Daily Skiff

Ryne Sulier,

It is quite funny that you claim to be a "practicing Catholic".

For if you knew anything about the Catholic Church you would know that the Catholic Church already allows for a married priesthood.

The Eastern Rites within the Catholic Church, ie, Greek Catholics, Melkite Catholics, and Byzantine Catholics just to name a few, already allow for a married priesthood.

The Church is booming in Africa and Asia, where the local church adhere to the teachings of Jesus Christ as transmitted through the church He established, the Catholic Church. Where they have more priests, nuns, monks, and friars than they need.

For American and Europe, the numbers are dismal due to the fact that we don't teach our children the catechism of the Church. Where people like yourself can claim to be a "practicing Catholic", yet are completely unaware of the schooling, culture, history, music, architecture, and of course the catechism of the Catholic Church. That you made the incredibly inaccurate claim that the Catholic Church does not allow for married priests, with the exception of a case-to-case context.

Your complete lack of knowledge has even allowed you to make the most viceral statement "With the Vatican's lack of transparency, centuries of blunders, hypocrisy and idiocy, Pope Benedict XVI's" towards the Church.

As a "new-editorial journalism and political science" major, where is the evidence to back up your claim?

Yeah, you wrote an opinion piece, but I'm calling you out on your claim because there is no evidence.

Listen here sport, you need to do better than this amateur job you put together on a hangover and open the catechism of the Catholic Church and bone up on our Catholic faith.

While you're at it, go to a Catholic news site like say, PewSitter.com or NewAdvent.org, where you can get caught up with current events in the Catholic world.

Are you of this world? Or are you in it?

Do you want to make outrageously false claims so the world can love you for the lies against the Church?

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
-- Holy Gospel of Saint John 15:19

As far as your quote from Saint Paul, he was talking about man's nature to commit the sin of lust. So it is better to marry than to lust after women. Of course you're a "practicing Catholic" so you knew that didn't you? Yeah right.

Let me drop some knowledge on you since you seem to get direction from your protestant friends that is incorrect.

Some people are called to celibacy:

"For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."
-- Holy of Saint Matthew 19:12

And those people are called to be priests:

"I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me."
-- The First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 4:14-16

And Saint Paul sums this call to celibacy via the priesthood:

"I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do."
-- The First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 7:7-8

Saint Paul praises celibacy in order to be full time ministers:

"I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord."
-- The First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 7:32-35

So dust off your Bible, preferably a Catholic edition, none of those protestant ones that are a few short from the original.

In Jesus, Mary, & Joseph,

Tito

Go easy on the poor man, Tito. After all, he got his catechetical training from Nancy Pelosi.

John,

I may have been a little hard on Mr. Ryne Sulier and so I want to reiterate I mean no ill will. I just want to set straight the record on many of the allegations and analysis that Mr. Sulier posted.

I have made more than my share of my mistakes and with that what Mr. Sulier wrote is only a blip on his journey of faith.

In Jesus, Mary, & Joseph,

Tito

The Vatican may allow change to happen slowly--BUT this they can NEVER change. The vatican does not have the power to change doctrines and practices INSTITUTED BY CHRIST. Catholic Clergy are MARRIED to CHRIST"S BRIDE---the CHURCH! Bringing in other parties to compete with their loyalty to Jesus' "body" will in no way improve the Church! Comprimising the truth is NO WAY to gain more Cay=tholics. We want TRUTH, and FAITHFUL Catholics--not Catholics in name only. There has been FAR TOO MUCH of this in the last 40 years--and the detrimental effects can be seen from the vocation crisis to the sex (largely gay and pedophiles) scandals! As for the idea that allowing Gay and pedophilia priests to marry will solve this problem this seems disingenous...I thought these things weren't curable? And if one cannot be faithful to his vows as a priests what makes you believe he will be faithful to his maraaige vows? Especially in todays culture of open marraige, divorce, and if it feels good it must be right...

Tito, you were no harsher than you needed to be, and Ryne needed it after such a clueless presentation of what he alleges to be facts about the Catholic Church. Another such public act of cluelessness that I've seen recently was last year's Meet The Press interview of Nancy Pelosi and her brainless explanation of the Church's view on abortion. Something else that needs to be mentioned is that no one - NO ONE - is unaware of the celibacy requirement for priests. Candidates for the priesthood especially are aware of the celibacy requirement. They go into this fully aware of the celibacy requirement and the sacrifices that they must make by entering the priesthood. The priests who were at the heart of the molestation scandal were men who never should have been admitted to the seminary, which makes this a catastrophic failure on the part of vocation directors that admitted them and the bishops that covered up for them. What this should NOT be blamed on is the celibacy requirement, because even men who have sexual relations with adults can still harbor pedophilia urges. To suggest that celibacy is the root cause of pedophilia is wrongheaded and unhelpful because it ignores a lot of what does go into such disordered desires. Ryne, if you want to criticize the Church, have at it - just get your facts straight first. Nowadays with the Internet, it's quick and easy to get the relevant info.

Celibacy for priests is wise. I would not be willing to pay for their marriage, their eventual divorce, their childrens' feeding, upbringing, pediatricians, schooling, medicinal care, psychological services, birthday celebrations, vacations in Disneyworld, movies, violent virtual games, television, cell phones, vacations in Machu Pichu, marriage counseling, marriage therapy, divorce, alimony, children's cars, wife's cars, wife's beauty parlor and gym classes, relocation trucking, psychological services attendant to relocation, and sundry other expenses. If other Catholics are willing to pay for all these, come forward, and start paying. I will not.

Mercy! Give the guy a break. He's primarily trying to address the notion of celibacy in the clergy and merely parroting a lot of notions that have been floated around the media by folks who probably haven't seen the inside of any church in their memory.
Of course there are married priests in the eastern orthodox branches. He's talking about the Roman Catholic Church and the debate about marriage of clergy has been raging for a long time. Most people don't understand the notion of completely giving oneself to God. This is especially notable among Americans where we tend to see life as an extended exercise in acquisition. (I'm as guilty as the next)
Understand, though that the idea of general celibacy is one that evolved over the first thousand or so years of the church. It's now been entrenched for a thousand more and won't go away just because we wish it.
Will it eventually become an option? Well, things change, and it's quite possible that it will in time, but arguing that Africa has a plethora of priests, therefore it is the future of the church ignores the other cultural and economic influences that are marshaling the growth of the Church there.
Rather than pillory the poor fellow, let us (gently) teach him.
pax tecum,
mike

To those of you who have posted, you need to read Illicit Celibacy by Edgar Davie. This book is endorsed by Father James P. Koerger, a priest of 50 years. His theological credentials: Licentiate of Sacred Theology, STL., qualify him to teach dogmatic Catholic theology at the Vatican approved educational institutions world wide. Fr. Koerber supports the theology of Illicit Celibacy. http://www.illicitcelibacy.com/

It is about time those who yearn to follow the teachings of Jesus as communicated in the Deposit of Faith realize how Hellenistic influences have stabbed Christianity in the back. And this fact is just the beginning, course 101.

Ryne, trust your "self", your mind that God gave you. It is telling you the truth. Don't give your mind to another's power, your mind is your's. Study, learn, learn and study, and TRUST YOUR "SELF".

May God's healing power be over, under, around and through you,

Pat