Should priests marry

[oldjones]

It's not only married priests from other denominations that the church welcomes. Ukrainian Catholics have always had a married priesthood. As I understand it, a married man can be ordained a priest and many have been over the centuries, but a single man, once ordained, cannot then marry.

Inconsistancies in any rule or practice always make one question its underlying rationale and validity.

 

[Bud Plug]

Everyone's overlooking the obvious solution. Priests should not be allowed to marry. That would potentially remove wealth from the church. However, they should be allowed to have sexual relations with women as well as father bastard children.

Problem solved.

p.s. I think the same restrictions should apply to every man!

 

[auto doctor]

Ahhh.......can Priests be sperm donners?? Has anyone asked the Pope this?

 

[booboobear]

I'm not Catholic, heck I'm not even Christian but my faith shares similar beliefs. I personally believe that God made us with desires and one of those desires is to be with women.

To me, it doesn't make sense that God would create you with desires and ask you to suppress what he gave you in order to worship him.

This is exactly what I think . Priests are men are they supposed to pretend they are not attracted to the opposite sex when God put that instinct in man.

 

[TheNiteHwk]

Allowing them to be sperm donors would only cost a lot more money in the long run. All those extra benifits the church would have to pay out for the many priests that would be going blind. (from excessive masterbation) For this reason I am sure it is not and will not ever be allowed.

 

[auto doctor]

Catholic Church is having a hard time finding new Priest. Maybe if they donated sperm for this cause they would have a new source of Priests without breaking the rules?? .**i'm trying not to LOL**

 

[thecoolguyms72]

Who appointed you Pope?

I believe he was replying in response to my first post in this thread, but I could be wrong.

Property rights is the silliest thing I have ever heard as an excuse for not marrying. Have they not heard of a pre-nup? I don't know, nor will I pretend to know the inner workings of how a priest is legally and monetarily tied to the church, but in today's world and the legalities that exist, I'm quite certain this fact of property rights and wealth leaving the church because of bastard children and greedy wives can be taken care of contractually. They spend enough money on lawyers to pay off families of altar boys that have been molested, why not keep those lawyers on staff and fix the root cause of the some of the other problems with the church.

I believe, and let me say that this is my opinion and not to be misconstrued as the absolute and only truth possible, that the church is struggling so hard at not losing its convictions and beliefs, yet still wants to attract more people to their teachings, that it runs in the opposite direction when challenged to change to fit the times. It's their way of saying, these are our beliefs and no matter how ridiculous and outdated they are we are going to cling to them until our death so if you don't like it, too fucking bad, but please, please join our church and put money in the offertory to keep us afloat. It's the struggle to continue as a relevant force without compromising your core beliefs that clouds the issue when it comes to non-core issues like priests marrying and such. Now, in other areas such as abortion and such, I have no problem with them sticking to their guns, regardless of whether I disagree with them. But when they stick to their guns in what in my opinion is a non-issue like marriage of the clergy when the only viable reason has to do with property rights, then I begin to wonder about the wisdom of the leadership of the church.

I could go on, but no one has answered my previous inquiries about why giving up everything makes you a better servant to god and/or the congregation of the church, so I doubt anyone will answer why property rights and church losing wealth is a viable reason for not letting priests get married.

 

[thecoolguyms72]

Please refer to my earlier post where I give a link to a very detailed
review of the history of this issue. There's no one clear reason why
the policy was adopted in the 11th and 12th Centuries. When dealing
with Roman Church history you must be sensitive to the fact you're
dealing with an institution that's been around in one form or another
for almost 2,000 years.

'A page of history is worth a volumn of logic.' Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

When dealing with the Roman Church this quote takes on even more significance.
All of our logic and reason in the 21st Century won't fathom or explain what
came before.

Don

Right, but I don't see how that answers or addresses the points and questions I raised. I have read the history on that, but it still doesn't mean things must stay stagnant forever when there is little logic to it. I do like your quote from OWH Jr. as it certainly is the truth with many people. It's the same as the gay marriage issue......the only real arguments I ever get is, "That's the way it's been for a long time, and that's the way it should be regardless of how much logic you throw at me."

This is also my reasoning for thinking this is a terrible selection for a Pope, and the reasoning is even worse. A "status quo" pope, as everyone is labelling Benny XVI is the last thing the church or any political organization needs. At this time in history, we needed a pope that would be willing to and able to bring people together rather than be divisive. It does remain to be seen what kind of pope he will be, but I don't have my hopes up.

I guess it pains me as someone that was always told that I'm RC, even though I'm atheist, when I see an organization that has been around for such a long time and could do very good things in the greater sense just drop the ball and go with the status quo because it's safe. This happens all the time with corporations, religions and empires. Once you are one of the biggest, why continue to do the things that got you their in the first place. And from the biblical stories one is told about Jesus and his core teachings, you would think the church would concentrate on that rather than the useless items like priests getting married.

Again, I've yet to hear a good reason, and still wait.

 

[Tick]

One of the revisionist views I read on why Priests/Nuns could not marry was because the church would assign them to a community, and it would be the responsibility of the community, to the church, to provide lodging and support the Priest/Nuns in question.

Priests and Nuns take vows, that while they do not always dictate poverty, do dictate a meager lifestyle befitting their station (Yeah, I know that's a loaded statement). A theory is that the church basically outlawed marrying among the clergy because the communities that were to support the clergy could not, or would not, support a priest who has a constantly growing family that constantly demands more resources from the community.

 

[thecoolguyms72]

One of the revisionist views I read on why Priests/Nuns could not marry was because the church would assign them to a community, and it would be the responsibility of the community, to the church, to provide lodging and support the Priest/Nuns in question.

Priests and Nuns take vows, that while they do not always dictate poverty, do dictate a meager lifestyle befitting their station (Yeah, I know that's a loaded statement). A theory is that the church basically outlawed marrying among the clergy because the communities that were to support the clergy could not, or would not, support a priest who has a constantly growing family that constantly demands more resources from the community.

Again, is that the way it IS or WAS?

I don't think people are getting the question at all. The question isn't why did the RC Church start to not allow priests to marry, but rather, should they allow them from here on out and why or why not? We are getting all kinds of historical representations as to why it isn't happening, but not one answer as to why it should or shouldn't from here on out. I don't believe there is any community that has to support the local clergy anymore so this reasoning you give means little to the question at hand. With the RC Church being one of the wealthiest organizations world wide, I would hardly think this is of any real concern, other than if they are cheap.

Whether we like it or not, being a priest is a job as much as anyone else has a career. Sure, it takes a special person with great faith, etc. I'm not going to even argue about that, but regardless, this person must be able to afford to live financially speaking and should be able to. Now, if he decides to shack up and multiply like rabbits, he must make do with what he gets, just as we all do.

Again, I don't mean to steal this thread from the person that started it, but no more historical accounts of why priests don't marry unless you can give good reason why they shouldn't going forward. Otherwise we are going to hear more goofy stories akin to someone eating the pope's genitals like in other threads on here.

 

[great bear]

I knew two priests that got married. They both got nun.

 

[great bear]

I'm presuming they were Greek Orthodox!
[I don't want to goooo any further on that one]

Then there was the story about the two priests eating a turkey dinner. They both fought over the pope's nose.

 

[booboobear]

Again, is that the way it IS or WAS?




Again, I don't mean to steal this thread from the person that started it, but no more historical accounts of why priests don't marry unless you can give good reason why they shouldn't going forward. Otherwise we are going to hear more goofy stories akin to someone eating the pope's genitals like in other threads on here.

Well I started the thread and I welcome your input. I agree I wanted opinions as to why priests should or should not marry not so much why they don't now. The reasons why they currently don't though are interesting , it's funny how money plays a part. I also feel , to go a step further, that the fact the Church does not allow mariage tends to sometimes attract people who are a little strange to the priesthood because I don't think it's natural. Anybody care to comment. I feel if marriage was allowed it would attract more normal and better priests.

 

[y2kmark]

Dq

Who appointed you Pope?

We're all anonymous here, how do you know Papasmurf isn't the newly elected Bennie XVI?

 

[Goober Mcfly]

We're all anonymous here, how do you know Papasmurf isn't the newly elected Bennie XVI?

I think Pope Benedict can spell.

</sorry papasmerf>

 

[y2kmark]

Oh, and my 2 cents...

Priests shouldn't have to get married unless their girlfriends get pregnant!!

 

[y2kmark]

Aw Shucks...

I think Pope Benedict can spell.

</sorry papasmerf>

Guess I'll never be pope, then.

 

[Pope Benedict XVI]

Priests cannot marry. Not on my watch.

 

[Don]

Honestly I don't understand the whole debate. Looks like in Catholicism, celibacy has been around for awhile. If people don't agree with the teachings of the Church, why not leave? I grew up in a somewhat Catholic environment and as I got older, I realized that I did not agree with it and decided to leave the faith and never looked back. Religion is based on blind faith and with Catholics, the Pope is the leader and God's rep. on earth. So how can you argue with the Pope if according to your beliefs he knows best?

I think people are having a hard time letting go because it is so ingrained in them being part of the Catholic faith.

 

[WhaWhaWha]

A Rabbi and a Priest are riding together on the train. After some time the Priest turns to the Rabbi and asks, "Rabbi, have you ever eaten ham?"

The Rabbi replies, "No, I'm proud to say I never have"

Some time later, the Rabbi turned to the Priest and asked, "Have you ever made love to a woman?"

The Priest replies, "No, I can honestly say that I've resisted the temptation."

"So," said the Rabbi, "you should try it, it's a lot better than ham!"