Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, Italy, the relator (meaning roughly “moderator”) for the synod, started the celibacy discussion in his 52-page Relatio ante disceptationem, a synthesis of comments from around the world sent in prior to the synod.
Without identifying which bishops supported the measure, Scola reported that some synod participants had “put forward the request to ordain married faithful of proven faith and virtue, the so-called viri probati.’ ”
Scola himself expressed reservations about a change in the celibacy requirement, but drew a quick response from Bishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle of Imus, Philippines. “In the absence of the priest, there is no Eucharist. We should face squarely the issue of the shortage of priests,” he said.
Almost two thirds of the surveyed employees, about 65%, were open to the
idea of ordaining more married men as priests. The Vatican already allows a
limited number of pastors, who were previously married in other Christian
denominations, to be ordained Catholic priests. |
Maronite Catholic Bishop Elias Zaidan ordains married Deacon Wissam Akiki to the priesthood (at age 41) at St Raymond's Maronite Catholic Cathedral in St. Louis, MO, USA, on Feb. 27, 2017 (photo credit: Erin Stubblefield, AP).
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/28/missouri-married-man-maronite-catholic-priest/5897431/ (22 Nov. 2019)
Excerpt:
The ordination ceremony featured several bishops from within the Maronite rite. Many members of the St. Raymond's congregation are of Lebanese descent, and many of the prayers, hymns and readings were in Arabic.
Members of the church said they were ready to welcome the new priest.
"He'll be a wonderful priest," said 54-year-old Linda Hill. "The fact that he's married will be exciting for the church. It's tradition in the old country. I guess we're finally catching up to the old country."
Excerpt 2:
Peters said that in the most recent Maronite Patriarchal Synod, the church reaffirmed its position in support of allowing married priests, a tradition that, worldwide, dates back centuries.
In a statement, the Archdiocese of St. Louis congratulated Akiki.
"The Archdiocese of St. Louis values its strong relationship with the Maronite community in St. Louis," the statement read in part.
Those attending the ordination applauded the new priest several times, which clearly left him moved.
"It is a day of grace and of joy," he said.
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| The photo shows Andrea Erdman and Fr. Jonathan Erdman with one of their four children (Source: Anglicanorum Coetibus Society HERE). |
Source:
https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21329
Excerpt:
In an address to the annual meeting of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples said that Pope Francis has given the Church a “great missionary thrust” through his actions and two major teaching documents: the encyclical Lumen Fidei and the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.
The Pontifical Mission Societies – the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, the Holy Childhood Association, and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious – exist to support the missions.
Cardinal Fernando Filoni told the Societies’ leaders that it is “unfair” that up to half the priests in some African and Asian dioceses now serve in the West, “where they believe they find better pastoral conditions.” These priests’ native dioceses, he said, are “still short of personnel” and thus are “deprived of significant apostolic forces absolutely indispensable for Christian life.”
Cardinal Filoni also noted a decrease in missionary contributions from Catholics in dioceses in wealthier nations, even as contributions from Asian dioceses have increased modestly. He attributed the decline in the West to “the weakening of the missionary spirit and motivation” and challenged the Societies’ officials to “get out of our seats” and be more actively present in parishes, dioceses, and other Catholic institutions.
Source: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/getreligion/2014/06/about-that-nytimes-hint-at-the-future-of-married-priests/ (9 Nov. 2019)
Excerpt:
During a news conference last month, the pope said: “The Catholic Church has married priests, no? Greek Catholics, Coptic Catholics, no? They exist. In the Eastern Rites, there are married priests.” He called priestly celibacy “a rule of life which I highly esteem and I believe is a gift for the church,” but added, “Since it is not a dogma of faith, the door is always open.”
I also wondered why the report lacked the perspective of Eastern Orthodox sources or, for that matter, Eastern Rite Catholic sources.
This is a good report. In a way, I want to stress that it is a more important topic — for traditional, small-o orthodox Catholics — than the editors realized.
Keep digging.
.webp)
Q. If these men were trained to be ministers in another denomination, how can we be assured that what they teach and preach is truly Catholic?
A. Men seeking to be ordained under these provisions undergo a theological evaluation some time during the first year of the process. Their knowledge of seven subjects is evaluated by a team of experts. The areas tested are: Ascetical Theology, Canon Law, Church History, Dogmatic Theology, Liturgical and Sacramental Theology, Moral Theology, and Sacred Scripture.
Based on this evaluation, a prescribed plan of studies is assigned on a case-by-case basis. After the syllabus is completed the candidate is required to pass one written and one oral exam in each of the seven subjects noted above.
Source: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/2195/bishops-in-england-and-wales-want-married-priests-says-hollis (9 Nov. 2019)
Excerpt from 2015 article:
As many as 10 bishops in England and Wales are in charge of dioceses so short of priests that they would welcome the chance for the Church to discern whether ordaining married men would be the way forward, a retired bishop said this week.
Bishop Crispian Hollis, former head of Portsmouth diocese, says in a letter to The Tablet this week that he is increasingly convinced that, “sooner rather than later” the Church in Britain and further afield “will rightly have to move towards the ordaining of married men”.
In an interview with The Tablet, Bishop Hollis said he was ready to help the Movement for Married Clergy in whatever way he could.
In his 23 years as Bishop of Portsmouth, he said, the tide had turned from there being plenty of priests to go round, to a situation where he was for ever “scratching around” to find enough priests to run the parishes.
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
This article originally appeared on Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s blog “Standing on My Head,” and is reprinted with permission. Visit his website, browse his books, and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com. Fr. Longenecker is a married Roman Catholic priest, with full approval by the Church.
I don’t often mention my wife and family in my writing because my writing is public and I have a private side.
However, people do often ask what it is like being married to a priest. I think I can answer for Mrs. Longenecker and my family.
These are the main questions and answers:
[See also: What This Priest Saw in Medjugorje]
[See also: I Knew a Priest Who Could See the Dead]
Much like any wife would do who is married to a man with a demanding, but rewarding career. Many wives deal with husbands who are away more than I am. I’m thinking of long distance truck drivers, soldiers, sailors, traveling executives. Others have demanding and irregular schedules–doctors and nurses, emergency responders, fire fighters and police. Furthermore, those wives sit at home worrying that their husband might not come home because his job is not only demanding time wise, but life threateningly dangerous.
A priest’s wife doesn’t face those hardships. Furthermore, although we don’t have weekends, a priest sets his own schedule. If I have to I can re-arrange many things in order to be there for the family in a way other men can’t.
Ask your celibate priest if he’s available 24-7. No he’s not.
We all take days off and vacations. We have to or we’d burn out. Sure I get up sometimes in the middle of the night to go anoint the dying. But we have hospital chaplains too you know, and they usually cover those duties.
I receive only what the diocese advises all diocesan priests to receive. No more. The pay a priest receives varies from diocese to diocese, but let’s be realistic. There are many families who struggle on low incomes. They get by. Maybe the wife works. Maybe they both drive an old car, make do, buy clothes from the Goodwill and learn to live on a little.
A priest and his wife can do this too and why not? On the other hand, look what a priest receives: 1. housing 2. a car 3. health insurance 4. job satisfaction with no immediate boss looking over his shoulder 5. complete job security 6. retirement plan 7. working expenses 8. retirement housing…and more depending on where he works. I can think of a good number of men and their wives who would jump at the chance to work on those terms.
How does anybody? We get by. I’m blessed to have extra income from my writing, but we both work hard. We save. We borrow if we have to. People are generous. The Lord provides.
It’s actually an adventure to live by faith. You should try it!
Does your dentist’s wife interfere with his work? Your lawyer’s wife? Your car mechanic’s wife? Of course not. She runs her own business and contributes to the family income.
No more and no less than any other Catholic–which means I don’t expect to them to be saints, but I expect them to be working on it….like me and their mom.
C’mon. Would a lawyer or doctor go home and tell his wife everything about his clients? I don’t think so.
Professionals can keep secrets. I don’t tell my wife anything about the confessional and she would never expect me to.
It could work if both the husband and wife are committed to the calling and are prepared to be flexible, live by faith, have a sense of humor and make the necessary sacrifices.
Source:https://www.newsweek.com/pope-francis-married-catholic-priests-571764 (9 Nov. 2019)
Excerpt: The reason I was permitted to be ordained is that celibacy for priests is a discipline of the church, not a doctrine. That is why exceptions can be made and the rule could be changed.
Pope Francis's current suggestion is that an exception might also be made for older, married Catholic men to be ordained.
On ordaining married men to the priesthood, the final document cited a shortage of priests in the Amazon that can lead to gaps of months or years between visits by a priest who can celebrate the Eucharist, confessions, and the anointing of the sick.
It therefore proposed establishing criteria to ordain priests who are “suitable and esteemed men of the community, who have had a fruitful permanent diaconate and receive and adequate formation for the priesthood, having a legitimately constituted and stable family” to serve “in the most remote areas of the Amazon region.”
Married priests are found in many Eastern rite Catholic churches, but for many centuries, the Latin rite of the Catholic Church has ordained only celibate men to the priesthood—at least under ordinary circumstances.
There have been exceptions, such as when a couple with no children at home separates to devote themselves to God (e.g., the wife becomes a nun and the husband becomes a monk or priest). Recently, the Holy See has allowed the ordination of married men in the Latin rite who were clergymen in another Christian body.
Under present Latin canon law, a man who has a wife is impeded from ordination except to the permanent diaconate (can. 1041 §1), but this impediment can be dispensed by the Holy See (can. 1047 §2 n. 3).
The final synod document proposes that a new exception be made for certain married men in the Amazon, though the document notes that some synod members preferred “a more universal approach to this subject.”
Since divine law and Church teaching do not require that only unmarried men be ordained to the priesthood, the question of ordaining married men is a subject of prudential judgment on which Catholics can hold different views.
MLA Citation
The proposal, proponents say, would be narrowly applied to permit only selected men ordained as deacons to become priests.
...
“The problem of the dearth of priests is a problem for the Catholic Church in the whole world, except in some nations. Why this exception for the Amazon?” said Bishop D. José Luis Azcona of the Amazonian state of Para.
Source:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-synod-amazon/vatican-synod-proposes-ordaining-married-men-as-priests-in-the-amazon-idUSKBN1X50FY (4 Nov. 2019)
Excerpt:
The proposal calls for married men who are already deacons in the Church, have a stable family relationship, and are proven leaders in their communities to be ordained as priests.
It said the ordination to the priesthood would have to be preceded by an "adequate formation".
This solution to the shortage of priests, backed by many South American bishops, would allow Catholics in isolated areas to attend Mass and receive the sacraments more regularly.
At least 85% of Amazon villages cannot attend Mass every week and some cannot do so for years.
