Why or why not?
2007-01-16 09:11:03 · 17 answers · asked by PrettyWifey 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic Church DOES have some married priests. 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 CHOOSE to be "eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven", as Jesus said in Matthew 19:12.
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 CHOOSE to renounce marriage so they are free to devote their lives to completely serving the Lord.
2007-01-16 09:24:44 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many are married - so many, in fact, that some estimates place their number at around 20% of all Roman Catholic priests in the world. This would mean that 20% of all Roman Catholic priests are officially and legally married, even though celibacy continues to be a requirement.
I am a Catholic and I think they should be allowed to get married.
God Bless You
2007-01-16 09:16:56 · answer #2 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Did you ever wonder why it is that they don't? I am sure that experience has shown that for people in those roles, it is easier to not be married.
What you probably don't know is that there are married priests. There are priests who are former Anglican priests, who were married. When they converted to the Catholic faith, their wife came along. Also, some of the Eastern Rite Catholic priests are allow to marry. I believe that they cannot become bishops, however.
Marriage is not for everyone. Just like the priesthood.
2007-01-16 09:19:27 · answer #3 · answered by iraqisax 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Orthodox and protestant priests marry, so I can't see why Catholic priests shouldn't. As for nuns and monks, they should not marry, because being a nun or monk means giving up to the world and living your life in Christ, by resisting all of the temptations of the flesh.
2007-01-16 09:17:24 · answer #4 · answered by Ana 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Peace!
This a personal opinion only. I think the Catholic Church would do well if it followed the Orthodox Church on this issue. Priests are made to choose before they are ordained if they want to get married or not. They can still be ordained as priests after they are married, but if a candidate for ordination chooses to lead a celibate life and then decides to get married after he is ordained, he has to leave the priesthood.
I have not heard of scandals involving priests of the Orthodox Church.
2007-01-16 09:27:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think to become a priest or nun they take a vowe of celebasy it is ok if they are not living in the compunity but yes I think priests should take a wife and have a normal family life that way they would understand the congragation better.
2007-01-16 09:15:38 · answer #6 · answered by Mim 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, celibacy is not for everyone. The Bible says nothing about priests needing to be celibate or unmarried. The catholic church has been inundated with pedophile priests and maybe allowing them to marry would prevent those temptations.
2007-01-16 09:18:30 · answer #7 · answered by SunFun 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes.
Celibacy may be a spiritual commitment that some people feel drawn to, but it should not be a requirement in order to have a rleigious vocation.
It used to be that you inherited your vocation from your father--if he was a farmer, you were a farmer. The same applied to priests. Likewise, at this time, the church exercised a lot of power, and priests had access to much wealth. As the "business" ran in the family, clergy privilege was held only by certain families. As you might imagine, corruption ran rampant.
Celibacy was seen as a way of correcting this corruption--only the truly called would accept, and the priesthood would no longer be inherited by unwilling, uninterested, or incompetent people.
Unfortunately, Celibacy has also nurtured centuries of terrible attitudes toward sexuality, women, and placed people who know very little (experientially--not talking about doctrinal knowledge) about relationships and the complications of sexual relationships in charge of making religious and doctrinal judgements about those very things.
2007-01-16 09:19:09 · answer #8 · answered by carwheelsongravel1975 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I do not want to see an organizational culture which states that those who practice celibacy are somehow above or more spiritually advanced than those who do not.
Yes, I feel that priests need to be able to marry. These men are only human and allowing them to marry woul probably eliminate the number of cases of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
2007-01-17 12:06:54 · answer #9 · answered by House Speaker 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Pastor Billy says: no priest or nun is not allowed to not marry simply because they themselves decide on becoming one and accepting the vow of celibacy. Please disregard the JW person answering this question why does he/she really care anyway as you can see that person is using fear and misinformation which is slanderous behavior. Celibacy is not forced as it is entered into because the person who becomes that nun or priest accept the calling of holy orders. For Catholics being a nun or priest is not a job or vocation it is a calling they don't contemplate creating some sort of family business when answering the call, besides they are married in a way, nuns to Jesus and priests to the Church.
My question to you is this if marriage is optimal in your opinion for priests and nun than why is it outside of the Church that the highest rate of divorce in society is amongst police officers and............Protestant clergy?
Edit#1 House Speaker the question is are you for real? You claim to be a church of one person why do you care about the structure, protocal, disciplines and finally dogma of Catholic Christianity. Based on your self-proclaimation in your profile I don't see your church expanding anytime soon. The question remains if marriage is the overall answer for clergy problems than why is there a greater percent of crimes amongst Protestant clergy see:
http://www.reformation.com , http://www.catholicleague.org/research/abuse_in_social_context.htm
and why is the percentage of divorce the hightest with Protestant clergy when compared to the rest of society?
2007-01-17 09:44:09 · answer #10 · answered by Pastor Billy 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋