{"id":69,"date":"2008-08-03T18:21:21","date_gmt":"2008-08-04T01:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/?p=69"},"modified":"2008-08-03T18:21:21","modified_gmt":"2008-08-04T01:21:21","slug":"god-is-only-he-him-no-hers-also-jesus-celibacy-doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/?p=69","title":{"rendered":"God is only he \/ him, no hers. Also Jesus celibacy “doctrine”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Margaret Starbird writes on the GoddessChristians<\/a> forum:<\/p>\n

Yesterday I had an opportunity to attend an Episcopal Mass of the\u00c2\u00a0Resurrection (memorial service) for a friend. The Episcopal Mass is\u00c2\u00a0very similar to the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead–with which I’m\u00c2\u00a0familiar. I recognized the hymns and knew some of them by heart.<\/p>\n

But I couldn’t say the creed in its entirety, and I noticed the very\u00c2\u00a0exclusive use of “he,” “him,” and “his” in referring to God…..<\/p>\n

Which reminds me of a lovely story my mother used to tell about a\u00c2\u00a0little girl who went to Mass with her parents and half-way through the\u00c2\u00a0service she tugged on her mother’s arm:\u00c2\u00a0 “Mommy, Mommy. I love the\u00c2\u00a0“hyms”….. but are there any “hers”?<\/p>\n

I’m sure the service was very comforting to the family gathered\u00c2\u00a0there….. but I felt a bit as if I were in a museum…. I feel we’ve\u00c2\u00a0already moved to a more “life-affirming” place and the old prayers and\u00c2\u00a0vocabulary don’t seem to feed me anymore.<\/p>\n

It’s a bit strange to look back and see how so many of my views have\u00c2\u00a0shifted in the past twenty years. I had to stop teaching CCD for\u00c2\u00a0Catholic children when I realized that I don’t believe in\u00c2\u00a0Purgatory….But just for the record, the Roman Catholic Church, while\u00c2\u00a0it has a doctrine of the Virgin Birth, does not have a doctrine about\u00c2\u00a0the celibacy of Jesus.<\/p>\n

peace and light–Margaret
\nhttp:\/\/www.margaretstarbird.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Lore Kemsley then wrote in:<\/p>\n

Hi Margaret,<\/p>\n

I am interested in this statement, because everything I’ve read\u00c2\u00a0states the RCC believes he was celibate. I’m guessing the key is in\u00c2\u00a0the word “doctrine,” but that’s only my surmising while feeling\u00c2\u00a0confused.<\/p>\n

Here are references I found after reading your post:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.catholic.com\/library\/Celibacy_and_the_Priesthood.asp<\/p>\n

Although most people are at some point in their lives called to the\u00c2\u00a0married state, the vocation of celibacy is explicitly advocated-as\u00c2\u00a0well as practiced-by both Jesus and Paul.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.jesusdecoded.com\/catholicchurch1.php<\/p>\n

The theological concept of a celibate clergy is based on the Church’s\u00c2\u00a0belief in the example of the celibacy of Christ himself.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Clerical_celibacy_(Catholic_Church).<\/p>\n

Theological foundations<\/p>\n

Theologically, the Church teaches that priesthood is a ministry\u00c2\u00a0conformed to the life and work of Jesus Christ. Priests as\u00c2\u00a0sacramental ministers act in persona Christi, that is in the person\u00c2\u00a0of Christ. Thus the life of the priest conforms to the chastity of\u00c2\u00a0Christ himself. The sacrifice of married life for the “sake of the\u00c2\u00a0Kingdom” (Luke 18:28-30, Matthew 19:27-30; Mark 10:20-21), and to\u00c2\u00a0follow the example of Jesus Christ in being “married” to the Church,\u00c2\u00a0viewed by Catholicism and many Christian traditions as the “Bride of\u00c2\u00a0Christ”.<\/p>\n

Scriptural foundations<\/p>\n

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) in Salt of the\u00c2\u00a0Earth also explained that this practice is based on Jesus’ preaching\u00c2\u00a0on the eunuchs or celibates “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”\u00c2\u00a0which links with God’s decision in the Old Testament to confer the\u00c2\u00a0priesthood to a specific tribe, that of Levi, and who unlike the\u00c2\u00a0other tribes did not receive from God any land – an essential need\u00c2\u00a0for one’s posterity as a wife and children are today – but had “God\u00c2\u00a0himself as its inheritance” (Numbers 1:48-53).<\/p>\n

Loretta Kemsley\u00c2\u00a0 President<\/p>\n

Women Artists and Writers International
\nPublisher of MOONDANCE: Celebrating Creative Women
\nOur vision, our wisdom, our strength
\nhttp:\/\/www.moondance.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Margaret Starbird writes on the GoddessChristians forum: Yesterday I had an opportunity to attend an Episcopal Mass of the\u00c2\u00a0Resurrection (memorial service) for a friend. The Episcopal Mass is\u00c2\u00a0very similar to the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead–with which I’m\u00c2\u00a0familiar. I recognized the hymns and knew some of them by heart. But I couldn’t say the … Continue reading God is only he \/ him, no hers. Also Jesus celibacy “doctrine”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,43,2],"tags":[73,72,35],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jesus-family","category-misc","category-sacred-feminine","category-what-sunday-school-wont-teach","tag-celibacy-doctrine","tag-jesus-celibate","tag-margaret-starbird"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}