why do catholic priests take a vow of celebacy?

Question

i'm not catholic, so i don't know the rules all that well, but i'm not bashing anyone either. i just don't quite get it. i can see where a vow of celebacy might have a biblical basis- st paul wrote that he wished everyone could be like him, and not marry. i'm guessing that's not where the celebacy thing came from, since he also wrote that a bishop should be a man of one wife (you probably know those verses). is the vow of celebacy taken because that was the standard for rabbis and scribes during the time of Jesus? is this part of the tradition that st paul asked the church to uphold? this is the only reasonable explanation i can come up with. i suppose i could have searched my question, but hey, i like it this way. just trying to clear things up. thanks a lot.

anti-catholics, go away! somehow i knew you'd show up to disrespect the catholic church. how can you talk about your own mother like that?

Answer 1

No, it was something dreamed up by one of the popes around 390 AD. You know how infallible they are...not.

Answer 2

I think they should do a better background check. If you can't tell that some of these guys are a little off then you shouldn't be allowed to make decisions. For some Priests celibacy is good and for others it is not. I have always understood the catholic (universal) faith as holding onto the faith once delivered unto the saints and not making new laws in the dark ages. There is no reason for them to take a vow of celibacy. priests should be allowed to make an informed decision on whether to get married or not. There are both positives and negatives to being a married priest. But it is certainly ridiculous to require a man made vow of celibacy to be a Latin rite priest. Its better to marry then to burn with lust.

Answer 3

Priests, religious brothers and religious sisters (nuns) as part of their vocation choose not to marry following:
+ The practice recommended in the Bible
+ The example of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul.

+++ Scripture +++

In Matthew 19:12, Jesus says, "Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it."

In Matthew 19:29, Jesus says, "And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life."

Matthew 22:30 - Jesus explains, "At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven."

In 1 Corinthians 7:1, Paul writes, "It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman."

Then in 1 Corinthians 7:7, Paul says, "Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am."

In 1 Corinthians 7:27, Paul writes, "Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife."

In 1 Corinthians 7:32-33, Paul teaches, "I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife." And in verse 38, "So then, the one who marries his virgin does well; the one who does not marry her will do better."

Paul recommends celibacy for full time ministers in the Church so that they are able to focus entirely upon God and building up His kingdom. He “who refrains from marriage will do better.”

See also 1 Timothy 5:9-12, 2 Timothy 2:3-4, Revevation 14:4, Isaiah 56:3-7, and Jeremiah 16:1-4.

+++ Scriptural Examples +++

Biblical role models of a celibate clergy came from John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.

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.

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

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 4

It actually goes back to the founding of the early Monastaries right after the Fall of Rome.

At first the Monastaries were co-ed, but after a great many illegitimate births, they separated men from women. Men had Monastaries, women had Convents. So clearly, although there was not yet a RULE for celibacy, they were celibate. Slowly folks (and the people in the Monastaries themselves) came to have the view that this celibate life was more holy than normal married life. That is NOT the Roman Doctrine, by the way, but a widely held belief in the Roman church.

These Monastaries were the only places in the Christian world where anything like 'education' went on. The only literate people were people who came from the Monastary. So if a Bishop wanted a well educated Priest for a Parish, he had to get one from a Monastary. These Priests themselves--with their very high view of 'celibacy and chastity'--went on to become the next Bishops.....then Archbishops and Cardinals. So it was only a matter of time before they enacted their beliefs into Canon Law for the Roman church.

This was a process which took several centuries.......

Answer 5

I like the answer that ImCatholic2 gave. I only see one thing that most who are in favor of the Catholic Church practice of celibacy seemed to have overlooked is the practicality of celibacy.

Yes, you wish to be focused with your eyes, mind and heart towards God. To be focused on God and celibate means not to be in a position of choosing between your sick child or a dying individual wishing to receive his last rites at the other end of town. Or not to be worried about your wife and kids when in the trenchs tending to soldiers during wars. That's what we mean by being focused on God. When one is celibate your thoughts are on pleasing God, when married your thoughts are on pleasing your wife and kids. When married their are times when you'll end up having to choose between your family or a brother in Christ.

God Bless
Robin

Answer 6

Here is when enforced celibacy was started.

325 AD At the general council of Nice, 325, it was proposed indeed, probably by the Western bishop Hosius, to forbid entirely the marriage of priests; but the motion met with strong opposition, and was rejected.

385 AD In the West, the first prohibition of clerical marriage, which laid claim to universal ecclesiastical authority, proceeded in 385 from the Roman church in the form of a decretal letter of the bishop Siricius to Himerius, bishop of Tarragona in Spain.

1079 AD Celibacy enforced for priests, bishops, presbyters (Pope Gregory VII)

There is no Biblical support for celibacy for anyone other than by choice. Peter (whom the catholics claim was the first pope) was married. Bishops (defined as Elders or Pastors) MUST be married according to the Bible. Paul chose to remain celibate in order to devote his full attention to God and preaching.

Enforced celibacy among the catholic "leaders" is one of MANY man-made departures from the holy scriptures.

Answer 7

Back when the rule of Celibacy was invoked sometime in the 1000s it had nothing to do with Chastity and everything to do with Stuff and Marriage.
Priests were marrying and on their death all the stuff they'd gathered (including stuff they’d had left to them personally by grateful believers), including lands and buildings, got left to their wives and families.
The Holy Roman Catholic Church didn't like this so they banned marriage for their priests and then they were able to keep the stuff they thought was rightfully theirs.
I’m not sure but I’d guess that when the ‘no marriage for priests thingy’ was invoked priests also weren’t allowed to own anything which made them totally dependant on the church.
Cool, a?

Answer 8

If one is not married one should remain celibate be catholic or not. The rule about the priest etc.. was made by man not God. That is a Catholic tradition

Answer 9

Paul was unmarried. Peter was married. The Church selected celibacy for Priests so that they would be married to the Church, focused.

Answer 10

Originally Catholic priests were allowed to marry, but during the first millennium the Church decided it couldn't afford to support all the wives and children, so it decreed that priests would have to be celibate. I'm sure Biblical passages were also quoted to justify the decision. Those priests who were already married had to choose between their families and their careers. Many chose the former.

Answer 11

Because it is commonly believed Jesus did not marry and was "married" to the concept of God.

Jesus, however, admonished that "All Men should Marry"

That sounds pretty definate to me!

Once upon a time Catholic Priests could get married then some Pope said NO and they held with it, but some, like the Greek and Russians, split with the church over that issue and other issues.