tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post4112410212702538673..comments2024-03-24T15:19:06.377-04:00Comments on The Continuum: Laymen's Guide to the Thirty-nine Articles Article 32 - Of the Marriage of PriestsFr. Robert Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-55733265640101312352016-01-18T13:59:20.069-05:002016-01-18T13:59:20.069-05:00... and also for ignoring the actual evidence that...... and also for ignoring the actual evidence that I did, in fact, present (with quotations and sources). So how dare you pretend that there is no evidence? <br /><br />Fr. Robert Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-91543028230660055222016-01-17T23:36:05.230-05:002016-01-17T23:36:05.230-05:00Thanks for quoting obscure local councils that hav...Thanks for quoting obscure local councils that have never been recognized by the Universal Church as having any authority. Fr. Robert Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-91163609620192148662016-01-17T20:36:23.028-05:002016-01-17T20:36:23.028-05:00Fr. Hart: "It can be argued, and quite rightl...Fr. Hart: "It can be argued, and quite rightly, that some ancient writers, including St. Jerome, believed that bishops who were married should, after consecration, abstain from sexual relations with their wives. However, in those centuries this was never a law of the universal Church, and seems more in keeping with the pagan stoics than with anything we can know about the Apostles, those other than St. Paul who were married men, and about the earliest bishops."<br /><br />"It can be argued that some writers..." is putting it lightly. This discipline was explicitly confirmed by major councils of the Church.<br /><br />Council of Elvira (305), Canon 33:<br /><i>Bishops, presbyters, deacons, and others with a position in the ministry are to abstain completely from sexual intercourse with their wives and from the procreation of children. If anyone disobeys, he shall be removed from the clerical office.</i><br /><br />Council of Carthage (419), Canon 3:<br /><i>Aurelius the bishop said: When at the past council the matter on continency and chastity was considered, those three grades, which by a sort of bond are joined to chastity by their consecration, to wit bishops,presbyters, and deacons, so it seemed that it was becoming that the sacred rulers and priests of God as well as the Levites [i.e. deacons], or those who served at the divine sacraments, should be continent altogether, by which they would be able with singleness of heart to ask what they sought from the Lord: so that what the apostles taught and antiquity kept, that we might also keep.</i><br /><br />You can speculate all you want about the particulars of the discipline of clerical continence, but there is no historical evidence whatsoever for clerics being permitted to marry after ordination (much less engage in the modern practice of "dating"). Do what you will, but don't pretend to justify it on patristic evidence.StrongmanBobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11576053748129020949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-5681542745972254742015-12-29T07:32:31.856-05:002015-12-29T07:32:31.856-05:00But, enforced "celibacy" gives a hiding ...<i>But, enforced "celibacy" gives a hiding place to disordered and perverted individuals ... </i>.<br />In <i>Anne of Green Gables</i> there was a discussion about whether the parish should call a married minister or a bachelor. If he were a bachelor, he would most likely court the single women of the parish, and they in turn would look on him as a possible catch. The point of course is that Protestants assume that their priest or pastor will either have a wife or be looking for one. This does not completely prevent him from committing sexual deviancy, but he has to face greater scrutiny. It is likely that a deviant can "hide" better in a clerical order which is expected not to have wives.Malcolm Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-24135712014110934602015-02-17T15:56:03.511-05:002015-02-17T15:56:03.511-05:00Nice article. I am glad to see this explained in d...Nice article. I am glad to see this explained in detail. This is probably the number one subject that comes up when you tell someone you are Anglican, at least if that someone is Roman. They all seem to know us as that church with the married priests. AFS1970noreply@blogger.com