobody is! If our vocation depended on worthiness, there wouldn’t be any priests or religious in the world. However that doesn’t stop us from making ourselves good and holy people because the call is to ‘be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect’.

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