Vatican Reaffirms Celibacy for Priests

[MrS]

I honestly just don’t get forced celibacy, let the priest choose it if he wants to remain unmarried. But I can’t understand any good reasoning why priests can’t be married. The fact that there ARE married Catholic priests in the East seems to throw a wrench in most explanations because it would outright contradict the whole “bride of Christ” reasoning.

Let them marry what’s the big deal? They married for one thousands years before this law was made iron clad. If you want to get back to the ancient church then married Bishops and priests shouldn’t be a big deal at all.

That’s okay if you don’t get it.

A man enters the seminary knowing full well he will have to accept a single life, married only to the church. It will become his full time, all consuming life. He is not forced.

As an experiment… try to consider yourself (if you are now married) obligated to be of service 24/7 to an average parish. Which will come first… your spiritual children or your physical children… your physical spouse, or your marriage to the church.

Or… if your boss decided to work you whenever he wanted, day or night, every day. You might object, saying no because you have a life. A priest does not have that option. He is a priest for life…

I have a good pastor… and I get figitty(?) if he is even gone for a week.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

It is important to note that there are active married priests in the Catholic Church. The Holy See has approved many priests to be ordained using a “Pastoral Provision Decision” which permits the local ordinary to ordain former Anglican Clergy without forcing them to give up their wife. I have seen this decision extended to a Lutheran Pastor before, as well.

However, there is a very important element to consider. When you enter the seminary, you do so knowing that you are expected to remain celibate for the rest of your life. You generally have between 6 and 10 years of formation to discern your vocation.

Major seminary is 4 to 5 years depending on the diocese in the Latin Catholic Church. Not every diocesan candidate has to attend a minor seminary.

But you are wrong here as what you state only goes for the Latin Catholic Church. The Byzantine Catholic Church actually has a couple of married seminarians.

The Byzantine Catholic Churches can and do ordain married men to the priesthood.

In the case of Religious Priests, before you are even ordained to the diaconate, you profess perpetual vows of obedience, chastity and poverty.

Yup, even religious priests in the Byzantine Church do so but keep in mind that some religious orders have different vows but in essence they cover these three things.

So, even if the Vatican does at some point say that the bishops can ordain married men (as they do with former Episcopal Priests) I cannot foresee a time when the Vatican will re-admit the priests who left to get married.

I believe this also but it is not just former Anglican/Episcopal priests that get ordained. I know of a case where an Assemblies of God minister who was married that convered with his congregation that was ordained.

 

[Lion_of_Narnia]

there is a married priest in phoenix AZ. i believe he was a anglican priest first then he converted and the bishop gave him a parish.

quote]

That may be the same priest who gave my Mom’s funeral mass

 

[aj830]

According to the story below, there are 100,000 priests (worldwide) that are currently married. All I can say is Whaaaaa?

I remember hearing the number of priest is around 400,000. It seems highly unlikely that 1 in 4 priests are married. Out of about 20 priests I have met not 1 has been married. I have met a priest whose wife died and he became a priest a few years later but even if they counted these odd statistics the number still seems way to high.