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Don't end celibacy for priests
Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, May 28, 2002 | Joel Mowbray

Posted on 05/27/2002 10:57:55 PM PDT by JohnHuang2

Edited on 07/12/2004 3:54:07 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

When the U.S. bishops meet next month for their annual gathering, their primary focus will be on expediting the process for punishing abusers, and hopefully dealing with bishops and cardinals who provided safe haven for predator priests. But the real challenge for the Catholic Church in the long run is directing its attention to fighting those using the scandal as a Trojan horse to surreptitiously undermine traditional Catholic teaching on sexuality.


(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholiclist
Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Quote of the Day by McGavin999

1 posted on 05/27/2002 10:57:55 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: *Catholic_list

2 posted on 05/27/2002 11:05:59 PM PDT by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: JohnHuang2
I go back and forth on this issue. The offenders took vows of celibacy, and have broken them. They knew from before Day 1, that it was a requirement for the service. Would not ending celibacy for priests be akin to rewarding the offenders? Making them the new "revolutionaries" who got the church out of its "archaic" views? I fear that.

On the other hand, would ending celibacy end this abuse of children and minors? Celibacy does not specify age, only ALL sex, regardless. Would a man who is married, and a priest, have an aversion to molesting a child in his "care" if he already had an attraction to the innocent, and voiceless?

Mrs Kus

3 posted on 05/27/2002 11:06:44 PM PDT by cgk
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To: JohnHuang2; Libertarianize the GOP; cgk
Why do Eastern rites catholic get a pass at celibacy? Their priests can marry.

I guess if I was for example Irish and wanted to a wife and wanted to be a priest in the Catholic church I would head on out to one of those Uniate Churches and get all that I want via a very big Papal loophole.

4 posted on 05/27/2002 11:17:13 PM PDT by Spar
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To: Spar;patent;Diago
Maybe you can address spar's question.
5 posted on 05/27/2002 11:20:53 PM PDT by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: Spar
Good question... I'm afraid I'm rather naive about the different factions of the Church. I wasn't honestly aware that Eastern rite priests had a "pass."

Mrs Kus

6 posted on 05/28/2002 12:04:17 AM PDT by cgk
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To: Spar
Why do Eastern rites catholic get a pass at celibacy? Their priests can marry.

So can priests in the Anglican branch of the Catholic Church.

However, if a priest wants to become a bishop in the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church he must be leading a celibate life. I don't know about the Anglican bishops.

7 posted on 05/28/2002 12:07:52 AM PDT by Salvation
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To: Salvation
Anglican bishops have to be gay. Just kidding.
8 posted on 05/28/2002 12:10:55 AM PDT by Chemnitz
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To: Salvation
So can priests in the Anglican branch of the Catholic Church.

Anglo-Catholics aren't in union with Rome. Perhaps you are thinking of the handful of Anglican Use Parishes in the United States. They are considered part of the Latin Rite, however have a distinctive, and very beautiful Liturgy which draws heavily from the Book of Common Prayer.

There are married RC Priests who have entered via the Pastoral Provision, promulgated in 1981. Most of them are former Episcopalians and Lutherans (denominations considered one step from Catholicism). Most of those Priests are not serving in Anglican Use Parishes since there are only 6 or 7 AU Parishes in the United States-most of them in Texas.

9 posted on 05/28/2002 12:25:18 AM PDT by sockmonkey
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To: JohnHuang2
End celibacy for priests. It is pointless, draws some of the wrong kind of people into the clergy, and occurs in old age in any case.

What kind of inappopriate, intrusive, voyeuristic attention to other people's personal lives gave rise to the celibacy requirement in the first place?

10 posted on 05/28/2002 2:39:04 AM PDT by Tax Government
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To: Tax Government
Read Matthew 19.
11 posted on 05/28/2002 2:42:28 AM PDT by D-fendr
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To: Tax Government
ummm..... did you read the article above?
12 posted on 05/28/2002 2:54:11 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: JohnHuang2
I think they should end celibacy for married people.
13 posted on 05/28/2002 2:59:04 AM PDT by The Raven
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To: cgk
So true... in fact many homosexuals are married men.

Pedophiles are diseased human beings that must be removed from society.

Marriage will not stop a pedophile from molesting children.

The idea that marriage is a cure for priests who molest children is an example of how problems are addressed today.

A_s-backwards

14 posted on 05/28/2002 3:13:48 AM PDT by johnny7
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To: Tax Government
What kind of inappopriate, intrusive, voyeuristic attention to other people's personal lives gave rise to the celibacy requirement in the first place?

What kind of inappopriate, intrusive, voyeuristic attention to other people's personal lives causes people who have no intention of becoming a Catholic, or a priest, or a celibate, to demand that the free choice of celibacy in the Catholic Church be ended?

15 posted on 05/28/2002 5:34:12 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: JohnHuang2
Catholic priests have a dual devotion to God and parishioners — there simply isn't room in their lives for families of their own.

I disagree with the argument that priests don't have room in their lives for families. Some of the priests have spent plenty of time and energy molesting kids, instead of on their pastorly duties. The sex-obsessed priests with homosexual compulsions spent untold hours plotting their predatory strategies.

The straight priests,on the other hand, may be living lives of desperate lonliness. Parishioners may want their priests to be celibate, but how long can the church survive if mothers refuse to send their sons to what they see as gay-dominated seminaries?

This problem will not be solved for decades because so many people think that celibacy is necessary. The question is, "How many are actualy celibate?"

16 posted on 05/28/2002 8:33:17 AM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: JohnHuang2
If reports cited by Father Donald Cozzens, a former head of a seminary, in his book "The Changing Face of the Priesthood" are correct, then 25 to 50 percent of American priests are gay.

I want to know where Cozzens gets his numbers? If he is basing it on what he witnesssed while he was running a seminary and tolerated it, then he is part of the problem.

17 posted on 05/28/2002 8:54:25 AM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: Spar
Why do Eastern rites catholic get a pass at celibacy? Their priests can marry.

While married men may be ordained in the Eastern Rite, once ordained, single priests may not then get married. Should the spouse of the priest die, then the priest must adopt the discipline of celibacy. Same for those Protestant clergy who convert to Catholicism and get ordained as priests. Also, in the Eastern Rite, bishops are selected exclusively from celibate priests.

18 posted on 05/28/2002 8:57:33 AM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: Chemnitz
Anglican bishops have to be gay. Just kidding.
Suppose thats better than be a child molester. Just kidding.
19 posted on 05/28/2002 9:03:51 AM PDT by no need for a name
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
Catholic priests have a dual devotion to God and parishioners — there simply isn't room in their lives for families of their own.

This is nonsense. If priests have room in their lives to go to race tracks, and Las Vegas, and prolonged sabbaticals, then they have time for families.

A priest recently relayed to me an interesting story: A Methodist minister who taught at his seminary told him that when he was deathly ill at a hospital, he called a Catholic priest, not a fellow Methodist. The minister gave two reasons; 1) he could call a Catholic priest in the middle of the night guaranteed to reach him, and 2) a Catholic priest is able to give fully of himself to others and would not have a family to tend to.

I also don't believe this goofy story for a minute.

20 posted on 05/28/2002 9:14:02 AM PDT by sinkspur
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER; Salvation; Libertarianize the GOP
I did not say being a Greek Catholic or Greek Orthodox meant you were a swinger. It still is one up on Latin rite Catholics that Eastern Rite or Greek Catholics enjoy while being considered full Catholics too. Also I have read that priests in teh Latin rite can be married before they are priests like those that convert from Lutherans for instance but once Catholic they have to be married and celibate. I will look that up in teh Catholic Encyclopedia and I am not sure if I understood the point correctly. The Greek Catholic (nothing to do with Greek ethnicity) priest once married and a priest can have children. Divorce in some Eastern Catholic branches also allow divorce along most of the lines of Greek Orthodox.
21 posted on 05/28/2002 9:57:03 AM PDT by Spar
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To: Spar
Also I have read that priests in teh Latin rite can be married before they are priests like those that convert from Lutherans for instance but once Catholic they have to be married and celibate. I will look that up in teh Catholic Encyclopedia and I am not sure if I understood the point correctly.

You misunderstood. Incidentally, not all married Protestant clergy who convert to Catholicism and request ordination in the Latin Rite end up getting their request granted.

22 posted on 05/28/2002 11:20:40 AM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: sinkspur
I also don't believe this goofy story for a minute.

You should share your suspicion with the author: jdmowbra@erols.com

23 posted on 05/28/2002 11:25:38 AM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: JohnHuang2
You know, I am not sure that celibacy is one of their problems right now.
24 posted on 05/28/2002 11:30:07 AM PDT by Don Myers
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To: JohnHuang2
Since it's relevant, let's let St. Paul have a say on this:

"But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord: how he may please God. But he that is with a wife is solicitous for the things of the world: how he may please his wife. And he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord: that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world: how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your profit, not to cast a snare upon you, but for that which is decent and which may give you power to attend upon the Lord, without impediment."
1 Corinthians 7:8-9, 32-35

I agree.

Get rid of priestly celibacy? Bad idea.

Defrock priests who don't take their vows seriously? Great idea.
25 posted on 05/28/2002 11:34:58 AM PDT by Antoninus
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To: cgk
Would not ending celibacy for priests be akin to rewarding the offenders?

Yes.
26 posted on 05/28/2002 11:36:09 AM PDT by Antoninus
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To: no need for a name
Anglican bishops have to be gay. Just kidding."

"Suppose thats better than be a child molester. Just kidding."

I thought it was funny, and I'm an Episcopalian.

27 posted on 05/28/2002 11:47:47 AM PDT by Irene Adler
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
"I also don't believe this goofy story for a minute." "You should share your suspicion with the author: jdmowbra@erols.com"

I don't believe it, either, and I have no intentions of discussing it with its supposed author.

28 posted on 05/28/2002 11:50:00 AM PDT by Irene Adler
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To: Irene Adler
That makes two non-believers. I'm sure Mowbray is crushed.
29 posted on 05/28/2002 12:09:44 PM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: JohnHuang2
Catholic priests have a dual devotion to God and parishioners — there simply isn't room in their lives for families of their own.

If priests could marry, there would be more of them to share the duties. Thing I can't figure out is, if a married Deacon's wife dies, the Deacon must then thereafter live a celibate life.

30 posted on 05/28/2002 12:25:10 PM PDT by DallasDeb
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To: sinkspur
If priests have room in their lives to go to race tracks, and Las Vegas, and prolonged sabbaticals, then they have time for families.

Some parishioners promote celibacy out of tradition and because it seems fitting to them to have a priest who devotes himself entirely to the parish. Jesus did not expect it from his disciples, and that is why it will eventually come to an end. Plus, we've now learned that the concept of celibacy is too often just that-----a concept.

31 posted on 05/28/2002 2:59:10 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
That is even worse of a double standards.
32 posted on 05/28/2002 4:22:23 PM PDT by Spar
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To: SMEDLEYBUTLER
I want to know where Cozzens gets his numbers?

He probably visited my diocese, here in Albany, NY. My pastor and associate pastor are both gay; the bishop is considered gay. The Sunday televised mass, from a local parish's day chapel, is usually presided over by a gay priest. Rare is the straight priest in this diocese.

In those dioceses run by homosexual bishops and/or cardinals, the seminaries welcome their own with open arms. Now, do the math. How many bishops and cardinals are gay? The answer to that question will be found in the diocesan seminaries.

33 posted on 05/28/2002 5:58:30 PM PDT by NYer
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