Sacraments - Part 2

The law of celibacy has no doctrinal bearing in the Catholic

Church--it is a mere disciplinary law.

Even today, there are married Catholic priests in the United

States. Each is a former Episcopalian priest who joined the

Catholic Church. There are Uniate Churches, churches in

union with Rome, e.g., the Greek Byzantine Church, that

have a married clergy.

Priestly celibacy became law in the Roman Church in the

6th century.

It must be noted that neither verse requires nor encourages

marriage to those in holy orders; they simply reflect the state of

those in orders in the apostolic Church. It offers no mandate

nor counsel for the universal Church either then or now.

It was the state of the early Church and available clergy.