Jesus and the Celibate Priesthood

by Brant Pitre

In this talk, delivered to around two hundred Catholic priests at the St. Paul Center’s Living Sacrifice conference, Dr. Brant Pitre examines the biblical evidence for the Church’s claim that Jesus instituted a celibate ministerial priesthood. At the time of the Reformation, the founders of Protestantism rejected the idea that Jesus founded a ministerial priesthood along with the royal priesthood of all believers. Even those who retained some idea of priesthood rejected the Catholic discipline of a celibate priesthood. Today, most people believe that the idea of priestly celibacy was a later medieval invention. In this talk Dr. Pitre shows that it actually has deep roots in both the Old Testament and the Gospels.

Audiobook

About the author

Dr. Brant Pitre is Professor of Sacred Scripture at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned his Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame, where he specialized the study of the New Testament and ancient Judaism. He is the author of several articles and the books Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile (Baker Academic, 2005); Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist (Image Books, 2011); and Jesus the Bridegroom (Image Books, 2014). Dr. Pitre is an extremely enthusiastic and engaging speaker who lectures regularly across the United States. He has produced dozens of Bible studies on CD, DVD, and MP3, in which he explores the biblical foundations of Catholic faith and theology. He currently lives in Gray, Louisiana, with his wife Elizabeth, and their five children.