NEWS: Australian priests ask the Vatican to abandon celibacy

Responding to a dramatic decrease in their numbers, Catholic priests have asked the Vatican to rethink their policy on married clergy. The priest feel it would allow more who might consider the calling to join.




The Vatican really needs to get in tune with modern times. The church is risking its relevance in the modern age. Failing to adapt to fundamental changes in society may ultimately lead to catastrophic changes down the road.

This pope will not change the celebacy rule. That will be for the
next one to look at. Celebacy is one of the rules that can change
as the Vatican sees fit. Women priests can never be. Rome
doesn't have the authority to allow that. It's in the 'non changeable'
category. So .. no one even bring it up. That's a non-issue.

(thought I'd head it off before it even came up)

Remember Luther, he brought up some "unchangable" issues as well, when Rome didn't listen, they found some of their sheeps in the protestand herd....


[edit on 27-1-2005 by Countermeasures]

Might help decrease the number of priests being prosecuted for sexual offences
All that sexual tension, harness that and the vatican could have a self-sustainable power source.

And finally, by coincidence I came across this joke today....

A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the
other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.
He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies,
not from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the head
abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a
small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up.
In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.
The head monk, says, "We have been copying from the copies for
centuries, but you make a good point, my son." So, he goes down
into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original
manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't been opened
for hundreds of years.
Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. So, the young monk gets
worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head
against the wall, and wailing, "We forgot the "R", we forgot the "R".
His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably.
The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?"

With choking voice, the old abbot replies, "The word was "celebrate"

I think this a topic that gets a lot of attention but little information. There are 13 Catholic rites inclusing the Roman. The Roman Catholic rite is the only one that doesn't allow most priests to be married, HOWEVER, there are some married Roman Catholic priests. There are married Anglican pastors who convert and the Church recognizes their ordinations as valid, therefore they can and do serve as priests. Second, the celibacy thing is just a discipline the Roman rite took from St. Paul and it can change, but if it does, it may be a while. Right now, celibacy is imposed so that priests can better focus on their jobs as spiritual fathers.

I'm with FredT, the Church needs to change a lot of things in my opinion to survive in this ever changing world.

Now note i'm not Catholic, but it being the worlds biggest religion, its actions does significantly change the way world turns... so to speak.

That's the Australian way, let these brothers have their share of the ladies!!!

god put them there for some reason (i'm sure he didnt put them there to nag us lads to death) so let the priests bask in some of the better things that god created

Originally posted by drfunk
That's the Australian way, let these brothers have their share of the ladies!!!

god put them there for some reason (i'm sure he didnt put them there to nag us lads to death) so let the priests bask in some of the better things that god created

You Ausies have a history of it Didn't you ever see the "Thorn Birds"????

www.imdb.com...

I just want to know what qualifications does a man who doesn't have sex and isn't in a relationship have to council others on these matters. Celebate priests are perhaps the least qualified people on the planet to be performing this function but if you are catholic and want the church to marry you, you have to listen to some eunuch who has no practical experience at all "council" you on your relationship.

If you are no longer human, you have no business telling humans how to live.

Actually, much of marriage counseling and premarriage classes are given by married couples. If you don't know something, don't assume. The sole function of the priest is perpetuating the sacrements and acting as a shepard. If you think about it, there really is no reason for priests to be married.