As a Protestant friend of the Catholic Church, I have a suggestion for the Vatican if it wants to reduce the percentage of gays in ministry. Try allowing priests to marry or be married (heterosexually, that is !) and I think it will help to solve the problem. Many well adjusted young Catholic men would consider the priesthood and probably a number of Catholic family men (some of whom are already serving the church as deacons) would step forward to enter the priesthood. The priest shortage would be resolved quickly and the Catholic Church (and Christianity) would emerge as a much stronger force in the world.
I could not agree with you more. I have also attended Lutheran services and know well the pastor. He is a man of God, married, and he could certainly relate to the trials and tribulations of being a husband and father better than someone who has never had to deal with it on a personal level.
I had an uncle who was a priest in my local diocese. He was trained as a marriage counselor. He eventually left the priesthood and the Church and married a former nun. I often think of how much more valuable he could have been to the Church if he could have married and stayed.
Having attended Catholic schools through high school, I have NO desire to EVER marry a nun. I value my knuckles too much...
A no go. The way you reduce the number of gays is by barring their entrance. Incidentally, coming from a Eastern Catholic background, I can assure you that there are married Priests in the Church already. In any event it has nothing to do with the problems the Church has been experiencing (coming from a minority of the clergy). See this quote from Fr. Fessio:
"That's what was so insidious. Now in our present culture -- which is obsessed with sex -- the church must make sure its own ministers are not contaminated by this secularized worldview," he said.
First and foremost, the Church needs holy men called by God to the Priesthood.
The priest shortage would be resolved quickly...
There is no real "Priest shortage".
...and the Catholic Church (and Christianity) would emerge as a much stronger force in the world.
Only to the extent that all Catholics, including Priests, respond virtuously to the Grace of God in living a life of holiness will this continue to come to fruition.
The Anglicans and the Orthodox - both of which allow married clergy - have major problems with homosexuality. The Anglicans deal with it by making it a sacrament (gay "marriage"), and the Orthodox deal with it by hiding it.
When the rector at St. Vlad's tried to stop it, the only effect was that the gays there "married" women (who came to the seminary to take catechist classes, but actually to find husbands) but continued with their unfortunate habits.
Celibacy has nothing to do with having an established gay colony. It's all about the ethic of the church in question. To my knowledge, the Orthodox in the US have managed to get the problem under control, while the Anglicans have let gays take over. We shall see what happens in the Catholic Church.
That's a non-starter. Never going to happen. There are tomes written on why this will never be, not the least of which is that a priest is married to the Church.
A specious argument not supported by the facts.
Sexual Abuse of Children by Protestant Ministers
Protestant churches face pastor shortage
By the way, most pedophiles are married men.
I think if the gays are rooted out of the seminaries, good honorable men will flock in. There's been a concerted effort to label conservative heterosexual men as misfits by the gays in charge, according to Michael S. Rose, Goodbye Good Men. This cleansing is long overdue. May the Lord protect this good and fearless Pope.
I think if the gays are rooted out of the seminaries, good honorable men will flock in. There's been a concerted effort to label conservative heterosexual men as misfits by the gays in charge, according to Michael S. Rose, Goodbye Good Men. This cleansing is long overdue. May the Lord protect this good and fearless Pope.
The Church might allow married men to be priests, and in fact does on occasion. Permanent deacons are usually married men. But according to the Christian tradition, which includes the eastern churches, No ordained person is allowed to marry. I am sure you understand that Protestant ministers are not ordained as Catholics or Othodox understand the word. There is among you no priestly "order" separate from the order of all other Christians.