by Mj Ferruzza

Created on: October 31, 2007

Priests don't marry because Saint Peter,
the head of the Catholic Church and first Pope,
took the vow of celibacy. Some scholars believe
that St. Peter did this as a way to focus all of
his attention on building the church and teaching
the works and life of Christ. A small few have
depicted the vow as punishment for denying Christ
3 times on the night he was betrayed (IE..he became

less a man). To have a wife and family and travel
as extensive as St. Peter did for the Early Church
wouldn't have worked out or made sense.
His vow was a vow of complete devotion. A sacrifice.
That vow is still taken by priests today, but
may come to a crossroads soon.
Some questions:
1. When asking a man going into priesthood to give up
celibacy, are we asking him to give up women? The desires
of the flesh? Sex in general? Or are we telling him just
not to set up a house/home with a partner?
2. If priests are not to have wives, is the Church not openly
recruiting homosexuals?
3. How can a man give advice to married couples when he is,
in fact, not allow to wed or deal with the type of trials and
tribulations that occur in a marriage?
4. Rabbis and Reverends marry, what is all the fuss about allowing
priests to marry?
5. What would it take to stop priests from emulating and living out
one of the greatest vows man has ever made to his Savior?

The recent trials of impropriety with priests have brought all these
questions to light. It now may be the absolute right time for the
Vatican to convene and discuss the role of manhood and priesthood.
I am all for a married priests and the plethora of candidates for
priesthood who have been staved off due to the rules on marriage and
celibacy handed down by the Church.

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