Help me explain to someone why priests aren't married

[mercygate]

laadan:

So 1 Tim 3:1-7 is not about the qualifications of bishops?

Not in the exclusionary way you seem to propose. If a married presbyter were to be named bishop, he had to have been married (at most) only once. If he had children, they had to be “good citizens.” No widowers with second wives, however virtuous or wholesome, were candidates for the episcopate. Very early on (as in the Orthodox Churches today), only celibates were eligible for the episcopate. After all, not all of the Apostles (who were bishops) were married – including Paul – so these verses constitute a condition for those who were married rather than an absolute demand that a bishop must be married.

The practice of the first couple of centuries of Christianity shows how these things were lived out and puts those verses in perpective. An excellent treatment of this has been done by Christian Cochini in a book entitled *The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy. *The requirement of celibacy in the Latin Church developed from the initial practice of having *both *married and celibate clergy as the spirituality of celibacy, its conformation with the counsel of Our Lord himself, and its witness to the Kingdom came to be valued *for priesthood. *Remember also that priests of the temple, although married, did not touch their wives during their time of temple service. David’s men were allowed to eat the showbread only after he assured Ahimelech that they had "kept themselves from women (I Sam 21:4).

 

[laadan]

mercygate:

Not in the exclusionary way you seem to propose. If a married presbyter were to be named bishop, he had to have been married (at most) only once. If he had children, they had to be “good citizens.” No widowers with second wives, however virtuous or wholesome, were candidates for the episcopate. Very early on (as in the Orthodox Churches today), only celibates were eligible for the episcopate. After all, not all of the Apostles (who were bishops) were married – including Paul – so these verses constitute a condition for those who were married rather than an absolute demand that a bishop must be married.

Fine. Also does not include an absolute demand “must be celibate.” That came later.

mercygate:

Remember also that priests of the temple, although married, did not touch their wives during their time of temple service. David’s men were allowed to eat the showbread only after he assured Ahimelech that they had "kept themselves from women (I Sam 21:4).

The priests of the temple appointed by God from the tribe of Levi, where does God appoint NT priests?

Lots of problems with your priesthood…

 

[Tazgurl21]

Yeah but there are some catholic priest that are married. Like one of the priest at the church I go to. Well actually he is aretired priest but he does hlp out the priest at our church on sundays.

 

[mercygate]

laadan:

Fine. Also does not include an absolute demand “must be celibate.” That came later.

Yes. The mandate of priestly celibacy for the Latin Church came later, as explained above. It is a development of discipline which has been adopted because it follows the model of Christ himself, because it responds with generosity to his counsel, and because it was counseled by Paul.

The priests of the temple appointed by God from the tribe of Levi, where does God appoint NT priests?

This is a question for another thread. There its only one priest, Christ himself. The priesthood of the apostolic Churches (Catholic and Orthodox Churches derives from his. You see the word “elder” in the NT. The Greek is “presbyter” from which we etymologycially derive the word priest. Their task is to offer sacrifice: the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, the sacrifice of the Mass. I won’t hijack this thread by pursuing this line.

Lots of problems with your priesthood…

It is not “our” priesthood, it is the priesthood of Jesus Christ. It is a great and beautiful thing, and a treasure of our Church. There are no problems with it at all.

I do have a problem with your tone, however. You come to a Catholic board with no understanding of our faith, yet you pour out disdain with virtually every syllable you write. Why would you allow yourself to do a thing like that?

 

[Ignatius]

laadan:

Here are the requirements for an Overseer (bishop) 1 Tim 3:1-7

There is no biblical basis for celebacy. It was made the norm by Gregory VII (Hildebrand) in 1079.

There is, in fact a basis in scripture. Paul, himself was celebate.