Sex and Catholic priests

[Susma_Rio_Sep]

Let us try to study in a clinical manner why the Vatican Roman Catholic Church of the Latin Rite imposes the discipline of celibacy on Catholic men ordained to the priesthood.

Is sex and the priesthood somehow incompatible in the view of the Church? In a clinical manner (of course, understanding ‘clinical’ not in the strict medical term of ‘clinical’, but prescinding from accustomed subjective biases), an example of incompatibility in some maner is the handling of food and the handling of defecated matter.

Certainly the Church (please understand the Church here as the Vatican Roman Catholic Church of the Latin Rite) does not see sex and the priesthood the same way as one would see the incompatibility in some manner between the handling of food and the handling of defecated matter.

For with churches of the oriental rites in union with the Vatican and accepting the supremacy of the Roman Papacy, sex and priesthood do go together. Married men are ordained and continue with their marrtal life and family life.

So, in a clinical approach we like to find out why this imposition on Catholic men to observe celibacy on ordination to the priesthood.

If I were a Martian and I have taken a course on earth in the psychology of human behavior and motivation, but I have not read anything pro or anti celibacy, then I must answer that there must be a good trade-off in the Church’s imposition of celibacy on her priests.

(Of course, we are cognizant of married Catholic men ordained to the priesthood, with dispensation from this impediment of an extant marriage, and supposedly allowed to continue in their conjugal and family life; but as I said elsewhere, I am however still looking for official documentation in this matter.)

We want to find out what are the advantages on the earthly realm of a celibate clergy.

I for one am not pro or anti celibacy in any ideological capacity. But my sympathy is for priests to be able to live a normal married and family life, just as everyone else whatever their career and livelihood engrossments. And I do not see any, shall we use the word ‘clinical’? incompactibilty between the priesthood and sex within the parameters of Christian sexuality.

May we have some other views on this question?

Susma Rio Sep

[John_Mace]

There was no prohibition against married priests for roughly the first 1000 yrs of the Catholic Church. One theory holds that the Church req’d celibacy in order that Church property (land, I assume) would stay in the Church and not be left to the priests’ heirs when they died. Given the vast amount of real estate controled by the Church, I’d say this has worked very well. How does the Eastern Rite manage this issue (heritability of married priests’ assests)?

Looking forward to your next church/sex thread, Susma.

[Guinastasia]

How many threads are you gonna start on this?

Are you interested in joining the Chowder Marching Society?

[beagledave]

If your question is why the RCC has a mandate for its priests to be celibate, you could check out the catechism

1579 All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to “the affairs of the Lord,” they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church’s minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God.

If your question is whether the RCC should has this tenet of belief…thats another thread (which has been done before).

I don’t even want to speculate on your food preparation/defecation analogy.

Do you have any other interests besides sex and the RCC? Baseball? Geopolitics? SUVs? Jazz music? Monty Python? Dirty limericks?

Yo-yo tricks? Yo-Yo Ma? Your Momma jokes? The Mammas and the Pappas?

[tomndebb]

There was no prohibition against married priests for roughly the first 1000 yrs of the Catholic Church.

The most recent church-wide order for celibacy dates to just after 1073, however, the earlist rules for celibacy date to the fourth century and the practice of celibacy dates to the earliest days of the church while the issue of property is the reverse of how it is generally presented.

[Bricker]

Keep it up, Susma; if you start twelve threads on a single subject in a month, you win a bicycle.

Celibate men are called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to “the affairs of the Lord.” They give themselves entirely to God and to men.

There is some scriptural support for the practice. 1 Corinthians 7:32, “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord.”

But while the church has always accepted both the Eastern Rite practice of marriage as well as the Latin Rite practice of celibacy, celibacy is held in high regard in both rites:

Perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, commended by Christ the Lord and through the course of time as well as in our own days freely accepted and observed in a praiseworthy manner by many of the faithful, is held by the Church to be of great value in a special manner for the priestly life. It is at the same time a sign and a stimulus for pastoral charity and a special source of spiritual fecundity in the world. Indeed, it is not demanded by the very nature of the priesthood, as is apparent from the practice of the early Church and from the traditions of the Eastern Churches. where, besides those who with all the bishops, by a gift of grace, choose to observe celibacy, there are also married priests of highest merit. This holy synod, while it commends ecclesiastical celibacy, in no way intends to alter that different discipline which legitimately flourishes in the Eastern Churches. It permanently exhorts all those who have received the priesthood and marriage to persevere in their holy vocation so that they may fully and generously continue to expend themselves for the sake of the flock commended to them.

Presbyterorum ordinis 16 et seq

• Rick

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Celibacy is also a part of some other religious ascetic traditions. Buddhist monks, for instance, take a similar vow. One reason for celibacy in the priesthood is that it frees the clergy from familial obligations, just as the vow of pverty frres them from material concerns. Thus freed, they are able to dedicate their whole minds to the service of the church. Another reason is that celibacy is seen as a “consecrated” state. In Buddhist asceticism, sex (and family) is seen as a distraction from attaining enlightenment

Basically it’s about transcending earthly desires and making a commitment to more holy concerns.

[Gaudere]

[Moderator Hat ON]

Susma, if you want to continue discussing married Catholic priests, please just post to one of your previous threads on the subject, like Married priests in ‘60 Minutes’ or Priests fornicating, bishops not removing them. It’s really not a topic so full of nuance that we need three distinct threads on it by the same poster within a month.

[Moderator Hat OFF]