Clerical Celibacy OR Married Priests?
Why Not Married Priests? The Case for Clerical Celibacy
By George Sim Johnston
Writing on the question of Priestly Celibacy, George Sim Johnston shows how in a world that has absolutized sex, a celibate priesthood is a necessary sign of higher things.
Each month, when I face an auditorium full of engaged couples preparing fora Catholic marriage, there is a Q-and-A session. It is the interesting, unrehearsed part of the evening. The couples write their queries on a piece of paper, and the anonymity guarantees at least a few hardball questions about the Church and its practices. "What about Galileo?" is among my favorites, along with inquisitive notes about Torquemada. But the majority of these "zingers" turn out to be protests about the Church's rule of clerical celibacy. "You've told us how wonderful marriage is, that it's a great good for the human person, that the body has a nuptial meaning, and so forth. Well, then: Why can't priests marry?"
Each month, when I face an auditorium full of engaged couples preparing fora Catholic marriage, there is a Q-and-A session. It is the interesting, unrehearsed part of the evening. The couples write their queries on a piece of paper, and the anonymity guarantees at least a few hardball questions about the Church and its practices. "What about Galileo?" is among my favorites, along with inquisitive notes about Torquemada. But the majority of these "zingers" turn out to be protests about the Church's rule of clerical celibacy. "You've told us how wonderful marriage is, that it's a great good for the human person, that the body has a nuptial meaning, and so forth. Well, then: Why can't priests marry?"
Posted by Richard Mascarenhas
Tags: clerical celibacy priest married priests catholic church marriage
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