Priest stuns congregation by resigning over affair.

[muppet]

why do priests have to be celibate anyway? does it mention it in the bible, I have no idea

It means more women to go round the rest of us.

[muppet]

With the Dublin diocese struggling to fill each parish with a priest is it not about time El Benedicto held a vatican council or whatever it is to allow priests to marry?

There is as much chance of Benedict allowing priests to marry as there is of George Dubya and Osama Bin Laden performing together on Celebrity Strictly come dancing.

[orangeman]

Apparently this is the second case in Derry city in very recent times of a priest running off with a woman.


The women in Derry must be deadly - you could see a few more priests who might be delighted to get sent there !!   

[stew]

why do priests have to be celibate anyway? does it mention it in the bible, I have no idea

I think it was the early Church in the third or fourth century that brought this in to being, before and after this Popes had wags and childer by the dozen.

The thought was I believe for them to live like Jesus did, i.e. in celebacy.

[longrunsthefox]

Earlier comments about Sean are 100%. He is a very sound fellow. Am not at all surprised he was so honest and spoke to the congregation like that. Good luck to him... one of the good guys.

[Puckoon]

Shame that the good guys are being pushed out through outdated ideas.

[moysider]

why do priests have to be celibate anyway? does it mention it in the bible, I have no idea

No it does nt of course. Christ just instructed his apostles to travel light. Hard to do with a bit of high maintanance on board. It was Gregory VII in the eleventh century that laid down[pun intended] the law regarding celibacy. You can see where he was coming from[no pun intended] He realised there would be dynasties of clerics where sons would inhehit bishoprics from their Dads. It would probably have caused an earlier Reformation as it was largely abuse of nepotism that brought the church down. But instead of dodgy nephews it would have been sons ruling the roost and mammies would have made sure of it. They would have been the Church matriarchs from noble families and the whole Church/fuedal connection would have been even more suffocating than it was. In Medieval Europe the power brokers were the warlords/killers - kings, barons, knights etc, who handed on the works to the eldest son in the fuedal tradition. As it was anyway it was often the second or illigitimate son of a Baron who ended up a Bishop and you can be sure if it were allowed he would have married a spare lady daughter of a local tyrant. Greg tried to keep the church - the other big player, free from dynastic rule cause he probably believed in his stuff and realised the poor peasants were being screwed enough[apologies] by the killers without a parasitic clergy muscling in as well, as of course they did, with their fake relics and indulgences and burnings. Prior to Gregory priests were married. Mac An tSaggairt[Taggert] is self explanatory. For fellas like Gregory the church was about Christ and laughable things like justice and salvation and nice things like that. He would have realised how important their faith was to the people who genuinely believed in the stuff.  Men like JuliusII, Leo X and HenryXIII and others understood it was only a pawn in the greater scheme of things.

[SLIGONIAN]

why do priests have to be celibate anyway? does it mention it in the bible, I have no idea

No it does nt of course. Christ just instructed his apostles to travel light. Hard to do with a bit of high maintanance on board. It was Gregory VII in the eleventh century that laid down[pun intended] the law regarding celibacy. You can see where he was coming from[no pun intended] He realised there would be dynasties of clerics where sons would inhehit bishoprics from their Dads. It would probably have caused an earlier Reformation as it was largely abuse of nepotism that brought the church down. But instead of dodgy nephews it would have been sons ruling the roost and mammies would have made sure of it. They would have been the Church matriarchs from noble families and the whole Church/fuedal connection would have been even more suffocating than it was. In Medieval Europe the power brokers were the warlords/killers - kings, barons, knights etc, who handed on the works to the eldest son in the fuedal tradition. As it was anyway it was often the second or illigitimate son of a Baron who ended up a Bishop and you can be sure if it were allowed he would have married a spare lady daughter of a local tyrant. Greg tried to keep the church - the other big player, free from dynastic rule cause he probably believed in his stuff and realised the poor peasants were being screwed enough[apologies] by the killers without a parasitic clergy muscling in as well, as of course they did, with their fake relics and indulgences and burnings. Prior to Gregory priests were married. Mac An tSaggairt[Taggert] is self explanatory. For fellas like Gregory the church was about Christ and laughable things like justice and salvation and nice things like that. He would have realised how important their faith was to the people who genuinely believed in the stuff.  Men like JuliusII, Leo X and HenryXIII and others understood it was only a pawn in the greater scheme of things.

Did it not have to do with priests being landlords and passing on their ownership to their offspring. Didnt villagers have to pay taxes to him and then the celibacy rule was brought in to stop the conflict when the priest passed away. I could be wrong but I thought it was a land issue?

Either way it had nothing to do with God or religion so should be abolished.

[mylestheslasher]

Fair play to the man I say.

Someone asked whether the church will ever learn, they probably will some day but it will be too late then.

Also, the man may have left the church but he isn't dead! He obviously is a decent sort and joined the church out of wanting to do some good. I would argue he can still do good outside the church and indeed he can do more good outside the church as he is not bound by their silly rules.

[Zapatista]

Theres priests the country over getting more than all of us! Thats nothing new

What's that based on?

[Aerlik]

McTaggart is a fairly common Derry name...yer man Fr.Sean might only be following tradition

[Evil Genius]

I thought Priests had Housekeepers for that sort of thing?

Oh yeah, I remember now:

[johnneycool]

And




and Lord only knows who else.

[Donagh]

Some fairly typical Gaaboard responses on this thread. In the rush to slap the priest on the back and stick the boot into the Church no one has considered the possibility of a very serious abuse of position and breech of trust by this priest. Would a teaching shagging his pupil, or a doctor a patient get the same reaction? I wonder what the woman's husband and father of the children thinks about it all.

[ziggysego]

Some fairly typical Gaaboard responses on this thread. In the rush to slap the priest on the back and stick the boot into the Church no one has considered the possibility of a very serious abuse of position and breech of trust by this priest. Would a teaching shagging his pupil, or a doctor a patient get the same reaction? I wonder what the woman's husband and father of the children thinks about it all.

YES

WOULDN'T BOTHER ME, AS LONG AS IT WAS CONSENTUIAL