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To: sittnick
Celibate bishops go back to the Apostles? What about the celibate apostle Paul? Let's see what he wrote on the subject:

1st Timothy 3:1-5, NAB (the Catholic translation):

This saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable, married only once, temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children under control with perfect dignity; for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of the church of God?

As for the subject of continence being required AFTER marriage, again, let's see what the celibate apostle Paul had to say on that topic:

1st Corinth. 7:1-5 NAB

Now in regard to the matters about which you wrote: "It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman," but because of cases of immorality every man should have his own wife, and every woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his duty toward his wife, and likewise the wife toward her husband. A wife does not have authority over her own body, but rather her husband, and similarly a husband does not have authority over his own body, but rather his wife. Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, to be free for prayer, but then return to one another, so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control.

Interestingly, no exception is made for married clergy.

55 posted on 04/11/2005 2:30:41 PM PDT by Rytwyng (we're here, we're Huguenots, get used to us...)
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To: Rytwyng; BlackElk; ninenot
That's a selective reading of the Scriptures (St. Paul has passages that it is better to be unmarried, so as to serve God. The ultimate example is Our Lord Himself, who the priest should take as his ultimate model.

Our Lord, Himself, of course, teaches about the need for workers in the vineyard, and that a man will leave his parents, wife, fields, etc.to follow him.

And, of course, neither the scriptures nor the Catholic Church has ever stated Scripture Alone, Sola Scriptura. That makes Sola Scriptura a non-scriptural teaching. The Church was alive and kicking for decades before the last books of Scripture were written, and for centuries before the canon of Scripture was finalized. (and of course, it was the Church that did the finalizing, which is why we don't have the Gospel of Thomas, the Shepherd of Hermas or the Didache in the Bible)

BTW, unfortunately, the Church's protection by the Holy Ghost does not necessarily extend to every Bible translation. While the NAB is in fact popular in American churches, the Douay-Rheims is the better translation.
56 posted on 04/11/2005 2:54:14 PM PDT by sittnick (There's no salvation in politics.)
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