Get Rid of the Celibacy Requirement

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Shakuhachi said:
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.
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Not at all. Manifestly, the homosexual priests who abused boys and young men did not opt for celibacy.
 
actually yes, good point. any religious person take the three vows of poverty, chastitiy and obedience and we cant change it without serious implications.
 
Gab - I don’t know who “Chris” is, but he sounds like a good guy if he’s out there saving souls! 🙂
In all seriousness, many churches in our area are having difficulty finding priests who are available to say the Mass on Sunday, and some are forced to cancel Mass due to the priest shortage. Faithful Catholics (especially the elderly) are being deprived of sacraments due to this shortage, so something must be done to address it.
Praying for more vocations is important and necessary, but when Churches are offering fewer Masses and some are closing their doors, prayer alone is no longer enough.
We already have married priests in both the Eastern and Latin Rites who preside over sacraments which (as the Church teaches) are every bit as valid as those of unmarried priests.
A process for vocational discernment already exists, and this can be applied to married applicants. If the Church is more comfortable with the idea of elevating married deacons to the priesthood, then they should create a path for it. After a new deacon has served for a probationary period, they can begin the long journey to becoming a priest.
Ten years ago many of us were having this debate on CAF, and there were married priests then as there are today. After ten years of praying for more vocations, the priest shortage has only gotten worse.
At this rate, in another ten years, who knows where we will be? Maybe God is telling us that it’s time to take action?
 
Gab - thank you, I do believe that God has called me to become a deacon. In our area we have no shortage of deacons (a ratio of about 7 deacons for every priest). I truly believe that every one of them would become a priest, if given the opportunity.
Churches in our area struggle to find priests to cover all of the Sunday Masses (which are sometimes cancelled).
A deacon is not a priest, and churches are not being shut down due to a lack of deacons.
 
I was thinking along the lines of if the seminarian had child pornography, etc. That’s why I said “Anything criminal…”
 
So you believe both that there are no shortage of appropriate candidates for the celibate life, and also that most of them would not be celibate if they werent forced to be.

I dont find this to be a compelling argument for why our later practice of requiring mandatory celibacy is superior to Christ’s approach in selecting his apostles.
 
Correct me if I’m wrong it what I say in this post - but Catholics should be willing to die for Christ. Right?

If a man feels a strong calling for the priesthood or even if a woman feels a calling towards being a nun we need to say not my will but Thy be done.

Again correct me if I’m wrong.
 
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RobertAdams said:
So you believe both that there are no shortage of appropriate candidates for the celibate life, and also that most of them would not be celibate if they werent forced to be.
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There is a shortage of vocations to the priesthood not because they are required to be celibate, but because many don’t understand the value of dedicating their lives to God. Many Catholics after high school are falling away, losing faith in the Church. The issue is a lack of faith. I would know, I have eight siblings. Every one of them fell away.

The answer is not to allow marriage for priests, but to make appealing the vocation for the priesthood as it is to young men. It is a beautiful vocation. It shouldn’t be hard.

I say that many would marry because they would have the same ideas as many here. They would get the “best of both worlds”. Dedication to God and marriage. However, celibacy is objectively the best for the priesthood as it allows the person to completely focus on their spiritual life and the souls of others. They are called Father by us lay people for a reason.
 
CampionTheChampion said:
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.
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Very interesting. Hadn’t thought of it from that angle…
 
Steeevyo said:
Can somebody comment on the claim of my aunt who is a PHD historian that celibacy is rooted in Catholic tradition mainly to protect Church property from going to relatives of deceased priests.
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Church property belongs to the Church, not to individual priests. Priests have some personal possessions, e.g., books, sports equipment, secular clothing that relatives inherit, but it’s property they purchased with their salaries, and the Church wouldn’t want it anyway.
 
Ridgerunner said:
Not at all. Manifestly, the homosexual priests who abused boys and young men did not opt for celibacy.
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What about the heterosexual ones who abused girls? And the heterosexual ones who abused boys, because that does, and did, happen. Married men abuse children. Married women do, too. Marriage won’t stop an abuser. It’s not the answer for the priesthood.
 
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misstherese said:
There is a shortage of vocations to the priesthood not because they are required to be celibate, but because many don’t understand the value of dedicating their lives to God. Many Catholics after high school are falling away, losing faith in the Church. The issue is a lack of faith. I would know, I have eight siblings. Every one of them fell away.
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I think you are exactly right. Celibacy is not the problem, at least not the main problem. It might deter a few, but certainly not the majority, and if they are deterred by celibacy, they don’t belong in the priesthood anyway.
 
Ridgerunner said:
Neither did they, but there don’t seem to be many of those.
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So I guess you think the girls don’t matter then? Twenty percent of those abused in the PA scandal were girls. One-fifth. So we take care of anyone who would be abused by a homosexual and forget the heterosexual abuser priests because homosexuals are worse than abusers? I don’t see it that way. I think ALL abuse is WRONG and ALL victims NEED help and protection.
 
Sarcelle said:
am however skeptical of the notion that the sexual abuse will be solved by this. What is the bigger scandal is the way the abuse was kept under wraps and the systematic cover up that followed. I doubt this will be fixed by allowing married men to be ordained.
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That’s like saying that if only these perverts would marry a woman everything would be okay. Women don’t deserve to marry perverts, furthermore the vast majority of cases is homosexual abuse of teenagers under 18 years. if someobobody has been perverted enough to participate in homosexual activity and being is Satan’s territory, then the can easily and certainly be perverted t prey on young boys, as we saw in the case of seminarians being invited to a cardinal’s beach house for sleepovers. Also reports of gay orgies in the news just goes to show that what is needed is a fumigation of the seminaries and the clergy to get rid of these perverts. They have no business being pastors of congregations, confessors or role models for children. As St Paul said:

“ I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” 1 Cor 5:11-12
 
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Bruised_Reed said:
Catholic priests need more than an associates degree. And note that he time in seminary a time for discernment. Bishops aren’t going around with a magic wand going :ding: ro make a priests. It isn’t just a job, it’s a vacation in which the souls of thousands will rely on a priest’s knowledge of the bible, and theology. They would also be missing the formation from living in community. Candidates to the diaconate spends many weekends with other candidates and I think their wives. Are the requirements for priests going to be easier than deacons? As I asked in another thread: where are all the vocations to the permanent diaconate if there are all these married men ready and willing to be priests?
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Even I have an MA in theology (and creative writing) and I sure don’t feel I could lead a parish! (I am a woman anyway.)
 
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