I thought priests weren't supposed to be sexual, hetero or not. Are there some things that priests can do that are related to sexuality and only hetero sexuality?
2006-12-03 04:21:50 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There is often confusion regarding the Catholic Church's view towards sex and the priesthood.
Holy Orders in the Catholic Church (becoming a priest for instance) mandates that a man must remain celibate. Celibate means not being married. In Catholic teaching, one is expected to be chaste. For married people chaste means only having sex with one's spouse. For unmarried people, it means not having sex at all (abstinence). So a priest is required to not marry (via Holy Orders) and to abstain from sex (chaste).
Interestingly, US Catholic Bishops recently argued that the Church should accept homosexuals in the Church so long as they did not engage in homosexual acts.
2006-12-03 04:39:48 · answer #1 · answered by sothere! 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Catholic priests are supposed to avoid any sexual relations, hetero or homosexuals. But, though they make that vow when receiving the orders, they are also human beings, and as such they are tempted by the very same things than the rest of men.
However, as additionally, the Catholic Church (and I think that all Christian Churches in general) do not accept homosexuality, the Vatican has deemed it necessary to stress the importance of the sin of homosexuality and/or pederasty as compared to the sin of heterosexuality.
But it does not mean that priests are tolerated this last sin either.
Curious98
2006-12-03 04:30:59 · answer #2 · answered by curious98 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's sad that the Church has been backed into a corner by the media over the sexual abuses and under pressure, the Church came out with this stance on gay priests. I don't think that the Church should care about what the media says especially if it is going to produce something like this.
2006-12-03 10:51:16 · answer #3 · answered by the_alliance47 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably because the Bible says it is abomination before God.
Even though I don't agree with the Catholic church,for I am a protestant.People say that only the Old Testament goes against this stuff.Read the first chapter of Romans in the New Testament.
2006-12-03 04:43:11 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think they are simply trying to establish that they feel strongly about homosexuality. In all honesty I think they would be better served to not expect their clergy to be sexless. Perhaps if the preists were allowed to marry and have normal sexual relations they would not be so prone to prey on what they have at their disposal. it is not normal for someone to go through life without a mate, whether there is more involved than hugging and touching contact or all out intercourse. People need that human connection. It is part of our genetic make up.
2006-12-03 04:26:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
priests are human as anyone else and are subject to the same feelings as others, but I gotta admire their courage in staying celibate it is a lot more difficult in todays sex ridden world.
also a lot of homosexual men came into the Priestly life to deny their homosexuality and failed, while some used the Priesthood as a means to hide away.
the vast majority of Catholic Priests are good and honest men.
2006-12-03 04:27:55 · answer #6 · answered by Sentinel 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's proobally if they associate themselves with being gay. It doesn't take sexual acts to know your straight you just get feelings and you accept them right, so i think it's the same thing with gays.
2006-12-03 04:25:36 · answer #7 · answered by Borinke 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Exactly. Why should they mention their sexual preference if they were not planning to have sex after their vow of chastity?
2006-12-03 04:30:26 · answer #8 · answered by big j 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋