German theologians call for end to celibacy

[rug]

BERLIN – University theologians in Germany have called on the Catholic Church to abandon the vow of celibacy for priests, open up the clergy for women and accept gay couples.

The 143 professors said the church must implement bold reforms because of "a crisis without precedent" following the discovery of widespread sexual and physical abuses by clergymen a year ago.

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The appeal, published in newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung's Friday edition, called on the church's leadership to stop excluding gay couples and remarried Christians.

* * *

But Germany's Bishops Conference on Friday cautiously welcomed the appeal, saying it could enhance the ongoing reform discussion, while noting several proposals contradicted the church's principles.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110204/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_church_reforms

[midnight]

1. No reason not to end that church restriction...

[pennylane100]

2. They should remember the last time the reformation movement started in Germany.

[whosinpower]

3. The day that the Catholic church allows female priests

Will happen one day after the moon crashes into the Atlantic ocean.

And gay couples?!? OH MY....

I think it is a fantastic idea, and well well well overdue....but this is the catholic church we are talking about....the same church that finally declared just 10 short years ago that the earth was indeed round....

[Peter1x9]

4. Celibacy is a church made rule, not one mentioned anywhere in the Bible as a requirement.

I've asked a few religious people I know (I'm no longer Catholic) why this rule exists in the Catholic Church. The general consensus was that the rule was made so the church wouldn't have to financially support the priest's family.
Even Saint Peter, the one the church recognizes as the first pope, was married.

[TheWraith]

5. The crazy part is, celibacy got started because of an apocalyptic tinge in the early church.

Back in the really early days, like the first hundred years, they were basically expecting Jesus to come back any minute and lay waste to the planet. So there was a strong emphasis on moral purity, rather than on things like reproducing, because they expected that the world would end before it mattered.

Ironic that it's two thousand years later, and the fundies are still expecting Jesus to show up before lunchtime.

[dimbear]

6. The way I heard it, it was more that the priests tended to hand down their parishes to their sons.

Creating little religious fiefdoms. That didn't work out well, because often the offspring of religious 'leaders' don't make very good religious 'leaders.' Seemed oddly interested in gathering fortunes, and other venal acts.

That little bit of wisdom still seems to hold true.

[Pterodactyl]

7. Actually, it is so the priest can devote himself to the church and his parish.

Having a family is a great blessing, but a huge responsibility. Priests volunteer to give that up so they can devote themselves completely. For example, I know of a Protestant clergyman who had to make hard choices on how to take care of his family and had to move to a new location. I don't blame him for leaving. I may have done the same in his situation. But without a family, it would have been different.

[Boojatta]

8. Why not replace the celibacy vow with a vasectomy operation?

[Pterodactyl]

9. Very funny, but that's not what it is about.

Sterilization is forbidden by Catholic teaching.

[Boojatta]

10. They could contribute to sperm banks before being sterilized.

[Pterodactyl]

11. No, they can't. In vitro fertilization is also not allowed by Catholic teaching.

Because it removes the creation of life from the natural act.

[provis99]

12. priests are celibate? I thought every one of them had a boy catamite.