Sunday, 09 August 2009
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Celibacy and Clergy: Should Priests be Allowed to Marry?
A Roman Catholic priest from Miami Beach was relieved of his duties at a parish when photos surfaced of him kissing a woman on the sandy shores of Florida. Father Alberto Cutie--yes, that's his real, astonishingly-appropriate name--admitted that the woman was his girlfriend and professed to be struggling over whether to remain in the priesthood, which requires him to be celibate, or to resign in order to stay with his girlfriend.Cutie, 40, who says he is deeply in love with girlfriend Ruhama Canellis, told Univision: "I didn't stop being a man just because I put on a cassock. There are trousers under this cassock."
A few months ago, news emerged that Cutie has left the Roman Catholic church for the Episcopal church, which permits priests to date and marry.
As an Episcopalian, I'm fighting a sense of smugness that my church is more open-minded than others that demand celibacy of its members. After all, isn't it a bit far-reaching to ask clergy to forsake the natural human desire to marry and have a family?
But after all, Roman Catholic clergy freely admit themselves to the priesthood and voluntarily assume the Church's requirement of celibacy. According to the Catechism, priests are "called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and...they give themselves entirely to God and to men...[celibacy] is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church's minister is consecrated" (Catechism 1579). Maybe we Protestants are getting it wrong by arguing to free priests of a burden that they don't see as a burden at all.
What do you think? Was Father Cutie right to have forsaken his priestly duties, or should he have been willing to forfeit his illicit relationship instead?
Do you think celibacy is an impossible demand to make of clergy, or is it truly a God-ordained and virtuous calling?
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Comments (59)
I've never quite understood why requiring celibacy was such a huge deal for people. Every Christian is required to be celibate until marriage, and for some people that's many years.
Also, chastity (purity of mind and body) is a much more difficult requirement than celibacy (abstention from marriage and sexual relations), and chastity is a virtue for all Christians to uphold.
By leaving the Church to become a Protestant Cutie showed that he has a deeper problem then priest celibacy.
Apparently he just likes being the sage on the stage and any church will do. That ego trip plagues many who think they want to become ministers.
Celibacy is a calling. I believe that a person is either called to be a married priest, or a celibate one. I'm from the Eastern Orthodox Church, and we have both, though a person has to choose before they get ordained into the priesthood.
Considering that celibacy is not in scripture, nor is it a tradition that goes back to the disciples (Peter was married), I don't see why the Catholic Church is so insistent upon it.
Whether the priest did the right thing is a different matter. When he became a priest, he agreed to the stipulations. If he was insistent on having a relationship, he should have been up front about it and left the priesthood before doing something he agreed not to do.
Even though he was a priest,
he's still human- humans make mistakes in their choices and decisions
This in no way undermines celibacy; it just means that Fr. Cutie should have dealt thoroughly with these issues before he got ordained.
to be celibate is to go beyond our human needs and learning how to really Love God's people.
It's something that's hard to understand, but I've met many good Priests and Nuns totally in Love with God in my life.
I think requiring life long celibacy is silly. There is no Biblical grounds for it. In fact there are more Biblical grounds for believing that its a good thing for clergy of all types to be married.
I don't agree with the whole thing....
priestly celibacy is a horrible mistake and a burden that no man should have to bear if it not possible to bear it... there is no Scriptural precedence that suggests the clergy to no be married... in fact many of the Levitical priests had wives... in fact... Peter had a wife i'm happy to say... history states that when Peter was being held in the cell during the times Nero went psycho and started killing off Christians in games... Peter's wife was dragged out to the field and she started praying and once they let the hungry animals out to rip her apart, Peter just yelled, "REMEMBER THE LORD!" and she dies and goes to heaven... so... if Roman catholics talk about the succession of Peter, then it should be noted that priests should be allowed marriage...
now Scripture DOES say that there are eunuchs for the Kingdom... these are people who are SUPERNATURALLY GIFTED to be single... but they are the exception and not the rule...
so honestly, if this priest who was displaced can enter into Protestant ministry if he forsakes the notion that justification comes through Church rather than through Jesus.... then he can get married and live for Jesus... cuz Protestants really don't have anything against marriage in that sense... in fact, marriage IS a ministry... so...
If everyone else can marry, why can't preiests ?
It is pronounced Cue-tee-a, first of all, not how the author apparently thinks it is pronounced. The author made the point...Catholic priests voluntarily accept celibacy. The rule of celibacy is not sprung on them after the ordination. Priests are called to their vocation, so they are called to celibacy. Obviously Fr. Cutie was not and that is fine, I am glad he was able to admit this and move on with his life. This is not a rule being imposed upon anyone, it is a rule that is freely accepted.
We know that Peter had a wife, Scripture even points to that. All Tradition is not based upon the lives of the apostles. There is no Scriptural requirement for celibacy, of course, but the Church asks priests to follow the example of our founder, our Lord, Jesus Christ. If you are unable to follow His example, you have no place leading and feeding His sheep. Celibacy does not contradict Scripture.
PZ Myers said it best:
"Your priesthood is just plain weird in its denial of a basic and healthy human urge and its obsession with regulating the private behavior of others. You are not normal. You are the wrong people to be taking on the responsibility of dictating anything about human sexuality — you're just too far out on the fringe of perversity. There are a lot of weird sexual practices out there, but I'm afraid denial and repression and the kind of self-loathing that characterizes the professional celibates of the Catholic church are among the weirdest. That doesn't mean you have to stop, of course — your kinks are your kinks, and I will defend your right to not do whatever you want in the privacy of your bedroom — but you have to realize that in the face of the riotous diversity of human sexual behavior, no one gets to use their personal preferences to instruct others on what they may do in private and between mutually consenting adults."
@jupiter312@xanga - PZ Myers is an unrepentant fool. You prove yourself the same for quoting him. The fact that you seem to admire a bigot who thinks it is funny to desecrate a consecrated Eucharistic host then post a video of such on Youtube says something about you, and it is not good.
@jupiter312@xanga - So somehow not having sex is perverted? PZ Meyers needs to get his head out of his ass, and apparently so do you.
@Theophilus166@xanga - Considering that celibacy is not in scripture, nor is it a tradition that goes back to the disciples (Peter was married), I don't see why the Catholic Church is so insistent upon it.
Jesus was celibate. The Catholic Church is based on Jesus, not Peter or Paul or anyone else.
I believe clergy should be allowed to marry. My father is a minister, and there is no way under the sun that he would have been anywhere near as effective in ministry if he had not had my mom; they were put together by God. Some ministers are called by God to marry; some are called by God to be single. I believe they should be able to pursue the course that God has designed for them, the course that will make them most effective, not one pushed on them by non-scriptural tradition. Ministers with strong marriages and families are a fantastic example to the congregations they serve.
That said, if a priest commits to celibacy and then breaks it, he broke his committment and has to face the consequences. It's not like anyone enters the Catholic priesthood without knowing that celibacy is a part of it (despite the widespread issues priests have had with this throughout history).
The Catholic church denies its priests the right to follow the Scripture that says it is better to marry than to burn with passion. I believe that isn't right.
It is better to not vow a vow than to vow a vow and break it... He should have stepped down.
This requirement from tradition should be re-examined. Not eliminated but perhaps changed. It has become a huge black mark to the RCC. Pederasty as well as natural relationships have been the ruin of many a good Priest. These incidents would be minimal if the Church allowed it's Priests to take wives instead of burn with passion. If the RCC wants to restore it's image perhaps the tradition should be to not marry "unless" you can't control yourself. This is the clear and biblical teaching found in 1Cor 7:7-9.
Even Christ Himself has a bride. The Church.
The Roman Catholic priesthood is based on the priesthood of Christ, who was celibate and who devoted his entire being to God the Father and His bride, the Church. Those entering the RC priesthood should be ready and willing to take on this role.
When Jesus left to be with the Father, He gave Peter the "keys to the kingdom of heaven", which we Catholics believe means that He left Peter in charge of the Church in His absence. In Scripture, it does say that Peter had a mother-in-law, but there is no wife mentioned. It could very well be that Peter was a widower by that time, and took care of his mother-in-law as if she were his own mother. We believe that Peter was the first "pope", the human head of the Church.
The Catholics don't follow OT tradition, if you go back when the first "church" was made, the priesthood was passed on from father to son and then from the son down to his son and were allowed to marry. If Catholics were more Christian and less Pagan, then it would be obvious that in some sense that the papacy it trying to brain wash people and in my opinion is a false religion.
And for those of you saying that the Catholic church is based on Jesus, why do they not believe in a rapture, why do they believe in purgatory etc.?
I'm not sure why a priest has to be celibate in the first place. But I understand the concept of why it is required.
My issue is if you are going to make the commitment to be a priest...you already know what is required of you. To simply change churches because you simply don't want to follow through with what you committed to is just weak. I'm not sure I could respect that guy as a priest...or a man for that matter.
I am a protestant minister and single, not by choice - so I have no idea, lol
@Theophilus166@xanga - @LoBornlite@xanga - The celibacy issue was one of the "innovations" that the Eastern Patriarchs complained about and was a contributing factor to the East-West schism. The other side of the historical church (the Orthodox/Eastern Church has never had a celibacy requirement for the clergy).
i believe that priests should be allow to have a choice whether or not they want to get married or not..
i have read the reasons why ppl believe they shouldn't get married.. the rules for all catholic priests
is to live a celibate life b/c jesus christ has died on the cross for us.. priests should have every right to
and that is why you see the scandals that we have been seeing for a long time. i heard centuries ago
they never had complain about this before. they were willing to let priests get married. that is why
we see priests not being fully happy with their choices. if a priest wants to have a spouse than why not let them?
@Theophilus166@xanga - @MC_Shann@xanga - @Pickwick12@xanga - @hiiiilaura@xanga - @discover_hienie@xanga - Clerical celibacy is not a universal requirement in the Catholic Church. It's not surprising to find married Catholic priests who are in good standing with the Church.
@CoZMuN@xanga - //
And for those of you saying that
the Catholic church is based on Jesus, why do they not believe in a
rapture, //
Wrong. The Church does believe in a Rapture - just not in the sugar-coated BS fashion the Evangelical Right promotes.
//why do they believe in purgatory etc.?//
Purgatory is not only materially supported in scripture but also a part of our understanding of soteriology as well as supported by the ECF's.