Get Rid of the Celibacy Requirement

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While I am a tremendous admirer of the celibate life, I think much as you do.
 
Annie said:
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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Getting rid of the celibacy requirement is not the answer.

We do not know this to be true since it has not been tried.

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.

Dioceses already pay for education.

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

Seminarians frequently already take certain classes off campus. For example, CPE

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

Every Seminarian has a Vocations Director, Spiritual Director, Formation Director, Academic Adviser, and access to psychological services. They are also evaluated annually.

There are probably a lot of great ideas out there, like lay oversight or co-oversight.

Ministry supervision by laity is already a part of the seminary experience.
 
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Not to be too blunt about it, but the answer as to “what were they thinking” is answered by “the foxes were in the hen coop”. What went on in seminaries was in part seminarian x seminarian. Reports indicate that some of it was professors/ administration x seminarian ( and no one should make the presumption that all such incidents were instigated by the professors/admin). Some appears, in some circumstances to be outside officials x seminarian. And at least one report indicated that staff was sexually active outside the seminary.

As to your point about criminal acts, most if not all states no longer criminalize consensual sex between adults whether male/female, or same sex.
 
Sbee0 said:
riests one day, just to increase the pool of
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We already have married priests in the Catholic Church… not in the Latin Rite though. I’m 100% in the camp of allowing older married men of proven virtue to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. Can’t think of a reason to deny those who are called
 
MagdalenaRita said:
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?
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Right. Also, when a man is discerning the diaconate his wife is involved with that process. If she’s not on board, his discernment stops there. One might say a couple is called to the diaconate or, in this case, the priesthood. I can’t imagine the scrutiny that those families would be a few extra things that Catholics might scrutinize, namely family size (they will always have too few or too many children according to the critics (even if the number is the same) and fertility/birth control.
 
Another problem with this besides, the Church then supporting wives and children, and divorce issues, there would be abuse allegations from wives of priests, claiming that another priest sexually abused her.

IMHO married priests isn’t the answer and we can see that by looking at the sex abuse cases and the MeToo movement out in the rest of sociey.
 
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We have tons of deacons. My parish here in Idaho has two priests and ten deacons. Deacons are wonderful assets to the Church, but they can’t consecrate the hosts and they can’t hear confessions. Also, pastors don’t usually refer a man to the Deaconate who has young children.
 
Do you think it’s possible that there’s good men out there that feel called to become a priest knowing the celibacy requirement but are persuaded not to by family members or parents?

Maybe we should encourage people in America about allowing their sons to become priests. The whole parents wanting grandkids thing.😶
 
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I wouldn’t object to married, unpaid, part-time, volunteer priests who have full-time secular jobs whose only functions are to say Mass and hear confessions, but hold no full-time pastoral positions in the diocese or parish.

Good idea, maybe mad and bad, but this is a time to think outside the box, not remain stuck in “we’ve always done it this way.”

Oh, and deacons are not quasi-clergy. They ARE clergy.
 
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I will not comment or advise on what the Catholic church should do.
But the Orthodox, Anglicans and Lutherans have had married clergy for at least 500 years, so any questions of how such matter have been solved could be researched, what works well and what doesn’t.
 
godisgood77 said:
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Sbee0:
riests one day, just to increase the pool of
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We already have married priests in the Catholic Church… not in the Latin Rite though. I’m 100% in the camp of allowing older married men of proven virtue to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. Can’t think of a reason to deny those who are called
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We do have married priests in the Latin Rite. They are converts who were ministers/priests in their other religion.
 
I’m wondering why a priest has to be celibate?
I’m also wondering why anything that has worked for so long has to be changed?
the present scandals are shocking but some problems like this are inevitable in such a huge organization aren’t they?
Also if there are psychology departments why can’t they use rigorous psychometric tests as part of the vetting process?
 
Guest1 said:
Do you think it’s possible that there’s good men out there that feel called to become a priest knowing the celibacy requirement but are persuaded not to by family members or parents?

Maybe we should encourage people in America about allowing their sons to become priests. The whole parents wanting grandkids thing.😶
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I have to be honest that I don’t know how I would have reacted if one of my sons had told me he wanted to be a priest. Not sure I would have been jumping for joy.
 
Hoosier-Daddy said:
I cannot think of a married man who would be a good priest. None.
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Wait, what? I can think of a half dozen at my 10:00am mass alone that would make excellent priests. Why do you think no one you know would be a good priest?

Also, your logic about married priests being trusted with children more is flat out wrong. The same 2002-onwards child protection measures would still be in place, and priests would still not be alone with children.
 
Holding celibacy as the ideal, but ordaining married men was the practice of Christ and St. Paul. We’ve failed to demonstrate that the Roman rite’s mandatory celibacy innovation was an improvement on the original model.
 
I understand the need for wanting grandkids. But at the same time your child could become the next saint for example.
What if your son becomes the next Padre Pio? Or Blesses countless people with his vocation and greatly helps the church. 💐🌻🌹
 
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KJW5551 said:
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Hoosier-Daddy:
I cannot think of a married man who would be a good priest. None.
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Wait, what? I can think of a half dozen at my 10:00am mass alone that would make excellent priests. Why do you think no one you know would be a good priest?

Also, your logic about married priests being trusted with children more is flat out wrong. The same 2002-onwards child protection measures would still be in place, and priests would still not be alone with children.
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And I know a couple or three married men who are EXCELLENT priests.

The notion of married men not making good priests is a foolish one.
 
Perhaps if we want good priests, we need to consider what is going on in society right now. We live in a culture that is saturted with sexuality. This is IMHO how we need to look at it. What is being taught and encouraged as chidren are growing up. I am not saying priests should not be allowed to be married but it seems even with this solution, we are saying celibacy, purity and self-control are impossible.

It could be rather that we need to encourage the virtue of chastity, purity and self-control in our society and perhaps we will see good, strong priests raised up.
 
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