Should Reverend Fathers Get Married?

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul talks about marriage. In that same verse, he puts it clear that if you can not be like him, it is better to get married, than to mess yourself up.

I have heard several cases, home and abroad, where Reverend fathers and sisters commit untold sins, fit enough to make any pagan vow to remain in paganism. And I have asked many a times without a cogent answer as yet. Must you be a celibate, before you can serve God? Where did did catholics get the doctrine of mandatory celibacy, for reverend fathers, even when they are conspicuously not keeping to it?

As usual, I beg for fathomable answers please.

the originator of marriage God asked his fellow creation to be fruitful and fill the earth and this can only be done when we get married and have children i mean all of Gods creation including catholic priest, there is no where in the bible that states that some people should not get married because of their responsibilities in church rather if a person should decide to stay single it is his or her choice ,so staying single because you are a priest is not biblical

It is better to marry than to burn, priest or no, catholics and non-catholics alike; and something tells me these men do burn hot secretly so why not marry and temper the hormone running amock in you

I don't think it is limited to persons because they are not married. Happens also among married preachers too, adultery and things. Seen it before. The problem is that some catholic priests have abused children

i'd rather they marry than take out their sexual frustration on children...

I don't think it is because they are not married. I think they should lock them up.

i don't think it's that either...

they're just sickos...

but i'm pretty sure belonging to a group that refuses to accept homosexuals as fellow human beings doesn't help...

Can we hear from catholics? Enough from protestants or whatver.

I am catholic

So what do you say from the "catholic's" perspective of the essence of "priesthood" , what it entails and why "they dont marry", and what is your own personal opinion towards the original catholic's teaching?

Has been like that for a long time. I am not against the priesthood marrying, used to be like that long time ago. However most catholics feel that married life can be very demanding and in a certain aspect will limit his duty as a person of God. He must dedicate his life to God rather than have other commitments. Then there is the problem of how to financially support the married priest's family, where are these families supposed to live...in a rectory with a celibate priest? What sort of unity will exist in the presbyterate if some are married and others are celibate?
Just a few questions some should ponder before they jump to so called quick solutions.

I remember in Boy Scouts a married priest was assigned to do services. He was bitter about leaving his family on the weekend to go on the campouts. Also Catholic priests in the military are more likely to go into combat zones because they do not have families.

Even a Lutheran minister I know confessed to feeling that his family was cheated out of a certain amount of family time by his ministry and that his wife had to shoulder an unfair amount of family responsibility.

We feel that family life and a priestly vocation just won't work. The priests give so much of themselves...even, theoretically, with more priests to handle the workload, they just wouldn't be able to "do" both vocations. And I don't think there are many women with the saintly patience to share their husbands with the rest of the parish at all hours every day of the year. (And some wives might be willing, but I just don't think it would be fair to kids.

But just curious, are they forced to be priests? or it is their choice knowing alright the laws of the catholic church that governs that choice?

This is because "sympatizing" on the choice made by "someone" knowing quiet alright the rules governed by that choice, is really funny. Or is Profbills not a catholic? maybe a protestant, trying to critisise catholic practices.

they should be able to marry , i really dont understand why they dont, the priest, the Nuns i dont understand them.
God supports marriage, he never said u cant marry and serve him.
he first blessed marriage in the garden of aden, he saw that it wasnt right for a man to
be alone, there was something missing a woman......
God wants us to marry and spreed our seeds around,

they should definitely be allowed to get married.. it's bad enough that there are so many rapists and perverts out there, but it's really depressing to hear that a priest--who is supposed to represent God and who others look up to--has raped an innocent little boy.  i'm Orthodox and the priests in my church are supposed to get married..it is a very very old church, and in all its history, there has never been a problem like this with any of the priests.

The catholic priesthood is only made for young men who sacrificed their marital life in order to be available 24/7 to serve others for the sake of Christ.

I suggest that any priest who feels that they are in the wrong business should just withdraw and move on with their family life instead of staying and messing up their lives having illegal sex and staining the image of a real high priest they represent.

Its amazing what people do in the name of God

hey all
1. the catholic church's ruling that priest should not marry is not biblical, nor is it dogma, they've never said God said they should not marry, after all was aaron not married? was simon not married? not allowing priests to marry is canon, church law, meaning that it is very hard to change but can still be changed.
2. i feel it is indeed hard to combine both. some people can do it, many cannot. just as some homosexual priests can control the urge while others cannot. not all catholic priests are parish priests, so a comparison with modern day protestant churches and especially pentencostal churches are poor at best.
3. there are married catholic priests, in the east orthodox churches also considered catholic, marriage is allowed. a very small number of ppl already married are allowed to become priests (i didnt tell you oh, this is not for you to tell your brother to write to rome and ask for his hidden wife and kids to be approved lol), priests who convert from other faiths keep their wifes. admittedly many catholic priests who do want to marry are pissed off by this.
4. at mosiate, how do you know that in your orthodox churches this kind of thing has never happened? this is a very dangerous assumption to make. sexual harassment occurs in a lot places. i am happy that the ashiru of the catholic church was blown wide open so we can better deal with it. what about numerous other churches both protestant, and orthodox and pentecostal where such happens, but wide media coverage is not given. please google for more info
5. @exu, pls do not put words into the mouth of the church, have you read official church documents? or are you speaking from hearsay? the catholic church accepts homosexuals as full humans beings. it accepts that homosexuality and homosexual tendencies are many times innate. what is does not support is homosexual acts, or the support of the homosexual lifestyle. it maintains that homosexuality is intrinsically disordered, namely Bleep did not ask for it (im sure this one will cause wahala) and that all those with homosexual tendencies are called to a life of celibacy, however hard and evil to some ppl that may sound, basically dont act on your homosexual desires. the church stresses that homosexuals should not be discriminated against in anyway (this does not include the sacrament of holy matrimony oh, note i did not say marriage)
6. finally, in my OWN opinion, i feel gay ppl should be allowed to have same rights as domestic partners, lol after all both are wrong, it is either all or nothing

finally, i noticed that an overwhelming majority of the ppl who complain are not priests themselves. this is very much like the west showing women who put on hijab and abaya as being subjugated by men, as opposed to showing them as simply religious women

my own two cents

Again, nice talk

The Catholics claim Simon Peter was the first Pope. Granted! How come he had a mother-in-law, and then the Catholics say priests are not to be married. (Mark 1: 29-31)

Well it depnds on what you are looking at. 14yrs into seminary school,having passed through many tests and seeing one who will claims that claim ignorance of what he is doing is a mere farce. I dont think it is wise for somebody to quote bible against what one has accepted for himself/herself just because of kingdom of God just because he made a mistake. Catholic priest are better when not married that when they are married.

Catholic priest used to marry untill discovered that those married dont perform their duties properly (owing to the nature of authority given to priests) like un-married ones and opposed biase to the sect and so it was pulmugated.
Let us see what Jesus told appostles in the Bible when Jesus Christ was talking things about women and one of apostles then ask "Which means it is not good to marry?" then Jusus replied, There are some reasons why people why dont marry;some were made that way, while some, people made them, others made themselves just because of kingdome of God, this teaching is applicable to those whom it applied to." I cant remember where it is in the Bible but search the Gospels especially Math I think you will get it there.

So I dont know why the person who posted this on this issue read Bible like constitution of Nigeria whereby you read only what will make you win your opponent inside of seeing reasons with the doer. And so making a conclusive statement that such is dogman based and not found in the Bible.

Calibacy is a group personal thing pulmugated for the religious sect to determine and focuses more of God than wordly things and disturbance therein. It maybe mis-used but that doesnot mean that because Paul was a bad man so because he should not preach God's words after his repentance.

It was not on record that any of the appostles who is not married before knowing Jesus Christ later got married not becasue Jusus will refuse them but because it like group personal thing.

take care

Yeah, I'm Catholic and everything and I love my church but the whole priest not being able to marry thing is absolutely ridiculous. I was looking up a lot of research on Catholicism and back in the old days. Centuries ago a Catholic priest was encouraged to marry. They said to be a leader of a church you should have to receive all the sacraments which is including Marriage. I find this makes perfect since. But a pope changed this and made a rule that they were forbidden to receive that particular sacrament. Now, there is actually A LOT of homosexual priest. I find that is very insulting to the infallibility that the catholic church is supposed to stand by. If the catholic church ‘claims’ homosexuality is wrong and a sin and is completely against it. Why are there so many gay priests. Well lets think about this for a moment. Lets say I’m a gay male (I’m actually a straight female lol anyways.) and I am a Christian, not just any Christian and catholic. Well, I am scared. I am confused. I no it is wrong to be gay. I want to cover it up. But I will soon give into it. I don’t want to but I will. So, I have to find a reason to be celibate like I’m supposed to because it is said that if you are gay then to remain celibate. So I want a GOOD reason. I also want to serve God the best I can because I am terrified that I will be thrown to hell for my gayness. Priesthood= reason to be celibate and serving God. WELL THAT SOUNDS LIKE MY KIND OF PLACE! There, you have a gay priest. Most homosexual priest use the priesthood as a cover up for their homosexuality. If they would allow priest to marry then the priesthood would no longer be a good place to cover this up. Also, the catholic church complains over and over again that there isn’t enough priest. Well, it takes a gay man who is scared or a real man with guts to give up a life of marriage or sex. Guess what? There isn’t many men like that you know. If they would allow priest to marry then this would actually be solved. And wouldn’t a man who wants to serve God raise a good family and be a loving husband? They would actually be role models to their sons and maybe their sons would become a priest as well. They also say that a priest is Gods, That priest belong to God. Wow that’s nice and touchy. But in the bible doesn’t it say we are all created under God equally? God loves us all the same? God created us all then we are ALL Gods. Not just a priest. A priest isn’t special. We are all Gods children. They aren’t more of Gods than anyone else. Because God has us all the same. It’s just up to us to allow him in our lives and to love him. Now I’m bringing science into this matter. It is a natural instinct for another human being to feel emotion and urges and love. Not allowing a man to Marry is actually scientifically proven to hurt them. Now not everyone in the world gets married. Some people actually like being alone. (bless their souls) But most like the feeling of companionship. Forbidding a Man to not marry, makes them fight against nature and natural human instincts. The body and the mind can only take so much of this internal and external abuse. Now, I’m getting a little serious here. Not allowing a priest to marry is also causing them to sin. Yes we ALL get temptations but they get a lot I am sure of that. How much can a man take? Can you imagine a 30 something year old man who has never had sex or felt probably since their teenage years what it is like to actually have another person to hold or to just love. They must get urges and temptations. After a while they wont be able to take it and they might to something harmful. Like for one, The whole pedophile thing. That might be driven from insanity of a man with urges. Also, masturbation. This is under the commandant ‘Thall shall not commit adultery’ And just sex. Which is breaking that commandment was well. Also, a Deacon can marry, what is so special about a deacon? They are still men of God. Why not have the same rule for them? Plus, Pope John Paul II changed a few things about Deacons. Deacons could marry but if their spouse died they could not marry again if they wanted to stay a deacon. And if they were already a deacon without marriage then they could not marry. Well, he changed that. Now a deacon can marry even if they were already a deacon and if their spouse dies. Well if you can make that change why cant the new pope change the priest ordeal. It is a man made rule. Because I repeat back in the day priest were allowed to marry and some still are. There actually are a few married today. I think it is getting close. Most say they will one day but not too soon. But it will happen. There is to much ‘drama’ I may say to keep it the way it is. It will happen but we will never know when. But I will never say, priest not being able to marry is okay. I think it is wrong and inhumane.

yes they should be allowed to marry,dis pple fornicate like hell and then mount the pulpit to preach only God knows wat

please are the priests complaining? did they they tell you anyone forced them into priesthood?didnt they know about celibacy b4 joining the priesthood.please anyone who wants to get maried should pack his bag and leave the parish house.abi you want to turn our church to family business.am yet to see a priest that was forced into priesthood.celibacy has been they for more than1000 years and yet the church is still growing strong.you mentioned homosexual priests ,you should know it is prevalent in america that is a very sexually corrupt country.Has it ever ocurred here in nigeria?The catholic church has an estimated 1.132billion members as in every organisation they must be bad eggs.the catholic church is no exception.

@ all

I will give you my own personal experience with it. Maybe you will better understand this issue.

It is not a matter of being allowed to marry but a matter of the person wanting to marry. In the Catholic faith there are vocations, as in calls in life. There are people that are called to marriage and those that are called to celibacy, after all Christ did speak of those who are celibate for the kingdom of heaven saying whoever can bear it should bear it, he also asked that his apostles (everyone really) should give up everything for the kingdom of God, and the apostles did talk about leaving their families and following Christ, meaning they left their parents, children, and wives to follow Christ, the apostles themselves were celibate. I see some people quoting St. Paul when infact St. Paul himself boasted of his celibacy for the kingdom of God and told us that those who are married are concerned for the things of the world, how to please their husbands and wives, and that those who are celibate (virgins) are concerned about the things of God, about how to please God. He encouraged them to be like him, but that if they cannot bear it they should marry, only if they cannot bear it. The fault doesn't lie with the Catholic Church, it lies with those religious who cannot hold it but chose to become Priests. It lies with those who after knowing the vows that they made allowed the devil to get into their heads. See 1 Cor 7.

I said I will put my own experience into it. For about a year I was discerning on becoming a religious (sister or nun, yup there's a difference btwn those two). I wanted to give up everything for the kingdom of God, if I had done it I would most likely have been a cloistered nun (those who live a monastic life). But something that I had always dreamed of all my life is being a mother, and holding my own children in my arms. I prayed for one year and I wanted to know why I had this yearning for religious life. One thing I had to think of was whether I could sustain being celibate for the rest of my life. Quite frankly I know I can do it, and it can very much be done with God's help. But I realised that I did want that union with a man, and I do want to have a blood family, and that's why I chose not to enter the convent.

It is not by force that one does it, actually the convents or religious life is the place for those people who wish to leave everything for the Kingdom of God.
Joining the priesthood is not by force and it literally takes 10 years. So these people are celibate for 10 years and they have 10 years to decide to stay or leave, and even after 10 years they have the option to leave instead of taking their last vows and becoming married to God. For women it takes about 3 to 5 years to make up your mind. There is room for one to leave, there is room for one to know whether he or she can take this upon herself.

The celibacy in the Catholic Church is a choice thing. No one is forced to take that vow, but those who wish to take that vow must adhere to the rule. It leaves room for them to not be concerned for the things of this world. If you all worked with a priest before you will know just how demanding the job is. With what they have to do,, they don't have time to be concerned about their wife and children.
This rule leaves room for them to truly be concerned for the Kingdom of God.

Now there are some who are married, they were mariried before taking their vow. These are usually former pastors who convert to Catholicism, especially after reading the faith of the early christians (fathers). They are not allowed to remarry if their wife dies.

The issue always remains that if they were allowed to marry then they wouldn't be committing these crimes, when in reality that isn't so, and statistically that isn't so.
There are plenty of married pastors who cannot maintain with their wives. There are plenty of married men who cannot maintain with their wives. Child molestation or abuse usually occurs within the family, I know people make it seem like it's the priests that are the ones doing the molestation, when infact making priests marry isn't going to reduce child molestation as the perpetrators are usually related to the family. Now this is not an excuse, and such acts whether from a priest or family member should be condemned by all not just the Church.

The issue of well because of all the molestation men don't want to become priests anymore, well that is untrue. The problem is that Catholics are having less children (lol) and that the religious life isn't as austere as it used to be. Back in the day the norm was a child leaves home and enters the religious life or priesthood, now there are no children left . I know a lot of men who wish to enter the priesthood to redeem its image, I commend them for it really. The priesthood is a wonderful vocation and they sacrifice so much.

The Catholics claim Simon Peter was the first Pope. Granted! How come he had a mother-in-law, and then the Catholics say priests are not to be married. (Mark 1: 29-31)

um hello he was married before he met Christ. What did he do after meeting Christ?

Matthew 19: 27-

27 Then[b] Peter [/b] answering, said to him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? 28 And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. 30 And many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first.

I was looking up a lot of research on Catholicism and back in the old days. Centuries ago a Catholic priest was encouraged to marry. They said to be a leader of a church you should have to receive all the sacraments which is including Marriage

Actually this is half true. There were those who were married but they were married before entering the Priesthood, fights broke out and all as to who would succeed a priest from his family as was done by the Isrealites in the Old Testament. It came to clarification how the Priesthood was going to be. But, the celibacy thing had always been in effect, the apostles were also celibate. For the work that they did it was impossible for them to not have been celibate. They traveled everywhere and their mode of transportation was not as advanced as ours so it took them weeks even months to travel, that is months without wife and children, and then they were being thrown in jail like no man's business, their wives and children were not with them. So the practice of celibacy has always been there and it was there for those who were not already married.

Be careful where you get your information concerning the Church, I have found some websites that do not hold true to actual church teaching or history. When searching make sure it is a credible site. The vatican site is the most credible site. To be safe, check there or with your priest.

I think they should.

Like some people already stated, Catholic priests do not marry not because of any decree in the bible but because it is thought that juggling both marriage and service to the church will ultimately prove strenuous. Ideally I would like for them to have the choice to choose.

Like some people already stated, Catholic priests do not marry not because of any decree in the bible but because it is thought that juggling both marriage and service to the church will ultimately prove strenuous. Ideally I would like for them to have the choice to choose.

they do have the choice, just as you have the choice of living anywhere you want to. there are rules and regulations that come with it, if you can't live there pack up and go and don't be a nuisance to the society. same thing with the priests, if they can't sustain they shouldn't become one. if you read my above post, you will see that they have 10 years to figure it out. 10 YEARS. They usually start off after college (one of the rules for some orders), so they'll be around 21, if by the time they are 31 and they can't tell if they can sustain, then there's something wrong with them. By the time they are 21 they should already have an idea, and that's when they're beginning.

I think it would be better for them to have that choice irrespective of them being priests. Havent you noticed the high number of child molesting cases among celibate priests   This will ultimately save the Church a whole lot of scandals and subsequent embarrasment.

matt:19.12 for thre are enuchs who were born thus from their mothers womb and ther are enuchs who were made enuchs by men,and the are enuchs who have made themselves enuchs for the kingdom sake.He who is able to accept it let him accept it.
Here Jesus wer talking about celibacy,he did not condemn it .If anybody decides to be an enuch for kingdom sake what business of yours is that.If anyone who has made the vow thinks he cannot continue ,he should his bags and leave the parish house.
Those who mentioned homosexual priests should know it is most prevalent in america and it is not restricted to atholic priests.I challenge any one to prove an intance any homosexual priest here in nigeria

I think it would be better for them to have that choice irrespective of them being priests. Havent you noticed the high number of child molesting cases among celibate priests This will ultimately save the Church a whole lot of scandals and subsequent embarrasment.

that's the thing, there isn't a high level of molestation cases among celibate priests. we pay more attention to them because they are priests. there's a high level of rape, molestation, and all forms of sexual abuse from relatives and it is on the rise, but they're not priests so no attention is paid to them. there is a high level of pastors cheating on their wives by molesting children and sleeping with men, and women in their churches, but they don't pay any attention to them because they are not priests.

So nope there isn't a high level, we just give it a lot of attention. I have spoken to a few priests and their response is, if I wanted to marry I wouldn't have become a priest. Now there are some who wish to marry and they are so minimal, but majority a big majority of them would tell you, why did i become a priest if i wanted to marry?

I know several who were going to walk down the isle when they got the call, and they spoke to the ladies expecting a big deal, but the ladies just smiled and said ok as if they weren't affected, and they knew that that was where they needed to be.

Priests are uncomfortable with these other priests that have done such idiotic and hurtful things and are angry because it has broken the confidence the people had. They are working hard to restore that confidence. We need to pray for them instead of looking for a "solution"

Personally I don't think this has a one way answer.
If you really have worked with a priest before one would know that it is pretty close to ludicrous for him to have a family.
They work alot and it might not be fair on the kids and on his family, but again one can ask does he have to do much work? How about removing celibacy and getting more priests? Or employ other church workers?
Next is how do they deal with the sexual urges? I know priests who have rows of condoms in their houses, they are mere men like us, this is not to undermine the profession but to underscore that these men have sexual urges. It is a lot easier for a woman to be celibate than a man, but then again I think it is mostly because the church wants to keep most of its wealth circulating within.

Chrisbenogor:

Personally I don't think this has a one way answer.
If you really have worked with a priest before one would know that it is pretty close to ludicrous for him to have a family.
They work alot and it might not be fair on the kids and on his family, but again one can ask does he have to do much work? How about removing celibacy and getting more priests? Or employ other church workers?
Next is how do they deal with the sexual urges? I know priests who have rows of condoms in their houses, they are mere men like us, this is not to undermine the profession but to underscore that these men have sexual urges. It is a lot easier for a woman to be celibate than a man, but then again I think it is mostly because the church wants to keep most of its wealth circulating within.

come who tell u sey it's easier for women?
church workers are not employed, they volunteered. Priests are not employed either.