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shyper07
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- Why does the bishop and the father of the roman catholic are not married?
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Mom_of_5
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Randy_Carson
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This is simply a Church discipline.
Celibacy and the Priesthood
catholic.com/library/Celibacy_and_the_Priesthood.asp
Celibacy and the Catholic Priest
Many people believe that the Catholic Church violates the Word of God because it forbids people to marry (cf. 1 Timothy 4:3) or that it is wrong for priests to remain celibate. To get a clearer picture of this issue, let’s examine what the Bible has to say about the subject of celibacy.
Matthew 19:11-12
11Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Jesus offers the celibate life as a gift and tells us that “The one who can accept this should accept it.”
1 Corinthians 7:1
1Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.
1 Corinthians 7:7
7I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
Paul reveals his own celibacy and offers an earnest wish that more people would follow his example.
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Paul concedes that getting married is better than struggling with sexual temptation; for those that “cannot control themselves, they should marry.”
Is Paul completely opposed to marriage? Not at all. The book of Hebrews states:
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Why then does Paul recommend celibacy?
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
From this passage, we can see Paul’s primary reason for advocating celibacy: he wants everyone to live in undivided devotion to the Lord, and in all of these verses, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus calls some men to the priesthood and offers them the gift of a celibate life to be lived in undivided devotion to God. Paul understands that not everyone is offered this gift and that not all to whom it is offered can or will accept it.
There are Catholic priests who are married; typically, these are men who were priests in the Anglican, Orthodox or other faith traditions and have converted to the Catholic faith after they were married in those churches. Under special circumstances, they may be ordained to serve as Catholic priests. Men who are already Catholic when they begin to discern their call to the priesthood must remain celibate.
The Catholic Church forbids no man to marry. However, she does desire that those who will represent Christ, who will stand in persona Christi (in the place of Christ) when administering the sacraments as priests, be like their Lord as fully as possible. This means that like Jesus, they are celibate men prepared to sacrifice their own lives in the service of God and others.
The calling and the gift is offered by God; those who choose to accept it do so freely. Here is an article, “Celibacy is a Gift”, that explains this more fully: catholic.com/thisrock/2001/0102fea5.asp
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CentralFLJames
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Catholic Bishops and Priests (“fathers”) do not marry because they are wed to The Church. It is a very demanding service that requires full attention to God and to the Church members. It would not be fair for such a man to be married and have to share so much time away from his wife. It would not be fair to his wife either since the priest or bishop would be always busy and stressed taking care of church affairs and it would damage the marriage and stress the family. This is our tradition but it is a free choice that all our holy priests and bishops willingly make since they love God and understand that this is the best and highest calling they can give to God.
There are other aspects too. Since Jesus was celebate and did not take a wife and enjoy “the pleasures of the flesh” this set the high standard that our bishops and priests desire to emulate since Christ is the head of the church and sets the leadership example. Catholics all believe that it is necessary to sacrifice in some ways to serve God and our priests (as well as our holy religious brothers/monks and sisters/nuns) set the highest standards. Even Catholic laity (male and female members of the church) try to make small sacrifices to God in ways suitable for their married or single station in life (e.g. being chaste and celebate if single or fasting and praying etc.).
Self denial and giving up some pleasures are all good disciplines for the soul and strengthen our wills against the temptation to sin by focusing our wills and attention on God.
We do permit ordained Deacons to be married men - but these are limited to the services they can perform in the Holy Mass and do not have the spiritual authority and powers to confect the Holy Eucharist. But they have a real apostolic authority to bless others and to read and teach/explain scripture and conduct limited services such as benedictions (given pre-consecrated Eucharist to the members in short religious ceremonies and prayers).
I hope this helps,
James
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shyper07
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Why saint Peter the first pope of roman catholic have a mother in law, stated in the bible ( Mathew 8:14 And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.
8:15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.) it means that saint peter have a wife…right?
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Pons
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Yes, Peter had a wife. For some time priests were allowed to be married. This is a discipline, a rule, not a doctrine, a teaching.
Even today priests in the Eastern Catholic churches (which means Catholics who are not Roman Catholics) can be married, but per an ancient rule, they must be already married before they become priests. Peter was married when he became an apostle. Married priests who convert from another Christian church to the Catholic Church can remain married. But all Catholic bishops must be celibate.
Even today priests in the Eastern Catholic churches (which means Catholics who are not Roman Catholics) can be married, but per an ancient rule, they must be already married before they become priests. Peter was married when he became an apostle. Married priests who convert from another Christian church to the Catholic Church can remain married. But all Catholic bishops must be celibate.
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CentralFLJames
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Yes, St. Peter was married but probably was a widower who was taking care of his mother in law to be a good son in law also. Since it was common practise for most Jewish men to marry when they were of age and means (financial and work/job skills) to support a family most Jewish men married early in their life. Since all of the original apostles except for John (who was quite young when Christ choose him) were Jewish we can assume that most of them were married. But the first Christian Church has to start with somone in charge and so when Jesus called the apostles to be his disciples it is clear that most or all of them would have been married since they were already adult Jewish men trying to earn money to take care of their families. So it did not make a lot of sense to have that first generation of bishops and priests be single/virgin since there would be very few men who were available since most married. But Catholics believe that there was NEVER a case of a single unmarried person becoming a priest or bishop then later marrying after being ordained. Those few married priests in the first generational early church normally did not remarry if their wives died. This practice of married married priests not remarrying if becoming widowed has been a long tradition. And only after a few hundreds years The Church forbid priests to marry at all as the Church was establised and grew in size. It is not a hard and set teaching - it is our tradition and our “policy”. In theory the church could permit priests to marry someday and not violate any rule of God’s. But for now at least we are keeping this tradition and only make rare exceptions for converting Anglican/Episcopalian priests to become Catholic if they are married.
James
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Ignatius
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Yes, Peter was married, but Jesus, Paul of Tarses, and most of the other Apostles were not married.
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Socrates4Jesus
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Paul wrote:
1Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. … 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
(1 Corinthians 7)
Paul was saying that he wished all me could be unmarried like himself, but he admitted that not all men have the gift of resisting the need for sex. Perhaps this is one reason for the requirement for priests to be celibate.
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Socrates4Jesus
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Interesting, Ignatius. Why do you think Jesus chose the one who was not celibate to be the first Pope?
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Br.Rich_SFO
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Because he was married at one time. Remember that Scripture never mentions his wife only his mother-in-law so he may have been a widower.
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Pons
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I don’t think Peter was a widower:
Do we not have the right to take along a Christian wife, as do the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? - 1 Corinthians 9:5 (NAB).
From Paul’s statement it seems safe to infer that marriage was the norm rather than the exception among the apostles and other disciples.
Do we not have the right to take along a Christian wife, as do the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? - 1 Corinthians 9:5 (NAB).
From Paul’s statement it seems safe to infer that marriage was the norm rather than the exception among the apostles and other disciples.
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Br.Rich_SFO
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We don’t know specifically, scripture never specifically speaks of Peters wife. We do know that many of the Apostles were at least at one time Married, if they remained married during their ministry or re-married after their wives deaths we do not know. St. Paull seem to speak of celibacy as the norm or at least it becoming the norm for those in ministry.
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Ignatius
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Actually, the best information that is available indicates that his wife was deceased, so he may well have been celibate at the time.
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Pons
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Paul says: “take along a Christian wife”. He then lists Peter as an example. Therefore Peter had a Christian wife. How did you conclude he was a widower?
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Tantum_ergo
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Actually the word used was not wife but roughly rendered ‘sister’. This woman COULD be an actual wife, she could also be a sister, cousin, or other relative. In fact, the woman accompanying Peter could have been his mother-in-law, especially if he was a widower and his wife had been an only child or had only sisters, leaving Peter as the ‘man’ of the extended family and with the responsibility to care for her.
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Tantum_ergo
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I’d also like to see the Scripture passage that says that all bishops and priests MUST be married. . .
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