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Originally Posted by Bronwen
BR, the main reason I have made contributions to this thread is that the opening post was such nonsense that I felt it had to be challenged. Your post, on the other hand, is quite reasonable and your questions are good ones, and I'll try to address each of them directly. Obviously I'm not an official spokesman for the Catholic Church, but this is my interpretation of MODERN Church teaching and, I think, reasonably accurate.
The Catholic Church believes that God intended sexual realtions for married couples and outside that relationship they are immoral. Of course, this belief is hardly unique to Catholicism.
Therefore, the Church believes that God expects homosexuals to adopt a celibate lifestyle. There is no condemnation of homosexuality as an psychological orientation, nor does the Church believe homosexuality to be a 'choice', as some fundamentalist Protestants claim.
Currently, the Western rite of the Catholic Church, which is by far the largest, requires that most of its clergy be celibate, though it occasionally ordains married men, usually clergy from other denominations who convert to Catholicism and wish to remain clergy. The various Eastern rites have always have a married clergy, though they ordain bachelors as well.
The main reason for the preference for a celibate clergy is the example of Christ Himself. Had Christ married, it is very unlikely that the Church would require celibacy of any of its clergy, although there are certainly practical aspects also, such as having more time for one's priestly duties. On the other hand, there is no Church doctrine requiring priestly celibacy, it's purely a regulation that can be changed, and very well might be in the years ahead. Until that happens, every candidate for the Western priesthood, with a very few exceptions as I mentioned, must be willing to live a celibate life, whether heter- or homosexual in orientation.
As far as your closing statements are concerned, you are entitled to your opinion, which is a polite way of saying that I disagree with you. I have to admit, though,
that homosexuals who wish to be active Catholics are at a disadvantage, since heterosexuals who do not wish to be celibate can marry and homosexuals cannot. Even if homosexual marriage were allowed by law, the Church would not recognize it, and again, this viewpoint is hardly unique, being shared with many other Christian denoms and other religions such as Judaism and Islam. I'm not sure if that is hypocrisy or just unfairness, like so many other things in life.
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No one really know whether Jesus was married or celibate. From what I can find it was pretty much self imposed as for number of years priests were not celibate:
http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/history.htm
A Brief History of Celibacy in the
Catholic Church
First Century
Peter, the first pope, and the apostles that Jesus chose were, for the most part, married men. The New Testament implies that women presided at eucharistic meals in the early church.
Second and Third Century
Age of Gnosticism: light and spirit are good, darkness and material things are evil. A person cannot be married and be perfect. However, most priests were married.
Fourth Century
306-Council of Elvira, Spain, decree #43: a priest who sleeps with his wife the night before Mass will lose his job.
325-Council of Nicea: decreed that after ordination a priest could not marry. Proclaimed the Nicene Creed.
352-Council of Laodicea: women are not to be ordained. This suggests that before this time there was ordination of women.
385-Pope Siricius left his wife in order to become pope. Decreed that priests may no longer sleep with their wives.
Fifth Century
401-St. Augustine wrote, “Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman.”
Sixth Century
567-2nd Council of Tours: any cleric found in bed with his wife would be excommunicated for a year and reduced to the lay state.
580-Pope Pelagius II: his policy was not to bother married priests as long as they did not hand over church property to wives or children.
590-604-Pope Gregory “the Great” said that all sexual desire is sinful in itself (meaning that sexual desire is intrinsically evil?).
Seventh Century
France: documents show that the majority of priest were married.
Eighth Century
St. Boniface reported to the pope that in Germany almost no bishop or priest was celibate.
Ninth Century
836-Council of Aix-la-Chapelle openly admitted that abortions and infanticide took place in convents and monasteries to cover up activities of uncelibate clerics.
St. Ulrich, a holy bishop, argued from scripture and common sense that the only way to purify the church from the worst excesses of celibacy was to permit priests to marry.
Eleventh Century
1045-Pope Boniface IX dispensed himself from celibacy and resigned in order to marry.
1074-Pope Gregory VII said anyone to be ordained must first pledge celibacy: ‘priests [must] first escape from the clutches of their wives.’
1095-Pope Urban II had priests’ wives sold into slavery, children were abandoned.
Twelfth Century
1123-Pope Calistus II: First Lateran Council decreed that clerical marriages were invalid.
1139-Pope Innocent II: Second Lateran Council confirmed the previous council’s decree.
Fourteenth Century
Bishop Pelagio complains that women are still ordained and hearing confessions.
Fifteenth Century
Transition; 50% of priests are married and accepted by the people.
Sixteenth Century
1545-63-Council of Trent states that celibacy and virginity are superior to marriage.
1517-Martin Luther.
1530-Henry VIII.
Seventeenth Century
Inquisition. Galileo. Newton.
Eighteenth Century
1776-American Declaration of Independence.
1789-French Revolution.
Nineteenth Century
1804-Napoleon.
1882-Darwin.
1847-Marx, Communist Manifesto.
1858-Freud.
1869-First Vatican Council; infallibility of pope.
Twentieth Century
1930-Pope Pius XI: sex can be good and holy.
1951-Pope Pius XII: married Lutheran pastor ordained catholic priest in Germany.
1962-Pope John XXIII: Vatican Council II; vernacular; marriage is equal to virginity.
1966-Pope Paul VI: celibacy dispensations.
1970s-Ludmilla Javorova and several other Czech women ordained to serve needs of women imprisoned by Communists.
1978-Pope John Paul II: puts a freeze on dispensations.
1983-New Canon Law.
1980-Married Anglican/Episcopal pastors are ordained as catholic priests in the U.S.; also in Canada and England in 1994.
Popes who were married
St. Peter, Apostle
St. Felix III 483-492 (2 children)
St. Hormidas 514-523 (1 son)
St. Silverus (Antonia) 536-537
Hadrian II 867-872 (1 daughter)
Clement IV 1265-1268 (2 daughters)
Felix V 1439-1449 (1 son)