"Anyone who serves the public should be a part of their community rather than APART from it, and that includes the clergy." - Fractelle

Well said. One can have vocation without separation.

I guess the notion of The Brides of Christ, would need to go.

O

Dear mjpb,

I am more than willing to read
Michael Gilchrist's book, but are you
willing to read the book by Paul Collins?
I mean, fair's fair.

You seem to make judgements about Paul Collins,
even questioning his beliefs,
without having read the book to which I refer.

My views of Paul Collins differ greatly from yours.

I find him to be extremely optimistic. He does
not undermine the Church as you put it. Instead, he
Confronts both the difficulties and the opportunities
that the Church faces.

He does not offer only simplistic solutions to the
complex historical process through which the Church
and our society is passing. He actually offers solutions
that make sense.

Anyway, read the book, and I'll do the same,
then we can compare notes.

Cheers.

"Should Catholic priests be allowed to marry?"

It might stop some of them from raping kids. That's an up-side.

Using StG logic

'"Should state school teachers and doctors be prevented from marrying?" It might stop them raping young kids.

I feel that by continuing to require
celibacy as a pre-requisite, the Church
has set itself an impossible task.

This really limits the number of those
who can serve in the priesthood, and
thus the episcopate.

According to Paul Collins:

"Benedict XVI may want to appoint
better bishops, but he has a tiny,
contracting pool of talent on which to draw
if he limits himself to the present serving
clergy.

In a worldwide community of 1.098 billion
Catholics the Church draws its entire episcopate of
4600 bishops from a pool of 405,891 priests.

Despite the enormous leadership potential in the
Catholic community the Church artificially limits
its choice to these men who have to be celibate,
ordained at least 15 to 18 years and less than 65 years old.

They also need at least a modicum of spirituality,
intelligence and human talent and must be basically
acceptable to the diocese to which they are appointed.

They should never have publicly disagreed with papal teaching,
or said anything radical, or upset too many people, have no
medical or psychological problems, not be in any type of
intimate relationship that causes scandal, and have reasonable
leadership skills, common sense and good judgement."

Where on earth is the Pope going to find
enough suitable and talented men from such a restricted pool
to lead Catholicism's 2900 dioceses and other ecclesiastical
units?

In other words the Church is already in a difficult situation.
It doesn't need the requirement for celibacy to further
hinder its ministry.

Using StG logic

'"Should state school teachers and doctors be prevented from marrying?" It might stop them raping young kids.

Posted by runner, Wednesday, 23 July 2008 7:19:43 PM

That's your logic derived from something I said. Don't put my name to something that comes out of your head thanks.

Priests raping females could, in some instances, be avoided by marriages. In some cases a certain tolerance of Homosexual priests may help save some boys from a life of torment.