Priests are married to

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Cabeelibob

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I have heard people say that priest are married to the Church, others say they are married to God.
Is it one, both, or none of these?
Roman Catholic context.
 
Priests must be also male because of the whole “in persona Christi” thing. (I just wanted to add this since you were speaking about the topic)
 
Right, and at the Mass, the union of Christ the groom, as represented by the priest, and the Church the bride, is consummated in a sense… a female priest would imply a lesbian union.
 
Priests make promises to the Church. Secular priests do not take vows to the Church. This is why it is possible for married men to become priests.

Priests who are members of an order make vows.
 
Are you sure? I thought that in the Western Church, all those ordained priests must be celibate. Deacons do not take vows of celibacy.
 
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Cabeelibob said:
I thought that in the Western Church, all those ordained priests must be celibate.
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There are plenty of married priests in the Western Church, but they’re usually an exception, such as they were married Anglican ministers who converted, and the Church allowed them to be ordained at that time. We do have them, but it’s incredibly common.

As to your original question, that’s largely metaphorical; the priest has a vocation that demands his entire life’s attention (more or less), and as such, promising celibacy is a prudent logistical discipline. You can say he’s married to the Church or God, but not literally.
 
Does the Church actually ordain Catholics who are married? That is something I have never heard of if that is the case.
 
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Not just any married man can expect to be ordained because he wants to or asks, but there are cases where married men have been ordained because it made sense to do so. As I said above, there’s usually some extenuating circumstance (like being clergy for another denomination first), but yes - I’m not just making things up.
 
I’m not accusing you of making anything up. 🙂
This just comes as a surprise to me. Where I come from, that’s unheard of… At least to me I suppose. Maybe I just need to get out more. 🙂
 
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The last statistic I saw was something along the lines of averaging two per state in the US, so it isn’t surprising most people are unfamiliar.
 
Marriage is “until death do us part.” Are you implying that priests are no longer priests – and lose that relationship with the Church – when they die? 🤔

No… priests aren’t “married” to the Church, or to God. They are celibates “for the sake of the Kingdom.”
Cabeelibob said:
Does the Church actually ordain Catholics who are married?
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The Eastern Rites of the Church do it all the time. In the West (i.e., the “Roman” Catholic Church), it is an exceptional case – few and far between.
jesusmademe said:
Isn’t it rather: Priests cannot get a wife after ordinatiin so eg the byzantine Priests first find a wife and then gets married.
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I sure hope there aren’t priests who find a wife and then after that, get married to another! 😉

No, it is what @TheLittleLady said: married Byzantine Catholic men can be ordained to the priesthood. (And all other Eastern Catholic Churches, as well.)
 
  1. Celibacy is a discipline. It can be changed, but only the laity who are not involved are crying out for change.
  2. A married man may be ordained, but an ordained man may not marry.
  3. If a married priest’s spouse dies, he may not re-marry.
  4. Allowing them all to be married will not - will not - solve any problem, and may tend to dilute their relationship to the Church.
  5. What we need is prayer for vocations.
  6. Christ was not married. Saint Paul was not married. Saint Peter was (at one time), but there is no evidence that any of the other Apostles were married.
  7. Saint Paul wrote that the man of God was better single, as he was not divided.
There is a natural human tendency (failing?) to be more upset about someone else’s living condition than they are themselves. There are indeed times when this is good - but not in the case of priests who willingly accept the life of celibacy - which they describe as a gift. Would we steal that gift away?
 
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Cor_ad_Cor said:
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Cabeelibob:
I thought that in the Western Church, all those ordained priests must be celibate.
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There are plenty of married priests in the Western Church, but they’re usually an exception, such as they were married Anglican ministers who converted, and the Church allowed them to be ordained at that time. We do have them, but it’s incredibly common.

As to your original question, that’s largely metaphorical; the priest has a vocation that demands his entire life’s attention (more or less), and as such, promising celibacy is a prudent logistical discipline. You can say he’s married to the Church or God, but not literally.
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Yes, a metaphor. Somewhat useful, but misleading if taken literally.

Let us pray for all our priests.
 
I heard a very interesting explanation of priestly celibacy on a show on Catholic radio. It’s an explanation I’ve only ever heard that one time. It had to do with the circumstances of religious priests and secular priests, in the medieval time period. It had to do with the fact that married priests were expected to refrain from having marital relations for a time (24 hours?) before celebrating Mass. It was more convenient to have celibate priests because they could celebrate Mass everyday, but married priests were not expected to celebrate Mass everyday, due to that “abstaining from relations” requirement.
Has anyone else ever heard that historical perspective?
I think I heard this on Father Simon’s radio show.
 
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Cabeelibob said:
Are you sure? I thought that in the Western Church, all those ordained priests must be celibate. Deacons do not take vows of celibacy.
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A man who is unmarried at the time of his diagonal ordination does take a vow of celibacy.
 
Gorgias said:
No… priests aren’t “married” to the Church, or to God. They are celibates “for the sake of the Kingdom.”
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In the second part, we shall take a step forward: we shall propose a deeper theological interpretation of the Pauline stipulation itself, to show that, already in New Testament times it actually does propose the model for the ministerial priesthood of a marital relationship between Christ the bridegroom and the Church his bride, on the basis of the mystical view of marriage which St Paul frequently mentions in his letters (cf 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:22-32).10
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/c...nts/rc_con_cclergy_doc_01011993_bfoun_en.html
 
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Gorgias said:
No, it is what @TheLittleLady said: married Byzantine Catholic men can be ordained to the priesthood. (And all other Eastern Catholic Churches, as well.)
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Married men who converted from some other traditions are able to become priests in the Latin Rite. There are fewer than 200 in the US, 2 of them in my town!
 
Pitcairn17 said:
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Cabeelibob:
Are you sure? I thought that in the Western Church, all those ordained priests must be celibate. Deacons do not take vows of celibacy.
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A man who is unmarried at the time of his diagonal ordination does take a vow of celibacy.
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If he belongs to a religious order, he takes vows of poverty, celibacy, obedience, not at time of ordination but earlier, as a brother. I think permanent deacons who are also religious are relatively uncommon, but I would welcome data.

Deacons who are not religious - diocesan deacons, do not take vows but make promise of celibacy, as do diocesan priests, if unmarried at time of Ordination.

Of course, a diocesan permanent deacon - those are the only kind I know - who is unmarried or widowed - could join a religious order, then take vows.
 
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