[jilliane]

I’m a baptized Catholic, 13 years of Catholic schooling, married a Catholic, baptized our children in the Catholic church, send our children to Catholic schools and I work in a Catholic school. I love the priests I’ve worked with and they struggle to grow their community as their defined demographic priest is very difficult to find.

I don’t know all the teachings of this priest but what I’ve read here doesn’t upset me.

What’s wrong with women preaching? Is that ‘liberal’ ideology? No, it’s simply a tradition of the Catholic faith and the pope is not going to break tradition.

Why can’t priests marry? Priests used to be able to marry until the church and the wives disagreed over the priest & wifes’ property when the priest died. This is a mad made rule. In fact, there is a loophole; a married protestant minister who converts to Catholicism may become an ordained priest. If the church allowed priests to marry, many good priests who’ve been excommunicated would never have left and would be still serving the good work of the Catholic church.

The convent affiliated with our school has 32 nuns left in their community with over 100 bedrooms. Most are senior citizens. Women have changed in the last 500 years in case the vatican hasn’t noticed. I don’t know what the position of the vatican is regarding the declining population of Catholic nuns worldwide. Why can’t a Catholic nun be married and be recognized? It would be mission work.

[jilliane]

typo...man made...not mad made...lol ....

[ArrogantBustard]

From the article:

blessing homosexual couples

Says everything we need to know about this creep ... time for him to go.

[kstewskis]

Jilliane,

The Church Magesterium and it's doctrines existed before 1965. They were not abolished after Vatican II. Many Catholics forget this grave error.

It is evident in what you post that you were not properly catechised in your Catholic schooling, and have little connection with the Church that was established in 33AD. Go and read some of the Pope's encyclicals....here's a suggestion. Read "The Popes Against Modern Errors" (TAN Books), there are 16 Papal documents that should answer your questions. Key in on the ones that address Modernism, Liberalism, errors, and False Opinions.

[Miss Marple]

As a Catholic convert, one of the things I appreciate about the Faith is obedience. The celibacy rule has stood almost from the earliest days of the Church. The exceptions made now are carefully being done and only in rare instances.

The homily is supposed to be given by the priest. Women in our church who feel the need to speak are given time before mass or at various retreats, committees, Bible studies, seminars and the like.

The shortage of sisters stems from a lack of vocations for several decades. A married woman can be a Catholic missionary, and many are. Sisters are a different category, and the idea of a married nun is simply inconceivable to me. What vows would she take? Would her husband take vows, too? What about if she were sent somewhere and the husband had to quit his job? The idea of a married sister seems ridiculous to me.

Long ago when I was young and foolish and not a Catholic, I was all up in arms about the Church's ruling on birth control. Pope Paul VI said that it would lead to adultery, divorce, abortion, sexual promiscuity, and the devaluation of women.

Guess what? Thirty-five years later, here we are and all of those things have come to pass.

I listen to Pope Benedict. The Church stands for Eternal Truth, not the whims of societal opinion.

[B Knotts]

What’s wrong with women preaching?

Only priests may preach during Mass. Laymen and women are free to preach at other times.

Why can’t priests marry? Priests used to be able to marry until the church and the wives disagreed over the priest & wifes’ property when the priest died.

This is a liberal urban legend. The norm for priests has always been celibacy. While celibacy was not always required as a discipline, consider that married priests had to abstain from the marital act. Even in the Eastern particular churches, only celibates may be ordained to the episcopacy, and married priests have many challenges balancing their family and parish. Celibacy is a wise discipline.

Why can’t a Catholic nun be married and be recognized?

That makes no sense. The nature of a nun is to be a celibate. You can't be a celibate if you want to marry. If you want to do charity work, who's stopping you? You can even join a religious order as a lay affiliate:

Third Order of Saint Dominic
The National Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order - USA

[Aquinasfan]

What’s wrong with women preaching?

Jesus' "Great Commission" to his (all male Apostles) was to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

1) Jesus gave this great commission and teaching authority to his Apostles.
2) Jesus chose only males as His Apostles. He could have chosen women (He is God, after all), but He didn't.
3) Bishops (and to a lesser extent, priests) are successors to the Apostles.
4) Male bishops have Apostolic teaching authority (that extends down to priests to a lesser degree).
5) Therefore, the Church concludes that only priests have the authority to preach (/teach) during Mass.

[vladimir998]

jilliane,

I’m not trying to be mean, but your questions and points are, well, lacking may be the nicest way to put it:

“What’s wrong with women preaching?”

Banned by scripture. A longer answer might be more satisfying, but I doubt it.

“Is that ‘liberal’ ideology?

Yes. It is UNBIBLICAL and liberal theology.

“Why can’t priests marry?”

Because they take a vow not to.

“Priests used to be able to marry...”

No. Seminarians could marry. Not priests. Once ordained, they couldn’t marry.

“In fact, there is a loophole; a married protestant minister who converts to Catholicism may become an ordained priest.”

Not a loophole. That’s an entirely different rule for an entirely different situation. And notice HE HAS TO BE MARRIED BEFORE ORDINATION too. He can’t marry AFTER ordination.

“If the church allowed priests to marry, many good priests who’ve been excommunicated would never have left and would be still serving the good work of the Catholic church.”

So we’re supposed to allow men to violate vows as if they didn’t matter?

“The convent affiliated with our school has 32 nuns left in their community with over 100 bedrooms.”

When did it go liberal?

“Most are senior citizens. Women have changed in the last 500 years in case the vatican hasn’t noticed.”

Women have not changed at all - they still have two legs, two arms, two eyes, etc. Society has changed. The possibilities for women have increased.

“Why can’t a Catholic nun be married and be recognized? It would be mission work.”

What? If being a nun means being unmarried, then being married means you can’t be a nun. How could a man be a monk and be married and actually living with his wife?

Thirteen years of Catholic education? Are you sure?

Again, I know that sounds mean, but the liberalness, and lack of logic in your post simply stuns me. Seriously, I’m not trying to be mean.

[GCC Catholic]

Re: Married Priests and Nuns:

Priests and nuns are not normatively permitted to marry because when married, their loyalties are divided. The unmarried man or woman can be about the work of God; he need not have to worry about what they must do to care for his spouse. (see 1 Cor. 7:32-35). The pastoral provision for priests is an exceptional situation. It is neither normative nor taken on without the greatest amount of discernment.

they struggle to grow their community as their defined demographic priest is very difficult to find.

Genuine orthodoxy attracts vocations. The dioceses and religious orders that hold fast to the teachings of the Magisterium are growing. Those that do not are withering away.

The priests and nuns so quick to enter into disobedience and leave the Church are not "good" priests and nuns. The best we can do for them is to pray for them.

Most young priests/nuns have no desire to pursue novel liberal opinions. We simply are not interested ("we" speaking in my experience as a seminarian).

You are entitled to your opinions (which other posters have explained the counterpoints of), but know that those opinions are a symptom of the problem, not the source of the solution.

[tioga]

I had intended to answer you earlier, but left for noon mass. Wow, did you ever get answers!

The priest is blessing homosexual couples. He is blessing their coupleness. Our Bishop allowed that in Rochester...even attending these events...(as you may have noticed if you read the thread)...and the Vatican came down on him as well. He had to renounce it. The priest who was blessing these couples, like this one from Australia, broke from the Catholic Church rather than submit to the authority of the Church. He took with him a Catholic nun, who later was ordained in his new church, and a lot of the congregation. He created a schism.

These priests took vows to be priests...to be obedient...they are breaking those vows. It is very sad and very wrong.

We pray for sinners, we do not encourage them to sin. It is the Roman Catholic Church's right and obligation to protect the faith from apostasy and heresy.

[verga]

If the church allowed priests to marry, many good priests who’ve been excommunicated would never have left and would be still serving the good work of the Catholic church.

Sure and while we are at it lets let homosexual priests have their "partners" witht hem, or maybe redefine marriage so they can make it legal.

Call yourself what you will you are not Catholic

[Ransomed]

The Church never allowed priests to marry. The latin rite of the Catholic Church has a discipline that only allows single men to become priests. Other rites and Churches allow married men to become priests. No one has ever allowed priests to marry if they are already priests to my knowledge.

Freegards

[A.A. Cunningham]

You were poorly catechized and are thus ignorant of the faith.

Put forth some effort and learn the truth about the bride of Christ.

[frogjerk]

I’m a baptized Catholic, 13 years of Catholic schooling, married a Catholic, baptized our children in the Catholic church, send our children to Catholic schools and I work in a Catholic school. I love the priests I’ve worked with and they struggle to grow their community as their defined demographic priest is very difficult to find. I don’t know all the teachings of this priest but what I’ve read here doesn’t upset me.

You need to be re-evangelized because your knowledge of the Catholic Faith is severely lacking. I hope you aren't teaching Catechism in the school you work in!

[frogjerk]

Why can’t priests marry? Priests used to be able to marry until the church and the wives disagreed over the priest & wifes’ property when the priest died.

Prove it. This is a lie. Fr. Pacwa was speaking about this very subject last night on EWTN and he challenged someone to prove this as a fact. It is a bold faced lie of the left.

This is a mad made rule. In fact, there is a loophole; a married protestant minister who converts to Catholicism may become an ordained priest.

This is not a loophole. Since you don't know the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Orders you are terribly misinformed. A priest can be ordained if he is married prior to being a priest not the other way around. Anyway, it is a discipline and an ancient discipline at that. Go back to around 300-400 AD and read some of the documents of the Church councils back then and understand.

If the church allowed priests to marry, many good priests who’ve been excommunicated would never have left and would be still serving the good work of the Catholic church.

Please back this up with data. Secondly, there is a permanent ordained Diaconate in the Church that can be married. They can do many of the duties of a priest except consecrate the sacred species and hear confession for example.

I recommend you start reading this:

[Mad Dawg]

Actually, I kind of like "mad made".

I don’t know all the teachings of this priest but what I’ve read here doesn’t upset me.

First we should look at the outcome. He and those who follow him prefer having their own way to the way of the Church to which at least He made certain vows of conformity and obedience.

So one thing that's going on here is, as it were, the fruition of a lie. If he's blessing homosexual unions while the Church is teaching that homosexuality is gravely disordered, and if he's allowing women to preach while the Church is re-asserting that lay people should not preach, then either he was ordained while falsely representing himself and his intentions or he has decided to accept and exercise the priestly function while rejecting the Church and the authority under which he was ordained.

And I would encourage you to study the Catechism and to consider whether maybe your years in the Church and work in institutions connected with it have not made clear to you the meaning and role of Church Traditions ("mad made rules"). Or perhaps, despite their having been made clear, you reject the authority of the Church. Either would be sad. But if you reject the authority of the Church in which you have spent so much time and effort, I think there's a problem here.

Isn't it kind of flying false colors to go to Mass, to work in a Catholic School, to make the declarations involved in baptizing one's children in any "denomination" while not believing the teaching of that denomination? That seems like it might be a serious spiritual problem to me.