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THE QUESTION
Single, Celibate Fathers
Should the Catholic priesthood be restricted to single, celibate men? Do clergy restrictions based on gender, marital status or sexual orientation make sense these days?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on May 11, 2009 2:28 PM
FROM THE PANEL
Self-Gratification or Gift to the Other?
The answer to the question of a celibate life is at the heart of one of the biggest struggles we face in the world right now....that of living your life for something or someone other than yourself.
Posted by Matt Maher, on May 15, 2009 2:37 PM
In Defense of Celibacy
Celibacy is an admission of our own human limitations, of our own very human need for a continuity and completeness that only God can give.
Posted by Mathew N. Schmalz, on May 14, 2009 10:34 PM
Jesus said, "Leave everything and follow me"
In the Church there is only one priest, Jesus Christ, and those who are chosen to participate in his priesthood should be ready to leave everything, including career and family, to go where he wants and to serve in the way he wants.
Posted by Thomas G. Bohlin, on May 14, 2009 6:39 PM
Saving the Priesthood from Post Haste
Roman Catholic views of the priesthood may or may not be correct, but Western people lack the prudence and moderation to decide.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on May 14, 2009 12:37 PM
Celibacy a Man-Made Rule that Can be Changed
A growing consciousness in the Western world will inevitably make openness to women clergy and homosexual clergy a part of the ministry of all churches in the future. I will rejoice in that.
Posted by John Shelby Spong, on May 14, 2009 11:40 AM
Can Sex Bring Us Closer to God?
All the world's religions seek to confine sexual intercourse to the institution of marriage, but none is as fearful of sexuality as is Christianity.
Posted by Stephen Prothero, on May 13, 2009 2:25 PM
Father Alberto the Man
The full development of the male priesthood requires the full development of male sexuality.
Posted by Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, on May 13, 2009 11:57 AM
What Does God Require?
Clergy celibacy should be a choice, not a requirement.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on May 13, 2009 11:08 AM
Denominations Choose, But Who Pays?
Questions about who should and should not serve as clergy are strictly denominational issues and it is the height of arrogance for those outside a given community to pretend otherwise. But each decision that is made carries with it a real price.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on May 13, 2009 9:08 AM
Celibacy: Beautiful and Wrong
The great Rabbis of Judaism, with very few exceptions, married and raised families. They were better for it.
Posted by David Wolpe, on May 13, 2009 8:31 AM
Celibate Clergy and the Reins of Power
Insisting that only celibate males are fit to lead a congregation not only sets up a patriarchal hierarchy of power where women are always in the bottom, but also degrades the basic human worth of half the human population.
Posted by Pamela K. Taylor, on May 13, 2009 8:16 AM
Changing an Unchanging Church
As a humanist, I worry not only about a Church whose leadership requirements are more likely to lead to abuses of the innocent faithful. I also worry about a politically engaged Church trying to impose its religious prohibitions (contraception, gay marriage, stem cell research, etc.) on the rest of the world.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on May 12, 2009 11:28 AM
God Does Not Restrict the Categories of His Call
The ordination of clergy is the human response to "vocation," God's "call" to ministry in and through the churches. I consider it blasphemous to give God a list of excluded categories.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on May 11, 2009 10:57 PM
"Real Life, Real Love": Why Celibacy Needs to Go
How did the Catholic Church ever get the idea that single, celibate men would be in the best position to deal the most common problems of their parishioners? No sex. No children. No money (vow of poverty). No experience.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on May 11, 2009 7:19 PM
Priestly Celibacy: A Self-Inflicted Wound
Palestinians and Israelis are going to embrace one another at the Wailing Wall and the Dome of the Rock before the rigid old men who run the Vatican open up the doors of the priesthood to people who want to serve their god and enter into the full experience of loving and being loved by another human being.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on May 9, 2009 1:26 PM
FEATURED COMMENTS
Momminator: That's not "the" question, it's two separate questions, the second of which seems intended to wag the dog.
For the most part, what the Ch...
timothyjackson1: I'm not Catholic but the thought is if you make the decision to join the priesthood than if that is a requirement you should uphold to it. ...
gladerunner: "Should the Catholic priesthood be restricted to single, celibate men? "
It's a private club, membership is not mandatory. If that club wis...
