Should priests marry

[booboobear]

I was raised Catholic but never really practiced my faith after 16 yrs.
One thing always bothered me I always felt priests should be allowed to marry.
I think denying your sexuality is unnatural.
What does that have to do with being a good christian ?

 

[thecoolguyms72]

Yes, they should marry. Enough said.

 

[troubledpitbull]

I'm not even gonna get started on this topic

 

[auto doctor]

Should Nuns be allowed to have children???

 

[Goober Mcfly]

I'm Protestant, and our pastors have always been allowed to marry.

Farking Catholics.

 

[TheNiteHwk]

The problem is that 1/2 of them would want to marry each other.

 

[Pedro Sanchez]

I think denying your sexuality is unnatural.

Somehow, i dont think they have been ignoring their sexuality. Just ask a choir boy.

 

[auto doctor]

I'm Protestant, and our pastors have always been allowed to marry.

Farking Catholics.

Goobey but your just pissed because they turn you down when you ask one to marry you.

Asshat Protestants..

 

[big dogie]

The thing is, there are married catholic priests. Mostly if they convert from say the Reformed church, they stay with their wives or there also are married men that have become catholic priests and stayed with their wives. It does happen. ..........

b d

 

[Brownie69]

I'm not Catholic, heck I'm not even Christian but my faith shares similar beliefs. I personally believe that God made us with desires and one of those desires is to be with women.

To me, it doesn't make sense that God would create you with desires and ask you to suppress what he gave you in order to worship him.

 

[Bobzilla]

The problem is that 1/2 of them would want to marry each other.

Problem??? Sounds like the ideal solution...

 

[Dave in Phoenix]

As was pointed out the history of the celibacy and not married sillyness was reaction to the priests having so many illigetimate children with many wives which was costing the Church a fortune.

How on earth can a single priest counsel couples getting married. They have no clue if they haven't experienced the issues related to marriage themselves.

The being so spirtual excuse (when it was really a money issue) reminds me of being to heavenly to be any earthly good.

Obviously the priesthood attracts gay men - they get to be with men most all the time. HIV stats in the U.S. show that priests have the highest incidence of HIV than any other occupational group. Most heterosexual men would not deny their sexuaity to be a priest any more than gay priests repress their sexualtiy. Try to be so unnataural to not be sexual just doesn't work. Not being sexual as God designed our bodies to be is abuse of our bodies in my view.

 

[thecoolguyms72]

i'm catholic and no they should not....if you want to get married and serve god there are many ways to do that...you can be a minister, join the choir etc....joining the priesthood should be reserved for those who are willing to give up everything to serve god....if you are not willing to do so you should not become a priest.

DonQ has good points. I'd like to add, why do you have to go to marriage counselling with a Catholic priest to get married in the Catholic Church when a priest wouldn't know the first thing about marriage between man and woman or otherwise. It is hypocritical at best.

Also, I fail to understand how giving up everything to serve god actually has any purpose. Perhaps you can explain that part. I would have more respect getting life guidance from a community leader that actually had life experience than from a priest.

But then again, I'm an atheist, I really don't understand half of what goes on with priests.

 

[papasmerf]

No, they should not marry. Enough said.

 

[n_v]

Who appointed you Pope?

No one. You asked for opinions and you got one. Can't be upset if you didn't get the answers from posters that you wanted to read.

 

[tboy]

For sure they should be allowed to marry, hell, it would save a lot of choirboy's backsides!

 

[n_v]

For sure they should be allowed to marry, hell, it would save a lot of choirboy's backsides!

How do you figure? If your point has some validity, which it does not, then why is child molestation more rampent in the general population where they (molestors in general) are not held to strict doctrine?

 

[n_v]

Please explain your post. Pops response was quite blunt - "They shouldn't get married.
Enough said." How would you interpret that comment. Sounds dogmatic to me.
Kinda like a Papal Bull. Ergo, 'who appointed you pope' to speak in authoritarian terms.

I interpreted it as short and to the point.

Why do you think I'm 'upset'?

What 'answers' did I want to read?

I must then appologize for jumping the gun on your statement.

Nowhere in my posts on this subject did I indicate my position.
Fact is, you don't know my position so how do you know what I wanted to read?

Another bewildering sidetrack. Don

LMAO.

 

[WhaWhaWha]

It's about money and property ownership for the church. Ordination, being like marriage, means that Priests are entitled to certain "property rights". Marriage divides those property rights, and especially complicates matters when a priest dies and leaves family behind. To resolve these complications they simply forbade priests to marry.

From: Liberated Christians, PO Box 32835, Phoenix AZ 85064-2835 / E-mail: davephx@primenet.com (A different Dave from Phoenix)

...Before the 12th century it was common for Catholic priests to have multiple wives and mistresses. Pope Gregory II in 726 said, "when a man has a sick wife who cannot discharge the marital function, he may take a second one, provided he looks after the first one." Later, with concerns for protecting the Church from inheritance, Pope Pelagius I made new priests agree that offspring could not inherit Church property. Then Pope Gregory declared all sons of priests illegitimate (only sons since lowly daughters could not inherit anyway). In 1022 Pope Benedict VIII banned marriages and mistresses for priests and in 1139 Pope Innocent II voided all existing marriages of priests and all new priests had to divorce their wives. This had nothing to do with morality (multiple women for males had been the norm since before biblical times), but it was about MONEY!

 

[Musketeer]

Absolutly! They should be allowed to marry (and I am Catholic)!

More old priests than young ones as a result, at the moment. They were allowed to in the early Church. That right was only taken away in the Middle Ages.