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Priest finds love with wife, loses affinity for the Catholic church
The Houston Chronicle ^ | Jan. 6, 2011, 5:46PM | KEVIN ECKSTROM RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

Posted on 01/11/2011 9:36:31 AM PST by TSgt

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To: TSgt
I have no problem at all with the good Father making the decision he made. After all, it IS his to make....

I wonder if the catholic church is keeping any kind of data regarding how many of the priests have left the organized church to get married?

One must also wonder if...after all the education and training provided, it wouldn't be much smarter (and a damned site more useful) policy to do away with the manmade requirement for celebacy and keep these guys "on the payroll" so to speak?

Just thinkin' out loud....

41 posted on 01/11/2011 11:11:59 AM PST by Logic n' Reason ("Don't start coloring until you know where the lines go.")
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To: TSgt
Few people hate the Catholic Church more than disgraced Catholics.

This man took vows. He broke those vows in a very public way. Now, he's blaming his own shortcomings on a 2,000 year old institution founded by Christ.

I feel sorry for him and will pray for his soul.
42 posted on 01/11/2011 11:14:34 AM PST by Antoninus (Fair warning: If Romney's the GOP nominee in 2012, I'm looking for a new party.)
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To: conservonator

He was once one of yours and now he is one of theirs.

He seems like a fellow you could use in your church - someone who thinks for himself. On the other hand, scrub that statement. I do not want to be accused of attempting to destroying your church with such heresy.


43 posted on 01/11/2011 11:18:39 AM PST by Cardhu
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To: Cardhu
At least the Devil makes his followers pretty and handsome, perhaps his opposite number should take note.

Their bodies may be pretty now, but bodies age and decay. It is the beauty of one's soul that God is concerned with.
44 posted on 01/11/2011 11:21:31 AM PST by Antoninus (Fair warning: If Romney's the GOP nominee in 2012, I'm looking for a new party.)
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To: Antoninus

We all have *shortcomings * that is why Jesus came to earth.....

Jesus encouraged *marraige* even the apostles were married...

This Priest..(A human Man) fell in-love and married.

He committed no offenses to GOD....


45 posted on 01/11/2011 11:31:43 AM PST by TaraP (An APPEASER is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last)
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To: Cardhu

I may have been too generous in my last post.


46 posted on 01/11/2011 11:34:49 AM PST by conservonator (How many times? 70 x 7! (still Kant spill))
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To: All

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

GENESIS 2:18

Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.

Genesis 2:20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

1 Corinthians 11:9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.


47 posted on 01/11/2011 11:36:11 AM PST by TaraP (An APPEASER is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last)
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To: TaraP

St. Peter was married, as the Gospels indicate, but where’s the Bible verse that St. John was ever married? St. Thomas? etc.


48 posted on 01/11/2011 11:40:59 AM PST by Pyro7480 ("If you know how not to pray, take Joseph as your master, and you will not go astray." - St. Teresa)
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To: Pyro7480

Were they married? We don’t know....

However Jesus did not choose his apostles based on if they were married or single....


49 posted on 01/11/2011 11:51:19 AM PST by TaraP (An APPEASER is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last)
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To: TaraP
He committed no offenses to GOD....

Taking a vow before God and subsequently breaking that vow in a most egregious, public, and unapologetic way is not an offense, eh?

Hope Fr. Cutie's new wife is ok with that standard.
50 posted on 01/11/2011 12:00:03 PM PST by Antoninus (Fair warning: If Romney's the GOP nominee in 2012, I'm looking for a new party.)
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To: wideawake
True, but only in the Catholic church is it a scandal for a single man to fall in love with a single woman.

I just think that expecting a man to remain celibate for life, is just setting a lot of men up for failure.

I'm not saying that their aren't plenty of priests that do remain celibate. However, no one should be surprised when a good amount of them break this vow.

51 posted on 01/11/2011 12:05:38 PM PST by kara37
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To: kara37
True, but only in the Catholic church is it a scandal for a single man to fall in love with a single woman.

Interesting choice of words.

Substitute "fall in love with a single woman" with "engage in fornication with a woman who was still married in the eyes of the Church" and you'll have the truth of the matter.

Add to this that he was not just any "single man" but a man from whom she had sought pastoral direction.

No traditional Christian denomination approves of such behavior.

52 posted on 01/11/2011 12:18:05 PM PST by wideawake
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To: wideawake
I did not see in the article that she was married. If so, that would change things as far as they’re concerned.

However, I still stand by my original statement.

53 posted on 01/11/2011 12:46:34 PM PST by kara37
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To: kara37
However, I still stand by my original statement.

Which is that celibacy is difficult.

The underlying message being: if something requires personal sacrifice, you should be able to get out of it without suffering any loss of self-esteem.

Many people feel the same way about marital fidelity.

54 posted on 01/11/2011 12:53:23 PM PST by wideawake
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To: TSgt

I must have missed the part where he was forced to become a priest and take a vow of celibacy. It must be there — otherwise his story is exactly the same as that of John Edwards. Simply a man who cannot stand up to his vows.


55 posted on 01/11/2011 1:12:58 PM PST by el_chupacabra (Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K)
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To: Logic n' Reason; TSgt
...do away with the manmade requirement for celebacy and keep these guys "on the payroll"

Logic n' Reason - on a religous thread -LOL

That would indeed help to bring the church into the modern times but the ten thousand plus year old fear of women in all religions is not so easily overcome.

Women are the major competitors of religion they are the only group that can alienate the men from its clutches.

All religious fables have blamed woman for bad things to justify subjugating them. Woman was easily misled by the Devil and led Adam astray thus was responsible the evil that now befell men for listening to her.

All disasters were women's fault - drought, it was the witches - no rain, burn a witch, a volcano erupts, sacrifice a few virgins, famine, pestilence and plague - same thing.

What's not love, religion's answer to every ill that beset man? Their god was responsible for all the good stuff and devil and helpmate women were blamed for all the bad stuff. What a wonderful philosophy if you were a man, and it really was her fault - ask Adam.

Even being prohibited the "joy of sex," the early monks and priests did not let it stand in the way of testing the waters extensively as they had more elastic sense of duty to the authority or the Pope in the middle ages and up to modern time where many nieces became so much more convenient than one wife.

Everything would be much better if marriage were allowed as it is in the Eastern rite, which is under the Pope. It would certainly draw more normal men to the church than currently and attracted less of those with conflicted sexual urges or the sexually disordered to a life of enforced religious celibacy.

I am sure that in a time the silly misogynistic nonsense will also wither and die.

56 posted on 01/11/2011 1:47:17 PM PST by Cardhu
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To: wideawake
>>>Which is that celibacy is difficult. The underlying message being: if something requires personal sacrifice, you should be able to get out of it without suffering any loss of self-esteem. Many people feel the same way about marital fidelity.<<<

Well yes, but not just difficult. I would argue it is also unrealistic.

However, I was really not trying to argue whether priests should remain celibate or not. I'm not Catholic, so it has no bearing on me either way. I'm just stating the obvious.

Comparing it to marital fidelity kind of proves my point.

I think that something like 70% of married men cheat. That sure doesn't make it right, but a fact none the less.

57 posted on 01/11/2011 2:13:31 PM PST by kara37
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To: TSgt

“That has to be the sexiest picture ever posted on a religion thread.”

Apparently too sexy.

It was PG and the lady who caused him to forsake his vows, so I am not sure why it got deleted.

But, I don’t run the place.


58 posted on 01/11/2011 4:09:08 PM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: TaraP

“Genesis 2:20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.”

Ah, textural proof that Adam was not muslim.


59 posted on 01/11/2011 4:10:26 PM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: Jewbacca

LOL....True...


60 posted on 01/11/2011 7:39:36 PM PST by TaraP (An APPEASER is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last)
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