www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Married man ordained RC priest

Most married Catholic priests of my acquaintance do have large families, and are active in pro-life work.

The Episcopalian clergy who are now Catholic priests almost all report a serious drop in living standards - which is not surprising. Those Anglican clergy I know on this side of the Atlantic who have become Orthodox are almost all self-supporting.

Fr. Serge

gee, Father, some of the stuff I have posted has pushed the envelope, but I concur with your thoughts, and with spring planting just around the corner......(PM me if you find that reference too mystifying)
perfect continence! RUBBISH!how can Catholics breed like hamsters if they do such a thing.I used to raise hamsters, I know ALL about how they are made. I wanted to raise German Shepherds, but it was a tad difficult to do such in a two room apartment in a one time Victorian. there was a book eons ago that suggested that if a parson wanted to become bishop, it wasn't nice to have his wife known to be pregnant (I think the book was called How to Become Bishop Without Really Trying, it was out in the 70's)).I think it is a case of sour grapes on the part of celibate priests and bishops to even think of such piffle.
Much Love,
Jonn

How to Become a Bishop Without Really Trying is one of my favorite books - and appeared in the sixties or perhaps the late fifties. I had a treasured copy, but it developed feet a few years ago (as books go, it's excellent, and as books go, it went).

The same author also wrote When the Saints go Marching Out, or, How to Sell Real Estate in Heaven. Also a corking good read, but not as good as the Bishop book!

Fr. Serge

Is this idea of 'perfect continence' even binding on those married men (and their wives) who are ordained?

As far as I know, don't parish priests simply promise celibacy and obedience?
Since Father is already married wouldn't that mean he could not remarry, if his spouse should pass?

Neither Eastern Orthodoxy nor Roman Catholicism permit a priest to marry again after the repose of his wife. In the languages of the Christian East, one often finds an expression "as precious as the wife of a priest", meaning something that cannot be replaced.

Fr. Serge

Father,

I believe Michael's point was not to ask the obvious question of whether priests may remarry after the passing of a spouse, but to use the question to state his understanding of the word celibacy. He believed it meant a married man could not remarry after ordination, not that a married couple was expected to forgo relations.