Ask a Catholic

[rightwinger]

I think the answer would be a definite YES

Then I can imagine that you are already lending a helpful hand to the Catholic Church. How do you see yourself as being of greater help if you were a priest with a family?

I was raised a Catholic. Remember attending Latin Mass when the Church thought holding a Mass in a language nobody understood made sense.
But in 1964 the Church changed and dropped Latin.

The Church needs to reevaluate its Doctrine again and allow woman Priests and make celibacy optional.
They need to recognize birth control and sterilization as necessary for family planning.
They need to recognize that some marriages don’t work and divorce is necessary. Phony annulment is not the same.

 

[Meriweather]

The Church needs to reevaluate its Doctrine again and allow woman Priests and make celibacy optional.
They need to recognize birth control and sterilization as necessary for family planning.
They need to recognize that some marriages don’t work and divorce is necessary. Phony annulment is not the same.

That's like saying Major League Baseball needs to put down their bats and play basketball; that the National Football League needs to put away their shoulder pads and helmets and take up soccer. Perhaps when that happens the Catholic Church can give up its Way and become Buddhists.

 

[.oldschool]

I think the answer would be a definite YES

Then I can imagine that you are already lending a helpful hand to the Catholic Church. How do you see yourself as being of greater help if you were a priest with a family?

I was raised a Catholic. Remember attending Latin Mass when the Church thought holding a Mass in a language nobody understood made sense.
But in 1964 the Church changed and dropped Latin.

The Church needs to reevaluate its Doctrine again and allow woman Priests and make celibacy optional.
They need to recognize birth control and sterilization as necessary for family planning.
They need to recognize that some marriages don’t work and divorce is necessary. Phony annulment is not the same.

AH! Catholicism in the image of rightwinger.

 

[Meriweather]

I was raised a Catholic. Remember attending Latin Mass when the Church thought holding a Mass in a language nobody understood made sense.
But in 1964 the Church changed and dropped Latin.

The interesting point about Latin is that when the Church had its start, Latin was the universal language. By the time 1964 rolled around Latin was considered a "dead" language. The point originally was to use a language everyone could understand and it went to that to using a language no one understood.

By making Latin itself "the point" the Church totally missed the point of using the language everyone understood.

What I find interesting is that people who are not priests want priests to marry--and many are people who are even outside Catholicism. This issue should be resolved within the Church by members of the clergy. They are best able to identify the problems that would arise and how they might be resolved. I mentioned earlier, some marriage is permitted within the Eastern Orthodox, so they are very much like the Catholic Church and have some experience with this.

As for artificial means of birth control: I think the Church should stand for the ideal, just as they do now, while remaining very much aware that many of the flock for various reasons are never going to meet that ideal. Life is our greatest gift and on that point the Church should remain solid. Yes, in this day and age, it is a difficult undertaking--but it is not impossible.

 

[Meriweather]

They need to recognize that some marriages don’t work and divorce is necessary.

Again, divorce is not the issue. It is remarrying after a divorce.

 

[rightwinger]

The Church needs to reevaluate its Doctrine again and allow woman Priests and make celibacy optional.
They need to recognize birth control and sterilization as necessary for family planning.
They need to recognize that some marriages don’t work and divorce is necessary. Phony annulment is not the same.

That's like saying Major League Baseball needs to put down their bats and play basketball; that the National Football League needs to put away their shoulder pads and helmets and take up soccer. Perhaps when that happens the Catholic Church can give up its Way and become Buddhists.

No, it is more like saying Major League Baseball needs to allow Negroes, play night games, have Free Agency and a Designated Hitter

Oh wait......they did that

 

[rightwinger]

They need to recognize that some marriages don’t work and divorce is necessary.

Again, divorce is not the issue. It is remarrying after a divorce.

So?

 

[rightwinger]

What I find interesting is that people who are not priests want priests to marry--and many are people who are even outside Catholicism. This issue should be resolved within the Church by members of the clergy

Nobody is saying Priests should be forced to marry. You could have an order that remains celibate and others that allow priests to marry and allows female Priests. A potential Priest could decide which order to join

 

[justinacolmena]

Why is Daniel 13 and 14 not in the protestant bible?

It was. The Protestants put those chapters in the Apocrypha, because they were not traditional canonical Jewish scriptures.

The Catholics refuse to allow Protestants to publish a Bible containing the Apocrypha, so it gets left out, except in approved Catholic versions of the Bible.

 

[Meriweather]

No, it is more like saying Major League Baseball needs to allow Negroes, play night games, have Free Agency and a Designated Hitter

Oh wait......they did that

The reason this analogy doesn't work is that the Church once had married priests. There were reasons for changing. If you are not a Catholic priest, this is not your battle. There are married Orthodox priests, rabbis, and ministers. If you require a married clergy, you have options.

 

[Meriweather]

Nobody is saying Priests should be forced to marry. You could have an order that remains celibate and others that allow priests to marry and allows female Priests. A potential Priest could decide which order to join

That's pretty much what the Orthodox have done.

 

[irosie91]

I was raised a Catholic. Remember attending Latin Mass when the Church thought holding a Mass in a language nobody understood made sense.
But in 1964 the Church changed and dropped Latin.

The interesting point about Latin is that when the Church had its start, Latin was the universal language. By the time 1964 rolled around Latin was considered a "dead" language. The point originally was to use a language everyone could understand and it went to that to using a language no one understood.

By making Latin itself "the point" the Church totally missed the point of using the language everyone understood.

What I find interesting is that people who are not priests want priests to marry--and many are people who are even outside Catholicism. This issue should be resolved within the Church by members of the clergy. They are best able to identify the problems that would arise and how they might be resolved. I mentioned earlier, some marriage is permitted within the Eastern Orthodox, so they are very much like the Catholic Church and have some experience with this.

As for artificial means of birth control: I think the Church should stand for the ideal, just as they do now, while remaining very much aware that many of the flock for various reasons are never going to meet that ideal. Life is our greatest gift and on that point the Church should remain solid. Yes, in this day and age, it is a difficult undertaking--but it is not impossible.

was LATIN really all that prevalent ----I did not know

 

[rightwinger]

I was raised a Catholic. Remember attending Latin Mass when the Church thought holding a Mass in a language nobody understood made sense.
But in 1964 the Church changed and dropped Latin.

The interesting point about Latin is that when the Church had its start, Latin was the universal language. By the time 1964 rolled around Latin was considered a "dead" language. The point originally was to use a language everyone could understand and it went to that to using a language no one understood.

By making Latin itself "the point" the Church totally missed the point of using the language everyone understood.

What I find interesting is that people who are not priests want priests to marry--and many are people who are even outside Catholicism. This issue should be resolved within the Church by members of the clergy. They are best able to identify the problems that would arise and how they might be resolved. I mentioned earlier, some marriage is permitted within the Eastern Orthodox, so they are very much like the Catholic Church and have some experience with this.

As for artificial means of birth control: I think the Church should stand for the ideal, just as they do now, while remaining very much aware that many of the flock for various reasons are never going to meet that ideal. Life is our greatest gift and on that point the Church should remain solid. Yes, in this day and age, it is a difficult undertaking--but it is not impossible.

was LATIN really all that prevalent ----I did not know

Only among the highly educated, not among the masses

 

[Blues Man]

I didn't criticize I asked questions but in general religious institutions don't like when people ask questions

Quite the contrary. Questions such as why do you do _____________________ the way you do, are always welcomed and encouraged. Should we favor major league baseball asking the national football league to make changes that would suit them. Why pass the football when pitching a round ball clearly works better? I am sure you see the difference.

Let's take on the issue of married priests from your standpoint with questions for you:

1. Priests move throughout the dioceses--even beyond, sometimes as much as every two to four years. How does this affect wives and children?
2. Who has the priority, the family or the parish?
3. Does the house belong to the parish or the family?
4. What problems have married Eastern Orthodox priests have had to overcome?
5. Should marriage be solely with a woman?
6. What about divorce? How is alimony and child support figured?
7. If marriage is approved, then why can't priests just live with someone without being married?
8. Why not just consensual, casual sex?
9. Why not call for a hooker?

In other words, where would you draw all the lines?

Military wives and children seem to be able to handle moving around
Both. People in every walk of life find a work life balance
If the parish owns the house then the priest can pay rent or he can rent or own his own home
I don't know anything about Orthodox priests and don't care
The Catholic church has always denounced gays and refuses to marry same sex couples so why would that change?
And what about divorce? Would a priest lose his job if he got divorced or had a child out of wedlock? It could be part of their employment contract.
If any priest is caught having sex outside of marriage isn't he violating the canons of the church anyway? He should probably be fired.

Why is it that almost every other Christian religion allows clergy to marry and none of these things seem to be hindrances. In fact everything on your list is something that every couple and family in the world has to deal with what makes a catholic priest unable to handle them?

 

[Lysistrata]

We don't know if it is true that the Apostles were male. Mary Magdalene was the first to declare that Jesus had risen, and we don't know who made the designations of who should be counted among the Apostles. Whomever it was even counted Saul/Paul, who never met Jesus.

We do know the Twelve Apostles were male. We also know there were plenty of women disciples. 'Apostle' means one who is sent forth. While Paul is not numbered among the Twelve, he was "sent forth"....Apostle to the Gentiles.

We don't know that the 12 Apostles were male. If women were disciples, why disqualify them from the priesthood.

It is not that women are incapable of being priests. It is more that men should step up and take on this responsibility. Women do enough, even more than enough. Men can at least do this

Sorry. This is a totally absurd excuse. It ranks with the "women don't look like Jesus" excuse that the guys who run the church offered in the 70s and 80s. There seems to have been a widespread historical movement among males in several different religions to keep women from handling what is considered sacred in that religion and to force women into accepting men as their only avenue to accessing the spiritual realm.

Also, I wonder why birth control must be "natural." Humans are tool users, and every advancement in technology helps us to solve problems. Whether "natural" birth control or birth-control technology is being used, the couple's intent not to conceive is still the same.

Pope Paul VI prayed long and hard over this. What stopped him was the question of, "What happens when artificial means fail? What would be the next step? And he saw abortion--the ending of life. He also saw sex as a great gift between couples. Artificial means of birth control reduces this gift to a recreational activity between non-married couples.

And you think that he was right, I take it. This ridiculous theory probably resulted in an enormous number of abortions. How many relationships was he ever in.

A good deal of sex is "recreational" regardless of marital status, and involves emotional ties that the "conservatives" don't acknowledge, and also an expression of the partners' natural sexuality, the existence of which "conservatives" are horrified of. Most married couples don't want an enormous number of children. As my late father used to say, in the most awful of Italian accents ever, "you no playa da game, you no maka da rules."

 

[Jets]

I’m Catholic, but if I was strict, my family would keep pace with the Duggars...

 

[Lysistrata]

It puts a strain on family resources and means the family will have to make do with less.

The guys who run the Catholic Church also think that the mother should stay home to care for the couple's growing brood while the father goes to work to support everybody.

I wonder how many men have the resources to support a family of maybe ten people. Maybe work two or three jobs with no sleep for years on end? Add to that, the father might grow to resent the mother for putting him in such a position while the mother might grow to resent him for getting her stuck in the house with all of those kids running around when she has no time for rest, not to mention no opportunity to pursue her own personal interests.

 

[rightwinger]

I’m Catholic, but if I was strict, my family would keep pace with the Duggars...

Most American Catholics do not take birth control mandates seriously
Neither do most Priests

 

[Meriweather]

Why is it that almost every other Christian religion allows clergy to marry and none of these things seem to be hindrances. In fact everything on your list is something that every couple and family in the world has to deal with what makes a catholic priest unable to handle them?

Keep in mind I said these are things the Church and its priests would have to learn to handle. You do not want to be a priest, but you want men to have the option to both be a priest and to be married. They can figure it all out. I trust that if the majority of priests wanted this option, they could make it happen. They don't need the help of outsiders who would never choose the priesthood in the first place who feel they deserve to tell actual priests how to run their lives/business.

I rarely hear of priests talking about this. The time or two I did hear conversations on this took on a different tact. That was the option of a short term commitment to the priesthood as opposed to a life-long commitment. My own assessment is that Catholic parishioners would be supportive of what actual priests say what is in their best interest as well as what is in the best interest of the Catholic faith.

 

[Meriweather]

excuse that the guys who run the church offered in the 70s and 80s.

It is not an excuse nor was it ever meant to be one. It is the reason Catholics follow a male priesthood. No one is asking you to agree with the reasoning, just to understand what the reasoning is.

Genealogically speaking it appears my family has been celebrating Christmas for generations. However, twenty years ago, one of my uncles decided to forego the tradition. He is fine with the rest of the family doing it their way; we are fine with him doing it his way. No one feels compelled to criticize the traditions of others.