Do you think priests should be allowed to marry?

[LtPaint]

Lets see now. There are many catholic priests in the USA and around the world that believe they should have the option to marry. CNN recently did an extensive poll and found over 65% of CATHOLICS in the USA believe priests should have the option to marry. Are you saying all these priests/laity who want the option are not understanding of their catholic faith? Do you believe EVERYTHING the pope says…answer please.

Catholicism doesn’t act as a “democracy.” Catholics don’t have a vote ever few years to determine doctrine and the beliefs of the Church.
If the Church simply “went with the flow” and did what the majority of the American Catholics wanted then it would be an entirely different religion.
Also, surveys have found that many Catholic priests are very happy and satisfied with their lives and if given the choice, they would continue being a priest.

 

[dosdog]

I can’t understand why women can’t be priests. It seems very logical to me that they ought to be.

Who really cares about the genitals of a priest? I guess the RCC cares about the genitals of a priest. Odd that…

1 Corinthians 12
28 And God indeed hath set some in the church; first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly doctors; after that miracles; then the graces of healing, helps, governments, kinds of tongues, interpretations of speeches.

1 Timothy 2 11 Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to use authority over the man: but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was first formed; then Eve. 14 And Adam was not seduced; but the woman being seduced, was in the transgression. 15 Yet she shall be saved through childbearing; if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification, with sobriety

Priests, Prophets and Kings
According to Lumen Gentium, the Church, in its twofold ministry toward its own members and toward those outside, shares in Jesus’ threefold office of Priest, Prophet and King, that is, it participates in Jesus’ ministry to sanctify, to teach and to govern (see 10-13). While bishops, priests and deacons exercise, within the Church, the ministries of sanctifying, teaching and governing through the power and authority bestowed upon them at their sacramental ordination, all Catholic lay men and women also share in this threefold ministry of Christ. Catholic lay men and women, by their baptismal and confirmational character, are empowered, in Christ through the Holy Spirit, to be priests, prophets and kings and so come to share in the Church’s ministry of sanctification, teaching and governing
wf-f.org/06-3CatholicLaity.html

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
General Decree On the delict of attempted sacred ordination of a woman

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in virtue of the special faculty granted to it by the Supreme Authority of the Church (cf. Can. 30, Code of Canon Law), in order to safeguard the nature and validity of the sacrament of Holy Orders, decreed, in the Ordinary Session of December 19, 2007:

In accordance with what is disposed by Can. 1378 of the Code of Canon Law, he who shall have attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, as well as the woman who may have attempted to receive Holy Orders, incurs in a latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See.

If he who shall have attempted to confer Holy Orders on a woman or if the woman who shall have attempted to received Holy Orders is a faithful bound to the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches, he is to be punished with the major excommunication, whose remission remains reserved to the Apostolic See, in accordance with can. 1443 of the same Code (cf. can. 1423, Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches).

The present decree enters in force immediately after its publication in L’Osservatore Romano.
William Cardinal Levada
Prefect
Angelo Amato, s.d.b.
Titular Archbishop of Sila
Secretary
jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2008/05/new-cdf-documen.html

 

[LtPaint]

I can’t understand why women can’t be priests. It seems very logical to me that they ought to be.

Who really cares about the genitals of a priest? I guess the RCC cares about the genitals of a priest. Odd that…

The Church does not have the authority to ordian women priests. JPII explains this in his apostolic letter “Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.”
vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_22051994_ordinatio-sacerdotalis_en.html

 

[mark_a]

I would like to know if you think priests should be allowed to marry and still stay in the priesthood… If so, Why or why not??

Wasn’t nepotism one of the many factors in the Church’s decision for an unmarried clergy?

Which is just plain silly anyway. To avoid nepotism a priest and his wife could practice ABC, sterilization, or abortion.

That silly Catholic heirarchy!!!

 

[swariffin]

I would like to know if you think priests should be allowed to marry and still stay in the priesthood… If so, Why or why not??

Being a priest, is just like a man having a wife. For a priest, the church as the whole is just like the wife that must be taken care of, even to the point of surrendering his life. So, a priest who has a wife, is just like a man having 2/more wives.

If you ever been in Indonesia, where a parish with 2 or 3 priests has to serve 13.000 church member, you will understand how busy they are taking care so many aspects of church life. You know, being a priest is not the same as just delivering the mass and giving sermons. In fact, delivering a mass for a priest is only a small part of his duty. If a priest has a wife, will he take care more of his wife and children than the church matters?

Ordaining more priest? Being a priest is a call of duty, not just a profession that a man can easily chose. The education for being a priest is longer than the other profession, say an accountant, perhaps. It is exactly as Jesus has said. The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few.

 

[mark_a]

I can’t understand why women can’t be priests. It seems very logical to me that they ought to be.

Who really cares about the genitals of a priest? I guess the RCC cares about the genitals of a priest. Odd that…

Men can’t be nuns. Its no biggie.

 

[jmcrae]

Its not just the priests who want the option to marry so DO  MOST CATHOLICS.    CNN just recently did an extensive poll and found over 65% of CATHOLICS  in the USA favoured the option for priests to marry. [/quoe]

I participated in that poll; there was no test to see whether I was Catholic, or not - anybody could have answered it.

51% of catholics are pro choice for abortion (believe it or not) Also why can’t nuns marry?

Because they are consecrated to Jesus as their spouse; that’s why. Also, because the work of a nun is different than the work of a wife and mother. It is not possible to be two different kinds of people at the same time. A married woman has a certain life that is unavoidable for married women - getting pregnant, keeping house, raising her children, and all of that. A nun has a different kind of life - getting up at 5:00 am, doing her Breviary, working in the community or in the fields, doing evangelism, and so on, that just does not fit with maintaining a home and raising children.

I am still waiting for your logical answer of how you know Jesus the jew all his life was not married.

Because there is no mention of his wife, or what happened to her during his years of ministry, nor of what happened to her at his death and resurrection.

Jewish law at the time states in the bible that a jewish man not married is only half a man…do you believe the bible?

Got a verse for that? We know for sure that St. Paul was single - he tells us so - he was a Pharisee. If there were some law that all Jewish men must marry, then how could St. Paul have been accepted as a Pharisee, as a single man? Yet, he was.

 

[impalass]

Are you seriously debating over this since you yourself are a Catholic??? Don’t you know the answers AS a Catholic? apparently not. If you don’t think that Jesus was Divine, then I guess he was married…how absurd to not know this as a Catholic. Give me a break…

 You call yourself catholic defender.  Please read the facts below. 

Catholics should know this you say.   Lets see now,  read this information below that was in TODAYS  thats right June 1/2008

  NEW  YORK TIMES/CBS NEWS POLL  June 1. 2008
  

 Most USA priests want the right to marry. Did you read that catholic defender  MOST  PRIESTS.   50% of these priests polled believe women should have the right/option to become priests.  24% of catholic USA priests favour artificial birth control methods, and 64% of the USA catholic laity agree.  Poll was taken from a pool of 30,000 USA catholic parish priests.

Its obvious reading this true information above the catholic church and you  is way out of touch with its laity and officials of the church.


Maybe you should get thousands stamps/envelopes find out who these bad priests/laity are and send them a stern letter saying.   Did you not know Jesus was Divine"   are you really catholics?   Priests should not be allowed to marry, because I SAY SO! 

Please get yourself a copy of the  June 1, 2008 NEW YORK TIMES paper.   

 These priests/laity are saying in this POLL  the church has to move forward  and live by todays standards not what MAYBE happened 2000 years ago.

Yes, I do believe priests should be have the option to marry, as MOST CATHOLICS and Priests believe. Thats what the question is on this forum and thats my answer. If you get upset then why do you post on this forum and this topic? Its obvious by these true numbers above you are in the minority.

 

[allhers]

I would like to know if you think priests should be allowed to marry and still stay in the priesthood… If so, Why or why not??

NO, because Jesus never Married and they are in Persona Christi, (the person of Christ). Jesus never Married (irregardless of what some might think.)
Now, I understand that there are very rare, and certain cases where a man is already Married and converts, he is not to leave his wife to become a Priest if he is called to the Priesthood, but…
like I said, those cases are very rare. I actually have a question about that too, if anyone knows, are they called to celibacy then also?? (I mean, I am sure that if they are then their wife would be in total agreement, but I don’t know and seriously was wondering, are they?)

 

[dosdog]

Poll finds U.S. warming to gay marriage
Opposition off 12% since '04 – support for adoption, military role is up nationally
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/23/MNGAOHSE4I1.DTL

 

[puzzleannie]

NO reason being Catholics do not tithe or embrace sacrificial giving, or a stewardship spirituality, whatever you want to call it, to the degree their Protestant or Jewish brothers and sisters do, so we cannot support married priests with families. As soon as we start tithing we can have married priests. As soon as we embrace a stewardship spirituality cocommittant with that attitude will be wide spread embrace of Church teaching on marriage and family, including abandonment of ABC, and we will once again have families that nurture priestly vocations, and the perceived need for married priests will dry up.

 

[swariffin]

You call yourself catholic defender. Please read the facts below.

Catholics should know this you say.   Lets see now,  read this information below that was in TODAYS  thats right June 1/2008

  NEW  YORK TIMES/CBS NEWS POLL  June 1. 2008
  

 Most USA priests want the right to marry. Did you read that catholic defender  MOST  PRIESTS.   50% of these priests polled believe women should have the right/option to become priests.  24% of catholic USA priests favour artificial birth control methods, and 64% of the USA catholic laity agree.  Poll was taken from a pool of 30,000 USA catholic parish priests.

Its obvious reading this true information above the catholic church and you  is way out of touch with its laity and officials of the church.


Maybe you should get thousands stamps/envelopes find out who these bad priests/laity are and send them a stern letter saying.   Did you not know Jesus was Divine"   are you really catholics?   Priests should not be allowed to marry, because I SAY SO! 

Please get yourself a copy of the  June 1, 2008 NEW YORK TIMES paper.   

 These priests/laity are saying in this POLL  the church has to move forward  and live by todays standards not what MAYBE happened 2000 years ago.

Yes, I do believe priests should be have the option to marry, as MOST CATHOLICS and Priests believe. Thats what the question is on this forum and thats my answer. If you get upset then why do you post on this forum and this topic? Its obvious by these true numbers above you are in the minority.

Dear Impalass,

Don’t worry about them. They can make a choice of theirs. If they want to marry, go ahead and leave the priesthood. They can still serve the church like being a writer such as Scott Hahn, perhaps. It is as simple as that. Do you think the RCC will forbid them to leave the church?

If a woman want to be a priest, not just as a nun, she can joint the Anglican or perhaps the Episcopal church. It is also not a hard thing to decide.

In Catholicism, all are free to joint and free to leave. Do all other Catholics will say that they will go to hell? No way, and why should we bother with their private relationships to God, anyway?

 

[Ridgerunner]

 Most USA priests want the right to marry. Did you read that catholic defender  MOST  PRIESTS.   50% of these priests polled believe women should have the right/option to become priests.  24% of catholic USA priests favour artificial birth control methods, and 64% of the USA catholic laity agree.  Poll was taken from a pool of 30,000 USA catholic parish priests.

I recall not too long ago reading something similar, though I think the numbers of priests in favor of marriage, women priests, etc was somewhat lower in the article I read. Still, it was surprisingly high. One thing, though. When you break it down by age, such sentiments among younger priests was greatly less than that of older priests. The younger priests were more orthodox in other ways as well.

I was not terribly surprised to read it, as the youngest priest we had in our parish in decades told me the same thing about younger priests. There is a real “generation gap” among priests now. He also told me how difficult is was made for orthodox seminarians when he was in the seminary. One of his theology teachers, he told me was a Lutheran who had little use for Catholicism. Yet, she was one of the theology teachers. He did, however, say things were changing for the better in seminaries now. Having read about Bishop Chaput’s actions regarding seminary training in his diocese, I am inclined to believe the young priest with whom I talked about that. I also had a candid conversation with a seminarian who was attached to our parish for a summer. He also said an orthodox seminarian had to “keep his head down” with some of those in charge at his seminary, but also said things were improving.

Unfortunately, the younger generation of American Catholics were “unchurched” by the older priests and nuns. I suspect it will take a full generation to repair the damage the “liberationists” of prior decades did. I was, however, encouraged by my son’s report of a renewal of orthodoxy among Catholic students in the Catholic graduate school from which he recently graduated. Having met some of them, I don’t doubt his judgment. So perhaps I should be more optimistic about the amount of time it will take for the poison to be worked out of the Church in the USA.

 

[impalass]

NO, because Jesus never Married and they are in Persona Christi, (the person of Christ). Jesus never Married (irregardless of what some might think.)
Now, I understand that there are very rare, and certain cases where a man is already Married and converts, he is not to leave his wife to become a Priest if he is called to the Priesthood, but…
like I said, those cases are very rare. I actually have a question about that too, if anyone knows, are they called to celibacy then also?? (I mean, I am sure that if they are then their wife would be in total agreement, but I don’t know and seriously was wondering, are they?)

 Recent surveys  indicate  world wide 20% of all catholic priests are married. A surprising number.   Many as we know from the eastern rites and many that were Protestant (Lutheran) that were already married converted to catholicism to become priests have their wives.

I read on some of these forums that a priest shouldn’t be married because the priest work load would interfere between his marriage and his calling. I don’t believe that for a minute. Its obvious the 20% already married are probably very happy with their situation.
Its interesting that one month after the pope visited the US this poll showing that MOST catholic priests today prefer celibacy as optional and 65% of catholic laity, it shows there is great divide in the current catholic church, regardless of what the pope says. Very interesting.

 

[Cathdefender]

You say " I don’t care if a large group of priests want to marry. They must follow Jesus Christ who was not married. Thats it. Over Done.

You sound like the old nuns and priests that taught me when growing up back in the 50s and 60s. JUST BELIEVE IT THEY WOULD SCREAM! Don’t question anything in the church. WHAT A JOKE.

Catholics in the 50s 60s were taught that if you were bad god would punish you the nuns/priests would say.   Today god is now a loving god he doesn't punish anymore.   The new god through evolution I guess.

Its not just the priests who want the option to marry so DO  MOST CATHOLICS.    CNN just recently did an extensive poll and found over 65% of CATHOLICS  in the USA favoured the option for priests to marry.  51% of catholics are pro choice for abortion (believe it or not)  Also why can't nuns marry?   Please answer with logical answers not just   THATS  IT.....How childish and non sensical!

I am still waiting for your logical answer of how you know Jesus the jew all his life was not married. Jewish law at the time states in the bible that a jewish man not married is only half a man…do you believe the bible? Obviously not. The bible is always right isn’t it! BALONEY!

Jesus was never married **BECAUSE HE WAS DIVINE **He did not come to earth for any other purpose but to **DIE FOR OUR SINS. **If you know this, you can answer the question yourself about the priesthood.

 

[Cathdefender]

Lets see now. There are many catholic priests in the USA and around the world that believe they should have the option to marry. CNN recently did an extensive poll and found over 65% of CATHOLICS in the USA believe priests should have the option to marry. Are you saying all these priests/laity who want the option are not understanding of their catholic faith? Do you believe EVERYTHING the pope says…answer please.

CNN and The New York Times are run by non-Catholics, even anti-Catholics. I do not go by their sources at all.

 

[Cathdefender]

And yes, I go by everything the pope says.

 

[impalass]

And yes, I go by everything the pope says.

    I can give you a list of several other polls that have the same results including catholic church polls.  I guess they are lying too.   Its obvious you have your head in the sand.

   The majority of catholics have spoken, including the priests.  Celibacy should be optional.   PERIOD.

    Jesus was a jew he was never a christian.   Peter should be the example of the church and celibacy.  He was married.   Period!!

 

[estesbob]

no it doesn’t… priests marrying is something that has happened in the Church before and could happen in the future… Women can never be priests…

Correct-Pope Benedict could end the requirement for celibate Priest this morning if he wanted, he has, however, no poer to allow Priestesses.

I am reminds me a joke:

Benedict asks God "When will all Priests be allowed to marry? God replies “Not in your life time” Benedict asks “When will women be allowed to be ordained? God reples"Not in my lifetime”

 

[impalass]

And yes, I go by everything the pope says.

Adam from Adam/Eve  lived to be 935 years old. (LOL) (genesis)  you believe that?   Of course you do.

I am 60 years old and I have never met anyone who lives their life exactly as the pope does.  Your one in a billion!