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Kristan Hernandez

Professor Ben A. Jorgensen

English 1010

19 April 2017

Should Catholic Priest Marry?

Growing up as an active Catholic, I always wondered about why priests never married.

Attending Sunday Mass, watching the priest give the service and each step he made during this

time, I always thought to myself is he lonely, because he does not have the companionship that

others do, or is his beliefs so strong that he does not see that he needs that. So, my one question

is, why are priest not allowed to marry, growing up in a Catholic home we were told that priest

are married to God and this is who they choose to serve. Over time, I did not feel this was a good

enough answer, I believe priest are humans and have the same feelings so they should have the

choice for marriage.

An article I read (National Post, Charles Lewis) Best argument against mandatory

celibacy for priest came out of the Vatican II. Celibacy has been part of a tradition of the

Church, but celibacy is not a dogma, but merely a discipline. Though it would be a big cultural

shift for the Ramon Catholics having to get used to having a married priest. At this present time

many believe we are not ready for this. Research listed in (FutureChurch) that worldwide an

estimate of 125,000 priests who left the active ministry to marry and in the U.S. an estimated

25,000 have left. Some observers believe 50% of married priests would be willing to return to

active ministry if invited. The history of the Church (gotquestions.org) required celibacy by the

Roman Catholic Church due to the practice of nepotism. Church leaders were giving their
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children position in the church but they were not qualified or trained. They were also giving

church property to their descendants. As a result the Roman Catholic Church mandated celibacy

in the order to keep the priest from having family inherit what would rightfully be the church.

Why do we believe priest should not get married? The Bible addresses the celibacy of

church leaders, but not celibacy of priests. I see this can be taken as the priests being our church

leaders so this may be the reason for the celibacy in our priests. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, the

apostle Paul teaches, An unmarried man is concerned about the Lords affairs, how he can

please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can

please his wife and his interests are divided (1Corinthaians 7:32-34). Then in 1 Timothy 3:1-13

and Titus 1:6-9, the Apostle Paul seems to assume that elders, bishops, overseers and deacons

will be married. Notice the phrases the husband of one wife, he must manage his own family

well and his children obey him with proper respect (1 Timothy 3:4; Titus 1:6). As you can

see there is really two definition of the church about if the priest can marry.

I believe that priests should service God and his people. They are the ones you are

supposed to trust and talk to, confide in about your wrong doing. Priests are human beings and

they have the same feeling and wants as every other person. So if a priest can provide the

services that God wants him to and also be married and be able to separate the two, priest should

be allowed to get married. So they can satisfied their wants and needs.

How do you think priest would feel about this question, Why are you not able to marry

as a priest and if you could would you? Under many Catholics beliefs I do not believe that a

priest would marry, something that Doug Dardon mention during his professional interview.

Priest have experienced a calling from God and they have accepted this is the way of life.
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Priest have also taken the vowel to live the life of celibate. Leticia also mentioned Priest have

given their lives to God and his place is to be living sacrifice for the glory of the Kingdom of

God on earth. Priest knows that he is the image of the continuing sacrifice of Jesus and it also

helps the priest master his passions and give him more time for prayer, which is the lifeblood of

any ministry.

On the other hand the Bible does not encourage celibacy of priests. The Roman Catholic

requirement for celibacy is a sad example of the Church taking something that the Bible

encourages and transforming it into a requirement in order to protect its own interests. (Got

Questions) Men whom God has not gifted or called to be celibate (1 Corinthians 7:7) are being

required to be celibate, and the results is tremendous failures in adultery, fornication, and the

sexual abuse of children. This states priest are human being and have all the same temptation as

everyone else and this would be the reason why priest should be able to make their own choice to

get married or not.

Who will make the final decision and change the way of the church rules regarding the

marriage of priests and has it even been discussed with the Church leaders? What is Pope

Francis view on this topic, during an interview with the German newspaper with Die Zeit. The

Pope ruled out the prospect of allowing single men who already priests to marry but was open to

the idea of allowing unmarried laymen or men already married to be ordained. Pope Francis

said allowing priests in training to choose whether to be celibate was not the solution. By

hearing what the Popes point of view is on this topic, I believe it will not be changed any time

soon with Catholic priests not being able to get married. He is the head leader of the Catholic
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Church and he would be the only one to make this decision, though his beliefs he doesnt want

the change.

Though he does have every right to make this decision since he himself also is going

through this same thing. Not being able to get married. And not being a priest we may not be

able to understand or have the knowledge for the reasoning of this decision. I still do believe

that if priest should have the choice to get married. Many would do so, and still would follow

the beliefs of the bible as they did before they became married.

I do have a strong feeling that priest in this generation may not always have a calling to

celibacy, they may just have the calling for God. I have reviewed many articles about how priest

have committed sexual crimes against children and had sexual encounters with women, as a

priest this is not something they should have in their heart as they are a servant of God and you

should be able to trust them as you would in God, but as I mentioned before priest are human

beings and have the same temptation as everybody else in this world. The Catholic Church

should see this and accept and allow the priest to marry. By allowing the priest to make the

choice to get married, this may help their temptation in the future while being a priest, as they

will have what they want and need with their companion.

Early in my essay I had mention that apostle Paul had stated that elders, bishops,

overseers and deacons could marry. As the Catholic Church had appointed Elders and referred

them to the stage of life, possession of life experience, and commensurate status in the church.

Overseer refers to the function of giving oversight to the entire church and Deacon is

metaphor for personal care given to members of the church. As these helpers were not ordained

as a priest, they were close to it. They could marry while still helping in the church and with the
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priest. As I said before we do not understand the reasoning if a priest decides not to marry. But I

do believe they should have to make that choice and not allow someone to tell them they cannot.

During all the interviews and reviews of articles relating to the topic why priest should

not get married, I still have that feeling that priest should have that choice, but then again it is

their choice to become a priest and becoming a priest they do know that is one thing they will

have to give up along with many other things in their life. As they know this has gone back

several centuries and many other priests have accepted this way of life and many others have

moved on and married and had children. As many priest have given up their love to serve God

and decided to get married to someone they felt was life for them. This had to be a struggle

making this decision after being so dedicated to someone you loved so much. This is the reason

I believe that priest should be able to marry and still do what they love.
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Work Cited
Lewis, Charles. Best argument against mandatory celibacy for priests came out of Vatican II.

National Post N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

FutureChurch. Facts about Priest Shortage, Optional Celibacy and Womens Roles in the

Church / FutureChurch. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 April 2017.

GotQuestions.org. Does the Bible teach the celibacy of priests?

GotQuestions.org.N.p., 04 Jan. 2017. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Christiansen, Father Cal. Why dont Catholic priests get married? Northwest Catholic. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

User, Super. Married Priests. Catholic Education Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr.

2017.