Do you think priests should be allowed to marry?

[distracted]

As a red-blooded guy, I think that takes a ton of faith and strength. I think we should use our energy to pray for those who choose to take this path, rather than expending our energy elsewhere questioning and protesting against this rule.

i agree… and i never questioned it for most priests… I just feel that some priests, who have served for years and years, who are not virgins… who desire to marry… well, i think they should go ahead… and i am not so sure they should all be made to leave the priesthood… but again, as stated elsewhere… i have to trust what the Church says and does about all this… Well, i don’t have to… but i do have to acknowledge that the pope knows more about certain things than i do… (though he doesn’t know more about certain “desires” i have because, well, i am sure he is a virgin, as our last pope was…

The relationship runs two-fold after all, priests need us supportive laymen backing them.

well, priests certainly need SOMETHING these days… If you only knew the weird experiences i have had with priests… (kinda long story…)… Yes, we need to pray for them…

 

[Cathdefender]

I still don’t understand why distracted as a woman is so interested in the lives of priests…she sounds a little frustrated about her celibacy…

 

[Cathdefender]

i agree… and i never questioned it for most priests… I just feel that some priests, who have served for years and years, who are not virgins… who desire to marry… well, i think they should go ahead… and i am not so sure they should all be made to leave the priesthood… but again, as stated elsewhere… i have to trust what the Church says and does about all this… Well, i don’t have to… but i do have to acknowledge that the pope knows more about certain things than i do… (though he doesn’t know more about certain “desires” i have because, well, i am sure he is a virgin, as our last pope was…

well, priests certainly need SOMETHING these days… If you only knew the weird experiences i have had with priests… (kinda long story…)… Yes, we need to pray for them…

What weird experiences have you had with priests? I notice the “s” at the end of the word priest as it indicates more than one. I don’t believe anyone these days because people like to tell tales and falsify things and distort them to their own little world (not saying you, just people in general here), the priests are the imbilical cord to God, and if anyone makes up stories about them, their soul will surely be in danger.
I love the priests and what they do for Christ. Very hard to live, but if you have a total devotion to God, they enjoy what they do, for their reward will be great in heaven.

 

[distracted]

What weird experiences have you had with priests? I notice the “s” at the end of the word priest as it indicates more than one.

Yes, and frankly, i don’t feel like saying because i don’t want my expeirneces minimized (as has often happened here… ). I told someone today about an experience i had with one in confession… all i got was this whole attitude that priests are, well, God or something… and if something went wrong it was my own fault somehow…

because people like to tell tales and falsify things and distort them to their own little world (not saying you, just people in general here)

I don’t find that to be true. Most people tell the truth and dont’ make up stories… esp about priests.Yes, there are exceptions to every “rule” but i don’t believe people usually make up stories about priests. I particularly say this because i have 'seen with my own eyes"…

the priests are the imbilical cord to God, and if anyone makes up stories about them, their soul will surely be in danger.

Oh please…
I guess you are one of those who (consciously or otherwise) virtually thinks that priests are “God”

I love the priests and what they do for Christ.

so do i - i love even the bad ones… & pray for them… but let’s face it, there ARE bad ones…
and they all seem to be on my pathway these days…

, they enjoy what they do, .

How do you know??

 

[distracted]

I still don’t understand why distracted as a woman is so interested in the lives of priests…she sounds a little frustrated about her celibacy…

More than a little… :hypno:

But seriiously… i really don’t think about “physical intimacy” as often as one may think… IT is just once in awhile… but those once in awhiles can be something…

In any case… i may have no choice but to be celibate the rest of my life… because, as someone said in the Thread “Have you Been Celibate for a Long time”… well, she said something to the effect that she was celibate because she couldn’t find a man who added to her life more than he took away…

When i read that, i kinda felt like this:

:clapping: :extrahappy: :clapping:

 

[PaulDupre]

So, in other words, you’re a misandryst.

 

[jdnrite01]

I admit that I haven’t read this entire post. I think it’s silly. Those ordained to the Major Orders, Deacons, Priests and Bishops, have NEVER been allowed to marry AFTER ordination. The proper question should be “Do you think that married men should be permitted to be ordained to the Priesthood?”

 

[Cathdefender]

Yes, and frankly, i don’t feel like saying because i don’t want my expeirneces minimized (as has often happened here… ). I told someone today about an experience i had with one in confession… all i got was this whole attitude that priests are, well, God or something… and if something went wrong it was my own fault somehow… I don’t find that to be true. Most people tell the truth and dont’ make up stories… esp about priests.Yes, there are exceptions to every “rule” but i don’t believe people usually make up stories about priests. I particularly say this because i have 'seen with my own eyes"…
Oh please…
I guess you are one of those who (consciously or otherwise) virtually thinks that priests are “God”

so do i - i love even the bad ones… & pray for them… but let’s face it, there ARE bad ones…
and they all seem to be on my pathway these days…

How do you know??

I cannot understand you if you do not confide in us here at CAF with your experiences. Feel free to PM me if you wish.
I do not feel that priests are God, not at all. I respect their obedience TO God, and their roles in giving their lives up FOR Him. So there are bad ones, and? As if it’s just the CC…give me a break…and I know because, my cousin is a priest and is risking his life in a violent nation.
There are a lot of wonderful priests who are doing their jobs in Turkey, Baghdad, Africa and they are getting killed! For the love of God, their perserverance and dedication is unsurmountable! Try and live their lives before you comment.

 

[Contarini]

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??

I’m Episcopalian. I am glad that the Catholic Church allows our priests to become Catholic priests even though they are married, and I’d like to see this more general.

However, I think the ancient wisdom of the Church is probably correct in refusing to allow priests to get married. In other words, if marriage comes first, then priesthood, it’s OK, but not the other way round.

Admittedly, that way you get the Orthodox phenomenon of young seminarians desperately looking for brides. . . . but no system is going to be free from abuse and that’s a fairly mild one as abuses go!

Edwin

 

[BSHoop96]

The Bible says - and my conscience tells me quite clearly - that God is no respecter of persons.

If you mean that he does not respect you then you are taking this out of context and should read it more fully also.

 

[BSHoop96]

The Bible says - and my conscience tells me quite clearly - that God is no respecter of persons.

I must further explain that I ask you, only because you seem rather negative about yourself, but you also seem knowledgeable so I was rather confused as to how you were interpreting that passage.

 

[rinnie]

I am only a loser if i end up in Hell… and i am a somewhat lesser loser if i end up in Purgatory… but i am already there…

Anyway… He’s not… and he would probably be the 1st to tell you that… He may be further along in his Purgatory or whatever u call it, but he is not better than you… God created us all equal… and He loves each of us the same… As one peson once said, “God loves you as if you were His only child.”

So do you. And you speak infallibly also, sometimes… (like when you said that i am a good person. ).

Im sorry Love but he does, Jesus promised us that when he breathed the Holy Spirt on them, and then said what my Father has given me i give to you. To say the Pope does not have the Gift of the HS is to say that the apostles didnt either then, Or Then Jesus lied, and we all know he hates liars. SO you must believe what he said. We can prove that the Holy Spirt was handed down go back to history, it wont lie. We have apostolic succession. no one else does.

 

[Antegin]

I don’t think they can marry as long as the pontiff says no. However, the pontiff could change his mind because the prohibition against maried priests is disciplinary not dogmatic. The prohibition against women as priest is dogmatic, not disciplinary and therefore unchanging

 

[Yerusalyim]

There are more and more priestless parishes out here (and everywhere else). Why not choose some mature men with longtime, stable marriages and ordain them. For that matter, why not ordain the deacons we already have? As far as we know, the apostles were married–St Peter certainly was. My belief is that not ordaining married men is a question of finances, a matter of having to raise the priest’s salary to support his family.

Married priests are not really a solution to priestless parishes, not in the long run. Having said that, I still support the idea allowing married men to be ordained in the Western Church. I completely concur with the idea that PART of the reason the church maintains celebacy is the financial end of it. I’ve even heard from a former secretary (priest) of a prominent but now dead bishop, that the bishop’s personal opposition to ordaining married men must MOSTLY rooted in the financial end of the proposition.

HISTORY:

There has probably always been celebate priests, but we don’t know that for sure. Nor do we know, whether in the first few centuries of the Church, if priests were allowed to be married after appointment as presbyters. What we do know is that celebacy was NOT the norm for the first few hundred years. After the final persecution of the Church in the late 3rd century, and it’s subsequent legalization by Constantine, the Church’s leadership was wiped out. Many of the “desert fathers”…holy monks that lived celebate lives, were brought in from the desert to fill the void in leadership. Many of these “desert fathers” began to impose celebacy, refusing to ordain married men. Eventually Celebacy became the norm. It has NEVER been universal and wasn’t MANDATORY in the Latin Church until the 12th Century.

 

[FCEGM]

Sorry, but i don’t agree with this… If it is taken from some Church document, i will read the whole thing, and go from there, but other than that… I am not buying it that the Church teaches this…

Yes, the office of the priesthood has charisms and powers that are not available to “ordinary” persons, but a priest is not superior to any other human being in any other way… .

That’s just it, you see; the one way in which a priest is of superior dignity is precisely because in and through his ordination he has been made altare Christi. These might prove helpful to your understanding this:

In his epistle to the Christians of Smyrna, St. Ignatius, Martyr, says that the priesthood is the most sublime of all created dignities: “The apex of dignities is the priesthood.” St. Ephrem calls it an infinite dignity: “The priesthood is an astounding miracle, great, immense, and infinite.” St. John Chrysostom says, that though its functions are performed on earth, the priesthood should be numbered among the things of Heaven." According to Cassian, the priest of God is exalted above all earthly sovereignties, and above all celestial heights-----he is inferior only to God. Innocent III says that the priest is placed between God and man; inferior to God, but superior to man. St. Denis calls the priest a Divine man. Hence he has called the priesthood a Divine dignity. In fine, St. Ephrem says that the gift of the sacerdotal dignity surpasses all understanding. For us it is enough to know, that Jesus Christ has said that we should treat his priests as we would his own person: “He tkat heareth you, heareth Me; he tkat despiseth you, desptseth Me.” Hence St. John Chrysostom says, that “he who honors a priest, honors Christ, and he who insults a priest, insults Christ.” Through respect for the sacerdotal dignity, St. Mary of Oignies used to kiss the ground on which a priest had walked. . . .

fisheaters.com/holyorders3.html

and. . .

1. And thus the ineffable greatness of the human priest stands forth in all its splendor; for he has power over the very Body of Jesus Christ, and makes It present upon our altars. In the name of Christ Himself he offers It a victim infinitely pleasing to the Divine Majesty. “Wondrous things are these,” justly exclaims St. John Chrysostom, “so wonderful, they surpass wonder.”

1. Besides this power over the real Body of Christ, the priest has received other powers, august and sublime, over His Mystical Body of Christ, a doctrine so dear to St. Paul; this beautiful doctrine that shows us the Person of the Word-made-Flesh in union with all His brethren. For from Him to them comes a supernatural influence, so that they, with Him as Head, form a single Body of which they are the members. Now a priest is the appointed “dispenser of the mysteries of God,” for the benefit of the members of the mystical Body of Christ; since he is the ordinary minister of nearly all the Sacraments, - those channels through which the grace of the Savior flows for the good of humanity. The Christian, at almost every important stage of his mortal career, finds at his side the priest with power received from God, in the act of communicating or increasing that grace which is the supernatural life of his soul.

vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19351220_ad-catholici-sacerdotii_en.html

The Bible says - and my conscience tells me quite clearly - that God is no respecter of persons.

That’s correct; He judges each according to their living in accordance with His most holy will. Some, though, given greater graces - such as in and for their priestly ministry - will be judged far more severely than those given lesser if they haven’t proved faithful.

 

[distracted]

So, in other words, you’re a misandryst.

Huh? what? Who is?

Me? Distracted??

Well, i would by lying if i didn’t say there was a little truth in that… but in addition to disliking men “too much”… I also tend to (or used to??) love them too much… So you see, people are complicated… (all the more so, the longer they live & the more weird stuff they go through)…

 

[distracted]

I There are a lot of wonderful priests who are doing their jobs in Turkey, Baghdad, Africa and they are getting killed! For the love of God, their perserverance and dedication is unsurmountable! Try and live their lives before you comment.

You assume far too much (by the way: have you ever broken that word ASSUME up?? Just wondering)…

You have no idea whether or not i “try and live their lives”… I dare say my life is likely far more holy than that of some priests i have had the misfortune of knowing…

When you see a priest who doesn’t live in a Christian manner… it is worse than seeing someone outside that vocation doing the same… (far more troublesome).

In any case, i think it is very rude to automatically assume that someone’s life isn’t as holy as another’s… esp when you don’t know me from Adam…

 

[jblake]

puzzleannie;:

Jesus cared enough to appoint men only as his priests and bishops

a) Jesus appointed disciples. Not priest. Not bishops.

b) Mary of Magdalla was either a disciple, or the wife of Jesus, or both.

xan

jonathon

 

[distracted]

a) Jesus appointed disciples. Not priest. Not bishops.

b) Mary of Magdalla was either a disciple, or the wife of Jesus, or both.

xan

jonathon

Where on Earth do you get your information??

 

[jblake]

BSHoop96;:

but I must add that castration removes the body’s ability to produce testosterone and as a result, no desire. Which is why they castrated eunichs in a harem.

Eunichs were castrated so that the royal attendants were not accused of being the father of the heir to the throne. In some courts, performing sexual services was one of the duties of the eunich.

I’ll also point out that amongst child molesters, castration has no impact on the rehabilitation rate.

xan

jonathon