You know, this is an interesting topic because the priests in the Eastern rites do, but inthe Latin rite they do not (with the exceptions already noted above).

Why the difference? Why not allow marriage for all or ban marriage for all?

[quote:1qvfu1fm]Priests are paid a salary…they can manage their families just like the rest of the population. Why is it the responsibility of the Church at large to take care of them?[/quote:1qvfu1fm]

Don’t we take care of preist already? How do they get their salary?

[quote:140pgrwy]
Don’t we take care of preist already? How do they get their salary?
Many priests get their bills paid for by their parish and a stipend of some nature. Weather makes it sound like the larger the family a priest has the more money the church will have to shell out for this priest’s family. However, this isn’t the case with any other worker in the world – if I wanted to have 6 kids my pay wouldn’t increase because of it.

So, what I am saying is that priests would have to manage their families just like everyone else – with the money they are paid.

I’ll even propose that the parishes stop paying the bills and priests get a normal ministers salary to live on.[/quote:140pgrwy]

That is a good point Jon. Do you think all these new tasks would make a difference in the priests priorities, focus, and so on?
I mean, both Eastern Orthodox and Protestants have married pastors and [b:140pgrwy]some [/b:140pgrwy] seem to do just fine. But I would have to say that life as a Catholic priest in the US is a bit more complicated.
For example,
A priest in Africa doesn’t have to worry about finding a company to work on the audio system of the Church. Or find someone that will network the computers. And I’m sure you get the gist of what I’m talking about.
Granted, that the priest in our parish probably has people helping him do that but he is still a project manager overlooking that things are getting done. This is added responsibilities on top of being married and being a dad.

[quote:30yq7q0q]Are those responsibilites much different from being the vice president of a corporation?[/quote:30yq7q0q]

Perhaps not, but the vice president of the corporation isn’t trying to get people to heaven and the impact of either of them making an error doesn’t compare IMO.

Are vice presidents in other countries any different in your opinion?

[quote:74bq6ktq]What do other countries have to do with this? I’m not clear what you are asking about vice-prez’s of other countries.

I was talking about private corporations.[/quote:74bq6ktq]

Nevermind. I was attempting to show that a vice prez in a poverished country would in fact have less responsibilities then one that is in a wealthier country. I suppose that isn’t a good example so nevermind.

But Peter was.

For clarity, married men may join the priesthood in the Eastern Rites but priests may not marry. And Eastern Rite bishops must be celibate (they are not chosen from among married priests).

In a very limited fashion. In the West, a married man can receive dispensation (my word, not necessarily the accurate word) to join the priesthood.

This has been reserved, so far, only to clergy from another church converting to Catholicism (most particularly Anglicans).

In the West, you need special permission to become a priest if you are married because the Latin Church has ruled that it will only ordain celibate men. This special permission is typically only given to clerical converts from other closely-Catholic Christian sects (i.e. your average Baptist pastor would likely not be granted this permission).

In the East, you do not need special permission. While celibacy is seen as the preferred state for a priest, there is no rule against the ordination of married Catholic men.