Should Catholic Priests get married? There is no harm in this.?

Answer 1

The celibate clergy did not come into full bloom until about 1000 A.D. There were many married priests, bishops, and popes before this time.

First, Judeo-Christian tradition has always held that single people be celibate. This is taught by Judaism and Christianity from before the Scriptures were written down.

The question should be: Why can't priests marry?

This idea of a celibate clergy came from the Jews, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.

The Jews. The Talmud argues that a person whose “soul is bound up with the Torah and is constantly occupied with it” may remain celibate (Maimonides, Laws of Marriage 15.3). For example, Yahweh ordered the prophet Jeremiah not to marry (Jeremiah 16:1-4). Moreover, the Essenes was a group that was active in Jesus’ time that practiced celibacy and thought by most scholars to be the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

WWJD? What would Jesus do? Jesus did not marry.

John the Baptist and Jesus are both believed to have been celibate for their entire lives. Some scholars believe that the example of the Essenes influenced either or both Jesus and John the Baptist in their celibacy.

The Apostle Paul is explicit about his celibacy (see 1 Cor. 7). There is also evidence in the gospel of Matthew for the practice of celibacy among at least some early Christians, in the famous passage about becoming “eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12).

The concept took many twists and turns over the years and will probably take a few more before Christ returns in glory.

A priest is "married" to the Church. Some people think that a priest who takes his duties seriously cannot take proper care of a wife and family. "A man cannot serve two masters."

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

You assume their is no harm in it. You don't know it. The ordaining of a priest is, in a theological sense, a marriage. The priest becomes married to his parish, and those pay Catholics that make up this parish effectively become his children in Christ.

Let me ask you this - are you married? If not, then you need to wait until you are before you make this challenge again. If you are married, then you are aware of the time and energy it takes to do your part in providing for your family. A priest must provide spiritually, for hundreds, even thousands, of people. This requires a priest's 27/7/365 commitment. This is a daunting task. Imagine how much more difficult it would be if this priest also had to juggle all this in addition to his own personal family.

Great harm can be down to the individual as well as the Church if priests were allowed to marry.

You should know that, while a priest cannot marry once he has been ordained, an already married man can receive ordination to the priesthood. You might be thinking, "if that is true, why aren't there more married men becoming priests?"

The fact there are very few proves what I just said - the toll of an individual taking on both marriage and ordination is a liability to the Church, not an assett.

Answer 3

Anti-Catholics will be rather happy to see that Catholic priest remain celibates, because it is this celibacy that will ultimately bring an end to Catholic sect.
It was the Catholic hierarchy that separated spirituality from common man's life by making the priests a different lot. It was working extremely well during the medieval period, but that was the golden era of the Catholic sect. Since then, these priests were poaching on ever vulnerable children for their passion and were thus demeaning the religion they belonged to. There is no any dearth of paedophiles even after these cases came to light.
Catholic sect is as good as any other religion, if not the best. But it seems that it is on the verge of extinction because of these paedophiles.

Answer 4

People tend to ignore the reasons why priests are not allowed to marry. Forget the debate regarding the marital status of Jesus but most of the disciples were married. It was very typical at the time for men to have families. In fact it was unusual for a man to not marry. In the early church many women were considered leaders of the church. Remember that Christians started out as a Jewish sect. Christians would worship at synagogue then meet at another Christian's home to celebrate the Eucharist. Because of this the role of "priest" often fell on the women of the house that prepared the bread. When Christianity split from Judaism there was more interaction with gentiles. During this time women were not dealt with professionally so the role of "priest" began to exclude women. In the early church (around 2 a.d.) there was fear that the church would become a monarchy with the role of pope being handed down from father to son. It was at this time that the church made the rule that priest could not marry. This made it impossible for any pope to have a legitimate heir. So in answer to your question yes priests should be able to marry. It really has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus just the politics of the church. I also believe that women should be able to be priests for the same reason.

Answer 5

Do you mean "Roman" Catholic? I'm a Catholic Priest, and I'm married.

If that's what you mean, then I think that they should. St. Paul said that "each man should have his own wife..." - and he was writing to clergy, too!

Celibacy is a gift. But it's not for everybody. Ministry is a gift...but keeping celibate should not be a requirement. That idea did not come to the Roman Communion until the 11th Century. Many good men with a vocation to ministry do not have the gift of celibacy- and many good men miss out on the chance to be good priests.

I know if I was Roman Catholic, I could have never been a Priest. I love God...and I love my wife. Those gifts are not mutually exclusive.

It's probably not going to change in my lifetime, though.

Answer 6

I don't see a problem with married priests. In fact, I'm a Gnostic Priest and am divorced (was married for 16 years).
Since the Catholic church believes that Peter was the first Pope and he was married, I don't see why it would be an issue. It is obvious he was married because in the New Testament it mentions Peter's mother-in-law.

But... if the church wants to keep priests from marrying... I guess that is their choice.

Answer 7

A priest is already married to his job. He has a higher calling and serves the Lord. If he had a wife, then she would take away from his calling by demanding more of his time. A priest has no time for a family outside of the church. He is always on call to those in his parish.

And for those idiots who like to assume that being unmarried means that they are child molestors, what about all the married perverts out there? Obviously saying vows and taking a spouse doesn't stop anyone from raping a child, so you stop your hateful bile towards my church!

Answer 8

Rather than have Catholic priests marry, it should be required that only married men can study for the priesthood. A celibate clergy is unnatural, unscriptural, and tends to attract sexually unhealthy men to the priesthood, who think that making a commitment to celibacy is the solution to their problem. It doesn't work that way.

Answer 9

Ive always felt that not allowing priests to marry was a big doctrinal blunder on the part of Catholicism and behold all the sex scandals that have resulted from it!

Answer 10

The Bible says that man should get married if they want to. Which means that Priest should marry if they want to .