Time for married priests

[Tis_Bearself]

In my opinion, it is completely OK for the Catholic Church to admit it incorrectly handled some Theology in the past. All men are fallible creatures. The Greatness of the Catholic Church would come in admission of incorrectness (not guilt) and acceptance of a Theology that values all of Humanity in Equality.

 

[mikekle]

Paedophilia is incurable. Homosexuality is not reversible.

I would not agree with either of those, I can think of 5 people I know personally that once considered themselves to be homosexual, but have switched back to hetero, 4 are now married and have children and happy and content with their lives.

It is only modern theory that pedophilia cannot be cured, at one point, it was common belief that many other disorders were also incurable, I would say we do not yet know how to effectively treat or cure instead.

 

[FJBSJ]

@Tis Bearleaf

I have not seen that Chesterton quote before. It is absolutely amazing how insightful that man was.

 

[FJBSJ]

I would not agree with either of those, I can think of 5 people I know personally that once considered themselves to be homosexual, but have switched back to hetero, 4 are now married and have children and happy and content with their lives.

It is only modern theory that pedophilia cannot be cured, at one point, it was common belief that many other disorders were also incurable, I would say we do not yet know how to effectively treat or cure instead.

Pedophilia can most definitely be cured. A man is not bound by the fate of his genetic material. Environmental conditions play a much larger part in this.

I am not a proponent of forced “Conversion Therapy” for Homosexual Tendencies. We have to show the individual the Beauty of Marriage between a man and a woman. We have to show the individual the value of the Blessing of children. The one thing we must not do is treat them without respect. If we do that, they will go further away from the Church, not closer to it.

 

[commenter]

There is strong scriptural support for married clergy in 1 Timothy ch: 3, so strong if read literally could be taken that you can’t be a bishop or deacon if you are not married. Now I don’t take it that way, but just for reference that’s what it is.

Now what does Paul say in 1 Cor 7:2!!!

“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”

That pretty much answers things. To avoid sexual temptation - have a spouse!

If we follow scripture there can be, and should be, a married clergy. There is in Eastern Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox already. Look at Old Testament priests that offered sacrifice. These priests were almost always married and had children. In fact, they needed to have children to perpetuate the priesthood, as only the sons of Aaron could be priests.

Top it off - the idea of celibate clergy was not made for centuries after the early Church. There are probably tons of married men that were clergy for centuries. The more I look at it, the more of a wrong turn it looks like.

The Church was a thousand years old before it definitively took a stand in favor of celibacy in the twelfth century at the Second Lateran Council held in 1139, when a rule was approved forbidding priests to marry. What followed?? One of the darkest periods of Church history - coincidence?

Will it fix the problem of messed up people, no. Is it a step in the right direction - God’s Word says so.

Celibacy was part of the life of some “clergy types” in the Old Testament, including some with charism of prophet. It was also part of the charism of the Jewish men who wrote the Dead Sea scrolls (Essenes). It was also part of the early Church, including St. Paul, who counselled celibacy for some. There was celibacy for hermits, for instance, and later for monks, both of whom included clergy.

Even if it was not a universal in the early Latin Church, it always was a value. Later the Latin Church decided this ancient discipline should be universal. The Eastern Catholics and Orthodox are themselves not that far from it, in mandating celibacy for all priests whose wife dies. They also mandate celibacy for all men and women in religious orders, and for bishops.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I would not agree with either of those, I can think of 5 people I know personally that once considered themselves to be homosexual, but have switched back to hetero, 4 are now married and have children and happy and content with their lives.

Some people have a fluid sexuality and are able to have successful romantic/ sexual relationships with people of both genders, or they go through a period of experimentation before settling down in a traditional male-female relationship. I too know people who had gay relationships and later got married to an opposite sex partner and had children and a happy life.

However, I also know plenty of people who are only attracted sexually to one gender. You should not assume that everyone is capable of just making the switch, as for some it is very easy and natural and for others it is a very difficult, perhaps insurmountable, obstacle.

Also, unless a relationship is your own, you have no idea what is going on privately between two people or what sort of private, personal agreement they have made in their marriage. In some cases people of the opposite sex choose to marry with the full knowledge that one person is actually gay, and make some accommodation or allowance for that which they do not share with the world.

 

[edwest2]

The time on the clock or year does not change anything. Only people change things. And before they are priests or husbands, a screening process needs to be there. For men and women, it’s called friendship, followed by earned trust, followed by finding out if the two of you are compatible. As one Catholic seminary director said, “We’re not looking for quantity. We’re looking for quality.”

So casual sex has been promoted for so long and those who oppose it, shouted down for so long, that it helped? Helped what? The CDC is telling people there is an STD crisis going on in America right now, but pick up a steamy book or watch a TV show or most movies, and it’s become a non-issue. Why? People spent a lot of time making it appear “normal.”

Priestly celibacy is not time-based, it is based on sound teaching.

The first sentence in the following captures the issue in its right context and builds from there.

w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_24061967_sacerdotalis.html

Ed

 

[pianistclare]

The time on the clock or year does not change anything. Only people change things. And before they are priests or husbands, a screening process needs to be there. For men and women, it’s called friendship, followed by earned trust, followed by finding out if the two of you are compatible. As one Catholic seminary director said, “We’re not looking for quantity. We’re looking for quality.”

So casual sex has been promoted for so long and those who oppose it, shouted down for so long, that it helped? Helped what? The CDC is telling people there is an STD crisis going on in America right now, but pick up a steamy book or watch a TV show or most movies, and it’s become a non-issue. Why? People spent a lot of time making it appear “normal.”

Priestly celibacy is not time-based, it is based on sound teaching.

The first sentence in the following captures the issue in its right context and builds from there.

w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_24061967_sacerdotalis.html

Ed

Amen.
I don’t see what’s so hard to accept.