Get Rid of the Celibacy Requirement

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KJW5551 said:
Simple Yes or No question for you: do you deny that Jesus chose mostly married men to be his disciples and to found his Church?

You both know as well as I do that celibacy is not a doctrine of the Church. It is a discipline that can be changed.
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Excellent article on the spiritual reasons for celibacy.

www.catholiceducation.org

The Spirituality of Celibacy

Last week, we traced the historical development of how celibacy came to be required for clergy in the Roman Catholic Church (except in several of the Eastern Rite Churches). This week we will now e…
www.catholiceducation.org www.catholiceducation.org
KJW5551 said:
Did Jesus not choose (mostly) married men to follow him and found his Church? I’ll take Jesus’ actions over Paul’s words every day of the week.
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You do realize that Paul’s words were divinely inspired and that Jesus was celibate?
 
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Let me say this again more clearly: I would follow the actions and words of Jesus Christ rather than the words of St. Paul every day of the week and twice on Sunday. If that’s heretical, well, the mods can remove my account because that’s the truth.
 
MagdalenaRita said:
You do realize that Paul’s words were divinely inspired and that Jesus was celibate?
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Yes, of course. But the quote being debated could be interpreted in any number of ways for any number of viewpoints. Therein lies the trouble with applying it to the conversation at hand.
 
That sounds protestant thinking.
I choose this and leave that, I accept this but I’m not so sure about that.
 
KJW5551 said:
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MagdalenaRita:
1 Corinthians 7:33 -34
The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided.
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No offense to St. Paul, but that’s his opinion. I believe a person can be anxious to please God and a family at the same time.
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Then no offense to you, but this is your opinion.
 
Yes, thank you for helping move the conversation forward in a positive and engaging way.

I really didn’t mean to offend anyone; it’s not like any Catholic dogmas are based on 1 Corinthians 7:32-33.
 
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Sorry…but, you do realize that Jesus gave the keys to his Rock…His church to a married man?

That is not heretical thinking.

Our Church was entrusted to a married man.
 
MagdalenaRita said:
Jesus himself was celibate
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Jesus was God. But the Pope of the Catholic Church is not God. Jesus chose a married man to be the first Pope of the Catholic church. And there were other popes who were married. Do you think that Jesus was wrong when He chose a married man to be the first Pope?
the Bible says that a bishop should have one wife.
1Timothy 3:2
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;”
 
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So you are saying you choose this part of the Bible but not that as if the Holy Spirit inspired one part but not another.

Also, it does go very well here because it is exactly what we are talking about, whether a married priest’s heart and life would be divided.

You are correct it is a discipline but many of the Churches disciplines are based on scripture.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:12 there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

http://www.ewtn.com/v/experts/showmessage.asp?number=354323&Pg=&Pgnu=&recnu=
 
MagdalenaRita said:
So you are saying you choose this part of the Bible but not that as if the Holy Spirit inspired one part but not another.
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No, I understand full well that’s it’s divinely inspired. But every last thing in Paul’s letters need not inform the Church’s doctrines. Which is why…celibacy is not a doctrine.
 
KCmedtech said:
Our Church was entrusted to a married man
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Are you sure he was married and not a widower. In Matthew 8 and Luke 4, the story of his mother in law being healed, there is no mention of his wife. She may have died already.
 
Actually, thank you @AlNg for that verse from 1 Timothy.

@MagdalenaRita, how do you reconcile 1 Timothy 3:2 (calling for married bishops) with 1 Corinthians 7:32-33? Both were written by Paul, and seem to say different things, at least in the way you’re interpreting 1 Corinthians 7:32-33 as saying that priests should not be married. 🤔
 
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We don’t…it’s tradition to believe either way. There is no doctrine that says we must believe Peter was widowed.
 
St Clement is quoted to say that Peters wife was marytered just before St Peter was.

The point is…it’s not known. I think it would be an important point to prove celibacy was mandated if Peters wife was dead.
 
KCmedtech said:
St Clement is quoted to say that Peters wife was marytered just before St Peter was.
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Also from Paul we learn that Peter’s wife accompanied her husband on some of his missionary journeys.
1 Corinthians 9:5
 
1 Timothy is simply saying that a bishop should only be married once, not that all should be married.
 
Sure, but it implies that at least some priests/bishops were married. That much is obvious.

So you can’t have it both ways; does 1 Corinthians 7:32-33 mean we can’t have married clergy? Or is 1 Timothy 3:2 wrong that there were married clergy in the early Church?
 
The eastern rites all have married clergy. They were the majority for the first 800 years. The Latin rite was the only one that required celibacy among their priests. We may claim authority through the pope but eastern rites are just as Catholic as we are. The Orthodox Church has married clergy and even we recognize their sacraments and apostolic succession.
 
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