God or the Girl
 

http://www.aetv.com/godorthegirl/

Yes, we needed a thread on this.

If you haven't been saturated by the hype already, and don't know what this show is about, the link is above.
So who plans to watch? I have to admit that yes, (sheepishly), I plan to watch it on Sunday (on Easter Sunday no less......how ironic).

I'd have to say that given the recent public relations nightmare that the priesthood has been experiencing, they probably need some new blood in the church.

Discuss.......

I plan to watch it as well. I've always wondered what would make a young man wanna become a Priest.

This seems like an interesting show. I plan on watching now that I know about it.

Well, here is one thing that I don't really understand. (No, I'm not Catholic).

Some people seek out their priest for advice on marital woes -- I get that. (I will include living together, non-married people in this group), etc. while some people will seek out their hairdresser, bartender, manicurist, shrink or therapist.

How can someone (i.e. a priest) give insightful advice on inter-personal, marriage'y-type relationships when they are not in one themselves, most likely never have been, and NEVER WILL BE? (unless they pull a Father Ralph de Bricassart , a la "The Thorn Birds").

Isn't that like going to a car mechanic who has never driven a car?
Just my 0.02

How many aircraft mechanics are qualified to fly the plane?

Using your logic, babysitters would have to have their own kids b/c how else would they know how to watch them?

I was watching FOX News (no, hell did not freeze over), and they were talking about this show, and they brought up this very question. A current priest, one of the guys on the show, an evangelical pastor, and a priest who quit in order to get married all had interesting to say about it.

Basically the Catholic Church believes that a priest devotes his life to God and his community and he can do that better by not being distracted by marriage and being celebate. Here is a quote from the Archdiocese of Chicago webpage that might be able to explain it better then me.

Celibacy, in the religious context, is the means by which a man consecrates himself totally to God for the service of humanity. By celibacy a Christian sets aside the responsibilities and intimate relationships of family life in order to take on the responsibilities of serving the wider family of man. By a personal relationship with God in prayer, by the friendships and associations with married and single men and women, he grows in his love of humanity and becomes capable of serving God's people more effectively. To be authentic, it must be inspired by a love for Jesus who is the man for others.

Being a Catholic I do believe that it would be better if they let priests get married due to the fact that we are losing many men because of this law. I don't know if I am ever going to see that in my lifetime though.

It has nothing to do with God taking you more seriously.

Well, not necessarily. You don't HAVE to experience something to be qualified to give advice. That said, I certainly think it helps -- in some areas more than others. Babysitting doesn't require much expertise at all, but I think experience is a huge factor in understanding intimate relationships and how they work. Also, male gynecologists? Creepy weird.

Thank you for expressing this so eloquently. You did a better job than I did.

Eta:
I forgot to mention this, but my "aunt" (through her 1st marriage which was to my blood-uncle...they're now divorced) is married to Husband #2 now, and indeed, the man who became Husband #2 *was* a priest and he did pull a Father Ralph de Bricassart for her!. It was apparently a big scandal (they live in a different city than me), but it's all calmed down now.

Hey Munchkin03, so what (in a nutshell) did each of the guys on the show say about that question? Can you give a little Cliff Notes version?

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After watching Episodes 1 & 2 back to back, my predictions for the end of the series.......

Dan (the guy carrying the cross) will become a priest.
The other 3 guys (Mike, Steve, Joe) will not.

And since this is Greek Chat, anyone know which fraternity Steve Horvath joined at UVA? I thought that I got a quick glimpse of "Chi Phi" letters on one of the guy's ballcaps at the tailgate party, but I couldn't be sure.

okay so i watched this last night. i think two will go through with it (dan and steve). i cant believe steve gave up his career and $70+ thousand pay for this. heck i wouldnt.

i also think that one of the priests wanted mike for himself, lol (mike's girlfriend even said so).

Pretty much what people have said above. I think one priest put it that a doctor doesn't have to have had cancer in order to treat cancer. He also noted that it was a mistake to rely solely on a priest for marital counseling -- ministry to married couples was hardly limited to priests, he said.

I also watched both episodes last night. It's weird watching all of this after 8 years of catholic schooling.

Anyhow, it's people like Dan who get to me. I don't know the guy, obviously, but it seems to me that typically people who do things like say... carry a cross for 22 miles, have "holy intentions" but seem to want credit for the most things... if ya know what I mean. But hey, he may be completely good in everything... TV may just be trying to portray him exactly like that.

Just gets to me. I also just loved how he said that "Fort Zion" was like a fraternity except they weren't based on "how wasted we can get." I love people who stereotype greek life. (yeah, i realize I kinda stereotyped him... that's why I'm trying to give the benifit of the doubt)

In addition to the reasons already mentioned, there's another, slightly less high-minded reason. In medieval times, the priest of a church had some property rights of the church's lands, although I'm not sure to what extent. To prevent church lands going to a priest's descendants (and thus diminishing the power of the church...land=power, esp. back then) it was handed down that priests had to remain celebate and unmarried.

I'm sure there were some spiritual reasons behind this decision as well, but I tend to believe this explanation the most.

I'm predicting that as well, but I won't be surprised if they change as the episodes go by.

Steve was sure a hottie in his fraternity days. :p

INDEED! :D I wonder what he was like at UVA? Mr. Party-Guy?

and people, it is
C-E-L-I-B-A-T-E, not celebate.

That is all. MWAH!

I kind of had a feeling that Mike wasn't going to pursue the priesthood as I set my TiVo for tonight's episodes. As I scrolled to make sure I wasn't recording the same things, I noticed that the info for the second episode only included Dan, Steve, and Joe.

It's so :) to see that random acts of kindness still happens today...and I'm not even done watching the third episode yet.

Anyone know how long this series will last and how many episodes there are?

That is indeed what historically led to the requirement of the celibate priesthood in the Western Church. I think that the more spiritual reasons are understood as being the reasons for maintaining the requirement, since the celibate priesthood is understood as a practice that the Church can modify or do away with.

5, I believe.

question: can someone still become a priest if they had sex before?

i think in the first episode, dan said he had all sorts of sex but not intercorse. but i guess that doesnt count.

Ummm, yeah. Celibate doesn't mean virgin. It just means "from here on out, no sex."

Awww, I thought it was like the Cool and the Gang song: Celebate good times - come on!!!!! :D

I didn't realize that it was on Monday...anyone wanna give a little recap? It ends on Sunday, apparently.

So Steve was the only one that decided to go into the seminary. Mike is an elementary school teacher and is still with his girlfriend, Joe works at John Carroll University as a lay minister, and Dan went back to college, is a youth minister, and is still with his girlfriend too.

They showed Steve in seminary school and it seemed like he was really happy...all the guys looked really happy with their choices.

You know, what I don't understand is why they didn't mention that married men in the Catholic faith can become Deacons.

I was also told while I was going through my RCIA program that one of the reasons that priests are not married is because for a married man, his first priority should be to his family and if he had to "worry" (I use the term loosely) about a congregation and all the priestly duties then his first duty (to his wife and family) would fall by the wayside. It makes sense to me, but I don't necessarily agree with it.

Anyhow, this seemed to be a good show. I liked that guy Steve...I wish him much luck in his journey, it's not easy to become a priest.

i got 1 out of 2 right, lol. my other guess was dan.

yeah i dont think i could go through that. 1) i am not catholic 2) i probably couldnt keep myself from sinning left and right, lol