Many people present themselves to the Church claiming that they have have heard a call from God and that they are meant to be a priest in His Church.
Many people are told by the Church that they are not called to be a priest and go away bitter and resentful, blaming the Church for not hearing God's call that they have received.
Who gets to say who gets to be a priest? The person who receives a call or the Church which administers the sacrament of ordination?
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Obviously the answer is God. God calls and we answer, and everyone is called by God. Indeed that's exactly what being in the Church means. The Greek word ecclesia means Church and we get the word ecclesiastical from it. Ecclesia literally means "those who have been called out". God calls everyone out from the world which refuses to recognise Him and into His marvellous light. We are called out from the world to be the Church.
We all have a vocation to be Christians. There are particular ministries within the Church but, for the most part, we are called to be the people God created and not the people whom the world expects us to be, nor the people the Devil tricks us in to believing we want to be.
The life of the Church is that of repentance towards God and away from falsehood.
So what about the call to the priesthood?
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As St Paul says there are many ministries, many ways of doing things, but there is only one Church. All those ministries are for the good of the Church even at the cost of one's health. The priesthood is for the good of the Church, not for the person. There is only one true priest and that is Our Lord Jesus Christ Who offers Himself as a sacrifice upon the altar of the Cross. The priesthood we have consists of those men whom God calls to participate in His priesthood.
True, St Paul talks about the priesthood of all believers but he does not talk about the priesthood of every believer. This is the priesthood of the whole Church, the Catholic Church on behalf of all humanity. All Christians participate in the sacrifice of the Mass, but only Christ in the person of the priest can offer it. Only Christ in the person of the priest can give out the good Grace of God to keep the Church healthy and alive.
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To be called to the priesthood means to work for the unity of the Church. It is for the Church to discern the call to the priesthood because it is for the Church that the priest must direct his efforts. Those who want the priesthood for themselves to do as they please do not want the Catholic priesthood but a priesthood of their own making, a priesthood of their own doctrine to suit themselves.
There are plenty who call themselves bishops and priests who are on it only for themselves, or for politics, or for social reasons or even for an expression of a confused understanding of what a priest is. There are those who want to wear fancy robes, call themselves doctors of Divinity and be seen to be clergymen. You can see that they are not working for the Church because they disregard what the priesthood of the Church has been since her beginning. The priesthood is a call to servitude and carries dire penalties for those who damages the Church family.
There is only one Church and she stretches from the Incarnation of Our Lord, throughout all History - One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One Priesthood. Anyone who makes a change to any of these damages the unity of the Church. No wonder the poet Danté foresees horrible punishments for priests who do damage their brothers and sisters inside or outside the Church.
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There are many people who are disappointed in finding that they aren't called for the priesthood. Of course, that is painful but this doesn't mean that they are in any way shape or form less of a human being. Being told that you are not called to be a priest in the Catholic Church carries absolutely no shame at all. You are called to be what God wants you to be and, as you walk humbly with Him, you will find your happiness in his service.
It is God Who gives each one of us dignity - that is the calling of every human beings.
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