{"id":45336,"date":"2015-05-27T10:02:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T14:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=45336"},"modified":"2015-05-27T10:04:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T14:04:55","slug":"is-being-single-a-vocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2015\/05\/is-being-single-a-vocation\/","title":{"rendered":"Is being single a vocation?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><\/p><center>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 517px;\">\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 64.603482% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/552211483?et=FrXTKXjISCB0xOdND2s77Q&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=YqN9zo7UlKqj3OWlSVCMNpQfpOwk5a4bDrxWIX8QPEQ=\" width=\"517\" height=\"334\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0 0 0 10px; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/552211483\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">View image<\/a> | <a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">gettyimages.com<\/a><\/div>\n<p><br>\nMsgr. Charles Pope address that provocative question\u2014and provides some equally provocative answers\u2014over at <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.adw.org\/2015\/05\/is-there-a-vocation-to-the-single-life-i-think-not-and-heres-why\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">his blog: <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Simply being single does not seem to qualify for what we have traditionally termed vocations.\u00a0<strong>Consider first some basic differences.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">1.\u00a0<strong>Those who marry as well as those who enter religious life or the priesthood make promises and vows<\/strong>. What promises and vows do those who are single make?\u00a0To whom? For what purpose? Unless they become consecrated virgins or hermits, do singles make such vows and promises? No.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">2.\u00a0<strong>Those who marry as well as those who enter religious life or the priesthood commit to live the life they enter stably<\/strong>, i.e., consistently. They do not make their promises only until something better comes along, or until something changes. Can this be said of the single? Are they not single only until something better comes along? Until they meet someone whom they will\u00a0marry? Are singles really bound to live their current status stably? No.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">3.\u00a0<strong>Those\u00a0<\/strong><strong>who marry as well as those who enter religious life or the priesthood\u00a0<\/strong>are not permitted to date others or enter into romantic and particular relationships with others. Priests and religious are celibate and the married are chaste and faithful to\u00a0their spouse. Single people can date and enter into and out of romantic (though chaste) relationships at will. Are singles\u00a0in a permanent and exclusive relationship? No.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">4.\u00a0<strong>Those who marry as well as those who enter religious life or the priesthood enter into a\u00a0<em>communal<\/em>\u00a0relationship<\/strong>, whether in a religious community, a diocese, or a third order. The single may belong to a parish, live in a certain locale, or even belong to a group like Opus Dei. But they are free to move away or\u00a0cease membership\u00a0at a moment\u2019s notice if an attractive\u00a0job offer comes along\u00a0or some family commitment or just preference intervenes. Are singles really tied by lasting bonds to a community? No.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">5.\u00a0<strong>Those who marry as well as those who enter religious life or the priesthood (especially religious) live within a\u00a0<em>regula\u00a0<\/em>(rule),<\/strong>\u00a0which lays out the required structure of their day, regulates relationships, and clarifies rights, duties, lines of authority, etc. What sort of \u201crule\u201d do those in the single \u201cvocation\u201d follow? If they follow a structured life at all, is it given to them by others, or do they establish it for themselves? Are they perpetually bound or\u00a0only for as long as they please? Even married people cannot date or relate to anyone they wish; they cannot simply decide to go on a tour of Europe without consulting their spouse and considering their family duties. Are the single really bound in these ways? No.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">6.\u00a0<strong>Those who marry as well as those who enter religious life or the priesthood are either under the authority of\u00a0or answer to others.<\/strong>\u00a0Spouses must be accountable to each other; priests and religious are answerable to their superiors and cannot simply do as they please or go where they want. Is this the case with those who are single? Do they answer\u00a0or report to anyone on this earth?\u00a0No.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>So there are a lot of practical differences that rather strongly distinguish<\/strong>\u00a0being single from being in a promised (or vowed), permanent, regulated state under authority. It is true that some live today as consecrated virgins or hermits. But here, too, they are under the authority of the bishop and make permanent or semi-permanent promises of some sort in a way that single people do not.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">There\u2019s much more. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.adw.org\/2015\/05\/is-there-a-vocation-to-the-single-life-i-think-not-and-heres-why\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read it all <\/a><\/strong>and check out the comments, which can be lively and challenging. \u00a0Lots of food for thought here.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">I think a larger issue that needs to be reinforced\u00a0is that we all are universally called to one vocation: holiness. We are\u00a0summoned\u00a0to be saints\u2014no matter what we do or how we live or what might be our station in life. Are\u00a0we doing that? \u00a0And how? Are we prayerfully working\u00a0to fulfill God\u2019s plan for our lives, and doing that through our love for him and our love for others?<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">At the end of the day, and at the end of our lives, that is what truly matters and that is how we will be judged.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/center><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>View image | gettyimages.com Msgr. Charles Pope address that provocative question\u2014and provides some equally provocative answers\u2014over at his blog: Simply being single does not seem to qualify for what we have traditionally termed vocations.\u00a0Consider first some basic differences. 1.\u00a0Those who marry as well as those who enter religious life or the priesthood make promises and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":45339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocations"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is being single a vocation?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"View image | gettyimages.com Msgr. 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