XPost: alt.religion.christian.biblestudy, alt.religion.christian   
   roman-catholic, england.religion.misc   
   XPost: free.christians, hk.soc.religion.christianity   
   From: œ@att.net   
      
   Priestly celibacy   
      
   There are quite a number of similarities between the priesthood in the   
   Old Testament and the priesthood of the New Testament continued and   
   developed in the Christian religion. One of the points of similarity   
   is the lack of property for inheritance. Priests in the Old Testament   
   had no land apportioned to them which they could bequeath to their   
   descendants. The Lord was the portion of their inheritance, and so   
   they lived out of the offerings presented to the Lord.   
   Similarly, priests in the New Testament have no property of their own   
   which they might leave for their children to inherit. They live   
   entirely dependent on the offerings of the community of believers and   
   on the property of the entire Church. Thus, in both the Old and the   
   New Testament, the priest depends entirely on Church possessions for   
   his living.   
   The practice of celibacy in the primitive Church was hindered for two   
   reasons: (i) Jewish law required every healthy male to procreate; (ii)   
   Roman law discouraged celibacy, placed penalties on bachelors and   
   rewarded women .who gave birth to three or more children.   
   The real reason and basis for priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church   
   has always been the religious one, and it must always remain so.   
   Economic and social environments may be of some assistance to the   
   realization of the religious reason as long as they are taken in   
   subordinate relationship to the basic reason. Taken individually and   
   in isolation from the religious basis, the social and economic reasons   
   may even distort the true meaning of priestly celibacy reducing it to   
   a meaningless, frustrating practice as we have been trying to show   
   above. Yet, even the religious aspect of priestly celibacy must also   
   be carefully and fundamentally analyzed and given proper orientation   
   if it is to give the true meaning of that sacred institution.   
   As the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, put it, the true meaning of   
   priestly celibacy is profoundly connected with ordination whereby a   
   man takes on the likeness of Jesus Christ", the true and only Savior   
   of humanity. By thus being connected with the person of Jesus Christ,   
   priestly celibacy ceases to be a power for salvation independent of   
   the only Saviour of mankind. It is no longer a merely negative act of   
   self-denial; rather it is an act of self-giving to and in union with   
   Christ.   
   http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/document   
   /rc_con_cclergy_doc_01011993_prob_en.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)