Why celibate bishops are a big deal?

☦Marius☦

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potato potawto..
Not really if you are going to call something demonic. Free will celibacy and forced celibacy are entirely different things. Men can be Priests and be married, they just can't be Bishops as that is a monastic specific job. Like any other Jobs that's just a requirement and it works rather well. There is nothing wrong with celibacy. Lived in a monastery myself for a time.
 
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S.O.J.I.A.

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Not really if you are going to call something demonic. Free will celibacy and forced celibacy are entirely different things. Men can be Priests and be married, they just can't be Bishops as that is a monastic specific job. Like any other Jobs that's just a requirement and it works rather well. There is nothing wrong with celibacy. Lived in a monastery myself for a time.
k,

i'm not gonna dispute the practices of other religions but what is the biblical basis for this stipulation regarding bishops? or is it just something you guys do?
 
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☦Marius☦

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k,

i'm not gonna dispute the practices of other religions but what is the biblical basis for this stipulation regarding bishops? or is it just something you guys do?

As I stated above in my first post.
 
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mark46

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I agree.

A wife's role should be an important part of the discernment process in naming a bishop.

This should also be true for deacons and priests.
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As an aside, I suspect that being married before consecration is a different issue than after. I don't think that it is reasonable to have a rule allowing bishops, deacons or priests to be able to marry after being consecrated. Having an eligible priest could be a significant pastoral issue.


.

I would say it's important for the bishop's spouse, should they have one, to be supportive of their role and willing to deal with what comes with it.
 
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☦Marius☦

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so it's just something you guys do then?

No, as Paul said--it is better to remain celibate as able, and we want to make sure our bishops can devote all their time to prayer and have a monastic discipline and humility.
 
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CaptainToad

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Celibacy is a choice. No one is compelled to be celibate. There are hundreds of millions of men who are Catholics and are not celibate.

I don't know if this is sarcasm or if you just didn't see the obvious. Anyway -
Of course, I meant priests to have a choice.
 
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S.O.J.I.A.

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Imaging criticizing celibacy when the Master of the Universe was/is celibate
no one is criticizing celibacy. they're disputing situations where it is demanded or a prerequisite.

there are no examples of positions in the church in scripture where someone is demanded to be celibate or married.

FYI, Jesus is married to the church.
 
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2PhiloVoid

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Not saying celibacy should be a cover for sexual issues. A lot of people forget that it originates in the mind/brain.
Ok. So, while I think---nay, I'm very confident---that my point above still stands, biblically speaking, I think that maybe I've misunderstood the central concern or focus of your OP. So, what specific nuance are you wanting us to hone in on here.............................................................Bub?

[Awesome cyclops gif, David! :oldthumbsup: I love it!]

By the way, let me reaffirm to you and all of my fellow Christians, that I remain and always will be......**ahem** ...........a Trinitarian! It's kind of in my bones! ^_^

tenor.gif
 
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Strong in Him

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Imaging criticizing celibacy when the Master of the Universe was/is celibate

No one is criticising celibacy, only challenging whether priests should be compelled to embrace it.
Being celibate was God's will for Jesus' life - if it had been his will for his Son to marry, he would have. Peter, who is said by some to have been the first Pope, was married, and I wouldn't be surprised if other disciples had been too.
Is it God's will for priests to be celibate, or just the church's desire?
 
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Paidiske

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More or less; how are there to be more Levites, or priests of they don't marry/produce children?

Christians do not have a hereditary ministry.

Priests/Ministers will eventually retire; will they then regret putting their work before their own lives?

I have heard some people articulate such regret.

I agree.

A wife's role should be an important part of the discernment process in naming a bishop.

This should also be true for deacons and priests.
===============
As an aside, I suspect that being married before consecration is a different issue than after. I don't think that it is reasonable to have a rule allowing bishops, deacons or priests to be able to marry after being consecrated. Having an eligible priest could be a significant pastoral issue.

Well, first note that I said "spouse" not "wife" because some of our churches have women bishops.

In my experience, if you're married and offering for ordination, your spouse is interviewed with you, and the church is very clear that it won't ordain you if your spouse doesn't want it. They are not in the business of destroying marriages.

That said, and again, belonging to a denomination which does allow us to marry after we're ordained (if that's relevant) the point is that the member of the clergy should never enter into a romantic relationship with someone in their pastoral care. In that regard it's not unlike the boundaries in some other professional roles (like a therapist never dating a client).
 
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Not David

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no one is criticizing celibacy. they're disputing situations where it is demanded or a prerequisite.

there are no examples of positions in the church in scripture where someone is demanded to be celibate or married.

FYI, Jesus is married to the church.
So the bishops
 
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Not David

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No one is criticising celibacy, only challenging whether priests should be compelled to embrace it.
Being celibate was God's will for Jesus' life - if it had been his will for his Son to marry, he would have. Peter, who is said by some to have been the first Pope, was married, and I wouldn't be surprised if other disciples had been too.
Is it God's will for priests to be celibate, or just the church's desire?
Why didn't the Lord get married especially when rabbis got married? Because of the Kingdom! And if you read the Gospels, it says that the Apostles left wives and children for God.
 
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mark46

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Yes, obviously, a priest or pastor, should not date someone under his pastoral care.

However, it is not the priest that might cause the pastoral issue. It is the women looking at the priest as sexually desirable and a possible husband. I recall, even in the Catholic Church, a priest being called "Father what a waste". This priest had a following that went out of their way to try to do favors for him, and even followed him when he moved to a different church. Obviously, this could be a much more serious issue if the priest could actually date and marry.
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Personally, I suspect that Saint Paul was setting out a norm for priests, that they be married, yes to one spouse (since the culture allowed more than one).

.
That said, and again, belonging to a denomination which does allow us to marry after we're ordained (if that's relevant) the point is that the member of the clergy should never enter into a romantic relationship with someone in their pastoral care. In that regard it's not unlike the boundaries in some other professional roles (like a therapist never dating a client).
 
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Dale

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Howdy!
Bishops have plenty of work to do overseeing local churches and dealing with their problems, have to travel a lot. So they don't have time to have a family.

Do you understand my rationale?



One problem is that when you have celibate priests taking confession, they don't understand the lives of their parishioners. A celibate priest doesn't fully understand what it's like to be marrried, and in particular, to be married and have children.

When you have Bishops making the rules, again, a celibate Bishop can't completely identify with married parishioners, especially when they have children.

In that way, married pastors and married Bishops can better understand the problems of most of their parishioners.

So, no, I don't agree that celibate Bishops are a good thing.
 
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Dale

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Jesus was celibate; was his celibacy an evil thing?


I can think of at least three reasons for Jesus to choose to be celibate.

Jesus knew that he was going to be crucified, then resurrected, and then leave this earth. He knew that he was not going to have a long life on earth.

If Jesus had been married, his wife would have acquired a special status in the church.
If there had been children, they also would have had a special status in the church.

God didn't want the Christian Church to be a hereditary autocracy.
God didn't want any special class in the church to claim special privilege.

The celibacy of Jesus is a unique case. I wouldn't draw any general conclusions from it.
 
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One problem is that when you have celibate priests taking confession, they don't understand the lives of their parishioners. A celibate priest doesn't fully understand what it's like to be marrried, and in particular, to be married and have children.

When you have Bishops making the rules, again, a celibate Bishop can't completely identify with married parishioners, especially when they have children.

In that way, married pastors and married Bishops can better understand the problems of most of their parishioners.

So, no, I don't agree that celibate Bishops are a good thing.
I'm not talking about priests. Most of saints who inspire people to deal with sexual sins were celibate so I don't think that means a lot. St. Paul, the one who wrote about bishops, was not married.
 
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