Can a Catholic priest get married?

Answer 1

No.

Technically though, a Roman Catholic priest IS married to the Church, the Bride of Christ.

Another technicality is that an Episcopalian priest who converts to Catholicisim can be ordained as a Catholic priest even if he is married.

Answer 2

Answer

Former Episcopal priests that are married can be ordained into the Catholic church. The celibacy requirement is waived for those rare instances. For a real life story on this, see the weblink below:

Catholic Answer

Priests in all but the Latin right may be married IF they were married before they were ordained. Some priests in the Latin Rite (e.g. Anglicans, Episcopals, and other converts) may be married when they are ordained. In ALL cases, no priest may marry after ordination, everyone who is ordained to the Catholic priesthood must take a vow or promise of celibacy which rules out ever getting married.

Answer 3

Once a man is a priest, he cannot marry.

However, some Catholics may be married first, and then ordained as priests:

• In most of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
• For Lutherans, Anglicans and others who were married priests in their own church but then come into full communion with the Catholic Church.
• Widowers (who would then be celibate, but are priests who had first been married)

Answer 4

Yes, but only under a certain condition. If the person was a member of the clergy in a church which allows a married priesthood, that person can remain married if he converts to Catholicism and becomes a Catholic priest. This is most commonly seen in conversions from the Orthodox or Anglican Churches.

Answer 5

Once ordained, a Catholic priest may not get married and continue his ministry as a priest. A priest may petition to be released from his promise of celibacy so that he is free to marry, but he will then be forbidden from exercising his priestly ministry.

There are some married men who may become priests, however. This includes those who are part of one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and those who are Anglican priests or Lutheran pastors who come into full communion with the Catholic Church. They may remain married and continue in their priestly ministry by receiving Catholic orders.

But even in these Eastern Catholic Churches, many neveretheless freely choose celibacy (cf. CCC 1580), holding it in high regard because of the counsels of Christ and St. Paul (see below). It is also a requirement to be elected bishop in the Eastern Churches that one be celibate.

Counsel of Christ

The orgins of celibacy or virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven can be found in the Gospel of Matthew when Christ says

Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some because they were made so by others; some because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it. Matthew 19:12 NAB

Counsel of St. Paul

St. Paul indicates his personal preference for celibacy when he writes Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am... 1 Cor 7:7 NAB. He later gives some reasons why he prefers celibacy, and why he recommends it for others who serve the Lord:

I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided... I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction. 1 Cor 7:32-35 NAB

REFERENCES

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. The New American Bible, (Iowa Falls, IA: World Bible Publishers, Inc. 1991).

Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994).

Answer 6

your either christian or catholic. there is no " both " . but a catholic preist cannot get married, but a christian pastor can.

Roman Catholic Answer: In the United States some people use the word "Christian" to refer to Protestants as opposed to Catholics. Of course Catholics are Christians, as a matter of fact, they were the first Christians! All other Christian denominations broke away from the Catholic church in the last several centuries because they didn't like one thing or another. So to say "Christian Catholic" is to be redundant, you're just saying the same thing twice. Buy, no, a priest can not get married after he has been ordained. In several rites of the Church, you can ordain a married man (only Latin rite priests must be single when they are ordained), but they can never get married again, for instance, if their wife died.

Answer 7

No, a Catholic priest may not get married. However, a Catholic priest may be married if he was a married member of the clergy of another religion (Anglican, Orthodox, etc.) and converts to Catholicism and becomes a priest.

Answer 8

No, protestant priests are and they are also allowed to be women

Answer 9

No, they take a vow of celibacy.