Why are Catholic Priests unable to marry?

Originally posted by AshleyD

Originally posted by Stalks in Shadows
Is the Anti-Christ going to be the Pope?

Some believe it is more likely he will be the false prophet due to some biblical interpretation. It is more likely the Antichrist will tie into the Islamic prophecy concerning the Al Mahdi. What he is supposed to be is uncannily similar to the Christian Antichrist.

Our Antichrist and their Al Mahdi (basically, the Muslim "Messiah") will both be in power for seven years, head a one world government, head a one world economy, force all to convert to a single religion while all those who refuse will be killed, be accompanied by a religious leader who backs up everything they do, can only appear after world wide war and turmoil, etc. It is pretty eerie how much they have in common with one another. It is even scarier because the president of Iran already admitted he is personally paving the way for the Al Mahdi's appearance.

Goodness me, I was thinking about creating an account here on ATS and AshleyD's above post just hurried things up for me.

Anyways....

First and foremost, Al Mahdi is not suppose to be the Muslim Messiah. Muslims believes in Christ as their Messiah. Mahdi means the 'rightly guided one' who would be a helping hand for Jesus against the Antichrist.

Secondly, he will not reign for seven years but more than eight years.

Thirdly, it will not be the Mahdi that 'head a one world government, head a one world economy, force all to convert to a single religion while all those who refuse will be killed' but Jesus will set up the Kingdom from Israel, as he said "I am the way the truth and the life".

1 Timothy 4:1-5
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

I find it interesting that forbidding to marry (As the Priest are within the Catholic Church) is by way of scripture defined as a doctrine derived from seducing spirits and devils. Therefore, what else is contained within the Catholic Church doctrine that would be classified as the same or, in any religion for that matter?

Originally posted by budski
FF I wasn't saying that celibacy causes sexual abuse

That's why I asked clarificatioin. MANY people mistakenly put celibacy and homosexuality and/or pedophilia in together .. thinking that one causes the other - when in fact it doesn't.

I do however think that physical abuse issues in schools run by christian brothers have a correlation to celibacy

I don't know. I haven't seen any stats showing that schools with celibate teachers have a higher rate of sexual abuse than schools without celibacy. The rates in public schools, which obviously don't have celibate teachers, is astonishingly high.

It is my opinion ... (note - OPINION) .. that pedophiles, being the predators that they are, choose professions that they know will bring them close to children. Be it priest, minister, rabbi, school teacher, bus driver .... Predators know how to hunt and so they choose professions that will bring them close to their prey.

** everyone please note - I did not say ALL or MOST of people in these professions are pedophiles. I just said it's my OPINION that pedophiles will choose a profession that will bring them close to their prey.

Your perception of the OP is obviously different to mine

Yep.

can you not try and control your paranoia or at least put it on hold for a while?

I've been here for a long time .. and seen way too many people with agendas show up spuoting their anti-_____ (fill in the blank). I'm old and cynical. paranoid? Maybe. More likely cynical.

(a cynical old Irish woman who was in the Army .. I''m going to be cranky)

Maybe some meds would help?

A sense of humor. Excellent!
Yes, meds would help. Have any you want to share? "



[edit on 1/10/2008 by FlyersFan]

Originally posted by Vojvoda

Originally posted by Stalks in Shadows
This is my first post so I thought I'd start it off with something that I truly do not comprehend. If this has been discussed, I'm sorry!

Why are Catholic Priests unable to marry?

Well, by the time Roman Catholic Church [RCC in later text] started to impose more and more new things which led formally to schism 1054. And then RCC continued with it and that led to Reformation. The same is with celibate. In Orthodox Church man can’t become priest if he is not married!

You want to say nepotism, right? That’s the reason [I think] RCC did, too. To stop/prevent nepotism. You know, bishops in early period also married but that was later forbidden, I think once Christianity became official religion of Roman Empire to prevent nepotism. So, in RCC priests and monks can become bishops, and in Orthodox Church only monks.

Not basically big bank [well, you sound almost like Luther

], but Vatican own bank(s) and is rich.

Celibate is bad for priests, I agree. It’s ok and should be for monks, after all, they are mostly isolated from ordinary people in monasteries but priests have every day interaction with ordinary people.
_____________________________________________________________


MY RESPONSE:

I would like to correct the above comments made...
as someone who is orthodox it is completely untrue that you HAVE to be married to be a priest. that is a lie. i have been a layperson at many churches where the priest is unmarried. there are no restrictions on marriage in that way, you can be married or unmarried. marriage however is encourage because the apostles were married and had families. but it isnt pushed or manditory. the orthodox church is just very supportive of the institution of marriage. the only restrictions on marriage in the orthodox church are that you cannot marry if you are ALREADY ordained. that is for several reasons....1 being. they dont want you looking for your mate while preaching in church, focus should be elsewhere...yada yada. however to BECOME a priest you can be married, unmarried...doesnt matter. that is the personal choice of a person going into the priesthood and not a decision to be made by the church.

as a history major..i can also say that the catholic priests were initially not allowed to marry because it has to do with property rights. they used to be able to marry, the orthodox are following the tradition...thats why they CAN marry.

when the roman empire expanded to europe that was scarcity of land, as im sure you know. when the priests would die the land would go to his family naturally. due to the scarcity of land, the catholic church deemed celibacy a new canon of the church, so when the priest died the land would go directly to the church ir order to build more churches etc...

a second factor for celebacy was a growing trend that was occuring. more and more priests, deacons, monastics were taking voluntary vows of celebacy based on pre-christian traditions. (as you know st. peter, and the other apostles were married)

it isnt a sinister thing, its just not apart of christian tradition. (other than christ himself being celebate...duh) they did what they had to do in order to maintain and spread their faith. if you look back in history catholics priests were able to marry and even some popes themselves were married. St. peter, st. siricius, st. felix III just to name a few. however no popes became married AFTER they became pope, which i think is important to mention.
now celebacy has become less economically motivated by the higher leaders of the church (those that enforced the canon in the first place) and more spiritually motivated. they believe in celebacy because they believe it to be a purer form of living, and provided an unhindered connection to God and the Church.

however, i just wanted to clear up some misconceptions created by the above poster concerning the orthodox church and some of the things said about historical implications of celebacy in the catholic church.

i agree that priests should be allowed to marry. a man should be able to choose how he wants to forge his relationship with God and others. and as paul himself says in the bible, celebacy is the best way to live in a spiritual sense because it creates an uncompromised loyalty to God, however if a man feels the desire to be with a woman and have that kinship with the opposite sex it is better for him to marry than to be burning with desire, because that in itself creates temptation and compromises issues with faith. and that goes for anything, anytime someone chooses to fast, or live in poverty like a hermit, or omit a certain habit from their lifestyle for spiritual reasons, like many monks due in the buddhist faith and other faiths alike, there is a certain spiritual cleansing and strength that is created by the ascetic life. but it should be a personal decision like it has always been in the christian church.

as far as celebacy being connected to child abuse.....i would say yes and no but not in the way we commonly think. celbacy is connected to the catholic priesthood because it is a manditory requirment...so it goes without saying that all priest sexual abuses come from those that are bound to the life of celebacy. but if celebacy were not a requirment, i would argue that those same priests would still be a danger to children...because they like having sex with little kids. if i was forced to be celebate there is no way in hell i could go to little kids to releave my sexual urges..because im not attracted to them. just like i couldnt have sex with a woman because im not into them sexually. so celebacy doesnt make people petafiles...they already are sick bastards going into. why they go into the priesthood is a good question. it can be argued that celebacy created a safety zone for them, because the last person anyone would suspect of sexual conduct would be a priest. so maybe that is one motivation, they feel protected in that sense. Buddhist monks are celebate, and most of them are good, same goes for other religions. however we do know that in thailand, there is a huge problem with petaphilia, some of which as been connected to buddhist monks...however just like the catholic priests, they were sick bastards to begin with, the religion or celbacy didnt make it that way. i do think that celebacy should be a choice though.

i also know that if the requirment of celebacy were lifted tomorrow in the catholic church, not everyone would be rushing to get married. some would still choose to be celbate because they believe in it.

i would also like to say that there are some catholic priests who are married. there are special exceptions made for men that become priests after they are married. out at my campus at Northern Illinois University, father newman is a married catholic priest, former episcopalian pastor. Granted he in the only one i have ever met...but i guess there are exceptions which is a good thing.



Thanks for hearing me out!
Digitalgrl


[edit on 10/01/2004 by DigitalGrl]

[edit on 10/01/2004 by DigitalGrl]

[edit on 10/01/2004 by DigitalGrl]

Originally posted by DigitalGrl
a man should be able to choose how he wants to forge his relationship with God and others.

When a man becomes a celibate priest he DOES choose how he wants to live. No one forces him to be a priest. He becomes one fully understanding that celibacy is part of the package.

If he doesn't want to be celibate and he wants to serve God in the church, then he can be a deacon .. or go into some other line of work in the church.

Freedeom of choice has not been taken away.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I'm pretty sure you will never see any stats relating to the physical abuse by christian brothers (and some nuns) in RCC schools in Ireland - it's not spoken of "outside the family".

Nevertheless, I can assure you that it exists - I could tell you some real horror stories, from my own and my relatives' experience. Being hit with a hurly was a common one (and remember they have a metal band around the bottom), and some very bad beatings went totally unreported by the families because of pressure from the church.

It may be unique to Ireland - I don't know, because as I said I have no experience of other countries.

But looking at it logically, if a person was forced (more or less through family pressure) to become a christian brother, and forced to live a life of celibacy, then explosions are bound to occur.

Schools run by christian brothers and nuns are dying out, and I consider that a good thing, as long as the educational excellence remains.

And this is one thing the RCC has excelled at (albeit part of the indoctrination process) - education.
This is possibly the greatest achievement of the RCC church - worldwide education, which is why my daughter and nephews go to RCC schools.

The jesuits are probably the pinnacle of this, and I profess to have nothing but admiration for most aspects of the RCC educational system - apart from my obvious disinclination to accept ANY form of indoctrination.

Now, about those meds - do you want the blue pill or the red pill?



I do have a sense of humour - perhaps we both got caught up in a situation that need not have arisen, and sense of humour suffered as a result.

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by DigitalGrl
a man should be able to choose how he wants to forge his relationship with God and others.

When a man becomes a celibate priest he DOES choose how he wants to live. No one forces him to be a priest. He becomes one fully understanding that celibacy is part of the package.

If he doesn't want to be celibate and he wants to serve God in the church, then he can be a deacon .. or go into some other line of work in the church.

Freedeom of choice has not been taken away.

in that sense i would agree...however what a priest is, and how the apostles speak of marriage, lead me to believe that celebacy has no basis in being manditory. but i added some things to my post in defense of the institution just a minute ago...that you might not have seen.

Originally posted by budski
I can assure you that it exists -

I have no doubt that it does.

if a person was forced (more or less through family pressure)

I have never heard of such a thing in modern times. Perhaps pre-vatican II ... but now? In the past 40 years? That's news to me.

If anything, what I have seen is when kids say 'I want to be a priest' or 'I want to be a nun' .. the parents get upset and tell the kids to go out and make money; to make something of their lives; etc etc

They discourage it. (perhaps this is an American thing .. but from reading I get the idea it's a world wide greed thing that is wide spread)

Originally posted by budski
Now, about those meds - do you want the blue pill or the red pill?

Both. Throw in some percacet as well. Mine went missing the other day (someone is having a great time with them!) and my kidney stones feel like they are acting up. ( ewww Am I sharing too much?? )

I do have a sense of humour

I thought my opening post was funny. It was supposed to be light and comical. (thus the smilie) I thought that since you applauded the 'prayer to end pedophilia' thread that we had made progress ...

Oh well .. that's what I get for thinking ... bwahahahahaha evil laugh




[edit on 1/10/2008 by FlyersFan]

reply to post by budski


Thank you budski, I intended this thread to be a place for discussion, hence the question in the subject line.

Just because FF has a problem with self-esteem stemming from her religious beliefs doesn't mean that everyone in the world is attacking RCC.

I stated in my subject that I don't have much knowledge on this situation, I recently started researching due to it being in the current events, and I wanted to ask a serious question to get serious input from both sides of the fence. She has been reported for trolling, so hopefully she'll just wander off somewhere and bother someone else.

For me, this was a valid and honest question to which researching doesn't help much. You get one-sided and mixed views, and I appreciate all the input anyone has thoughtfully given... Especially the folks who are religious and have spent their life researching their God and his Word.

Originally posted by Vojvoda


Originally posted by Stalks in Shadows
This is my first post so I thought I'd start it off with something that I truly do not comprehend. If this has been discussed, I'm sorry!


Why are Catholic Priests unable to marry?



Well, by the time Roman Catholic Church [RCC in later text] started to impose more and more new things which led formally to schism 1054. And then RCC continued with it and that led to Reformation. The same is with celibate. In Orthodox Church man can’t become priest if he is not married!

You want to say nepotism, right? That’s the reason [I think] RCC did, too. To stop/prevent nepotism. You know, bishops in early period also married but that was later forbidden, I think once Christianity became official religion of Roman Empire to prevent nepotism. So, in RCC priests and monks can become bishops, and in Orthodox Church only monks.

Not basically big bank [well, you sound almost like Luther ], but Vatican own bank(s) and is rich.

Celibate is bad for priests, I agree. It’s ok and should be for monks, after all, they are mostly isolated from ordinary people in monasteries but priests have every day interaction with ordinary people.
_____________________________________________________________


MY RESPONSE:

I would like to correct the above comments made...
as someone who is orthodox it is completely untrue that you HAVE to be married to be a priest. that is a lie. i have been a layperson at many churches where the priest is unmarried. there are no restrictions on marriage in that way, you can be married or unmarried. marriage however is encourage because the apostles were married and had families. but it isnt pushed or manditory. the orthodox church is just very supportive of the institution of marriage. the only restrictions on marriage in the orthodox church are that you cannot marry if you are ALREADY ordained. that is for several reasons....1 being. they dont want you looking for your mate while preaching in church, focus should be elsewhere...yada yada. however to BECOME a priest you can be married, unmarried...doesnt matter. that is the personal choice of a person going into the priesthood and not a decision to be made by the church.

as a history major..i can also say that the catholic priests were initially not allowed to marry because it has to do with property rights. they used to be able to marry, the orthodox are following the tradition...thats why they CAN marry.

when the roman empire expanded to europe that was scarcity of land, as im sure you know. when the priests would die the land would go to his family naturally. due to the scarcity of land, the catholic church deemed celibacy a new canon of the church, so when the priest died the land would go directly to the church ir order to build more churches etc...

a second factor for celebacy was a growing trend that was occuring. more and more priests, deacons, monastics were taking voluntary vows of celebacy based on pre-christian traditions. (as you know st. peter, and the other apostles were married)

it isnt a sinister thing, its just not apart of christian tradition. (other than christ himself being celebate...duh) they did what they had to do in order to maintain and spread their faith. if you look back in history catholics priests were able to marry and even some popes themselves were married. St. peter, st. siricius, st. felix III just to name a few. however no popes became married AFTER they became pope, which i think is important to mention.
now celebacy has become less economically motivated by the higher leaders of the church (those that enforced the canon in the first place) and more spiritually motivated. they believe in celebacy because they believe it to be a purer form of living, and provided an unhindered connection to God and the Church.

however, i just wanted to clear up some misconceptions created by the above poster concerning the orthodox church and some of the things said about historical implications of celebacy in the catholic church.

i agree that priests should be allowed to marry. a man should be able to choose how he wants to forge his relationship with God and others. and as paul himself says in the bible, celebacy is the best way to live in a spiritual sense because it creates an uncompromised loyalty to God, however if a man feels the desire to be with a woman and have that kinship with the opposite sex it is better for him to marry than to be burning with desire, because that in itself creates temptation and compromises issues with faith. and that goes for anything, anytime someone chooses to fast, or live in poverty like a hermit, or omit a certain habit from their lifestyle for spiritual reasons, like many monks due in the buddhist faith and other faiths alike, there is a certain spiritual cleansing and strength that is created by the ascetic life. but it should be a personal decision like it has always been in the christian church.

as far as celebacy being connected to child abuse.....i would say yes and no but not in the way we commonly think. celbacy is connected to the catholic priesthood because it is a manditory requirment...so it goes without saying that all priest sexual abuses come from those that are bound to the life of celebacy. but if celebacy were not a requirment, i would argue that those same priests would still be a danger to children...because they like having sex with little kids. if i was forced to be celebate there is no way in hell i could go to little kids to releave my sexual urges..because im not attracted to them. just like i couldnt have sex with a woman because im not into them sexually. so celebacy doesnt make people petafiles...they already are sick bastards going into. why they go into the priesthood is a good question. it can be argued that celebacy created a safety zone for them, because the last person anyone would suspect of sexual conduct would be a priest. so maybe that is one motivation, they feel protected in that sense. Buddhist monks are celebate, and most of them are good, same goes for other religions. however we do know that in thailand, there is a huge problem with petaphilia, some of which as been connected to buddhist monks...however just like the catholic priests, they were sick bastards to begin with, the religion or celbacy didnt make it that way. i do think that celebacy should be a choice though.

i also know that if the requirment of celebacy were lifted tomorrow in the catholic church, not everyone would be rushing to get married. some would still choose to be celbate because they believe in it.

i would also like to say that there are some catholic priests who are married. there are special exceptions made for men that become priests after they are married. out at my campus at Northern Illinois University, father newman is a married catholic priest, former episcopalian pastor. Granted he in the only one i have ever met...but i guess there are exceptions which is a good thing.



Thanks for hearing me out!
Digitalgrl

Thanks to everyone who is responding, instead of trying to stir up something they obviously don't need to be talking about, because they can't control their emotions.

This post was started off with a question, I gave my ideas of why it might be so, and others have done the same. No where in any of my posts have I stereotyped Catholic Priests and Pedophiles, I haven't even included that word in any of my posts.. If I have, please point it out FF.

This is a place for a discussion, their are no RCC's around my area and all I've ever heard was the Protestant churches positions on things.

AGAIN: I DON'T BELIEVE IN THE RCC OR PROTESTANT GOD, I'M NOT ANTI-RELIGIOUS IN ANY WAY I JUST CHOOSE MY OWN FORM OF SPIRITUALITY THAT FEELS RIGHT TO ME.

I envy anyone who can take the Bible, God, and his teachings at face value and be happy with it. I AM NOT, IN ANY WAY, TRYING TO KNOCK THE RCC OR ANY CHURCH FOR THAT MATTER.

So, FF, if you must continue to stir the pot and label and stereotype me and everyone who posts something contrary to your beliefs, you're calling the kettle black. So just stop it, no one's said a thing about your faith or your church. We've all proposed our thoughts on this situation and our thoughts are just as good as yours.

Originally posted by Stalks in Shadows
Just because FF has a problem with self-esteem

That's the first time anyone has ever accused me of that .
HINT - crack open a psychology book sometime ... you are way off.

Originally posted by DigitalGrl
so celebacy doesnt make people petafiles...they already are sick bastards going into.

Very true.

why they go into the priesthood is a good question. it can be argued that celebacy created a safety zone for them,

They go into the priesthood for the same reason they go into protestant ministery and for the same reason they become school teachers, etc - it's a profession that they can get close to children through. They are predators and they are hunting.

Buddhist monks are celebate, and most of them are good, same goes for other religions.

I don't know about Buddhists .. but the protestants ABSOLUTELY have sexual abuse problems within their ranks. You just dont' hear as much about it because it's more fun to beat up the Catholics. There have been threads here that discuss this. ALSO - public schools have a higher sex abuse rate then Catholic churches. So the celibacy thing really doesn't seem to have anything to do with it.

Thanks for hearing me out! Digitalgrl

Thanks for being here.

[edit on 1/10/2008 by FlyersFan]

[edit on 1/10/2008 by FlyersFan]

reply to post by FlyersFan


Perhaps I misinterpreted your opening post - given our history, maybe that's not surprising.
In future I will endeavour to take what you say at face value and read without prejudice - as long as this is reciprocated

Before I go further, let me first say that I have no agenda against catholics.
I DO have an extreme dislike for what I see as hypocrisy within the hierarchy, especially the upper echelons, and maybe because I feel so passionately about it, I have sometimes come across as hypercritical of the organisation as a whole - but this is not the case.

One of my biggest bugbears is hypocrisy in ANY organisation - you'll find that I am extremely critical of governments - both US and UK as well as the RCC hierarchy.

That said, I think we can find common ground in some aspects of catholocism - it can be a great comfort and give strength to many in their hour of need and the educational aspect is phenomenal (except for the obvious drawback I already mentioned), but I simply cannot overlook what I see as hypocrisy.
A failing, I know - but that's me.

I actually replied to your thread about kidney stones - I had them when I was only 30, and whilst mine passed (literally) I sympathise with you - the pain can be excruciating - anytime you want to talk about it, feel free to u2u me, I've been there and I know what it's like.

The practice of families sending kids into the RCC (in whatever position) IS dying out, and I applaud that - but don't forget, I went to school many years ago when one of the last large family generational intakes happened - so again,I speak from experience.


[edit on 10/1/2008 by budski]

reply to post by FlyersFan


I agree FF.. It happens in schools, Protestant churches, the childs own home by their own relatives, and all sorts of sick things.. But, this thread has nothing to do with pedophilia. This thread is talking about the reasons why a RCC priest is unable to marry.

The only reason why the abuse thing is even factored in because it's ALL OVER THE NEWS RIGHT NOW. I'm the OP and I decided I wanted to know why exactly they can't marry when they used to be able to.

Now that we're back on track, I agree with a lot that you say FF. I just don't like the way you try to shove it down everyone's throat. Don't get offended so easily just because someone doesn't say something the way you think it should be said.

KIDS ABSOLUTELY GET ABUSED IN A LOT MORE PLACES THAN THE RCC. I have never disagreed or doubted that.

Please stop the personal insults. We don't need to know who you think needs medicated, or who you wish would leave the board. Check the topic (Why are Catholic Priests unable to marry?) and the forum name (Conspiracies in Religions) and discuss something that has to do with either of the above.

Thanks.

reply to post by Stalks in Shadows


You're welcome - but FF has every right to participate in this discussion, and if you read her posts without taking them personally, I think you'll find that she has interesting and informative opinions.

We have our little spats because she is as passionate in her beliefs as I am - we have been through this more than once.

Whilst I don't often agree with her I DO find her input valuable, in that it provides a different perspective - and looking at something from a different perspective can be as educational as anything else.

I appreciate where you're coming from, but perhaps we should set aside differences and concentrate on a civilized debate.

Oh lookie .. I got a warning. I stand by my 'ill mannered' post and the one that got removed. I'm having too much fun not to.

Originally posted by budski
In future I will endeavour to take what you say at face value and read without prejudice - as long as this is reciprocated

Absolutely.

I DO have an extreme dislike for what I see as hypocrisy within the hierarchy,

That's fine. And if you hate hypocrisy in ALL organizations -

The question about 'why are Catholic Priests unable to marry' was the topic ... and back to that topic .. the 'question' has been answered. There are spiritual reasons AND common sense 'earthly' reasons. If people don't like it .. then they don't have to be Catholic.

[edit on 1/10/2008 by FlyersFan]

reply to post by budski


Thank you again for you input budski.. It's rare to find someone who has the first-hand knowledge of the RCC that will openly debate such a controversial subject.

I agree with your thoughts on hypocrisy.. I have nothing against any religious organization just the injustices that happen behind their closed doors.

reply to post by budski


I value her input as well, the same as anyone else, I just don't like how just waltzed in here to take over a thread, label me falsely, and then accuse me of something I never even said.

I've got lots of good input and answers to my question and I appreciate everyone who responded. You've all really helped to open my eyes to something I admitted in the beginning, I know hardly anything about.

FF: Let's start off on a new foot. I appreciate all your input as you seem to know a lot about the RCC. I know absolutely nothing about it, besides hearing about it in the MSM and I wanted to know people's opinions. Please know that I'm not a RCC hater by any means, I don't even understand the RCC enough to make an opinion one way or the other. I've been in a protestant church and I wish there were a place around here I could go to Mass a few times to experience what it's about. I think their are good points to every religion and I don't go around making stereotypes about something/someone I know nothing about.. I believe we call that ignorance.

[edit on 10-1-2008 by Stalks in Shadows]

reply to post by Stalks in Shadows


There are injustices in many large organisations, if not ALL of them - and you'll find that the hypocrisy goes hand in hand, BUT it's nearly always confined to the hierarchy, and the 1 billion members of the RCC are 99.999999% decent, devout people - just because I disagree with them doesn't mean I don't respect them.

I'm particularly passionate about this because I was born and raised in the RCC, but no longer consider myself a member - yet the RCC tells me that because I was born into it I will always be a member, and as you can imagine, this gets my back up.

I think the reason the RCC, celibacy and so on is so hotly debated is that many people cannot conceive of someone CHOOSING a life of celibacy, and because the RCC naturally falls into subject categories which are extremely emotional to say the least.

If a priest is celibate, what would be the point of marriage anyway



I got a warn too, I assume for my joke about meds

ah well

[edit on 10/1/2008 by budski]