Gay Priests

[ironmonk]

monk, you're right the pope has the authority to say whether or not homosexuals will be ordained, but he doesn't have the authority to make a general statement about whether or not they will be.  that prob'ly makes no sense, but children are crawling on me.

Papal Authority is a biggie...

I think I understand where your coming from.

He does have the authority, it would be considered a matter of discipline, not faith or morals. So one could ban them from receiving orders, then another could lift that ban on down the line.

Ad Majorem Dei Glorium,

ironmonk

[ironmonk]

This is completely unfair.

I have to disagree bro...

Please let me explain why... I think his context needs to be meditated on a bit....

For a gay man to enter the seminary, where he's surrounded by men 24/7, no matter how good his intentions are, would be a HUGE temptation. If such a man could handle such temptation, then he'd have some REALLY HEROIC VIRTUE! If there's anyone out there like that, my hat's off to them! However, let's be realistic -- most people aren't that strong. So why risk offending God?

I see this as him saying that ssa priests have Heroic Virtue. I think that most priests would have to have some kind of heroic virtue anyway to work solely for the Big Guy.... I also see him bringing up that we are to avoid temptation, and that the flesh is weak. I see him saying that they are good examples of Christians that can enter the priesthood and keep their vows.

Dave is saying that the most important thing is God, and that if there is a chance that we know we could fail God, then we should avoid it at all costs...

Some men with SSA will not fail God, some will.... Dave is commending those that can, and saying that all should examine themselves closely.

People who have SSAs are not animals who need to be locked in a padded cell to contain their animal urges.

He wasn't saying that.

We've had this discussion before, and I have explained to you more than once that having SSAs affects any vocation in this society --

I think we can all agree on this, but there are things that we can do to lessen the burden and some things can be more of a burden.

the married vocation, the priestly vocation, the religious vocation, or even the single vocation.

I think that we could agree that we should try to avoid occassions of sin, especially for those things that effect us most.

We've discussed how, based on your reasoning, people with SSAs really shouldn't be able to go to college either,

I have to disagree... I think you are making out his reasoning to be more than what he meant.

or take gym class in high school. After all, in gym class they change with other men.

Some things are unavoidable such as having to take gym in high school... Priesthood is voluntary, there is a difference. But we should avoid occasions of sin.

In college, most will live with another male roommate and many will have a communal shower for at least their first year in college. People with SSAs would not be able to go to summer camp, spend the night at friends' houses, and many other things...

Again, some things are avoidable, somethings are not. Each case would have to be looked at by the person in question. If an occasion of sin is hard, then we do need to avoid it at all costs.

all based on your reasoning. Perhaps y'all should just fire up an Inquisition to exterminate all of us? Or at the very least, as mentioned before, certainly we should be isolated in our own padded cells to contain our animal lusts.

I don't see this at all in Dave's reasoning... in fact, I see quite the opposite. I see positive statements about men with ssa that are priests.

As for the inquisitions (which still go on), the reason for the inquistion is to keep false doctrines from being taught to people, a very noble cause, but as with all noble causes, there are a handful of people that loose sight of the reason and take things to far.

Remember, Jesus and Paul both warned us that ravenous wolves would reach places of authority... and those statements show to be so true when looking at what the civil authorities did and a few bishops backed during the Spanish Inquisition...

Love in Christ,

ironmonk

[Dave]

Ironmonk, you are absolutely correct.

And Nathan, please understand that I was not saying anything about people with SSAs being isolated or being turned over to an Inquisition. That was not what I was trying to say. Ironmonk understood what I wrote even better than I did!

It was not a slam at you, and I'm really sorry if it gave you that impression. You and I have chatted, and you've told me about your struggles. Like ironmonk said, some situations you have no choice about, while others you do. You just have to learn to tell the one from the other.

[Good Friday]

I apologize, I'm sure I overreacted. I still disagree with y'all though, but currently I'm too tired to know why and/or expound on it. Perhaps tomorrow...

[ironmonk]

I apologize, I'm sure I overreacted.  I still disagree with y'all though, but currently I'm too tired to know why and/or expound on it.  Perhaps tomorrow...

We love ya bro!

And totally understand...lol

It's ok to disagree on the things that are not doctrine or dogma

Ad Majorem Dei Glorium

ironmonk

[Joolye]

The ordination of active homosexuals is to be expected in Protestantism.  If they'll disobey the Church Jesus founded over one thing, they'll disobey her over another.

Certainly is NOT to be expected. The only protestant church (that I know of) that believes it is okay for homosexual men and women to be ordained is the Uniting Church, and there are many within the Uniting Church that are very much against it and are considering forming a Reformed Uniting Church, as the Uniting Church has gone way off track in its thinking. They are the only protestant church that is acting contary to the word of God in the Bible.

Jesus founded the Christian church, not the Roman Catholic Church. He founded the catholic (meaning 'universal' church). Then as time went on the Catholic Church came into existence, and brought in extra things, then time passed, and some people realised that they should go back to the basics - the Word of God - the Bible.

[cmotherofpirl]

Wrong.

Jesus founded one Church in 33 AD.. In the year 106 St ignatius applied the term universal to it (katolikos).

The Church referred to as Roman because St Peter head of the Church went to Rome and died there along with St. Paul during persecutions under Nero.

Around 300 Constantine the emperor had a vision and stopped killing the Christians, so the church was safe from constant harrassment.

Between 300 and 397AD the Church decided which books out of the many it would call scripture, which writings it would accept as authoritative. THey had many many gospels, letters to choose from. THey picked the ones that best described the Church teraching at that time.

So the New Testament came AFTER the church had been around almost 350 years.

This is when the New Testament was finalized.

So you can't say they went back to the basics, when there was no basics to go back to.

THe New Testament came FROM the Church, not the other way around.

[ironmonk]

Certainly is NOT to be expected. The only protestant church (that I know of) that believes it is okay for homosexual men and women to be ordained is the Uniting Church, and there are many within the Uniting Church that are very much against it and are considering forming a Reformed Uniting Church, as the Uniting Church has gone way off track in its thinking. They are the only protestant church that is acting contary to the word of God in the Bible.

Jesus founded the Christian church, not the Roman Catholic Church. He founded the catholic (meaning 'universal' church). Then as time went on the Catholic Church came into existence, and brought in extra things, then time passed, and some people realised that they should go back to the basics - the Word of God - the Bible.

Many of the protestant churches are now seen being overcome by the netherworld... with the change in moral teachings it is quite obvious.

Please read my posts on:

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?s...?showtopic=1491

Also, all the Churches in the bible were loyal to the Head Bishop - Peter, and his successors... Christians all over the world have always kept records, all those records prove that the Catholic Church was first.

"We are compelled to concede to the Papists that they have the Word of God, that we received it from them, and that without them we should have no knowledge of it at all."

~ Martin Luther, Commentary on St. John

Ephesus (Ephesians - A Catholic Church) From 27 B.C. till a little after A.D. 297, Ephesus was the capital of the proconsular province of Asia, a direct dependency of the Roman Senate. Though unimportant politically, it was noted for its extensive commerce. Many illustrious persons were born at Ephesus It was through the Jews that Christianity was first introduced into Ephesus. The original community was under the leadership of Apollo (I Cor., i, 12). They were disciples of St. John the Baptist, and were converted by Aquila and Priscilla. Then came St. Paul, who lived three years at Ephesus to establish and organize the new church; he was wont to teach in the schola or lecture-hall of the rhetorician Tyrannus (Acts, xix, 9) and performed there many miracles.. The Church of Ephesus was committed to his disciple, St. Timothy, a native of the city (I Tim., 1, 3; II Tim., 1, 18; iv, 12). The Epistle of St. Paul to the Esphesians was not perhaps addressed directly to them; it may be only a circular letter sent by him to several churches. The sojourn and death of the Apostle St. John at Ephesus are not mentioned in the New Testament, but both are attested as early as the latter part of the second century by St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., III, iii, 4), Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., V, xx1), Clement of Alexandria, the "Acta Joannis", and a little earlier by St. Justin and the Montanists. About 110 St. Ignatius of Antioch, having been greeted at Smyrna by messengers of the Church of Ephesus, sent to it one of his seven famous epistles. During the first three centuries, Ephesus was, next to Antioch, the chief centre of Christianity in Asia Minor. In the year 190 its bishop, St. Polycrates, held a council to consider the paschal controversy and declared himself in favour of the Quartodeciman practice; nevertheless the Ephesian Church soon conformed in this particular to the practice of all the other Churches. It seems certain that the sixth canon of the Council of Nicaea (325), confirmed for Ephesus its ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the whole "diocese" or civil territory of Asia Minor. Ephesus was taken in 655 and 717 by the Arabs. Later it became the capital of the theme of the Thracesians. During the Iconoclastic period two bishops of Ephesus suffered martyrdom, Hypatius in 735 and Theophilus in the ninth century.

Corinth (Corinthians - Another Catholic Church)

St. Paul preached successfully at Corinth, where he lived in the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Acts, xviii, 1), where Silas and Timothy soon joined him. After his departure he was replaced by Apollo, who had been sent from Ephesus by Priscilla. The Apostle visited Corinth at least once more. He wrote to the Corinthians in 57 from Ephesus, and then from Macedonia in the same year, or in 58. The famous letter of St. Clement of Rome to the Corinthian church (about 96) exhibits the earliest evidence concerning the ecclesiastical primacy of the Roman Church. Besides St. Apollo, Lequien (II, 155) mentions forty-three bishops: among them, St. Sosthenes (?), the disciple of St. Paul, St. Dionysius; Paul, brother of St. Peter, Bishop of Argos in the tenth century; St. Athanasius, in the same century; George, or Gregory, a commentator of liturgical hymns. Corinth was the metropolis of all Hellas. After the Byzantine emperors had violently withdrawn Illyricum from Papal direction, Corinth appears as a metropolis with seven suffragan sees; at the beginning of the eighteenth century there were only two united in one title. Since 1890 Corinth, for the Greeks, has been a simple bishopric, but the first in rank, Athens being the sole archbishopric of the Kingdom of Greece. Lequien (III, 883) mentions twenty Latin prelates from 1210 to 1700, the later ones being only titular. But Eubel (I, 218; II, 152) mentions twenty-two archbishops for the period from 1212 to 1476.

Antioch - Just read all of St Ignatius writings i've posted here, A very Catholic Church

Since the city of Antioch was a great centre of government and civilization, the Christian religion spread thither almost from the beginning. Nicolas, one of the seven deacons in Jerusalem, was from Antioch (Acts, vi, 5). The seed of Christ's teaching was carried to Antioch by some disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene, who fled from Jerusalem during the persecution that followed upon the martyrdom of St. Stephen (Acts, xi, 19, 20). They preached the teachings of Jesus, not only to the Jewish colony but also to the Greeks or Gentiles, and soon large numbers were converted. The mother-church of Jerusalem having heard of the occurrence sent Barnabas thither, who called Saul from Tarsus to Antioch (ib., 22, 25). There they laboured for a whole year with such success that the followers of Christ were acknowledged as forming a distinct community, "so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians" (ib., 26). Their charity was exhibited by the offerings sent to the famine-stricken brethren in Judea. St. Peter himself came to Antioch (Gal., ii, 11), probably about the year 44, and according to all appearances lived there for some time. The community of Antioch, being composed in part of Greeks or Gentiles, had views of its own on the character and conditions of the new religion. There was a faction among the disciples in Jerusalem which maintained that the Gentile converts to Christianity should pass first through Judaism by submitting to the observances of the Mosaic law, such as circumcision and the like. This attitude seemed to close the gates to the Gentiles, and was strongly contested by the Christians of Antioch. Their plea for Christian liberty was defended by their leaders, Paul and Barnabas, and received full recognition in the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem (Acts, xv, 22- 32). Later on St. Paul defends this principle at Antioch even in the face of Peter (Gal., ii, 11). Antioch became soon a centre of missionary propaganda. It was thence that St. Paul and his companions started on their journey for the conversion of the nations. The Church of Antioch was also fully organized almost from the beginning. It was one of the few original churches which preserved complete the catalogue of its bishops. The first of these bishops, Evodius, reaches back to the Apostolic age. At a very early date the Christian community of Antioch became the central point of all the Christian interests in the East. After the fall of Jerusalem (A. D. 70) it was the real metropolis of Christianity in those countries.

In the meantime the number of Christians grew to such an extent, that in the first part of the fourth century Antioch was looked upon as practically a Christian city. Many churches were erected there for the accommodation of the worshippers of Christ. In the fourth century there was still a basilica called "the ancient" and "apostolic". It was probably one of the oldest architectural monuments of Christianity; an ancient tradition maintained that it was originally the house of Theophilus, the friend of St. Luke (Acts, i, 1). There were also sanctuaries dedicated to the memory of the great Apostles, Peter, Paul, and John. Saint Augustine speaks (Sermo, ccc., n. 5) of a "basilica of the holy Machabees" at Antioch, a famous shrine from the fourth to the sixth century (Card. Rampolla, in "Bessarione", Rome, 1897-98, I-II). Among the pagan temples dedicated to Christian uses was the celebrated Temple of Fortune (Tychæion). In it the Christians of Antioch enshrined the body of their great bishop and martyr Ignatius. There was also a martyrium or memorial shrine of Babylas, a third-century martyr and bishop of Antioch, who suffered death in the reign of Decius. For the development of Christian domestic architecture in the vicinity of the great city see De Vogué, "Architecture civile et religieuse de la Syrie Centrale" (Paris, 1867-77), and the similar work of Howard Crosby Butler (New York, 1903). The very important monastic architecture of the vicinity will be described under SIMEON STYLITES and BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE. The Emperor Constantine (306-337) built a church there, which he adorned so richly that it was the admiration of all contemporaries (St. John Chrys., "Hom. in Ep. ad Eph.", X, 2; Eus., "Vita Const.", III, 50, and "De laud. Const.", c. 9). It was completely pillaged, but not destroyed, by Chosroes in 540. the Church of Antioch showed itself worthy of being the metropolis of Christianity in the east. In the ages of persecution it furnished a very large quota of martyrs, the bishops setting the example. It may suffice to mention St. Ignatius at the beginning of the second century; Asclepiades under Septimius Severus (193-211); and Babylas under Decius (249-251). It produced also a number of great men, who either in writing or otherwise distinguished themselves in the service of Christianity. The letters of the afore-mentioned St. Ignatius are very famous. Theophilus wrote in the latter part of the second century an elaborate defense and explanation of the Christian religion. In later ages there were such men as Flavian, who did much to reunite the Christians of Antioch divided by the Arian disputes; St. John Chrysostom, afterwards Bishop of Constantinople, and Theodoret, afterwards Bishop of Cyrus in Syria. Several heresies took their rise in Antioch. In the third century Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, professed erroneous doctrines. Arianism had its original root not in Alexandria but in the great Syrian city, Antioch; Nestorianism sprang from it through Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius of Constantinople. A peculiar feature of Antiochene life was the frequency of conflict between the Jews and the Christians; several grievous seditions and massacres are noted by the historians from the end of the fourth to the beginning of the seventh century (Leclercq, Dict. d'arch. et de liturg. chrét., I, col 2396).

Rome (Central for Christianity; Peter was the leader of Christians when Jesus went to heaven, authority given to him by Jesus... Peter was the Bishop of Rome; Peter's replacement, would have the same authority as Peter) The significance of Rome lies primarily in the fact that it is the city of the pope. The Bishop of Rome, as the successor of St. Peter, is the Vicar of Christ on earth and the visible head of the Catholic Church. Rome is consequently the centre of unity in belief, the source of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the seat of the supreme authority which can bind by its enactments the faithful throughout the world.It is here that the history of the Church can be traced from the earliest days, from the humble beginnings in the Catacombs to the majestic ritual of St. Peter's. At every turn one comes upon places hallowed by the deaths of the martyrs, the lives of innumerable saints, the memories of wise and holy pontiffs. From Rome the bearers of the Gospel message went out to the peoples of Europe and eventually to the uttermost ends of the earth. To Rome, again, in every age countless pilgrims have thronged from all the nations, and especially from English-speaking countries. Ancient tradition assigns to the year 42 the first coming of St. Peter to Rome, though, according to the pseudo-Clementine Epistles, St. Barnabas was the first to preach the Gospel in the Eternal City. Under Claudius (c. A.D. 50), the name of Christ had become such an occasion of discord among the Hebrews of Rome that the emperor drove them all out of the city, though they were not long in returning. About ten years later Paul also arrived, a prisoner, and exercised a vigorous apostolate during his sojourn. The Christians were numerous at that time, even at the imperial Court. The burning of the city -- by order of Nero, who wished to effect a thorough renovation -- was the pretext for the first official persecution of the Christian name. Moreover, it was very natural that persecution, which had been occasional, should in course of time have become general and systematic; hence it is unnecessary to transfer the date of the Apostles' martyrdom from the year 67, assigned by tradition, to the year 64 (see PETER, SAINT; PAUL, SAINT). Domitian's reign took its victims both from among the opponents of absolutism and from the Christians; among them some who were of very exalted rank -- Titus Flavius Clemens, Acilius Glabrio (Cemetery of Priscilla), and Flavia Domitilla, a relative of the emperor. It must have been then, too, that St. John, according to a very ancient legend (Tertullian), was brought to Rome. .

The word Catholic comes from the Greek word that means "Universal"...

The word Catholic (katholikos from katholou -- throughout the whole, i.e., universal) occurs in the Greek classics, e.g., in Aristotle and Polybius, and was freely used by the earlier Christian writers in what we may call its primitive and non-ecclesiastical sense. Thus we meet such phrases as "the catholic resurrection" (Justin Martyr), "the catholic goodness of God" (Tertullian), "the four catholic winds" (Irenaeus), where we should now speak of "the general resurrection", "the absolute or universal goodness of God", "the four principal winds", etc. The word seems in this usage to be opposed to merikos (partial) or idios (particular), and one familiar example of this conception still survives in the ancient phrase "Catholic Epistles" as applied to those of St. Peter, St. Jude, etc., which were so called as being addressed not to particular local communities, but to the Church at large.

The combination "the Catholic Church" (he katholike ekklesia) is found for the first time in the letter of St. Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, written about the year 110. The words run: "Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal [katholike] Church." However, in view of the context, some difference of opinion prevails as to the precise connotation of the italicized word, and Kattenbusch, the Protestant professor of theology at Giessen, is prepared to interpret this earliest appearance of the phrase in the sense of mia mone, the "one and only" Church [Das apostolische Symbolum (1900), II, 922]. .

Peter was the leader, he was in Rome, he wrote from Rome (1 Peter 5:13), he died in Rome. You have a right to live in err, as for me and the 1 Billion Catholics in the world, I think we'll listen to the first Christians, from the oldest organization on earth, The Catholic Church, built by Jesus.

Ignatius of Antioch

"Not as Peter and Paul did, do I command you [Romans]. They were apostles, and I am a convict" (Letter to the Romans 4:3 [A.D. 110])

"Ignatius . . . to the church also which holds the presidency, in the location of the country of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and, because you hold the presidency in love, named after Christ and named after the Father" (Letter to the Romans 1:1 [A.D. 110]).

"You [the church at Rome] have envied no one, but others you have taught. I desire only that what you have enjoined in your instructions may remain in force" (ibid., 3:1). .

Irenaeus

"Matthew also issued among the Hebrews a written Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church" (Against Heresies, 3, 1:1 [A.D. 189])

"It is possible, then, for everyone in every church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the apostles which has been made known to us throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the apostles and their successors down to our own times, men who neither knew nor taught anything like what these heretics rave about" (Against Heresies 3:3:1 [A.D. 189]).

"But since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the successions of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul—that church which has the tradition and the faith with which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. For with this Church, because of its superior origin, all churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world. And it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition" (ibid., 3:3:2).

Tertullian

"Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called ‘the rock on which the Church would be built’ [Matt. 16:18] with the power of ‘loosing and binding in heaven and on earth’ [Matt. 16:19]?" (Demurrer Against the Heretics 22 [A.D. 200]).

"[T]he Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. . . . What kind of man are you, subverting and changing what was the manifest intent of the Lord when he conferred this personally upon Peter? Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys" (Modesty 21:9–10 [A.D. 220]).

Pope Clement I

"Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry" (Letter to the Corinthians 42:4–5, 44:1–3 [A.D. 80]).

Jerome

"I follow no leader but Christ and join in communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is the rock on which the Church has been built. Whoever eats the Lamb outside this house is profane. Anyone who is not in the ark of Noah will perish when the flood prevails" (Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]).

...

"The church here is split into three parts, each eager to seize me for its own. . . . Meanwhile I keep crying, ‘He that is joined to the chair of Peter is accepted by me!’ . . . Therefore, I implore your blessedness [Pope Damasus I] . . . tell me by letter with whom it is that I should communicate in Syria" (ibid., 16:2).

Augustine

"There are many other things which rightly keep me in the bosom of the Catholic Church. The consent of the people and nations keeps me, her authority keeps me, inaugurated by miracles, nourished in hope, enlarged by love, and established by age. The succession of priests keep me, from the very seat of the apostle Peter (to whom the Lord after his resurrection gave charge to feed his sheep) down to the present episcopate [of Pope Siricius]" (Against the Letter of Mani Called "The Foundation" 5 [A.D. 397]).

"[On this matter of the Pelagians] two councils have already been sent to the Apostolic See [the bishop of Rome], and from there rescripts too have come. The matter is at an end; would that the error too might be at an end!" (Sermons 131:10 [A.D. 411]).

God Bless,

ironmonk

[Dave]

I apologize, I'm sure I overreacted. I still disagree with y'all though, but currently I'm too tired to know why and/or expound on it. Perhaps tomorrow...

Ohhhhh . . . you know I forgive you! C'mere, bro . . . ((((HUGS)))) :D

[Joolye]

So, you Catholics believe that priests, bishops, and popes should not get married, yet Peter, the first head of the church was married.

[cmotherofpirl]

Remember there are 22 different branches in the Catholic Church.

Some have married priests like the Anglican and some of the Eastern, the Romans do not.

There are good arguments for an against it. It is a discpline, not a doctrine or dogma, so it can be changed as the Church sees fit.

I am personally against it. I have seen too many preacher's kids. THere are also so many strains and stresses on a marriage today. When you are married your spouse must come first. THat cannot happen if you are a priest. And remember divorce and remarriage are unacceptable in the Church.

[vianney]

st paul was celibate. You saying st paul was wrong?

And by the way I thought I might just throw this thought out there, Among ppl who get divorces the number one occupation of one of the spouses is a protestant minister. Think about that, out of all the occupations a protestant minister has the number one divorce rate percentage wise. HMMMMMMM interesting...oh yah and the last time I looked in my state there are more priests then there are ministers, the lutheran and methodist churches in my county had to shut down because no one could celebrate teh service.

[[jas]]

st paul was celibate. You saying st paul was wrong?

Did anyone say that?

Just because he was, though, doesn't mean everyone has to.

[cmotherofpirl]

THa is absolutely true.

[Good Friday]

So, you Catholics believe that priests, bishops, and popes should not get married, yet Peter, the first head of the church was married.

1. There's no evidence that St. Peter returned to his wife after he left to follow Jesus. Jesus told His disciples that if they love family more than Him, they are not worthy of Him. Although there is a record of St. Peter having been married prior to following Jesus, there's no record of him returning to his wife.

2. So, you Protestants believe that ministers should get married, yet Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles wasn't married.

3. Jesus Himself recommended priestly celibacy when He said that some people become eunuchs for the kingdom of God, and that whoever can accept it should accept it. St. Paul reaffirmed this recommendation when he acknowledged that he was celibate, and that he recommended celibacy to others.

4. The priesthood is not a requirement, therefore no one is required to be celibate in the Catholic Church. The priesthood is a vocation; you either have it or you don't. It's a calling from God, it's not something you just choose to do. If God calls you to be a priest in the Latin Rite, then He is also calling you to be celibate. If not, then that's fine too. All the vocations -- married, priestly, religious, single -- are important.