Now if you are a Protestant you might not know that being a monk and being a priest are two different things. You can be a monk and not be a priest. But many monks do become priests. And while some priests might join a monastery, most priests do not.
Benedict's concerns about allowing priests to join the monastery have to do with the priests thinking they are better than the other monks and that the rules, because they are priests, don't apply to them. Thus Benedict warns:
1If any ordained priest asks to be received into the monastery, do not agree too quickly. 2However, if he is fully persistent in his request, be must recognize that he will have to observe the full discipline of the rule.I think we all want to be a bit special, thinking that the rules don't apply to us, that we are deserving of special privileges and considerations. You see this all the time in churches. Maybe you don't have a priest problem but odds are you have donor, educational and ministerial experience problems.
Big donors to a church often think that they are deserving of special consideration, input and influence. Same goes for anyone in the church who has a graduate degree in biblical studies, ministry or theology. Finally, anyone with former experience as a minister, pastor or missionary can also use that as a trump card.
And this goes well beyond the church. Everywhere we see people believing that the rules don't apply to them because they are special.
