Top > World > 2005 > October > 2005-10-23

Resounding "No" to Married Catholic Clergy

In what many think is a mistake hindering the growth of the Catholic church and results in keeping potential seminary candidates away at a time when "flock-to-priest" ratios are pitiful, the Syndod of Roman Catholic Bishops, which meets every two years or so and just completed its first meeting under Pope Benedict XVI, rejected the idea of priests being able to marry.

It has been a longstanding tradition since the earliest days following the establishment of the modern church that those in priestly garb refrain from sexual relations or marriage. It is believed that this is what Jesus wanted, though as Jesus was Jewish and Judaism looked down on single religious leaders (and since Jesus wasn`t intending to create a new religion) such practices often caused skepticism.

In a public summary of the meeting, the bishops said the glaring priest shortage "worries us a great deal and invited us to pray for and more actively promote vocations." But breaking the hallowed celibacy rules was not the answer, they said, meaning that as of right now there still is no firm solution to bringing in new priests.