Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dhosek@sif.claremont.edu (Hosek, Donald A.) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: With all due respect for Catholics... Message-ID: Date: 29 May 90 06:16:28 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Harvey Mudd College Lines: 36 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , st0o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Steven Timm) writes... >A recent post mentioned the council of Nicaea's declaration that >priests be celibate. Though this is no doubt a long-standing tradition >(and not without scriptural support (1 Corinthians 7)), I have wondered >how Catholics explain that St. Peter had a mother-in-law and was thus >obviously married? I don't think that any Catholic would deny this point--it's not that important. St. Augustine, for example, never married, but was a father. The first thing is that priestly celibacy does _not_ date back to the beginnings of the church. It was imposed later because it was decided that a celibate priest would be better able to discharge his duties. The celibacy of the priesthood is a _discipline_ (as opposed to _doctrine_) that could quite possibly be changed or be subject to a special dispensation (although either is unlikely). The second thing is that marriage does not necessarily imply a lack of celibacy (just as non-marriage does notimply celibacy): the Catholic church has ordained priests--in this century--who were married. However, after becoming ordained, they also became celibate. -dh [As an semi-interesting aside, the first time I ever heard the term celibacy was when I was in 3rd grade home sick with the Chicken pox watching the dating game. Bachelorette #2 announced that she was celibate, bachelorette #3 was selected for the date.] --- Don Hosek "When I was younger, I would throw dhosek@ymir.claremont.edu spitballs at girls that I liked. Now, dhosek@ymir.bitnet I beg and plead for dates. Frankly, the uunet!jarthur!ymir old way was more satisfying."