Posted on 10/25/2009 4:31:29 PM PDT by Salvation
The second issue is whether the Church’s “celibacy morale”, so painstakingly rebuilt over the past twenty years, will be lowered once again. Will the faithful become even more confused about celibacy? Will some Roman Rite priests think it “hard” that no special provision is made for them to marry? Will some potential future priests begin to hope once again for a relaxation of the celibacy requirement?
**it is important to state the plain truth that celibacy is the preferred state for a priest of any rite. This is eloquently attested even in the Eastern Catholic churches by the fact that a priest cannot marry after he has been ordained, and that bishops cannot be married at all. **
Food for discussion.
For your list.
excellent post.
Pope: Priests Must Stay Celibate
Giving Thanks for the Good Shepherds ( A Defense of Priestly Celibacy)
Don't end celibacy for priests
The celibate superhero
Priestly Celibacy And Its Roots In Christ
How to Refute Arguments Against Priestly Celibacy
Priestly Celibacy Reflects Who - and Whose - We Are[Father George W.Rutler]
Celibacy
Tracing the Glorious Origins of Celibacy
God’s call to celibacy for the sake of His Kingdom - by Card. George
Vatican Says Celibacy Rule Nonnegotiable
Bishop Attacks Move to End Celibacy
A response to Fr. Joseph Wilson's defense of mandatory celibacy
The gift of Priestly celibacy as a sign of the charity of Christ, by Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Archbishop Dolan:"We Need to Be Renewing Our Pledge to Celibacy, Not Questioning It"
Celibacy is gift cherished by church
Celibacy Will Save the Priesthood
Celibacy Defended by EWTN's Fr. Levis
Call To Action: Dump Celibacy
The (Catholic) Church Has Always Prospered When Celibacy Is Honored
John Paul II Hails "Inestimable Value" of Priestly Celibacy
For Priests, Celibacy Is Not the Problem
Fr. Shannon Collins Discusses Celibacy
5 Arguments Against (Catholic) Priestly Celibacy and How to Refute Them
Why A Married Priesthood Won't Remedy the Priest Shortage
New Vatican Document on Homosexuality and the Priesthood Coming Before Fall 2005
Catholic priests demand the right to marry
Catholic priests urge Church to reconsider celibacy rules
Alternative Priests´ Council Hits Back on Mandatory Celibacy
Married Priests? The English Experience
Saying Yes to God: a Look into Vocations
New Vatican Document to Eliminate 1961 Papal Ban on Ordaining Homosexuals
Saying Yes to God: a Look into Vocations
Is it time to ordain married men to the Catholic priesthood?
40% of Scots priests want end to celibacy
A small, sturdy band of 'John Paul priests'(JPII legacy of conservative priests)
Yes, Gay Men Should Be Ordained
Cardinal says Priests will marry
Fathers, Husbands and Rebels: Married Priests
An Unneeded Headache (Vatican document on [NOT] admitting homosexual to the priesthood)
More (Priestly) Celibacy, Not Less
Vatican Prepares Draft Directives Against Admitting Gays as Priests
From Anglican to married Catholic priest
Spain gets first married priest
Spain (R) Catholic Church ordains first married priest
The Catholic Church - East-West Difference Over Priestly Celibacy
ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF SCRANTON TO RECEIVE FIRST ECUSA PRIEST
Defending Chastity in the Priesthood
Ordination of married men is raised at Vatican synod
Patriarch of Venice deemphasizes ordination of married men to the priesthood
Cardinal Pell: Ending Celibacy Rule Would Be a Blunder
Priest shortage stems from crisis of faith, ignorance of the infinite, not celibacy, say Bishops [at Synod]
Vatican synod rules out married priests (for Latin Church)
Synod Affirms Priestly Celibacy
Married Priests Aren’t the Answer (a seminarian states his view)
5 Arguments Against Priestly Celibacy and How to Refute Them
(Catholic) Church makes a clear distinction between chastity and celibacy, says Priest
Why Not Married Priests? The Case for Clerical Celibacy
The biblical foundation of priestly celibacy
Married, ex-Episcopalian ordained a Catholic priest in California
Getting It Right:The Foundation of Friendship (What can a celibate priest really teach us about love
Another One Takes the Plunge [swims the Tiber]
Following the Signs (to a priestly vocation)
That sneaky desperate Catholic Church is at it again
Long Journey to Rome (Former Southern Baptist Pastor Now a Traveling Crusader for Catholic Church)
New, stricter Priestly Formation Program issued for U.S. Catholic seminaries
Ex-Lutheran bishop found Catholic rock: Joseph Jacobson to be ordained Catholic priest by Christmas
Jesuit defends priestly celibacy (a lengthy but worthy read)
The Gift: A Married Priest Looks at Celiba[cy]
Vatican Reaffirms Celibacy for Priests
Pope, Curia Aides Reaffirm Value of Priestly Celibacy (detailed Vatican response)
Vatican Said (Again!) Not Revising Celibacy Rule
On Priests, Marriage and the Sacraments
Should Catholic priests have the right to marry?
Married Priests Back Celibacy (Part 1 of 2)
Messori: Married priests no remedy for “vocations crisis”
Why Celibacy? [Catholic Caucus]
Married man considers turn as Catholic priest
The Nature of Priestly Ordination: Theological Background and Some Present Concerns
Ukrainian cardinal says married men not answer to vocations crisis
Angelo Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) and Priestly Celibacy
Married man considers turn as Catholic priest
Roman Catholic Priests the Case For:
Priestly Celibacy: Yes, it is Apostolic [Ecumenical]
Why Can't (Roman) Catholic Priests Get Married?
Married [converts] priests inspire flock
Bad Examples Do Not Invalidate The Value of Priestly Celibacy, Says Bishop
TENDENCY FOR PRIESTS IS TOWARD CELIBACY, SAYS EGYPTIAN BISHOP
The Jewel of Celibacy
Orthodox/Catholic ping.
Although mnastic celibacy is the crown jewel of The Church, celibates, in my opinion, belong in monasteries.
That way the doctrine of celibacy is not disturbed and those who worship it may continue undistrubed.
In the meantime the Catholic church in America might well survive and thrive.
Guys, you can't make it doing little more than picking up a few Anglicans here and there. The people hunger.
Not that I'm proselytizing here ~ just giving advice ~
An observation here, based on the matrimonial aspect in the article. I have posted an article I wrote on this topic below. I think one of the greatest issues in the modern day church on this issue is due to the fact that no one understands exactly WHAT matrimony IS, therefore they do not understand why it impedes a man in his vocation to the priesthood. The article attempts to explain the marriage covenant. My apologies if this post is long...
Falling in love. One of Gods most wonderful gifts, and lifes most incredible pleasures. That moment when you realize, this is THE one. Your heart skips a beat every time you see him, and you cannot believe he feels the same way as you. Wedding bells toll, and so begins the first day of your new life.
Marriage is an incredible gift. It is horrifying that over half of the people who enter into it, including Catholics, leave when it gets tough. While I know that there are cases where seperating or even divorcing may be necessary, it is absolutely and without question a very low number; the same kind of numbers we are talking about for getting an abortion in the case of the mothers life being in grave danger - extremely low.
The reason for this astronomical divorce rate is tied to the same mentality as the astronomical abortion rate - the lack of understanding the sacredness of life, and by extension, marriage. The change that occurs when a couple stands before God and declares their consent to be joined together is an unbreakable covenant, no matter the difficulty.
The change that occurs at the altar is no less profound than the one that occurs on the altar. There is a complete and total giving of self to the spouse. In Gods eyes, and the Churches, I am no longer me, but us. My husband is no longer him, but us. The two have become so completely one that we are indistiguishable as an individual.
The mystery of the covenant of marriage is mirrored in the mystery of Transubstantiation. The bread BECOMES the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. It is not a symbol. It is not a bunch of words the priest says and then we hope God accepts the gifts of bread and wine as His Son; it is the complete, total, and absolute change from bread and wine to the Eucharist that occurs, same as when 2 people stand at the altar. The accidents of bread and wine are still present after the consecration, same as our married bodies are. This does not, however, diminish that which took place; we are one flesh!
With this view, the very way God sees us after marriage, divorce becomes an absurdity. The only thing you get when you divide one is half of one. You cannot be complete outside your vows. You lack that which made you whole. You cannot unring this bell.
To drive home this point even further, God in His infinite wisdom, designed us to participate with Him in our married love to bring forth life. The married state can be looked upon in design as a model of our Triune God. Two become one, and from that union as one, the family grows to become 3, or more! God speaks to us about His love, through the joining of the 2 who became one. The love you feel for your spouse in your most intimate moments is about as close as our human hearts can get to Christs love for His Bride, the Fathers perfect love for the Son, and by extension, His adopted children - all of us. God wanted us to know life giving love, and what better way than to make love life giving!
Sadly - love, commitment, and marriage have been divorced from sex in our culture. We find all kinds of ways to remove the life-giving aspect from love, and therefore, remove God from marriage. The end is predictable; contraception, infidelity, divorce, abortion, spousal abuse, pornography, the list goes on and on. Each time we make love to our spouse, we are renewing the covenant we made on that day. By removing God and His Will , we are reduced to having sex steered only by our fallen nature, and our covenant is weakened and eventually destroyed. We “fall out of love” with our spouse and start seeking that which we think will fill us with happiness again.
Jesus had some specific things to say about divorce when He was questioned on it. He told us that divorce was never in Gods plan, but OUR hardness of heart made it necessary for Moses to allow. He said that whatever God joined together, man could not divide. He said that a man should leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife, as the two were now one flesh. That we have forgotten this is evidenced by all the divorce and “shacking up” going on today.
The Church is the Bride of Christ. He refers to our entrance into Heaven as coming to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He refers to Himself as the Bridegroom. We must, as a Church, begin to take our vows and marriage covenant deadly serious; it is apparent all through Scripture that Christ uses marriage as an analogy to our relationship with Him. I can only pray that His view of the marriage covenant is not what we have allowed ours to become.
How dare the Hierarchy create such an open Hypocracy and expect the morale of Catholic Priests to remain high.
In order to lead people in any work situation, the rules must be equal and fair through out the work environment or anger and Chaos will prevail.
I’ve spent my life leading men and such a prospect like this is intolerable.
These Guys in the Vatican are Nuts.
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this.
Unfortunately, we live in a sex saturated society and I think we have lost a lot of good people who have fallen prey to that culture. I am also afraid this attracts a lot of homosexuals and pedophiles to the priesthood as we have witnessed in the news lately.
I think celibacy is a virtue, but I really despair more and more every day that it is realistic anymore.
Just saying..please don’t stone me for being honest.
Since “celibate” really means “Not married” (not “doesn’t have sex”) this is a totally non-sensical thing.
In addition, it was my understanding that Anglicans who came to the RC church were allowed to stay married, and (presumably) fulfilled their vows of physical relations, a vow made very explicitly in the RC vows. What changed?
You won't mind if I remain at large, and celibate. I'm not even Catholic.
/johnny
I agree with you 100%.
I have also been told this is not a dogma of the Church and priests and popes were married up till sometime in the Middle Ages. (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)
Celibacy is a gift of neo-platonism, not Scripture.
I do hear of parishes like yours, on occasion. I must be either very out of the loop or this is not the norm. I have attended churches in the following places as a parishoner
New Jersey
South Carolina
Florida
and as a visitor in
Delaware
Tennessee
In all of the parishes I have attended, there have been at the very least, 3 priests at each, with 2-5 deacons per church. The one I am at now, there is a Pastor, plus a full time priest, a retired priest who does Mass on occasion AND a priest who has no parish right now so our pastor is allowing him to stay at the rectory and do masses for a stipend. We also have a full time deacon. There are 5 other catholic churches in the area (within 30 minutes of my home) and all of them have at least 3 priests as well. Our seminary is graduating 17 more this spring, with full classes each year after (my son will be entering seminary next fall).
Fear not, vocations in traditional seminarys and convents are way up, many have waiting lists. My theory is that some of the more liberal orders, seminaries, and dioceses may be suffering a shortage, but as the old ones die off or are retired, there is a young, traditionalist, vibrant bunch just waiting to fufill their call.
Even if I werent Catholic I would choose to remain celebate/single.
It is a liberating lifestyle choice. IMO.
I still enjoy the sight of handsome men. That will never change. ( I am female before anyone reading this gets the wrong idea)
**The solution would seem to be to abolish the formal hierarchical type priesthood and replace it with a more general priesthood of all believers that would include the married and unmarried.**
This is already true for all of us at our baptism, ism’t it?
**The Church is the Bride of Christ. He refers to our entrance into Heaven as coming to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He refers to Himself as the Bridegroom. **
Our icon is entitled St. Edward and the Heavenly Bridegroom.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.