A prominent priest was caught canoodling on the beach with his girlfriend, and now the whole world wonders if the Catholic church should finally change it's policy on priests not being able to date and marry.
Well, thank God! After all the talk about the Swine Flu and the economy, it's time we started focusing on really important stuff like the sex lives of priests!
I always wondered why the Catholic church likes her priests unmarried. Celebate, yes. I got it. After all, we Christians on both the Catholic and Proddy sides of the aisle agree that sexual activity is only blessed when in the context of marriage. But is there a biblical basis for being unmarried?
The idea, so I have been told, is that Jesus was unmarried, and therefore, a priest following His example should be as well. True, He is our example, no debate there. But just because He was unmarried does not mean He expects anyone who is called to ministry should be single as well. I can back this up because A) He never said as much and B) Some of the disciples (later to be apostles, the fathers of the Faith) were married.
Despite what Dan Brown may think, the best historical sources (including those outside of the Bible) report that Jesus was single, and I think this was for practical as well as spiritual reasons. Jesus came for the single purpose of bringing us to God, and in so doing, was meant to die. I can't see God settling down with a woman knowing He would make her a widow. I also think that being the Savior of the World would get in the way of being a husband. Most women have a fit if their significant other goes out and spends the night partying with the boys. Imagine the conversation in the Bar Joseph household:
"Honey, the guys and I are going fishing. We'll be back in....six months."
"I don't think so, Yeshua! You promised to clean out the stable, and I need you to do some carpentry at my parents this weekend."
"This is really important. I have to go."
"Oh, FINE! But no hanging around with Mary and Martha. And if you go changing water into wine and I hear about it, so help me You, you'll be back to sleeping in the manger!"
Yeah. Marriage for the Savior probably wouldn't be a good idea.
Also, God doesn't love one person over the other. True, there are those who are closer to Him than others, but that seems to be because the person desires God more than most people. But that's another post.
An argument in favor of priests being able to marry is that, if you repress human sexuality, terrible things happen. Alter boys get molested. Pretty parishoners get hot and heavy breathing phonecalls in the middle of the night (not so much any more, what with caller ID but you get the idea). But this is not the case. Actually, when a person is sexually inactive for a long period of time, the hormones in both males and females decrease and the libedo goes dormant until it's woken up again. So, a person who is celebate will be less likely to go crazy and indulge than one who is active.
Also, priests who molest children do not become molesters because they can't have access to women. More likely, they were child molesters to begin with and, just as they become doctors or teachers to have access and trust of children, they become priests. It isn't the vocation, it is the opportunity.
As a minister in a nondenominational, proddy church, I hope to get married. I am supposed to be celebate, and for ten years I was (I would be lying if I said I didn't fall off the wagon occasionally, but don't think for a moment I didn't repent and try again). I do hope it is in God's will that I marry. And why shouldn't I? Okay, it wasn't the Apostle Paul's thing, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.
So let the priests date, so long as it's done in a Godly manner. And let them get married. My only protest is this: Please keep it off the beach, Father. It's classless, and there are too many places where the sand can go.