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FaithInTheSon
Guest
Very wise post. You have convinced me I was wrong.
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FaithInTheSon
Guest
Best evidence that I was wrong. I’m still unclear exactly how I was wrong but it is sufficient evidence of that fact.
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JSAD
Guest
So?Evil can happen at any time…you cant prevent it absolutely
The Priests life can be very complicated,busy and tiring. I do not see that as an impediment to getting married.
In fact, i see that as the very reason they should. Shouldn’t they also experience the warmth and comfort of a loving family at the end of a hard day?
Isn’t that why God created a companion for man in the first place in Genesis?
True we may be opening up a can of worms by allowing Priests to marry, many what if scenarios…but two things remain
1)There is no biblical reason why they should not be allowed to marry
2)The married Priest can/should discern the responsibility of a family. Leave it up to them to manage the consequences.
Having a companion is a basic human desire. I don’t think Jesus is a good example in this case. He is God after all and moreover he was only around for 33 years. Jesus had a very specific purpose to fulfill in his short period here on earth.
No matter how you look at it, there is no justifiable reason to force a priest not to marry.Life is long and hard…and Priests get sent to many far corners of the earth…would they not want a family near them for support?
For those who really want celibacy, the option will always be there. The incentive would be that they could (and only they) could go on to be a Bishop,Cardinal etc
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Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
Which is retained in the religious life which is a higher spiritual state.
Do not forget that we are only talking about secular priests in dioceses.
Secular priests are are members of societies would not fall into this group.
There is nothing particularly Latin about priestly celibacy. Even within the Churches that allow for married men to be ordained there are men who discern a call to celibacy and do not marry before ordination.
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JillianRose
Guest
Absolutely yes.
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TimothyH
Guest
It’s not that easy. I’m sure you have been in love once.
You prepare the way you are supposed to, you do everything right, all the signs are there, you go through with it and life is good. Then one day the phone rings and its a woman from your past, wants to know if you remember her, and you are reeling. Suddenly your past floods over you, your heart is ripped apart, your life is turned upside down and you are rethinking everything you ever knew or thought. I’m sure you have had someone in your life whom you couldn’t stop thinking about, day or night, even in your dreams, and you would have given your right arm to build a life with that person. Have you?
It’s not as easy as “Be what they signed up for” or “reality check”. These men are human beings, subject to all the desires, troubles, temptations and the full range of human emotions and feelings which we are. They are human beings.
It isn’t just about sex. Lack of sex is the easy part. It’s about lonliness, and seeing couples sharing their lives together, helping each other and laughing together, and then going home to an empty house with no one to help, no one to talk to.
Comments like “Oh, they are married to the Church” make it sound like they can just dial up the Vatican and have someone to talk to when they feel lonely, or that the Archbishop will send someone down to make them chicken soup when they are sick. Consecrated religious at least have community, but for the secular priest in a small parish by himself it can be incredibly lonely. They don’t stop being human beings when they get ordained.
Please don’t trivialize the celibate life. A life of purity is not easy. I don’t point a finger of blame at any man for leaving the priesthood for married life. Celibacy can be a source of great graces and much peace, but at times it can be incredibly lonely.
-Tim-
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YoungTradCath
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TimothyH
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ConstantineTG
Guest
Why not? It is a more prestigious city today (in terms of international recognition) than Rome, which is how they decided the rank of honor of the Patriarchates of the early Church.
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RogerDeCourcy
Guest
In the Roman Catholic Church all priests must be celibate, unless they’re married converts and get a dispensation. ‘Almost all Roman Catholic priests are celibate’ is not equal to ‘Some other Churches priests are celibate by choice’.
The call is for Roman Catholic priests to be allowed to marry. I have read it’s mainly non-priests making this call.
When one has knocked a few bricks off a wall I guess the remaining ones are kind of an affront. In the past attacks on the Church came from without. The latest one is more insidious, as it’s coming from inside.
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RogerDeCourcy
Guest
Los Angeles? Really? I’m afraid this rather looks like baiting or just being argumentative. I regret I don’t think I shall be engaging with your posts as much from now on.
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Giggly_Giraffe
Guest
Honestly, had he been married to a woman, it would not have been as powerful healing for me. His vow of chastity gave this man to me (a piece of the church) to overcome the extreme sexual wrongdoings that were harming me. Sure, I was not a victim of trafficking, but to hear a person close to me rave about it … His married friends join in the glory of Asia girls & bad mouth American women … Well, it lowers esteem for all women.
Priests are few in numbers … As are those who stand for God in there chastity (men, women, virgins, married and chaste to each other, and widows). Again, as a celebate Priest, he was the medicine, the living example that gave me hope. Now my hope is converted to love; married and faithful to the marriage.
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Rolltide
Guest
My apologies, my punctuation was just bad there. I meant the rare comment to only apply to allowing married priests that convert to other faiths. You are, of course, correct.
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Church_Militant
Guest
I think that you would need to take it up with Our Blessed Lord, as shown by the following article from my Catholic blog.
Priestly celibacy is unBiblical. NOT!
And based on Jesus’ own words in this article, where exactly do you get the mistaken notion that He was married?
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Quaesitor
Guest
I prefer to put my faith and trust in the leader of our Church here on Earth, that is the Pope as the successor of Peter. I don’t feel that I need to question the leader of Christ’s Church about something I know he’s not going to change any time soon.
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thesmiter1
Guest
I do wish it were so sometimes. I am discerning priesthood, and it is extremely difficult to determine whether my vocation is priesthood or marriage. If I marry, I’ll likely spend my life serving the Church through missionary work or otherwise. I feel I could be a priest and married, and this is not against Tradition. But, in attempting to be ever faithful and obedient to Christ, and therefore to the Authority He gave the Church, I will side with the Church. Always. But it sure would be nice…
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rsantos
Guest
There are so many strong feelings about this issue. I believe this choice should be between a priest and God and celibacy should not be imposed. Advocates of celibacy say it brings the priest closer to God and closer to the likeness of Christ. But what about the rest of us- a severe priest shortage leaves millions of people without a priest and far from God. We don’t know if Jesus was celibate. Peter was married though there is no mention of his spouse in scripture and the only way we know he had a spouse was from gospel stories of his mother in law being healed by Jesus. Celibacy won’t bring a priest closer to God if that priest is called to marriage too or if he is celibate and addicted to alcohol, fine dining,sexual abuse or something else out of loneliness/ power addiction.
Critics of mandatory celibacy point out that 50,000 churches have no priest and the celibacy requirement constrains the number of priests because priests who marry must leave and family-minded men are not eligible to apply to seminary under the celibacy rule. It is a sin that priests who marry must leave when Jesus had mainly married disciples, when celibacy increases risk of prostate cancer, and access to Christ’s Real Presence and God’s Word is being denied for lack of priests. People cannot even find a priest to anoint their loved ones for lack of priests. There are half as many priests per Catholic now than there were 40 years ago so the situation is becoming more dire and current efforts to recruit more priests cannot keep up with the huge gap that continues to grow. See center for applied research in the apostolate (frequently cited statistics ) to see facts on the priest shortage.
Critics of mandatory celibacy point out that 50,000 churches have no priest and the celibacy requirement constrains the number of priests because priests who marry must leave and family-minded men are not eligible to apply to seminary under the celibacy rule. It is a sin that priests who marry must leave when Jesus had mainly married disciples, when celibacy increases risk of prostate cancer, and access to Christ’s Real Presence and God’s Word is being denied for lack of priests. People cannot even find a priest to anoint their loved ones for lack of priests. There are half as many priests per Catholic now than there were 40 years ago so the situation is becoming more dire and current efforts to recruit more priests cannot keep up with the huge gap that continues to grow. See center for applied research in the apostolate (frequently cited statistics ) to see facts on the priest shortage.
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ConstantineTG
Guest
Imposed priestly celibacy is unbiblical. Neither Jesus nor St. Paul declared that is should be enforced. They highly endorsed it, but neither made any statement saying that it should be the rule.
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ConstantineTG
Guest
Do you think Rome from 33AD-300AD was much better than Los Angeles today?
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ConstantineTG
Guest
I’m worried here is that you are giving an opinion based on guesses and theory. Have you ever met a married Catholic or even Orthodox priest?
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