Wow..... I can only hope this isn’t true

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No where is scripture does it say Peter was a widower. Scripture is not concerned with minutia like who did or didn’t minister to Jesus. That’s totally irrelevant.
 
But when does it stop being Catholic? I’m not saying I know when that is… I just see what has happened to the Protestant churches I grew up in, and the changes 50 years ago have led to the acceptance of all sorts of things that the church condemns. Homosexuality, abortion, contraception… etc…
 
C.Ray said:
The former isn’t permitted, either in the East or the West.
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The general rule might be that a priest should not marry after ordination, but
I thought that there were exceptions to the general rule in the Greek Orthodox Church and that it has even occurred very infrequently in the Roman Catholic Churches although perhaps under secrecy or other restricted conditions.
 
ConcernedConvert said:
Where would the line in the sand be for those who think opening the door ( or at least opening the door further) for eliminating the celibacy requirement be?
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It’s not my place to draw any lines…with that being said I would be deeply troubled by religious orders (Benedictines, Dominicans etc allowing married priests…Married priest could potentially be involved as something like in a third order just like lay people in these orders). I would find a change in the rule that allows ordained priests to be marry to be deeply troubling. These types of things aren’t even remotely close to being on the table though.

Like I’ve said many times here I think allowing viri probati (i.e. older married men) to be ordained priests would be healthy and good not only in the Amazon, but in the US and Europe too.

I would struggle with ordaining 20 something married men anytime soon in the Latin Rite. I would deeply question need or wisdom of this.

These are just my opinions though.
 
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Small change here, small change there, next thing you know contraception, abortion, homosexuality, communism… all of these things that were firm (no’s) are now accepted among many of the mainline Protestant groups and several catholic individuals.
 
The difference is that Catholic teaching says that celibacy “is not demanded by the very nature of priesthood”. This is straight from Vatican II and has been echoed by several Popes. I just don’t see a slippery slope. It’s apples to eggs for me!
 
ConcernedConvert said:
Small change here, small change there, next thing you know contraception, abortion, homosexuality, communism… all of these things that were firm (no’s) are now accepted among many of the mainline Protestant groups and several catholic individuals.
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Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit will protect the Church from teaching error regarding faith and morals?
 
That’s not accurate. 1 Corinthians 9:5 (Douay):

[5] Have we not power to carry about a woman, a sister, as well as the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

[5] “A woman, a sister”: Some erroneous translators have corrupted this text by rendering it, a sister, a wife: whereas, it is certain, St. Paul had no wife (chap. 7 ver. 7, 8) and that he only speaks of such devout women, as, according to the custom of the Jewish nation, waited upon the preachers of the gospel, and supplied them with necessaries.
 
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ConcernedConvert said:
Where would the line in the sand be for those who think opening the door ( or at least opening the door further) for eliminating the celibacy requirement be? What church discipline or teaching being changed would finally cross the line for you?
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To “much” better answer this question there was a recent blog post from father Longenecker, a married Catholic priest, that directly addresses some of these questions. It is worth a read, and Fr. Longenecker can certainly say things better than I can…

From the article…
Some years ago I was in discussion with a progressive religious publisher about writing a book on the subject of married priests. So I set out what I thought was a pretty good proposal for a book in which I considered the arguments on both sides both theological and practical. My conclusion was going to be that we should retain the status quo, but it mightn’t be a bad idea to open up to the ordination of older married men in some circumstances. The book proposal was rejected. They didn’t want a balanced study with a common sense conclusion. They wanted a progressive tract pushing for the abolition of priestly celibacy. One of the decision makers revealed his hand over lunch when he said, “And after we get married priests, women priests and gay marriage…”
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dwightlongenecker.com

A Married Priest on Celibacy | Fr. Dwight Longenecker

The topic of celibacy of priests is once again a hot news item, and it seems a great shame that so many on both sides of the progressive-conservative . divide within Catholicism have fallen into their expected tribal positions and have spent so much time getting themselves worked up over whether...
dwightlongenecker.com dwightlongenecker.com
 
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I absolutely do! But that doesn’t mean popes or individuals won’t make errors in certain moments throughout history. There was a time when several church leaders agreed on a major heresy (Arianism). This was corrected thankfully. Several things do not get corrected until after the fact.
 
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