Should Pope's and Priests be married?

[FreedomAngel82]

I'm not Catholic but I'm aware of all the melostation of the young boys. I was just talking with my mother about this and we think that the Pope and priests should be allowed to be married if they wish. In my church we have Elders and deacons and they're married and have families. There are some requirements of course that are Biblical to elect one. I was wondering what Catholics thought about this and if they should change a tradition.

[Burma Jones]

1. To Each Other??????

That would solve a lot of problems.........

[FreedomAngel82]

3. LOL no

If they meet someone and fall in love.

[enki23]

2. i don't think anyone's ever really considered that

.

[Rich Hunt]

4. yes, that's a great idea!

Because we all know that nothing prevents child abuse like marriage.

[chicagiana]

40. Yes, and nuns too.

In fact, priests marrying nuns is probably a pretty good solution. If Ratzinger is elected, it won't happen anytime soon (50 years AT LEAST).

BTW, word has it that if Ratzinger is selected, his papal name will be Claven I.

[mmonk]

5. I don't see why not

They used to be allowed to.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Really?

What made them change??

[mmonk]

26. Differing reasons have

been given. A local council decided for it in Spain in the year 300 A.D. and the overall Church in 1139 A.D.. Though most citing holy orders as conflicting with marriage, I suspect it had to do more with protecting assets.

[SoCalDem]

38. Land passed from father to son, and the church did not want

church assets leaving the church.. celibacy was the solution they came up with..It's celibacy in name only for most, I presume...but the custom continues..

Priests should be allowed to marry,or NOT..it should be their choice. They should be salaried employees like the reat of us, and if they choose to have a zillion kids, then they too, can apply for d=food stamps and assistance.

If the church did this, they would not have a shortage of priests, and the concentration of "weirdos" might be more dilute..

It takes a very "unusual" young man who would give up a very important part of life to become a "servant" to a bunch of older guys for so many years, in hopes of one day becoming one of them.. Not ALL are weirdos, but priesthood has always offered a sanctuary to some who have a perverted side to them, and they know they can "fly under the radar" in the priesthood.. look how many years it took to finally bring some of them to justice//

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

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[sui generis]

11. I think the idea behind celibacy in the clergy

is that in a world where faith is central to government, the power of the church can become inherited, and therefore diluted.

It's the church protecting itself from would-be holy monarchs and it is the monarchy protecting itself from competition; both ideas are a bit dated in the 21st century.

[radwriter0555]

22. No. The origins of church celibacy lay in property acquisition; members of

the church were marrying powerful families so that the church could acquire land and property; somewhere down the road it was banned so that the church's power could be somewhat restrained.

The alleged piousity that followed was just posing and posturing.

It's my understanding that the whole virgin Mary/virgin birth myth came about substantially later in the bible's on-going evolution as well... possibly only within the past 150 years.

[Kmarx]

34. Second Lateran Council

The Second Lateran Council in 1139 AD decreed that the marriage of priests was invalid. Prior to this clergymen were allowed to marry. Those who support celibacy forget that many of the apostles were married! Some believe that the idea of celibacy was based on economic gain, that is, the church would not need to support the families of priests and would inherit whatever the priest owned at his death. (This latter practice does not apply these days, at least not in the USA.)

[davidinalameda]

6. priests who convert from Episcopalian to RC and who are already married

can stay married and there are other churches in communion with Rome that allow married priests so why not?

[mmonk]

13. Also, Eastern Catholic priests

have been allowed to.

[KitSileya]

39. Yes, that's true.

We have a chaplain in our parish who is married. He was a Lutheran minister before he converted. However, part of the agreement is that he cannot be parish priest, only chaplain, as long as he's married, and he cannot remarry if his wife should die.

My opinion is that secular priests, that is, priests who are not also monks, should be able to do the same as deacons - married men should be able to become priests, but if their wife dies, they cannot remarry. I don't think the fact that the paedophile priests could not marry had anything to do with their molestation, but the fact that priests cannot marry has made it less attractive to become priests, and therefore the Church as not done its job in screening seminary candidates. And looked the other way when those miscreants abused children, instead of tossing them out, because "the Church needs its priests."

[tjdee]

7. Is molestation related to not being married?

?
If it were about sex, wouldn't they be able to get it on with nuns, or each other?

I think priests should be able to be date/be married like any other pastor/preacher/reverend.

I guess that would mean the pope too...but that would be strange!

[FreedomAngel82]

10. I think so too

They should be able to have a life outside of their spiritual life.

[GreenArrow]

8. yes, absolutely

I would have defintely considered the priesthood if marriage -- a sacrament of the Catholic Church -- had been open. As it is, I am a Waaaaaaayyyyy lapsed Catholic, who doesn't really anticipate returning to the Church. Monks and nuns, I think, should maintain vows of celibacy. Additionally, women should be eligible for the priesthood. There are no rational reasons to support either celibate priesthood, or male only priesthood.

[FreedomAngel82]

12. There are

Biblical references to women not being preachers. I believe it's in First Corinthians.

[tjdee]

14. Paul strikes again!

More and more, as I go through life as a Christian, I consider keeping the gospels and ignoring everything else.

Jesus himself, who Christians purport to worship, never said any such thing. A number of things in modern Christianity come from Paul and what Paul thought.

IMO, Paul's letters were written in context of the time, which was, as everyone recalls, a gazillion years ago. IMO.

[FreedomAngel82]

20. Right

With Jesus we're all equal in the church. No one should be above each other. That's why I like how my church does things. With us the elders are those who make decisions for the church (there's a small handful of them but it depends on the size cause my grandparents church they only have two) and the deacons help with other programs and running them. My dad is a deacon and his job is a variety of tasks like nursing home communion, driving vans, counting etc.

[GreenArrow]

16. there are also biblical references to women

being virtual equals with men in the early church as well. Paul was perhaps not in favor of it. But whether Paul supported it or not, the idea of women not being preachers is in and of itself, not rational. Not allowing women priests was a political decision, not a spiritual one.

[Burma Jones]

15. Much of the blame for the molestation has been pointed at

the lack of normal sexual development of many priests. Since many of them started down the path to priesthood while still in their teens, they did not mature sexually. If marriage was an option to Catholic clergy, and they proceeded through their clerical education with the possibility of having sexual relations, a family etc,. then I think the molestation problem would abate to the same levels as seen in the society at large. I seriously doubt Gay priests would be allowed to enter marriages though.......

[lawladyprof]

25. I believe (and this is pure speculation) that some young men who

considered the priesthood may not have been strongly attracted to women. They may have believed that this fact made them especially suited to the priesthood/celibacy, but in truth they were attracted (for whatever reason) to children/young adolescents, even though they didn't realize it at the time they made a commitment/entered seminary.

Put this way, the proportion of young men with lower than average sex drives/sexual urges would be lower in the priesthood than the general population. The proportion of young men not attracted to women (with urges toward pedophilia so firmly suppressed they were unaware of them) would be higher among seminarians than the general population.

[Maru Kitteh]

17. Yes. It would solve the problem of not enough priests

and go a long way towards filling the parishes with more well adjusted leaders.

[theHandpuppet]

18. Pedophilia should not be equated with homosexuality...

... as you seem to suggest in your post.

Do I think priests should be able to marry? Yes, whether they are gay or straight.

[barb162]

19. For years I have been thinking priests should be allowed to marry

There would be a lot more priests

[bmbmd]

21. The first pope

was evidently married.

[barb162]

24. whaddaya mean (Peter?)

[bmbmd]

28. Matthew 8:14-15

Well, maybe he wasn't married, but he sure as heck had a mother-in-law.

[barb162]

32. I don't have a Bible around, sorry. But besides that

maybe his wife died before he met Jesus. I have to write that sipposition because that's the way the church deals with things, you know? Sort of ignore things that don't quite come together. Priests were married in the middle ages as I recall and because they are having such a hard time attracting "good" candidates I wish they would bite the bullet already. I'm an ex-Catholic

[bmbmd]

36. Here you go.

Matthew 8:14-15

14. And Jesus came to Simon's house and he saw his mother-in-law in bed with fever.*
15. And he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and served them.

[barb162]

37. cool , thanks

[FreedomAngel82]

23. That is true

I think that's true. Maybe others will be interested but they never could before cause they were married.

[barb162]

27. you look at the Anglicans and they don't seem to have any problems

with it, I always thought they were the closest religion to the Catholic church

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

29. Organized Christianity has little to do with Christ's teachings.

It's ironic that Christianity would probably have remained a small Jewish sect had it not been for Paul. But, Paul distorted most of Christ's teachings in order to spread it. Since then, it has become little more than a money machine for the various churches which ignore what Jesus had to say about the temple and the moneychangers. Not to mention his elevation of women.

Too bad, the guy had a great message.

[Bridget Burke]

30. I believe that clergy should be able to be marry....

Although the celibate path does suit some spiritual paths, it's not for all. Actually, Orthodox priests may not marry--but married men may become priests in those churches.

I also think women should be ordained, even if the Bible says otherwise.

By the way, marriage does not prevent all pedophilia.

[Lars39]

31. Do individual Catholics get to vote on this,

and possibly change the Pope's/Vatican's stance on celibacy?
Didn't think so.

[Peregrine]

33. Celibacy

I think the problem is that with celibacy, the RCC offers a safe haven for those who have desires that out of whack. Or so they think.

[NYC2099]

35. As far as married priests....

It is written :
Man cannot serve 2 masters!