Path: utzoo!yunexus!tony
From: tony@yunexus.UUCP (Tony Wallis)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: Scene at a Roman Catholic cathedral.
Message-ID: <3424@yunexus.UUCP>
Date: 26 Aug 89 15:40:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: yunexus.3424
References: <3984@looking.on.ca> <1479@apss.apss.ab.ca> <619057392.19843@telly.on.ca> <6257@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: tony@yunexus.UUCP (Tony Wallis)
Organization: York University  Department of Computer Science
Lines: 30

djohnson@watdcsu.waterloo.edu ( DOUG JOHNSON - GEOGRAPHY ) posted :
| [.. about celibacy for the Roman Catholic priesthood ..]
| Could someone in-the-know clarify this. 
| Do RC priests vow to be celibate (i.e., not to marry) or do
| they vow to be chaste (i.e., refrain from intercourse) ?

Since for orthodox Christians, intercourse outside marriage is
forbidden, a vow not to marry implies a vow to abstain from (heterosexual)
intercourse.  (Homosexuality is forbidden anyway.)

According to doctrine, the celibate (unmarried) priesthood is not primarily
a simple sexual-activity issue, but follows from a complex of concerns
including contentious (outside the Roman church, anyway) interpretations
of scripture.  There have been and are married RC priests.  Typically they
were married and ordained in a non-Roman church whose episcopal (bishops)
apostolic succession is "recognised" as "valid" by Rome - e.g. the Anglican
Communion* - before they converted to Rome.
(*The consecration of a female bishop (gasp!) in the US undermines this.)

Disclaimer : I am an Anglican, I might not have it totally correct.

A reminder : Catholic should not imply Roman Catholic.

Personal note : If you think the Catholic (RC, Anglican, ..) and other
(fundamentalist, conservative, ..) churches screwed-up approach to
sexuality is keeping Jesus-loving people away from their doors, I agree
with you.

--
Tony Wallis   tony@yunexus.UUCP    (York U.  Toronto  Canada)