Clerical marriage

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Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing clergy to marry. Clerical marriage is found in Protestantism, Judaism, Anglicanism, Independent Catholic Churches, and some sects of Buddhism.

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[edit] Present-day practice

Protestant Churches practise clerical marriage. The Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy do not allow it: with certain limitations, they permit married men to become clergymen, but they do not permit clergy to marry after becoming such through ordination.

The Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church follows the discipline of clerical celibacy: as a rule, only celibate men are allowed to be ordained, though from time to time married clergymen of other denominations are ordained after being received into the Roman Catholic Church. For example, some married Anglican priests left the Church of England after it admitted women to the priesthood, and were admitted to the Roman Catholic priesthood.[1] Sometimes priests are granted dispensation from the obligation of celibacy, but only if they leave the priesthood.[2] Their subsequent marriage is thus seen as the marriage of a layman, not clerical marriage.

The Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches do not practice clerical marriage. Married men may become deacons and priests, but may not marry once they become clergy by ordination. These churches have from ancient times both celibate and married clergy: "Black Clergy", who are celibate (i.e., monastic), and "White Clergy", who are married.

Eastern parish clergy are usually married, but as stated above, their marriage must have occurred when they were still laymen, before ordination as a deacon (or, in some churches, even before subdeacon). If the wife of a deacon or priest dies, he may not remarry, but must remain celibate. Generally, if a deacon or priest divorces his wife, he may not continue in the ministry. Bishops are elected from among those clergy who have chosen, usually by taking monastic vows, to remain celibate, or from widowed clergy. Among the Orthodox, bishops must always be monks, not simply celibate. If a widowered priest is elected bishop, he must take monastic vows before he can be consecrated. Eastern Catholic Churches, in full communion with the Pope, follow much the same tradition as the Orthodox from whom they came.

In Protestant denominations, there is generally no requirement that a pastor be already married, nor prohibition against marrying after "answering the call". Being married is commonly welcomed, however, in which case the pastor's marriage is expected to serve as a model of a functioning Christian marriage, and the pastor's spouse often serves an unofficial leadership role in the congregation. For this reason, some Protestant churches will not accept a divorced person for this position. In denominations which ordain both men and women, a married couple might serve as co-pastors.

Since they permit an unmarried ordained pastor to marry, these denominations do admit clerical marriage, not merely the appointment of already married persons as pastors. But in view of 1 Timothy 3:2, 3:12, Titus 1:16, some do not admit a second marriage by a widowed pastor.

Certain groups (notably some of the Brethren fellowships) actually require a prospective pastor to be married before he can be ordained, based on the view (drawn from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1) that a man must demonstrate the ability to run a household before he can be entrusted with the church. Even in these strictest groups, a widower may still serve. This again concerns marriage before appointment as pastor, not clerical marriage.

[edit] History

Within the period known as Early Christianity, i.e. before the First Council of Nicea (325), the Council of Elvira prohibited marriage for bishops, priests and deacons. Roman Catholic scholars hold that a tradition of clerical continence existed, whereby married men who became priests were expected to abstain from sexual relations with their wives.[3][4] In this view, the early Church did not consider legitimate marriage by those who were already priests.

In Western Christianity, not only the prohibition of clerical marriage, which was in force in the East as well as the West, but also clerical celibacy became a rule that was further strengthened when the Second Lateran Council declared that marriage by deacons and priests was to be considered not only illicit and sinful, as previously, but also invalid.

The practice of clerical marriage was initiated or, according to Protestants[citation needed], reinitiated in the West by the followers of Martin Luther, who himself, though a priest and monk, married Katharina von Bora, a nun, in 1525. It has not been introduced in the East.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Father William P. Saunders, Straight Answers.
  2. ^ Encyclical Sacerdotalis caelibatus; Procurator General.
  3. ^ Roman Cholij, Priestly Celibacy in Patristics and in the History of the Church.
  4. ^ Cesare Bonivento, Priestly Celibacy — Ecclesiastical Institution or Apostolic Tradition?; Thomas McGovern,Priestly Celibacy Today; Alfons Stickler, The Case for Clerical Celibacy: Its Historical Development and Theological Foundations; Anthony Zimmerman, Celibacy Dates Back to the Apostles

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