Why are priests not allowed to have sex?
In: Other
– Biblical: Because St. Paul recommended it as the ideal (1 Cor 7).
– Sacramental: Because marriage is also an all-consuming vocation.
– Liturgical: So the priest can act as undistracted *in persona Christi* during the Eucharist, when granting Absolution, etc.
– Theological: Because the priest is married to the Church.
– Pastoral: So the priest can deal with parishioners indiscriminately.
– Economic: So their children won’t sue the diocese over inheritance.
– Comparative: Because priests in the Catholic tradition have traits usually reserved to monks and nuns.
And so on. There are a lot of reasons.
However, the truth of the matter is that many priests *do* have sex, often with each other. One must exercise discretion and, if one has violated vows, seek Reconciliation and notify the bishop, but Catholic priests aren’t “allowed” to have sex in exactly the same way Catholic laywomen aren’t “allowed” to use birth control. Doesn’t mean it never happens!
I know of a local (excellent) priest who had a relationship with a woman, and because the details became public he was reassigned and is prohibited from using his priestly faculties except in emergencies. He’s taking advantage of this forced sabbatical to finish his doctorate, and will no doubt work as a priest again one day—or leave the priesthood. It’s a decision he’ll clearly need more time to make, and the removal of his faculties gives him that time.
In the book 1 Corinthians, which is a letter from Paul to the Corinthians, he remarks about marriage that it’s better to be unmarried because then you can be more devoted to God. Often in the Bible the church is described as the bride of God. The argument from Paul goes that if you are married, you must (and should) devote time to your spouse and be worried about them and worried about pleasing them. If you are unmarried, you can instead worry solely about your relationship to God.
Keep in mind that Paul also argues against premarital sex. Thus, if you are not married you should also be celibate. Paul does say that there’s nothing *wrong* with being married if you don’t have the self-control to be celibate. It’s much better to be married and fulfill your desires inside of a marriage under God than to succumb to temptation and be led to sin. However, if you can control yourself, Paul argues, you should and devote yourself entirely to God.
Paul was the model for the first pope and, by extension, the priests of the church. Priests (and nuns) are meant to be devoted wholly to God and the argument goes that marriage would be a distraction from that. No spouse means all of your time and energy can go towards the church – or at least, more of it than if you were married. As the religious leaders of the church, tasked with guiding the rest of the congregation, they should be the highest, best example of holiness and godliness.
Since they can’t be married, and since they believe sex outside of marriage is sinful, they are supposed to remain celibate.
1074-Pope Gregory VII decided that priests must not be distracted by women so he said that all priests must be celibate.
it was never about sex, it was about protecting the assets of the church.
The laws in Europe at the time were established so that The offspring of the protests would inherit the assets of the church. If priests could not be married, all children they had would be illegitimate or bastards. Ergo, would not be entitled to the assets of the church. This is purely economic.
Europe did not have modern corporate structure where assets could be handed down in perpetuity without having them encumbered by The offspring of the priest-class.
The same for nuns.
It has now morphed into celibacy. But when the laws were established it was expected that the priest-class would continue to have sex. If that sex resulted in offspring, they were not entitled to the assets of the church since they were illegitimate.
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The priesthood used to be mostly scholars and monks, (and occasionally criminals or social outcasts,) who initially withdrew from society because they didn’t quite fit in. Maybe they were too strongly pious or intellectual to get along with the average group, or maybe because of alternative sexuality or antisocial tendencies.
People who didn’t “fit in” but weren’t necessarily considered irredeemable were encouraged to persue religion as a lifestyle, the assumption being that since “god has a plan for everyone,” then contemplation and study of God’s will might “straighten them out” or become their true calling.
There was a time when monks and priests were known for drunkeness and debauchery, but of course this image hurt their credibility and status in the community, so in the interest of public image and diplomacy it was decided that priests would denounce Earthly pleasures entirely to focus on more spiritual matters.
(This of course led to rampant cases of inter-clerical homosexuality and grooming parishioners for rape or pederasty behind closed doors which continues to plague the church to this day.)
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