Answering a former Priest

[LionHeart777]

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the former priest has his head in the right place cause i cant find alot of the bible references i have been told about in bible like where in the bible it says mary should be treated as a deity

please show me in the CCC where Catholics are taught thar Mary is a “deity.”

I see you are new. Welcome. You seem to have a little bit to learn about Catholicism in contrast to what you may have been taught that Catholics believe.

signed,

a former Protestant

 

[Scoobyshme]

First of all, just because someone “claims” to be a former priest doesn’t mean that he is. Secondly, if he “was” a priest, he “is” a priest now, just laicized. When one is ordained a priest, he is a priest forever.

Now, keep in mind that anyone who leaves the Catholic Church, especially if they knew their faith, must somehow justify their apostasy. The most violent anti-Catholics I know of were former Catholics who left, usually for the wrong reason (is there ever a good reason?).

 

[Scoobyshme]

the former priest has his head in the right place cause i cant find alot of the bible references i have been told about in bible like where in the bible it says mary should be treated as a deity

Nor can I. Additionally, I can find nowhere in Catholic teaching that says Mary should be treated as a deity.

So, is there a point to your comment?

 

[AmbroseSJ]

One of those things is doing a better job teaching priests what Catholicism actually teaches.

Let’s face it, the American church is scraping the bottom of the vocation barrel, and is not about to toss out anyone for loose or wavering understanding of Catholicism. There are already so many disqualilfiers; celibacy, normal heterosexual, intellectually bright, capable of leadership, etc. etc. Almost every ordained priest is immediately a Pastor in vocation starved Dioceses.

Imagine a world where Medical School graduates were immediately put in charge of hospitals, and you have what is going on in the American church today.

 

[wisdomseeker]

Let’s face it, the American church is scraping the bottom of the vocation barrel, and is not about to toss out anyone for loose or wavering understanding of Catholicism. There are already so many disqualilfiers; celibacy, normal heterosexual, intellectually bright, capable of leadership, etc. etc. Almost every ordained priest is immediately a Pastor in vocation starved Dioceses.

Imagine a world where Medical School graduates were immediately put in charge of hospitals, and you have what is going on in the American church today.

This criticism is a little harsh. it is not really like that at all, i dont think. some things just went wrong after the second Council but it will get better. there is no need to be desperate. we cannot simply jump and start creating new things because some things seem kind of bad to us. we must continue to trust in the Lord to provide for His Church. we are being tested right now. we must persevere until the end. Celibacy must have our support always, i know many voices out there are advocating against but so what, we know these voices couldnt careless about the Church, they just want to do what they want to do. i would rather have one Catholic Church in town with a faithfull and Holy priest than ten Churches that is not compliant with our Lord’s Command.

 

[Drawmack]

This criticism is a little harsh. it is not really like that at all, i dont think. some things just went wrong after the second Council but it will get better. there is no need to be desperate. we cannot simply jump and start creating new things because some things seem kind of bad to us. we must continue to trust in the Lord to provide for His Church. we are being tested right now. we must persevere until the end. Celibacy must have our support always, i know many voices out there are advocating against but so what, we know these voices couldnt careless about the Church, they just want to do what they want to do. i would rather have one Catholic Church in town with a faithfull and Holy priest than ten Churches that is not compliant with our Lord’s Command.

I was under the impression that priestly celibacy was a discipline and therefore actually something the Catholic Church could change as opposed to dogmatic which the Catholic Church cannot change. Could someone clarify this for me?

 

[CentralFLJames]

I was under the impression that priestly celibacy was a discipline and therefore actually something the Catholic Church could change as opposed to dogmatic which the Catholic Church cannot change. Could someone clarify this for me?

You are correct is is a held discipline that goes all the way back to apostolic times. Even those who were married before being ordained were required to abstain from conjugal relations for a period before the mass - just as the Jewish Rabbis were required to abstain from relations when rotated in for temple service for period of time (2 weeks I believe). In general even the few centuries before complete celibacy was all established it was also a held practice that anyone who was widowed while serving as a priest would not remarry and remain single/celebate.

Changing this discipline is not really an option that the Church would seriously entertain in the general case. It will permit some few to do it to accommodate some like Anglican ministers who now want to return and bring their entire congregations with them into the Catholic Church on an individual basis with the stipulation that they can not remarry in the event they are widowed and their replacements will comfort to the standard discipline. In that sense these are transitional priests and still must take an oath of obedience like all priests do to their bishops. There are no “contract priests” so a bishop could elect to reappoint a new single unmarried priest to assist or preside over such transitional parishes in accord with what the bishop thought was best.

The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Catholic priests DO NOT WANT this discipline relaxed or changed.

James

 

[wisdomseeker]

I was under the impression that priestly celibacy was a discipline and therefore actually something the Catholic Church could change as opposed to dogmatic which the Catholic Church cannot change. Could someone clarify this for me?

It is a disciplina but it doesnt mean that Church is going to simply give in to the desires of the trend of the times.

Celibacy is a great blessing to the Church. i pray for those who dont understand to at least remain silent.

many who speak against Celibacy are those who do not really care about the Church, they just want to stir up troubles for the Church. these are enemies whether they know it or not.

 

[Scoobyshme]

This criticism is a little harsh. it is not really like that at all, i dont think. some things just went wrong after the second Council but it will get better. there is no need to be desperate. we cannot simply jump and start creating new things because some things seem kind of bad to us. we must continue to trust in the Lord to provide for His Church. we are being tested right now. we must persevere until the end. Celibacy must have our support always, i know many voices out there are advocating against but so what, we know these voices couldnt careless about the Church, they just want to do what they want to do. i would rather have one Catholic Church in town with a faithfull and Holy priest than ten Churches that is not compliant with our Lord’s Command.

You might want to read “Goodbye, Good Men” by Michael S. Rose. He really nails the reasons we have a vocation crisis. Among them are that they prevent good young men from entering, or at least staying, in the seminary. Worse, there is a homosexual subculture that controls many of the seminaries. The wolves are shepherding the sheep!

Some seminaries, from what I gather, are getting back on the straight and narrow. It took long enough, though! When John Paul II came to the U.S. on his first visit, he told the bishops to either straighten the seminaries out, or shut 'em down.