Why do catholic priests take the vow of chastity?

Question

when did this tradition start?

When did this start? Why do nuns do too? Are anglican ministers celibate as well?

Answer 1

Celibacy became "official" for the entire Latin Rite priesthood around 800 years ago.

Many priests, though, had practiced celibacy long before it became "official."

The Church asks priests to live in chaste celibacy so that they can totally dedicate themselves to God's work -- without the demands and distractions of married life and family life.

It also asks priests to live in chaste celibacy in order to live more like Jesus -- as well as to live more like most of the early apostles, including St. Paul.

Paul wrote extensively in the New Testament about the advantages of remaining single for the sake of the Kingdom.

Jesus, for that matter, also extolled the virtues of God-centered celibacy -- for those who were willing to accept it.

Neither Jesus nor St. Paul did any of this to demean marriage. Far from it ... but they recognized chaste celibacy for priests as a special vocation.

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Answer 2

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 3

Hi Charlie,

The issue of celibacy became a big issue in the middle ages because married priests were having children and leaving church properties to their offspring. The confusion over ownership was harming the finances of the chuch. The crisis reached boiling point in 1074 when Pope Gregory VII issued an edict mandating celibacy.

Many are going to tell you it was for spiritual reasons; but if you look at the issue dispassionately, and examine the facts head-on, it was all about money.

No. Anglican clergy are free to marry. There are no restrictions.
Hope this answer helps. Cheers, mate.

Answer 4

compared to three consisting of you i in my opinion study the object. he's taking a room in a 33 room living house progression with a chapel and a 100 and fifty seat auditorium. some cranky previous disgruntled ex-Catholic priest foaming on the mouth on the seen the Catholic Church anticipated the entire living house fee that a lot. notwithstanding he also made countless different genuine mistakes and that fee replaced into disputed so until eventually you are able to provide some credible data there is not something to communicate. The priest in question is feasible nonetheless sore because the Australian Bishops did not make a fuss at the same time as the Pope sacked an Australian Bishop who rejected a key Catholic doctrine publically and thumbed his nostril at Cardinal Arinze at the same time as he replaced into summoned to Rome about it. he's very few growing older spirit of Vatican II revolt drawing near the fringe of the right and realising that he his ilk did not deal with to get the gates of hell to be triumphant adverse to the Catholic Church. It should be very complicated.

Answer 5

No, Anglican Ministers aren't required to take a vow of chastity, although they are expected to be faithful to their wife.

Answer 6

In the Catholic Church, chastity is understood as "abstention from unlawful sexual intercourse" and "purity in conduct and intention" (Merriam-Webster). EVERYONE -- married, unmarried, clergy, laity, etc. -- is called to chastity. Celibacy, on the other hand, is "the state of not being married" (MW again). Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic Church DOES have some married priests, and many married deacons. However, the Catholic Church wants at least some priests who are unmarried, because as St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:32-34, "The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided." Thus, the Church selects some men for ordination from among those who wish to be "eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven", as Jesus said in Matthew 19:12.

>>Why do nuns do too?<<

St. Paul also wrote, "the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband." (1 Corinthians 7: 34). Sisters (nuns are sisters that are cloistered) are women who voluntarily renounce marriage so they are free to devote their lives to completely serving the Lord.

Answer 7

The chastity of a priest is actually a sin. Per the new testiment the bishop is to be married and the husband of one wife and not given to drunkedness ect a man of good report.
The catholic church used the chastity of a priest to promote his being holy, Yeat the aspostle did not teach so and many of them had wives. And all the priest of levi married and had children. And the prophets were married and had children. God established marriage. The catholic church is trying to make a popal class that looks holy. If you do not have chastity then you can't claim divinity and the popal teaching all falls apart. So instead of promoting a church as the Bible states they promote the Papal Super Holy Chruch of pagan worship and Holy Priest. Actually the sins of the catholic church are very evident, such as promoting homosexual conduct of the priest, covering that up at all cost and then actually having to pay for there sin pubilicly. It is one thing to claim being holy but in the case of the catholic church they are flaming sinners and pervert all forms of truth.
God has not given us the Catholic church, it is actually 100 percent in error. That is why God has called his people out of it.
Because he is goign to Judge it and cast it and its followers into sheol. The catholic church is the church that sets on many waters in the book of revelation.
Here is a interesting thing, can a priest who is not married nor been married minister to married folks. Can he speak to them about the matters of the marriage, or the hard times or the good times or about raising children, he has not knowedge of real life and he can't bear there sorrows because he has no common reference. So he is not going to be able to even understand the suffering of the people. In other words he is not really a minister.

Answer 8

Some people say that the early Catholic forbad married priests because they did not want the priests' children to inherit their wealth.

Answer 9

Because they are hypocrites.

About chastity in Catholic Church, visit the link below

Answer 10

I don't recall the year ( I'm not going to do your resaearch for you) but it has to do with property law in medieval europe. If a preiest left family then their property would pass to the family and if they didn't it could escheat to the church.
Nothing religious in it, just simple economics.