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Pope Open-minded About Ordaining Married Men


mortify ii

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PhuturePriest

I disagree with the idea, and I say that being a man in the application process who is quite into women. As Saint Paul says, when a man gets married, his heart is divided between God and his family. Especially in these times, we need priests who are fully dedicated to God and their parish. Not too many women will be willing to marry a guy who is required to be more dedicated to his "job" than her and their kids -- which is a completely normal response. A priest never has a "day off". His vocation goes 24/7, and he's supposed to be ready to do his job at any moment, be it Mass at 6 in the morning, to holding confessions for two hours, to waking up at three in the morning because a person is dying who needs Anointing of the Sick. This is all not to mention the fact that most priests have two or more parishes they take care of, so that's twice the work. There's simply no way a priest could do his duties in our culture to his parish(s) and yet to his wife and children at the same time.

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PhuturePriest

That's silly. The east has done it for years, and that hasn't happened yet.

 

The East isn't in the West, and therefore takes no part in our culture.

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my worry is that people would interpret such a move to symbolize the church is finally "getting with the times." People will start thinking priestesses and gay weddings are just a matter of time.

 

Should this matter?

 

Gateway drugs. Watch out for the marijuana 

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OnlySunshine

I disagree with the idea, and I say that being a man in the application process who is quite into women. As Saint Paul says, when a man gets married, his heart is divided between God and his family. Especially in these times, we need priests who are fully dedicated to God and their parish. Not too many women will be willing to marry a guy who is required to be more dedicated to his "job" than her and their kids -- which is a completely normal response. A priest never has a "day off". His vocation goes 24/7, and he's supposed to be ready to do his job at any moment, be it Mass at 6 in the morning, to holding confessions for two hours, to waking up at three in the morning because a person is dying who needs Anointing of the Sick. This is all not to mention the fact that most priests have two or more parishes they take care of, so that's twice the work. There's simply no way a priest could do his duties in our culture to his parish(s) and yet to his wife and children at the same time.

 

Just think...could you see Padre Pio or St. John Vianney married with kids?  I sure couldn't...
 

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The East isn't in the West, and therefore takes no part in our culture.

 

Catholic =/= west

Edited by Selah
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PhuturePriest

Just think...could you see Padre Pio or St. John Vianney married with kids?  I sure couldn't...
 

 

Saint John Vianney would sometimes spend entire days hearing confessions. No wife and children would ever put up with that, and they shouldn't. The priesthood isn't compatible with married life, at least in the structure and format it's in now. Priests simply don't have the time. Wives complain all the time about how their husbands spend too much time at work, and they simply work 8 hours a day! Imagine how much worse it would be if their husbands were gone at six in the morning and got back home at eight and sometimes even later at night? It simply wouldn't work.

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PhuturePriest

Catholic =/= west

 

You said the East has had married priests for years, and there have been no negative things happen from the culture. I was saying that Western culture is incredibly different, and in a society where everyone is drooling at the mere thought of the Church "getting with the times", something like this wouldn't look good on us.

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PhuturePriest

I'm actually against the idea of married priests and I'm a woman.  I think they have too many responsibilities as it is without adding a family to the mix.  I know that most of the Apostles were married (including Peter), but Jesus wasn't and priests are supposed to imitate Christ's life.  That's just my 2 cents.  ;)

 

And actually, we only have on record of Peter being married. Nothing mentions the other Apostles being married, and we especially know John wasn't, because he was so young when he began following Jesus.

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PhuturePriest

Mary was 14 when she married Joseph. How young was John?

 

He was described as not having facial hair yet.

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Basilisa Marie

Saint John Vianney would sometimes spend entire days hearing confessions. No wife and children would ever put up with that, and they shouldn't. The priesthood isn't compatible with married life, at least in the structure and format it's in now. Priests simply don't have the time. Wives complain all the time about how their husbands spend too much time at work, and they simply work 8 hours a day! Imagine how much worse it would be if their husbands were gone at six in the morning and got back home at eight and sometimes even later at night? It simply wouldn't work.

 

You're silly.  If that were true, no one in the military or medical field would be married. But plenty are, and make it work just fine. 

 

However, I don't think married priests should become common practice, at least until we get many more priests. More priests would be able to share the workload, and make it easier for a man to balance his job and family. 

Edited by Basilisa Marie
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my worry is that people would interpret such a move to symbolize the church is finally "getting with the times." People will start thinking priestesses and gay weddings are just a matter of time.

 

Should this matter?

 

I understand your sentiments and I do think that many supporting the ordination of married priests do so for the incorrect reasons that you refer to (ie. because it's a step toward gay weddings and priestesses.) 

 

It does complicate a genuine discussion of the issue. 

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PhuturePriest

You're silly.  If that were true, no one in the military or medical field would be married. But plenty are, and make it work just fine. 

 

However, I don't think married priests should become common practice, at least until we get many more priests. More priests would be able to share the workload, and make it easier for a man to balance his job and family. 

 

Marriages with a person who is a part of law enforcement have incredibly high rates of divorce, and it has to do with how much time the job demands. I haven't seen any studies, but I'd imagine the military and medical field are much the same.

 

If we had way more priests, then having married priests wouldn't be as big of a deal. But I honestly wouldn't like it even if every parish in the world had four priests. The Church made and has upheld this practice for centuries, and it didn't do all that just because it could. In fact, as I'm sure you know, this practice was let go of for a while, but a problem arose with the clergy being very corrupt, so the practice was brought back as a way to focus the clergy back on Christ and the Church.

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