Get Rid of the Celibacy Requirement

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CampionTheChampion

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Make celibacy optional for the priesthood to prevent another sexual abuse crisis. Not because celibacy produces sexual abusers, but because it shrinks the pool of men the Church can draw priests from.

If 1 in 100 men are called to celibacy, then opening the Roman rite to non-celibate men should increase priest vocations 100-fold.

The more numerous priests are the more expendable perverted priests are. Next time a bishop hears that Fr. So-And-So touched Sally, he can simply call the authorities on the priest without having to worry about who will serve the parish.

More priests means we can get rid of bad priests without worrying who will run the parish.

Just an idea, thoughts?
 
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I think that’s a bad idea. It’s tempting to do something to give the impression it’s all fixed. However, there are spiritual and theological reasons for celibacy. And it doesn’t solve the crisis. Getting rid of these cancers does solve the crisis. That and the laity will have to stop excusing and denying the evil that exists.
 
How about the Church of England? They not only have married men serving as priests , but they ordain women as well (since 1994).

From a report in 2012–
Ordinations overall have fallen by 26 percent in the past six years. Ordinations to the priesthood
have fallen by 31 percent and permanent deacons now make up 30 percent of all ordinations.
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and
Retirements are outpacing ordinations by 43 percent.
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While having unmarried priests is a discipline, not a doctrine, looking at the CoE shows that there’s other factors in play when it comes to vocations, rather than just expecting loosened restrictions to solve everything.
 
As I have said before, celibacy attracts men of SSA.

Think about it. If one is heterosexual and desires to be a faithful Christian he can either get marries, live out his sexuality and have a family or become a celibate priest.

But if one has SSA , getting married, living our sexuality and having a family is off the table. Celibacy is the only option. Might as well be a priest.
 
Getting rid of celibacy might not solve the problem, but it could help. Also, there are reasons to get rid of celibacy that have nothing to do with the abuse crisis.

The Church of England is losing priests for other reasons. It’d be interesting to compare vocations in the Church of England to vocations in the Catholic Church in England. I suspect they’d be similar.
 
Thanks! Unless I’m misreading the numbers, there were a 169 new priests in the Church of England and 43 in the Catholic Church (that’s people who started the process, not ordinations).
 
I think there’s a reasonable chance we will see married priests one day, just to increase the pool of people willing to serve. We already have married deacons.

Perhaps we might even see female deaconesses just like there was hundreds of years ago in the Church although it’s doubtful if it’s anytime soon.

But changes in the celibacy requirement won’t happen IMO.
 
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The abusers and enablers are probably really on the side of lifting the celibacy ban. Thinking a protective parent would be less likely to suspect priests. In the early days of these scandals it was shockingly evident that parents didn’t accept or believe their own children were molested by the wonderful parish priest. How could the Church return to that type of lax attitude now? Well by bringing in the old " Fr Jones can be alone with my kids because he has kids, because he has his sexual urges met by the pastor’s wife…" Not only would we be putting our young boys at risk again but now we would be moving the young girls into the cross-hairs. One needs only to look at abuse in other Churches and institutions to see that! Abusers and deviants will seek the priesthood or any position of power. To discourage and limit this as much as possible two things are way more important than celibacy.
  1. Because deviants will seek the priesthood the Church needs to be infinitely more vigilant in getting rid of the applicants in the first place. Instead of seminaries where it is encouraged, we should make every attempt to rail against deviant behavior in formation. Hammering in a sexual standard and ethic will help instead. It will cost us a PC welcome all perception. But it will save the priesthood.
  2. Something more powerful than a “zero tolerance policy” should be implemented. Priests surely feel that their colleagues and superiors will not only look the other way but actively help them hide the abuse. Abusers should feel scared that they will be found out not sure that they will be helped. The most frightening thing should be that one is accused of this. In our diocese a priest was using the internet to lure Children and trade images. When I am at work or have something like internet provided for me by work, they can and do view my usage. Priests should be scared that they looked at internet porn not sure they wont be found out!
The answer to the sex abuse crisis is not “more sex” and thinking that way is showing we are not capable of dealing with this.
 
Totally agree. Its not a cure-all, and not all priests need to be married. But it should be part of the change / reform that any honest person knows the Church needs…
 
That the Church is headed for certain financial ruin and extinction if the practice of ordaining and protecting predatory priests is not corrected should be enough motivation for change. If not, the problem will be resolved through collapse of the institution. For every errant society or institution is already sown with the very seeds of its own destruction. Such is the order of God’s creation… woven so intricately with the treads of His everlasting justice.
 
CampionTheChampion said:
The more numerous priests are the more expendable perverted priests are. Next time a bishop hears that Fr. So-And-So touched Sally, he can simply call the authorities on the priest without having to worry about who will serve the parish.
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He should simply call the authorities regardless of whether or not there is a priest to replace him.

Celibacy is not the problem here.
 
Hoosier-Daddy said:
Because deviants will seek the priesthood the Church needs to be infinitely more vigilant in getting rid of the applicants in the first place. Instead of seminaries where it is encouraged, we should make every attempt to rail against deviant behavior in formation.
Click to expand...
Given what has been recorded as at least previously permitted in seminaries (Goodbye Good Men), and possibly still at St John’s seminary now under investigation, we need a completely zero tolerance policy at our seminaries. One strike and you’re out. Anything criminal and the police are called.

Seriously, what were people in charge of seminaries thinking?!?!?
 
I cannot think of a married man who would be a good priest. None. Including myself, and I know a lot more married people than priests.
The permanent diaconate has given us quasi married clergy. They give homilies, administer sacraments. And in my area work more with the parish people than an administrator priest. And yet not only is the problem not fixed in this model but further confusion ensues.
 
In my experience, the Catholic laity, not just the hierarchy, overwhelmingly demand a celibate priesthood. Regardless of its effects upon the individual or the larger Church, the concepts of priesthood and celibacy are inseparable in the minds of Catholics.

So, though the proposition that marriage be allowed for priests may sound like a promising remedy, actually implementing such a change would be a daunting task. No doubt, it would cause division among bishops, among priests, among deacons, among religious and among laity.

Indeed, even the mere suggestion of this causes heated debate. Ironically enough, It often remains overlooked within this debate that there has never been a time in Church history when priests who are married have not served the Church.
 
Getting rid of the celibacy requirement is not the answer.

We should be more proactive in helping seminarians. For example, many men do not consider the priesthood because they have student loans. We should have a system in place for that.

Seminaries should be more open and less encapsulated. Seminarians could probably take classes at a local college in subjects like Writing and Business Admin.

We should have systems of serious mentorship for seminarians (and for couples planning to marry, etc).

There are probably a lot of great ideas out there, like lay oversight or co-oversight.
 
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It is a thought but there would only be other problems. How would the Church provide for wives and children, not just while the priest is alive but after his death. What about divorce issues?

It would also only apply to priests coming into the priesthood. We couldn’t say to those who are already priests, okay go find a wife.
 
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