Get Rid of the Celibacy Requirement

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glencor63 said:
Yes, pedophiles can marry and abuse. Most sexual abuse is in families, but upwards of 9% (revised from 6%) of priests are pedophiles, according to the 25 year study of Richard Sipe.
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Some people will believe whatever they want if it confirms their opinion. That study, by a monk who married a nun in 1970, was of one diocese, and it counted every allegation, including that with adults, teens and pedophiles.

In 2002 there were about 28 Catholic priests (of 68 clergy) who had been convicted of child abuse, of about 38,000 priests.
 
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He said that at any given time half of all priests do not keep the vow of celibacy. They have sex with men, women and some are pedophiles abusing children.
 
I’m not particularly against the idea of priests marrying. If God ever directed change in this regard, I wouldn’t mind it.

However I don’t think the sex abuse in the church has anything to do with celibacy. I am a teacher. I taught preschool before moving on to ESL and elementary teaching. One thing I have learned while working with children and going through many preventative training courses is unfortunately… positions that put adults near children and teens attract people who are predisposed towards pedophilia. Seeking out these positions/roles is often part of the grooming process these people use.

I do not believe for a minute that the priesthood creates pedofiles or abusers. I believe that flawed humans find their way into the priesthood. The church isn’t at fault for creating abusers… but it is at fault for allowing abuse to happen. THIS is where I want to see change.
 
However, no requirement of celibacy to the priesthood would lead to changes having to be made for lay Catholic marriages that fail, particularly, in relation to ‘remarriage’.

This is what occurred in protestant religions, that allowed married clergy, i.e. divorce was/is acceptable and also orthodox where reasons of adultery and apostasy are also acceptable to end a marriage, and to remarry. Lay Catholics, in failed marriages where the spouse has committed adultery, etc… will eventually not accept not being allowed to remarry, if there is no example from the priesthood. It will have a knock-on effect.

It is the issue of re -marriage that is most contentious. All Churches recognize that remarriage is permissible upon the death of one spouse, and under the principle of the Pauline privilege. Apart from that commonality:
(a) the CC’s allow for remarriage under the Petrine privilege.
(b) the OOC’s allow for remarriage as a matter of oikonomia , only under 2 circumstances (adultery and apostasy, though under some theories, adultery is regarded as merely a form of apostasy; it is my opinion that permitting remarriage due to apostasy can be considered a species of the Petrine privilege).
© the EOC’s allow for remarriage as a matter of oikonomia for other reasons beyond the 2 generally accepted by the OOC’s, but I’ve also encountered the idea that remarriage is normative.
 
celibacy also sorts out priorities. Whats more important, God, or desire of the flesh, when a person is discerning a vocation.

celibacy is the ultimate commitment to God.
 
100% commitment to God. Jesus said leave the dead to bury the dead and follow me.
This is what religious uphold.
 
Hmmn, get rid of the celibacy requirement, might solve a significant amount of the approx. 20% of the abuse scandals, BUT what about the approximately 80% that is reportedly 'Gay/Homosexual and to a lesser degree [amongst female religious], lesbian? Does the Church solve, at least in some part, that latter side of the issue, by allowing 'Gay Partnerships/Marriage? Just curious.
 
How about simply holding priests and religious accountable for their failures in chastity once they come to light?
 
God incarnate called Judas to follow Him and Judas betrayed God. God incarnate called Peter to be His Rock on earth until He returns and Peter denied Him three times. And when the Good Shepherd was struck, all of His disciples left Him.

The problem is never God’s priesthood.That is what the evil one wants us to think and believe.

Our fallen humanity is subject to Concupiscence. This is the good fight we are all called to fight.

It doesn’t matter to God if there is only one holy priest in the world.

Welcoming married priest into the fold, will introduce a whole slue of marital relationship problems in the Church. Just ask the Orthodox Leadership about their problems with Married Priest, some wish they only had celibate priest.

Our culture’s shape the actions of our humanity. Having a sexual revolution, legalizing abortion, sex changes, same sex marriages to begin the list. Before we try to change what God has ordained, we all need to look in the mirror.

What evil is done in the dark, God will reveal in the light. This Truth should strike fear on all men. Becoming lax and complacent to sin and it’s divine consequences which leads to death, is where we find ourselves today.

God will act, when His little children and orphans suffer at the hands of any man. When the cup of God’s wrath is filled, God will empty it upon those who filled it. it is good that God’s mercy cares and acts in order to clean His house.
I thank God, for not leaving us to our own destruction and God promised to never leave us orphans.
 
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Roseeurekacross said:
celibacy is the ultimate commitment to God.
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I don’t think so. I think you are committed to God when you obey His commandments. And one of his commandments was to Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,…Genesis 1:28. Being husband and wife is a religious vocation fulfilling the commandment of God as given in Genesis 1:28.
 
MagdalenaRita said:
Getting rid of celibacy and allowing priests to marry will only bring in other problems.
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I doubt that allowing married priests will only bring in other problems. I think that there will be other results such as increasing the number of priests by allowing married deacons to be ordained. I know a married Vietnamese man who very much would like to be a priest, although now he is only a deacon.
 
The Vietnamese as all other’s who have not entered into the priesthood are not called by God to serve in that way.

Matthew 19: 11 He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted.12 Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
 
The Sacramental Marriage is for life in the kingdom of God. Where no man can separate what God has joined together. The Sacramental Marriage is a God ordained Vocation. The Sacramental priesthood does not offer a higher ranking over the Sacramental Marriage Covenant between a Man and a Woman only. All who have ears to hear let him/her hear what the Spirit say’s.
 
glencor63 said:
Have you seen this website? Please look at this list. The numbers are much greater than 28.

http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbydiocese.html
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There are a lot of numbers bigger than 28. A billion is bigger, and the number I gave was from 2002. This database is of a vague "publicly accused number, with is as meaningless as the 28 convictions, in this discussion.
glencor63 said:
He said that at any given time half of all priests do not keep the vow of celibacy.
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He, being the monk that married a nun?
 
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Why 50% Of Pastors Are Divorced & 70% Are Depressed
Three of the major researchers into clergy life all voiced similar statistics:

The Barna Group reports that

90% of pastors report working between 55- 75 hours per week

50% of pastors report feeling unable to meet the demands of their jobs

70% constantly fight depression

50% of pastors starting out will not last 5 years

50% of pastors’ marriages end in divorce

70% of pastors do not have a close friend
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Burnout for pastors is a thing but there’s something terribly wrong with those statistics.
I’m aware of the divorce statistic because Scott Hahn mentioned that stat and a number of people responded to it. When you look at what Barna found, it was:
About 10 percent of Protestant pastors have ever been divorced, compared to one-quarter of all U.S. adults; 27%.)
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www.barna.com

How Healthy Are Pastors’ Relationships? - Barna Group

Vital to the health of any pastor, minister, elder or priest are the abundance and vitality of their relational resources. Barna conducted a major study into how today’s faith leaders are navigating life and leadership in an age of complexity. Here are some findings.
www.barna.com www.barna.com

Of course, I’m a bit cautious with Barna unless they improved things since Bradley Wright published his book Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media in 2011, in which he gently criticized some of Barna’s findings.
 
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