[BlackElk]

If you really believe that "Peter, and many of the rest of the original 12 apostles were married," here is your chance to instruct us poor Biblically ignorant Catholics who preserved the Bible (all of it and not the truncated form which left out the books of the OT inconvenient to the reformation) and passed copies to you guys.

Answer me this:

Name each of the 12 apostles and, for each one, NAME the wife and give a Scriptural reference demonstrating that each specific couple lived together as man and wife after each apostle was called by Christ to follow him.

Next, although God is the actual author of all of Scripture, St. Paul was the penman of much of the New Testament. He is often referenced as an Apostle and was certainly a successor of them. Give us the same information and Scriptural references on St. Paul.

Remember no forbidden "traditions of men", no Scriptural "interpretations", no forbidden adding or detracting from the words of Scripture. Show me and the other Catholics how the Bible speaks for itself in this regard. If you cannot, then concede that your argument is "unScriptural" or explain why it is not unScriptural.

God certainly created marriage. God also created beasts with cloven hooves and ordered Jews not to eat them. Priests, if we are talking about normative priests of the Roman rite of the Roman Catholic Church cannot legitimately marry because each and every one (other than Lutheran and Episcopalian married clergy admitted to the Church and to the Catholic priesthood) have taken solemn vows of chastity and obedience, both of which prohibit their marriage after ordination as does Canon Law. What Peter (and his successors) have bound on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and what he or they have loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The vows may be loosed by the pope, individually or collectively. Priestly celibacy is disciplinary and not doctrinal, like the old mandatory meatless Friday rule and, like that rule may be abolished at any time. Of course, even the pope has no authority to require priests TO marry or to marry some specific woman or her to marry a priest.

[Mark17]

Somehow I really don't think you want to know the truth, so why should I take the time?

[DallasMike]

Name each of the 12 apostles and, for each one, NAME the wife and give a Scriptural reference demonstrating that each specific couple lived together as man and wife after each apostle was called by Christ to follow him.

There's no reason for Mark17 to do that as he wrote that "many" of the rest of the apostles were married. That's a fact. Do some research and you'll find that, according to Catholic tradition, 11 of the apostles were married.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:5 that "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?" Peter and at least several other apostles were bringing their wives with them on their travels! Pope Clement I wrote that Peter's wife was named Perpetua.

Regarding the notion that the apostles somehow became celibate after attaining their apostleship, that's a rather bizarre idea for you to prove, not for us to disprove. There's no indication that they did turn to a celibate life and the scriptures make clear that the sexual relationship is an integral part of marriage. As I noted in the last paragraphs, Peter and other apostles -- and the physical half-brothers of Jesus -- took their wives with them on their journeys.

Check your books about St. Petronilla, who until fairly recently in the scheme of things was universally considered to be one of the physical daughters of Peter (Augustine described her as such). Recently, the trend is to consider her just a "spiritual daughter" of Peter because it's inconvenient to acknowledge that the first pope was married. Anyway, tradition has it that she was martyred somewhere near the end of the first century. When you consider how close her name is to Petros, and if you acknowledge the early church tradition that she was Peter's daughter, you have to at least consider the possibility of her being born to Peter after he became an apostle.

Below is a common subject of 16th and 17th century art, a painting of the burial of Petronilla. Early church history says that she was martyred as a young woman about the same time that her parents were martyred -- around AD 66. Given that timeline, it's apparent that the early church was comfortable with the idea that she was born after Peter became an apostle. The painting is by the Italian painter Guercino and is titled "Seppellimento di Santa Petronilla." It hangs in the Vatican.