Posted on 05/22/2014 8:23:50 AM PDT by Salvation
If you have not yet read, The Cae for Clerical Celibacy, by Cardinal Stickler, I recommend it highly for its scholarly treatment of the history of clerical celibacy. It was a real eye-opener for me.
Your question solicits references of priest occur in the bible, but then conveniently cherry pick, while leaving out other canonized, biblical scripture, ever pretending that you're covering the waterfront, so to speak, if not being exhaustive.
Are you denying biblical canon? Do you burden biblical questions with other, extra-biblical tradition? What sense does that make?
HF
Thank you for the referral.
It seems to me that you made no representation other than that the word priest appears in 1 Peter.
Also, your swipe at Eucharistic Vestments points to an agenda.
Is this some distinction you're drawing, as if non "ministerial priests" do cease to belong to the priesthood of the faithful? I'd be interested to know how you arrived at that.
If membership in the priesthood is all by baptism, is there no falling away other than official, church recognized excommunication (I presume you buy the excommunication exclusion--but maybe you don't)?
HF
HF
“However, should the priests current wife die, they may not remarry”.
Deacons also can’t remarry.
Exactly, we just don’t take it seriously, do we?
This thread is for Catholics, so unless you’re a Catholic, you need to leave the thread. It would be greatly appreciated.
I made no personal attack, other than responding to "salvation" that I was not working from my own interpretation of scripture, as that person suggested.
I think your choice to exclude my post has helped to define FR to be a less-than-friendly, supposedly conservative forum, especially when some would suggest they can post here as if some threads are only for (some definition of elite).
HF
I’ve asked that it be changed to an Ecumenical thread since I made a mistake in posting. It’s OK.
The Church distinguishes beteen the priesthood of the faithful — which is the set of all Catholics — and the ministerial priesthood — which is the set of all Catholic men who have been ordained as priests in the sacrament of Holy Orders. Both the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood are different (but not mutually exclusive) ways of sharing in the one priesthood of Christ.
How special!
HF
I didn’t hit the abuse button. I don’t even know what you posted.
Hey, holden, it happens to Catholics too.
It’s an ecumenical thread. The mods are busy — go ahead and post.
Some instruments need to be tuned more often than others,
The only criteria I can at this point understand is that it was based on some form of elitism.
"If for some offense, say the offense"; non-Catholic is all I've heard in that category.
HF
Here are the facts regarding celibacy and the priesthood:
1) There is absolutely NOTHING in the Bible which mandates celibacy as a prerequisite for service in the priesthood.
2) The priesthood, though not mentioned in the New Testament, is mentioned extensively in the Old Testament, and yes of course priests were married men with families including Moses’s brother, Aaron.
3) Mandatory clerical celibacy did not come about until much later in the Catholic Church. After the Middle Ages. In fact the first 40 popes at least were married men and the overwhelming majority of priests and bishops were married men for at least 1,000 years after the founding of the Catholic Church.
4) Mandatory clerical celibacy was put into force by the Church to fight rampant corruption, primarily nepotism and simony.
The Lord commands us to be fruitful and multiply, to celebrate life, not celibate life.
There are ALREADY married men serving as priests in the Catholic Church and they are just as holy as the single celibate priests.
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