Posted on 07/22/2006 7:06:59 AM PDT by NYer
Aw dang, Jeff, you caught us red-handed!Trying to Hook More Youths on Priesthood
In this era of Eminem and Britney Spears, of sexy sitcoms and sexier commercials, of high-speed Internet and instant gratification, a life of celibacy devoted to God can be a hard sell to a teenager.
So as the nation's Roman Catholic leaders gathered recently and watched a video called "Fishers of Men," designed to draw young men to the priesthood, they had good reason to worry about the future of their chosen way of life.
Church leaders have long been aware of the statistics. There are now about 43,000 Catholic priests in America, down from more than 58,000 in 1965. As the U.S. Catholic population has risen to about 70 million, more churches have had to share priests.
What receives less attention is that the men who go into the seminary generally don't do so until later in life. The average age of newly ordained priests was 36 last year, up from 28 in the 1960s and 26 in the 1940s.
...
Observers of vocational trends say more effort is needed now because of smaller families, with parents who want grandchildren; a secularized culture wary of lifetime commitment and celibacy; Catholic assimilation in America; and increased family mobility, which detracts from parish loyalties. [More...]
A scholar of Christian Scripture in the year 6 AD?
LOLOLOLOL
Dear Petronski,
Hey, man, don't look at me. I didn't assert it.
;-)
sitetest
Yeah, I know. It's just hilarious that in the year 6 AD, someone was giving out "scholarships" for Christian scripture.
And Luke 20, 27-37 says pretty much the same thing. Protestantism began as a rebellion against monasticism and so they looked for ways to interpret the Scriptures in order to rule it out. Yet monasticism is rooted in Christian history, in the very example of the Lord himself. The prejudice against it is reflected in all anti-Catholic literature, including such nonsense as the DaVinci code.
Your 900 years of scholarship doesn't support your position because at one time priests were allowed to be married and have children.
Then a pope decided that priests shouldn't be married and should practice celibacy.
So how come it could be one way day and all changed a different day?
The reason being is all your scholarship and the Bible are interpreted by the Pope. And if he changes a church teaching then the new teaching that he introduces are church docrine.
So, lets say a pope decides that gays can be priests. So that would mean all your scholarship about gays and such would mean nothing because your new pope has introduced a new docrine that allows gays to be priests. And you'd be bound to support it by the docrine of papal infallibility.
"Please cite for me a Christian Scripture scholar from 2000 years ago who says that celibate priests are unbiblical."
How about Jesus?
And your second paragraph isn't from the Bible is it?
Dear marajade,
"How about Jesus?"
In saying that some would be eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom, Jesus endorses celibate priests.
sitetest
Your sophistries are neither interesting nor germane. You imagine a world in which a pope announces ex cathedra that gays can be priests. Why? What is your fascination with the Roman Catholic Church? You're not a member, your not even anti-abortion. Your obsession is pathological, and of interest to me only as a psychological case-study. Other than my pity and my prayers for your conversion from hate, I really can't imagine what I have to offer you.
It doesn't says they are priests. Its says they are enunuchs for the Kingdom. Which means they could be doing a lot of diff thingies for the Church without being priests.
Answer the question. Are you not bound by the Pope and his teaching?
I said 1900 years, btw, and it certainly does.
Why was it okay to be married and have children until a Pope decided it wasn't?
Do you imagine that I am under your cross examination? LOL
You're a pro-abortion anti-Catholic. Why do you think I would feel compelled to obey your orders to me?
Yes or no. Can you honestly say whether or not you would have to obey it or not?
Do you imagine I feel compelled to obey your orders?
I don't care if you obey or not. If the Pope hands down a new teaching, aren't you required to follow this as a Catholic in good standing?
That's not yet clear.
Yes or no. Do you follow any new teaching that the pope says is docrine?
There never has been, nor will ever be, a "new teaching" of the Catholic Church.
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