medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
religious take vows of chastity, secular priests of obedience to their
bishop - who enjoins chastity/celibacy on them, except in cases such as Bill
has reminded us of. Married people can, of course, be chaste without being
celibate.
Rosemary Hayes
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rod McCaslin" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Adultery v Fornication
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Bill East writes:
> "May I point out that this is a myth. A priest does
> not take a vow of celibacy."
>
> Isn't there a distinction between religious priests
> and secular priests? My understanding is that the
> religous do take a vow of chastity while secular
> priests face the "impediment" you describe?
>
> Is this wrong?
>
> Cheers,
> RK McCaslin
>
>
>
> --- Bill East <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval
>> religion and culture
>>
>>
>> It would certainly explain why an unmarried parish
>> priest was accused of
>> adultery - he was breaking his vow of celibacy.
>>
>> Respondeo:
>>
>> May I point out that this is a myth. A priest does
>> not take a vow of celibacy. Let me repeat it: a
>> priest does not, repeat not, take a vow of celibacy.
>> The priestly life is necessarily celibate, as the
>> clerical state constitutes a diriment impediment to
>> marriage. As canon 1087 puts it, 'Those who are in
>> sacred orders invalidly attempt marriage.' (Invalide
>> matrimonium attentant, qui in sacris ordinibus sunt
>> constituti.) It is this canon, and not any vow,
>> which prevents priests (and indeed deacons and
>> bishops) from getting married.
>>
>> An unmarried priest would be accused of adultery
>> if he had sexual relations with a married woman. If
>> she were unmarried, he would be accused of
>> fornication. There is no canon which says that if an
>> unmarried priest has relations with an unmarried
>> woman, either is committing adultery.
>>
>> Note that although the canon utterly prohibits a
>> cleric from getting married, there is no canon which
>> forbids a bishop from ordaining a married man - a
>> quite different thing. Permission is in fact
>> sometimes given to a bishop to ordain a married man.
>> Such permission is readily given in the case of
>> deacons: hence the developing 'permanent diaconate';
>> more rarely in the case of priests. One of my
>> treasured possessions is a copy of a letter from the
>> then Cardinal Ratzinger to my bishop, telling him
>> that Pope John Paul II had authorised him (my
>> bishop) to ordain me. The rest is history.
>>
>> Bill.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------
>> To help you stay safe and secure online, we've
>> developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre.
>>
>>
> **********************************************************************
>> To join the list, send the message: join
>> medieval-religion YOUR NAME
>> to: [log in to unmask]
>> To send a message to the list, address it to:
>> [log in to unmask]
>> To leave the list, send the message: leave
>> medieval-religion
>> to: [log in to unmask]
>> In order to report problems or to contact the list's
>> owners, write to:
>> [log in to unmask]
>> For further information, visit our web site:
>>
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
>
>
> Rod McCaslin
> Teacher,World and European History, Centennial High School
> Ellicott City, Maryland
> Graduate Student UMBC
> Historian, St. Andrews Society of Baltimore
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> **********************************************************************
> To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
> to: [log in to unmask]
> To send a message to the list, address it to:
> [log in to unmask]
> To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
> to: [log in to unmask]
> In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
> [log in to unmask]
> For further information, visit our web site:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
>
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|