Catholics: Do you believe that the "Church" should start allowing Priests to marry?

Actually, the Catholic Church was called into account for being wicked by the apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy. Notice what he wrote about the actions of some in what he references the later periods of time. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 bluntly explains that: "However, the inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron; forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who have faith and accurately know the truth. The reason for this is that every creation of God is fine, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified through God’s word and prayer over [it]."

("forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving")<><><> It cannot be denied that the Catholic Church has participated in these two practices, not allowing their priests to marry and not allowing some kinds of foods to be eaten. And as anyone should be able to see, this is BAD in God's eyes. REALLY BAD and so much so it is said to be inspired by DEMONS.

So should thy allow their priests to marry? Yes!!!!!

Well actually Religious Priest even in the Orthodox Church are not allowed to be married. I think if the Catholic Church permitted Priests to be married new issues would arise, but I have to correct you just because someone chooses to remain living a life of celibacy does not mean they are potential sex abuse offenders. And if you understood why during the 11th century the Catholic Church felt the need not to allow Priests to be permitted to be married you would understand some of the problems which would arise if they were today to be permitted to be married.

For Protestants most of them are part time Pastors, they only hold a service once a week and also preform baptisms, weddings, and funerals but beyond that they have the time to spend with their family. A Catholic Diocese Priest are full time Pastors, 24/7 365/366 days a year even when they take a vacation. For a typical Catholic Diocese Priest they hold Mass everyday of the week and sometime more than just once. They are also teaching programs like RCIA classes and visiting their Parishioners at their homes, social gatherings, and sometimes even in the hospital if they are injured or ill. And besides preforming baptisms, weddings, and funerals in the Catholic Church weddings and funerals also generally have a Mass which is held with them. Than the Priest can also be found doing confession twice or more times a week and not to mention they also preform Last Rites for those who are dying so they are always on call. And being a Priest the education really never ends for them if you think having to attend schooling for 8 years is bad enough they also further their education and also have to take refreshment courses. A Catholic Diocese Priest wouldn't have any time for their family and this is one of the issues that lead the Church to decide that Priests shouldn't be permitted to be married. The other was inheritance of Church property, because most of property that the Priest uses is not his own but rather provided for him by the Church. The problem which had arisen was when a Priest would die their wife and children would end up inheriting Church property. Think about this when a Priest would have died the Church couldn't simply toss out the Priest's widow and her children out of the house which belonged to the Church and tell them that they have to leave the land which belonged to the Church. This lead to problems because it technically the Church could not give away this property being that it was provided by the tithes and donations made to the Church, when it came to property in the Catholic Church no one person owns any of it. And besides that Eastern Orthodox Diocese Priest are permitted to be married but most of their marriages end in divorce in which case it's even worse for them because they can be married only once.

Why do you think that would help? Children are abused more in their homes by family members (who are not celibate) than they are by priests. Children are in more danger from abuse at school or Scouts or little league than they are in a church. Out of the priests that have served in the last 40 years, only 2% were guilty of such attacks (hardly what I would call "widespread"). Can that be said of the other institutions that I mentioned? According to Corey Feldman, any kid in Hollywood has been abused, and this is all by people who have not taken a vow of celibacy. In fact, I imagine Hollywood types are getting all the action they can handle, yet they still go for the little ones. It is, therefore, clear as a bell that celibacy is not the culprit here. The simple fact is that you cannot make a pedophile. Those guys were pedos before they joined the clergy. The Church's biggest mistake was not having a better screening process in place to stop this sort of thing before it started. The John Jay report tells us that 80% of all the offending clergy were also known to have relations with young men of high school and even college age. Short story: they were gay. 4 out of 5 pedos in the Church are gay. There is the answer to the problem. We already do not allow gays in the Church, but we need to have a better screen to weed out the gays before they get in.

It never stopped allowing married priests. There are thousands of married priest among the priesthood as well as thousands who have chosen to discipline of celibacy in accordance to the recommendation of Jesus and St. Paul. There are 23 Rites in the Catholic Church and only one chooses men out of seminary based on their voluntary vow of celibacy.

First of all child abuse is not widespread in the Church compared to other clergy and other professions and groups. It happens to be most common among married people so it would seem that if anything celibacy is a deterrent to child abuse. Logic would also lend one to come to this more logical conclusion. The fact is that statistically you are much more likely to be a pedophile than a priest who is the least likely statistically. God bless!

In Christ

Fr. Joseph

Pedophiles are sexually attracted to children, and as far too many innocent victims can tell you, there are plenty of married pedophiles. Children are molested by married family members, teachers, coaches, etc.

So no, the Church doesn't need to change the celibacy requirement because it won't put an end to pedophilia. A more stringent psychological profiling process for seminarians would help to weed out those who are sexually attracted to children.

And no, I'm not denying that there has been a problem with Catholic priests abusing children. It has to do with aberrant sexual attraction, however, and not celibacy.

Wow! I think you're trying to show how clever you are but you're really just showing your ignorance.

a) child abuse, sexual or otherwise, is not about sex. It's about power - being married or not has no bearing on whether or not a person is an abuser.

b) the stats show the abuse rates among the priesthood (that done by priests) is actually lower than among populations of laymen (yes, male persons - men were looked at as there are no female priests).

oh, so I don't get reported for not responding to the question: no.

No.

Whether priests are married or not does not in any way affect the rate of child sex abuse. Just because you are celibate does not mean you start to become attracted to children; that's not how it works. If a person is attracted to children, they have been that way their whole life.

Priests were married in the bible. However, the priesthood ended when Jesus came, so it doesn't matter whether they get married or not. Either one is a man-made rule for priests, which does not exist biblically. They are already going against the bible by being a priest to begin with. God forgives them though, because they do not know what they do.

If people want to help others they will help each other read the bible so they will know what it says:

"The Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe. They will obey spirits that tell lies. And they will follow the teachings of demons. 2 Those teachings come through people who tell lies and trick others. These evil people cannot see what is right and what is wrong. It is like their conscience has been destroyed with a hot iron. 3 They say that it is wrong to marry. And they say that there are some foods that people must not eat. But God made these foods, and those who believe and who understand the truth can eat them with thanks. 4 Everything that God made is good. Nothing he made should be refused if it is accepted with thanks to him. 5 Everything he created is made holy by what he has said and by prayer." 1 Timothy 4:1-5, ERV

Celibacy does not cause pedophilia. Celibacy is a choice,pedophilia is a mental defect. Pedophiles flock to jobs and careers where children will be present. The majority(98%) of pedophiles world wide are married men with children of their own. Children have a 97% more of chance of being molested in their own home then any where else. Every human on the face of the earth goes through periods of celibacy. Is every human a pedophile? No.

The tradition of single priests is Canon law, not a dogma, which means it is not set in stone, and could change. The married priesthood is not unbiblical per se (i.e., Peter was married), but their is much scriptural and historical evidence supporting celibate priests. One thing is for sure. A family man has to put his family first, not the Church. That leads into a huge dilemma if he is a pastor.A priest puts God and the church first.

Scripture fairly consistently awards celibacy a higher spiritual calling than marriage.

...it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am...it is well for you to remain as you are...do not seek a wife...he who refrains from marriage will do better...(I Cor., 7-8 and 32-38)

Paul says that celibacy provides "unhindered devotion to the Lord. " (1 cor 7:35) Jesus tells us "it is better not to marry...let anyone accept this who can." (Mat 19:10-12)

In Jewish law the priesthood was passed on by blood relation and marriage was therefore necessary, but even so, Jewish priests of the Old Testament were required to abstain from sex during the periods when they were serving in the Temple for spiritual reasons. Catholic priests serve in the Temple every day.

I have more if you need it.

Catholic Christian †

I have known priests that ended up in marriage. They are still priest but their function of conducting Masses ends. Child abuse is just a small percentage but are highlighted because of their delicate positions. On the contrary there are too many who served well and good.

In the first few centuries A.D., priests did marry.

But, don't single out priests: how about boy scout leaders, preachers, and the perennial favorites, teachers and Congressmen? They are allowed to marry, but that doesn't stop child abuse.