Paragraph 111 of Final Synod Document (Full Text)

Source: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/three-key-paragraphs-of-amazon-synods-final-document (10/29/2019)

Excerpt:

Ordination of Married Men in the Amazon

111. Many of the ecclesial communities of the Amazonian territory have enormous difficulties in accessing the Eucharist. Sometimes it takes not just months but even several years before a priest can return to a community to celebrate the Eucharist, offer the sacrament of reconciliation or anoint the sick in the community. We appreciate celibacy as a gift of God (Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, 1), to the extent that this gift enables the missionary disciple, ordained to the priesthood, to dedicate himself fully to the service of the Holy People of God. It stimulates pastoral charity and we pray that there will be many vocations living the celibate priesthood. We know that this discipline “is not required by the very nature of the priesthood… although it has many reasons of convenience with it” (PO 16). In his encyclical on priestly celibacy, St. Paul VI maintained this law and set out theological, spiritual, and pastoral motivations that sustain it. In 1992, the post-synodal exhortation of John Paul II on priestly formation confirmed this tradition in the Latin Church (PDV 29). Considering that legitimate diversity does not harm the communion and unity of the Church, but expresses and serves it (LG 13; SO 6) which testifies to the plurality of existing rites and disciplines, we proposed to establish criteria and dispositions on the part of the competent authority, within the framework of Lumen Gentium 26, to ordain priests 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 sustain the life of the Christian community through the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Sacraments in the most remote areas of the Amazon region. In this regard, some were in favor of a more universal approach to the subject.   

Passed by 128 (non placet: 41) 

"At No Time Was Celibacy Called Into Question": Synod Cardinal Baretto Jimeno of Peru

Source: https://zenit.org/articles/at-no-time-was-celibacy-called-into-question-says-cardinal-pedro-barreto/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EXCLUSIVE+At+No+Time+Was+Celibacy+Called+Into+Question+Says+Cardinal+Pedro+Barreto+1572365286+ZNP&utm_content=EXCLUSIVE+At+No+Time+Was+Celibacy+Called+Into+Question+Says+Cardinal+Pedro+Barreto+1572365286+ZNP+CID_affaf0afc2633df3a27270aeefd87135&utm_source=Editions&utm_term=At+No+Time+Was+Celibacy+Called+Into+Question+Says+Cardinal+Pedro+Barreto (10/29/2019)

Excerpt:

–Q: Proposed in the Report of the Italian Minor Circle A, was that the subject of celibacy be studied in an Ordinary Synod, with universal openness. What is your opinion on this?

–Cardinal Barreto: In fact, it must be specified that at no time, in no Circle, was celibacy called into question. This must be very clear: celibacy is a gift of God for the Church and it’s going to be kept. What has been spoken about is the possibility that married persons might receive Priestly Ordination; they are two different things. However, the most significant of this synodal experience was to put ourselves in an attitude of listening, in this case, to Amazonia and its peoples, to listen also to nature and to God’s creation, and to listen to God. This is a process we are initiating. The previous ones — I took part in one of them — were more thematic, so there was theological, doctrinal reflection . . . this one <did not do that>. This was a Synod — the first in the history of the Church — which was concerned with a territory, a region, but at the same time, with those that live in the region. In regard to the subject of Priestly Ordination to married men <who are> Deacons, it was said that it could be studied, but we focused on the Pan-Amazonian Region.

Benedict XVI "Did the Most to Expand the Number of Married Priests"

Source:https://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2019/10/29/the-call-for-married-priests-is-nothing-new/ (10/29/2019)

In 1970, a group of Germany’s most prominent theologians wrote to the national conference of bishops, insisting that Pope Paul VI’s 1967 reaffirmation of priestly celibacy, despite so much momentum to the contrary, was simply not enough. They argued then that Paul VI’s serious reservations about ordaining married men (viri probati) cannot be the end of the discussion. They insisted that the Church should be confident enough to have a more open, more collegial discussion of priestly celibacy.

The undersigned, who through the trust of the German bishops have been called as theologians into the commission for questions of faith and morals, feel themselves compelled to submit the following considerations to the German bishops.

Our reflections concern the necessity of an urgent examination of and discriminating look at the law of celibacy of the Latin Church for Germany and the universal Church as a whole…

The Church must have missionary forces for the offensive, wherever such a thing is possible. In any case, the law of celibacy in force till now cannot be made the absolute point of reference of the reflections, with which all other ecclesial and pastoral considerations would have to be brought in conformity. If in the face of the “most serious reservations” the pope himself evidently does not reject the idea of the ordination of older married men (“viri probati“) from the outset and as simply out of the question (it is after all in some cases already practiced), then it is thereby affirmed that new considerations could reassess [überprüfen] the law and practice of celibacy…

We have made no rules for the German bishops. But we have the right and the duty in this troublesome situation, on the basis of our office as theologians and our task as consultants, to say to the members of the German bishop’s conference, in all respect for their high office and position of responsibility, that in the question of celibacy they must take new initiative and consider themselves dispensed neither through the former practice of the Church nor through the declarations of the pope alone.

The letter was signed by Joseph Ratzinger, Karl Rahner, Walter Kasper, Karl Lehman and several other lesser known German theologians. Three of those men became cardinals, and one became pope. Though he would later write some of the most beautiful things about priestly celibacy, it was, in fact, Benedict XVI who did the most to expand the number of married priests.

So we should not think that the issue of viri probabti — so much discussed at this most recent Amazonian synod — is somehow the unique fruit of the pontificate of Pope Francis. As George Weigel reported, one of the Brazilian bishops responsible for shaping the agenda of Amazon synod passionately exclaimed near the end of the synod proceedings “This is our last chance.” In other words, these men, many of them brought out of retirement, have lived their whole lives hoping for this chance.

Some Synod Fathers Say Matter "Reserved For Universal Church" But Others Say "Existing Norms of Canon Law...Allow Us to Consider This In Specific Context": Synod Secretary Cardinal Michael Czerny

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/amazon-synod-document-calls-for-married-priests-and-increased-roll-for-women-20862 (10/29/2019)

Presenting the document at a press conference on Saturday evening, Cardinal Michael Czerny, special secretary of the synod, said some members felt that proposing to change the discipline of clerical celibacy should be reserved to the universal Church.

“Other felt that the existing norms of canon law... allow us to consider this within the context of a specific region,” said Czerny who also serves as under-secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

"Impediment That Can Be Dispensed By Holy See": Synod Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, India

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/amazon-synod-document-calls-for-married-priests-and-increased-roll-for-women-20862 (10/29/19)

Except:

Cardinal Osward Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and a close advisor of the pope, said in an interview on Saturday that he was in favor of the proposal, in as much as it represented a merely disciplinary change.

“I think that the present canon law…says its an impediment if you have a wife to receive orders, but it is an impediment that can be dispensed by the Holy See – and it has been dispensed. But I think there should be very clear criteria, conditions put [on the proposal],” Gracias said, referencing how the Church had worked to incorporate married former Anglican ministers who had been ordained as Catholic priests.

7 Out of 10 Amazon Synod Fathers Recommend to Pope: Ordain Married Deacons as Priests "After Fruitful Diaconate" & "Adequate Formation for Priesthood"

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/amazon-synod-document-calls-for-married-priests-and-increased-roll-for-women-20862 (10/27/19)

The document proposes “to establish criteria and dispositions on the part of the competent authority... to ordain as priest suitable and esteemed men of the community, who have had a fruitful permanent diaconate and receive an adequate formation for the priesthood, having a legitimately constituted and stable family, to sustain the life of the Christian community.”  

These criteria, together with each individual paragraph of the text, was approved by a two-thirds vote of the synod’s voting members. 

128-41

71%

On the Eve of the Synod Vote: Fiat Voluntas Tua

Amen.

Melkite Patriarch to Pope Paul VI Advocating For Married Latin Rite Priests During the Second Vatican Council

Letter to Paul VI advocating for married Latin rite priests:

Source: https://melkite.org/faith/faith-worship/chapter-8#Priesthood_and_Celibacy

Some Answers to Some Questions: A Conservative Response to 10 Questions From Cardinal Urosa of Venezuela Regarding the Restoration of a Married Latin Rite Priesthood (or Re: Canonical Dispensation from Celibacy and Continence)

SOME ANSWERS REPLY TO "#6 SOME QUESTIONS"

Your Eminence,

Below is an initial response to 10 questions that appeared in the National Catholic Register HERE.

Excerpt of Cardinal Urosa's questions are in bold & editorial answers to the Cardinal's questions are in non-bold:

Some Questions

… Here we shall only reflect upon the possibility of conferring the priesthood on older married men. This solution must face up to various problems or doubts. I will mention some of these. Of course: It is clear that the ordination of older married men is a matter of discipline, of religious or pastoral convenience and deserves considering the pros and cons. Priestly celibacy is not a dogma of faith. 

1.) Sure, they could be ordained. But what kind of priests would they be? This needs to be discerned.

They would be Viri Probati Priests.  Viri Probati Priests are tested married deacons in the Latin rite who receive a dispensation from celibacy which is the norm in the Latin rite.  They would be ordained to the priesthood after a "fruitful diaconate" (perhaps after 3-5 years minimum serving as a permanent deacon or after 1-3 years of priest candidate formation post-diaconate).  This is a total minimum of 7-8 years of diocesan formation which includes the 4-5 years a deacon candidate receives for diaconate ordination.  Just as the dispensation from celibacy and continence is granted when faculties are given at diaconate ordination, so too dispensation from canons on celibacy and continence are granted upon receiving faculties upon priestly ordination.  The local bishop would determine whether this is needed in his local diocese.

2.) Would they be second-class priests, like the famous “bread and butter priests” of the past? 

No.  As the conservative Traditional Latin Mass priest "Fr. Z." blogs about permanent deacons, "A deacon is a deacon is a deacon," so too a Viri Probati Priest "is a priest is a priest is a priest."  Their ranking in the presbyterate, however, is junior to the celibate priests in that they are not "promotable" and do not serve as pastors or appointed as monsignors.  They are either "In Residence" at a parish or serve as "Assistant Pastors" but not Parochial Vicars or Pastors, even in remote churches or mission stations that really should be under the canonical jurisdiction of a celibate priest Pastor (or Parochial Administrator) which are canonical appointments.

Whether they are treated like second class clergy by other priests is a seconadary matter or effect.  Look to Latin dioceses with the few married priests overlapping with the married Ordinariate or Byzantine or Eastern priests that go to Latin rite events and ask if they are treated like second class priests during priests gatherings to answer this question.  The answers are there since there are already married priests in the Church.

Permanent deacons are already familiar with being treated like second class clergy, and it is from this pool of permanent deacons that the tested men, Viri Probati Priests, would be selected. 

3.) What formation would they have, that is to say, what studies would they require? The permanent deacons require serious studies, usually of at least four years.

There would be 2 pathways, both of which require the diaconate as a true stepping stone to the priesthood.  First, a married permanent deacon that does not have an MDiv equivalent must go through 4-5 years of diaconate formation as usual.  After diaconate ordination, he may be chosen for priestly ordination track but must have served in a "fruitful diaconate" for a few years with regular monthly formation, perhaps 1-2 years.  A total of 7 years formation minimum, just like an MDiv celibate priest is covered.  Remember, formation is not just in the classroom but in the parish, family and workplace.  It's like military people earning college credit for real world experience.  Married deacons have more experience in the world than a young celibate seminarian, so he has real world education and formation and life experience already.  Do not discount his family life in formation of Viri Probati.  How are Ordinariate priests ordained?  They do not need to take seminary again but are given a probation period before ordination as transitional deacons and then eventually as priests.  Similarly, married deacons chosen as Viri Probati priests would be required to have a few years more training for the priesthood.  All those without college degrees must go through the Diaconate Formation first before being ordained under Viri Probati provisions.

Second, a married man not a Permanent Deacon that inquires into the priesthood but holds an MDiv or equivalent (72 units) is academically qualified for ordination as a transitional deacon and then would need to wait the usual 1 academic year before ordination as a Viri Probati Priest.  As a married priest, he would be "In Residence" at a parish or assignment.  This pathway is more likely less common in the Amazon but would appear more in other Western societies for married men that hold an MDiv degree which takes 5 years to earn.  Most seminaries require this anyways.

4.)  And what would be their ministry … simply celebrating the sacraments? 

The 3 main Sacraments to administer would be Sunday Eucharist, Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick (Viaticum, Last Rites, etc.). The other Sacraments or other celebrations are secondary such as Baptisms, Wedding, House Blessings, Funerals, etc., which can be delegated to duly delegated deacons and some.of these even to delegated catechists.  

Viri Probati Priests would share the threefold office to teach, govern and sanctify.  He would have preaching faculties to give homilies.  He would govern a step above deacons who assist the local bishop in the bishop's governing office but below the local celibate pastor. He would sanctify through the Sacraments of the Church.  Do not separate these three in Viri Probati Priests, just as they are not separated in permanent deacons who are at the lower level of the hierarchy and share in a lesser degree the threefold minus (office) that comes with ordination.  Just as deacons advise the bishops and priests, and bring up neglected issues, so too the Viri Probati Priests advise the bishop and local pastor to whom he would report to and who discerns the needs of the parish.  Ultimately, the bishop is his superior and would assign the needed tasks in the local diocese.

5.) From whom would they depend … who would be their immediate superior? 

The ultimate superior is the bishop of a diocese, but an intermediary between the bishop and Viri Probati Priest would be the local pastor of a parish.  If the Viri Probati Priest is "In Residence" or as "Assistant Pastor" he does not have the authority of the celibate priest pastor.  While it is true that some married priests have served as Latin parish pastors in the Ordinariate, this is not common unless it is a small parish that doesnt overwhelm even celibate pastors.  Look to current "part-time" married priests and deacons as models.

6.) Would there not be friction between these “older priests only for sacraments” and the parish priests and parochial vicars?

As Cardinal Schonborn stated, the diaconate is a "laboratory" for the married priesthood.  If the relationship between priests and deacons is healthy, then there would be no friction. If as deacons there is friction, then there is indication that there would be friction as priests.  Nevertheless, these priests are brothers and are called to fraternity and to overcome frictions not from God. 

7.) How would the economic and administrative routine work … that is to say, who would support them in these extremely poor dioceses and missionary vicariates?

Married permanent deacons do not receive a salary for ministry in a parish.  They receive $0. This is whether they spend 20 hrs part-time or 40 hrs full-time.  They receive $0. It is a ministry.  Viri Probati Priests would be like permanent deacons.  Some stipends are permitted but one does not live off of stipends. 

There are some parishes that have part-time or full-time paid positions, and if Viri Probati Priests or Deacons assume these roles, then that is their "day job" or profession, too, but that is not the majority of married deacons or married priests who are expected to be already financial self-reliant.  The vision is that married priests would operate like married deacons.

8.) ... And then: This disciplinary opening up … would it be limited to Amazonia? 

It is suppose to be limited, but a slippery slope or consequentialist approach would say that it would open up to other similar regions, as Cardinal Turkson noted.  This is the main hesitancy that it threatens celibacy.  But as Fr Ratzinger predicted in 1969, there will come a time when "approved Christians in the professions" will be ordained by the Church as priests, but he added that the full-time priests will be needed alongside the "part-time" priests from the professions.  Both celibacy and married priesthood would coexist.  Celibacy will be renewed by it being fully chosen as it is in Religious Life or Monasticism.  

Furthermore, mandatory celibacy would remain in the Church through the office of bishops, the episcopacy, which has the fullness of Orders.  The ministerial priesthood shares in the office of the bishop and his high priesthood, but it does not have the fullness of Orders.  Bishops will always be chosen from celibate men. As the East maintains, the monastic (Religious, consecrated, etc.) is "most configured to Christ" and Christ's celibacy, not the priests.  Celibate bishops as Successors to the Apostles are "most configured to Christ" and Christ's celibacy, not the priests.  The image of a celibate Christ will thus remain in the Church until the end of time through her bishops and monastics and Religious Orders but not her secular diocesan priests.  

Even conservative authors will hold that there was a married priesthood in the early Church and will hold that they were continent, but as eminent canon lawyer Dr. Edward Peters wrote, the Church can abrogate both celibacy and continence or as one Synod Father said grant faculties to dispense from celibacy and thereby also dispense from continence in Canon 277.

9.) Would it not weaken the celibate priesthood in the rest of the world?

The celibate priesthood has already weakened itself since Vatican II.  It has been weakened not by a married priesthood but by its own merits.  Spiritually speaking, it is ultimately the devil attacking the priesthood not a married priesthood.  Earthly speaking, it has cost US dioceses $7 billion with a dozen or so bankrupt dioceses-- just for starters.  Perception wise, the Church is a laughing stock and priests the fodder of jokes in secular comments of priests and altar boys.  While even conservatives admit there is no or little correlation between celibacy and homosexuality, so too the issue here isnt homosexuality.  To strengthen celibacy, it needs men who will freely embrace it in the secular priesthood. Celibacy will continue in the Religious Orders where it will renew the life of the Church, but the secular priesthood in the parishes needs a new game changer, and a married priesthood would turn the public perception around.  There are 40,000 permanent deacons in the world, of which 20,000 are in the USA.  Most are married. Look to this group for issues like what to do about divorces, abuse, scandals, etc., and you will find these married deacons significantly lower in abuse than the celibate priesthood at the current time.  The wives of the deacons keep their husbands in line, but a celibate diocesan priesthood living away from community harms the celibate priesthood more than the married priesthood.  Look at married deacons and this is a foreshadow of how a married priesthood would look like, not perfect with its own problems but not unsurrountable.  The celibate priesthood too is not perfect and comes with problems, too.  All things being equal, while Viri Probati Priests are not the perfect solution, a married priesthood "alleviates rather than solves" current problems.  Both celibacy and married priesthood come with both blessings and challenges.  But celibacy would be strengthened and renewed with brother priests that bring the vocation to marriage and family life to the priesthood.  As Sr. Lucia wrote to Cardinal Caffara, the "final battle between the Lord and Satan will be over family and marriage." Restoring the ordination of Latin rite married men would defend marriage and family with the priesthood of Christ.  What better way for Christ and His Church to win the final battle by imbuing marriage and family life with Christ's priesthood on the Cross, by raising up men, Viri Probati, from the ranks of Holy Matrimony in order to defend both marriage and priesthood!!! 

10.) Can a regional synod approve a norm that affects the entire universal Church? One important synodal father has already indicated that the priesthood would have to be studied in its entirety, not only the topic of celibacy, and that it would have to be done in a general synod, not a regional one.

The Synod's job is to recommend to the Pope, even if a Synod touches on a universal issue. The Holy Father makes the final decision.  In theory, the Pope can issue a Motu Proprio without consultation and make disciplinary decrees on his own initiative as the supreme lawmaker in the Church.  But this Pontiff wants feedback through the Synod.  Whether or not the Synod Fathers give the 2/3 vote concerning married priests on Oct. 26 doesnt take away that the Successor of Peter holds the keys.  The Church taketh away and the Church giveth.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy, pray for us.

With Filial Love and Respect,

Nupta S. Vindicetis (nom de plume)

The Amazon River Flows into the Mississippi: Statistics on Declining Number of Priests in USA

Source:

Half a century ago, there were nearly 60,000 U.S. priests and about 90 percent of them were in active ministry -- serving about 54 million self-identified Catholics.

The number of priests was down to 36,580 by 2018 -- while the U.S. Catholic population rose to 76.3 million -- and only 66 percent of diocesan priests remained in active ministry.

According to a study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, half of America's priests hoped to retire before 2020. Meanwhile, 3,363 parishes didn't have a resident priest in 2018.

Every year, on average, 900 are ordained to the priesthood in the USA.

____

Go!

Discuss please.  I would be interested in hearing more from those against Viri Probati Priests of how to turn this around in the USA.

The Amazon River flows into the Mississippi.

Places Around World Mentioned in Context of Having Same Situation as Amazon in Need of Married Viri Probati Priests

Amazon (South America)

Northern Canada, Archdiocese for Military Services USA (North America)

Pacific Islands (Oceania)

Australia (Oceania)

Congo (Africa)

England, Germany, Ireland (Western Europe)

India(?)

Perhaps Ordain Some Married Deacons as Married Priests First: Synod Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Austria (EWTN Interview)

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Austria:


The question of married priests, I myself said, “Well, first, do you have married deacons?  Vatican II has opened the possibility of married deacons.”  


And I said, “This is a kind of laboratory where you can see how it works.  [Married priests - sic?] married deacons with family having their professional life and working as volunteers for the Church, for their parish, baptizing, blessing marriages, and making funerals and all these possibilities of permanent deacons.


And perhaps, perhaps if the Church decides it is possible that, one or the other, some of them one day may become ordained priest, it’s not to be excluded. But before asking these questions, we have to ask these other questions which have perhaps not been sufficiently treated in the Synod.”

Tim Gordon (TnT): Married Priests "Less Extreme" Than Women Deacons

Source: https://youtu.be/kQMn3Kn3ftY

(9/25/19)

@ 19:50

Married Priesthood "Elevates" Domestic Church to a "More Complete Expression" of Love of Jesus Christ

Source: http://www.thechristianreview.com/an-argument-in-favor-of-more-married-priests-in-the-catholic-church/

Accessed: 9/14/19

Excerpts from text:

When a married man is ordained as a priest, his priesthood elevates the domestic church to a more complete expression of the love of and for Jesus Christ.

The principal reason the Church needs a married priesthood is to define, defend, and strengthen marriage and family within and outside the Church. Until the reinstitution of the diaconate for married men, the Catholic Church overall lacked men who serve as a sign that there are those within the tripartite priesthood who have given themselves fully to Jesus Christ and his Church and to marriage and family life.

In his writings on the diaconate, Pope St. John Paul II speaks of the witness deacons bring to the workforce as married men and how the married deacon and his wife become icons of the sacrificial and sacramental love of husband and wife in the world. The married deacon who becomes a priest, along with his family, can become a greater expression of this sacrificial and sacramental love by virtue of the grace of his priesthood.

Just as the Church needs married priests, married men need to become priests if called to this state to live more fully their vocation and to express more fully their sacrificial love for Christ and for wife and family.

Bishops "Recommend" & Pope Can "Enact": Economist

Soirce: https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/06/18/why-pope-francis-may-open-the-door-to-married-priests
(9/25/19)

Excerpt on bishops do not authorize change but recommend to Pope who has authority to change:

"The bishops would not be able to authorise the change, but they could recommend it to Francis who does have the power to enact it."

Married Priests Would "Reshape Catholics' Understanding of the Priesthood": F.X. Rocca (WSJ)

Source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiD5bjh9ujkAhWDtZ4KHc06CuQQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fcatholics-debate-the-future-of-priestly-celibacy-11561652407&psig=AOvVaw2YVXeDOccGYYBhV7tOWVsh&ust=1569396250493098
(9/24/19)

Excerpt:

Both sides in the debate over clerical celibacy agree that regularly ordaining married priests would, for better or worse, reshape Catholics’ understanding of the priesthood. Catholic doctrine doesn’t require clerical celibacy, and married priests were common in the early church, but celibacy was always honored as a sign of special commitment. “An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided,” wrote St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians.

Married Priests "Won't Mark the End of Priestly Celibacy": Russel Shaw

"The news that Pope Francis has set in motion the planning for a synod of bishops of the Amazon region next year may not strike most U.S. Catholics as a matter of great interest. But hold on – there’s a lot more at stake here than may appear at first glance. For if the bishops of the vast (2.1 million square miles), priest-short Amazon region ask for married priests and the Pope approves – and both of those things seem likely to happen – the synod will have taken a large step toward married priests in many areas besides the Amazon. 

If so, it won’t mark the end of priestly celibacy. But it will have set the Church on a path of radical change in ways that lie far beyond anybody’s ability to predict now."   

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/viri-probati-3893 (accessed 9/17/2019)

Analysis of U.S. Permanent Deacons Ordained as Married "Tent-Maker" Priests w/Day Jobs

Source: https://cruxnow.com/church/2015/06/16/its-time-to-reset-our-pastoral-strategy-ordain-married-men/

Accessed: 9/14/19

From text:

One immediate avenue could be to call select men from among married deacons to priesthood. The Catholic Church in the United States today has some 18,725 ordained deacons, 94% of them married men and 12,358 of them in their 50s and 60s, according to CARA’s 2013-14 study for the USCCB. A few single and/or widowed permanent deacons have taken additional training, become priests within a few years, and are serving well. The same could be done with select married permanent deacons, individuals of proven qualities discerned apt to serve as priests, able and willing to do so.

If just 10% of our 18,725 permanent deacons were discerned and called to priesthood in the next few years, the looming disaster of losing 50% of currently active priests to retirement would be alleviated - not sufficiently, but somewhat. That could provide breathing space for the Church to train and prepare many other married men willing to serve as priests.

Such priests would not have to be full-time Church employees. Many, if not all, could be tent-maker clergy, maintaining their careers and day jobs, as was St. Paul and as are most permanent deacons today.

Catholic Church "Lacks Priests w/Marriage Experience": Australian Convert Apologist Paul Martin

https://youtu.be/AQ2uasRf-xU

Lehmann & Zollitsch: Ordaining Married Deacons to Priesthood?

 

Source: https://catholicherald.co.uk/issues/february-26th-2016/the-new-push-to-end-priestly-celibacy/

"In 2013, Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz raised eyebrows by speculating that married deacons could be ordained as priests in the not too distant future. And as far back as 2008, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, then president of the German bishops’ conference, was speaking along the same lines."

Ordaining Married Deacons as Priests: Prof. Steinmetz

Source:

"Or the pope could authorize the ordination of the kind of mature married men now sometimes chosen as deacons. These seasoned men could be ordained as priests, but restricted in their functions to offering the eucharist when celibate priests are not available. Such a policy would be a limited Western adaptation of Eastern Rite practice."

David C. Steinmetz is the Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of the History of Christianity at Duke University's Divinity School

Facts, Not Speculation: "Fr. Marc" Comment on CWR

Accessed: 9/5/19 from comments section in Catholic World Report:

Fr. Marc

AUGUST 23, 2019 AT 9:09 AM

As evidenced in the comments, people throw out statements as if they are factual. Truth be told, there is little historical data to back it up. A statement, for example, all the apostles lived celibate lives or that Melchizedek was celibate. In reality, no one knows! Where is that historically documented? Those are speculative statements. Fort he sake of truth and clarity, please stop! In addition, to say that the wife of a priest causes resentment in the parish is another speculative argument. Unless a person has taken a survey of the vast majority of parishes with married clergy, again stop throwing out specious statement to win an argument. It is neither objective or scholarly. Fact – there are wonderful examples of pastors who are married and celibate. Fact, there are examples of unworthy pastors both married and celibate.

Historically, we know for certain one apostle was married and that is it. Saint Paul, however, does make reference that other apostles were married. We do know also: no where does the Lord mandate celibacy for the priesthood. It was left to the individual person to choose, and it was to be lived for the Kingdom. It had nothing to do with priesthood. As identified in Sacred Scripture, whether one reads the Gospels or the Letters of Saint Paul, no where was celibacy associated with the priesthood. Celibacy was associated with a vocation, just as marriage. The common denominator in both states is that a vocation should be lived in community, every vocation is ecclesial! Christianity is the experience of the Trinity. The Trinity is a Community of Persons united in love. The two vocations of the Christian are therefore really to be married or monastic (in the West another form of monasticism evolved called consecrated life.)
Since the earliest of days of Christianity, priesthood has been associated with ministry. The teaching about a priest being radically conformed to Christ is a late development and has brought about many problems in the West. Scripturally and according to the early Church all the baptized are conformed to Christ, it is the universal call to holiness. Again, priesthood is a service for the building up of the Body of Christ. Otherwise, one of the pitfalls is to view the priesthood somehow as a higher state of life than the lay state, because the priest is more conformed to Christ. Automatically that excludes women from being more perfectly configured to Christ and for that matter all the laity.
First conclusion, on the one hand, as evidenced in the early centuries of the Church, both East and West, a priest could be married or celibate. Nevertheless, it did not effect his ability to minister the sacraments and preach. On the other hand, men and women who have the grace to live more radically the Gospel and be configured to Christ could choose freely to live the radical state of celibacy, however, in community! One side note, looking at the tradition, all Christians are expected to live some form of celibacy throughout their lives- even the married person.
What we know as well: the Old Testament priesthood married, and the Lord chose for sure one married man, Peter, to be an Apostle, priest and bishop. The Lord did not come to abolish but fulfill the Old Testament. It would seem in continuity with the Old therefore to maintain a married priesthood in the New Testament; again, because priesthood is a ministry in service to the Church – old and new. In the comments above, certain persons remarked that the apostles became celibate. That is speculation and no one knows how that may have looked. Therefore, comments about living with their wives, living separately, living continence are sheer conjecture. Commentators also make another egregious error. They associate and interchange the words apostles and priesthood and make the unverifiable claim that priests in the early church lived as the apostles. The New Testament and early Church writings however do not make such an association. According to the tradition there was a genuine distinction between an apostle and priesthood.
We know also that Saint Paul encouraged those who could live celibacy for the Kingdom to do so, but it was a personal opinion of his and was not a divine commandment. A married clergy has been around since the beginning, but mandatory celibacy has not. That is factual and historical! The cited authors, above, such as Cochini and Stickler document it. There is historical evidence of perfect continence among the married clergy. Nonetheless, they were married. Mandatory celibacy was a slow evolution over the course of centuries; it is a Church and man-made discipline for good or ill -nonetheless, it is not a divine commandment. Thus, a married clergy is of apostolic origin. Mandatory celibacy evolved and is an ecclesiastical discipline; it is not apostolic. Both the Eastern and Western Churches emphasize different aspects of the tradition, and a married clergy is one of those examples. As noted in some comments above: there have been many noble and dedicated Christ-like priests who have served the Church that were married and celibate.
To equate celibacy with missionary zeal is a bogus argument, exemplifies western ignorance and insults the East. It was not the western church that evangelized the entire asian continent; it was the Churches of the East – the ones with married clergy. The eastern Church evangelized much of Eastern Europe, all of the Middle East, Russia, parts of Africa, Japan and Alaska, not the Church of the West. The Eastern Churches had evangelized parts of China and Mongolia long before Poland was evangelized. That is a lot more territory than the West ever evangelized. The collapse of missionary activity was due to one major factor: Islam. The Christian East went from a thriving, evangelizing Church into self-preservation mode. Read also the history of how the Irish clergy in the late 1800s and early 1900s treated the eastern Catholics in the United States. It was pretty disgraceful and oppressive!!!!!! Please westerners set aside your biases about the East. The first one thousand years was dominated by the East in so many ways and provided the foundation upon which the western Church was able to build in the second millennium. As so common, the western church evolved and developed doctrines and practices that actually deviated from the more ancient traditions upheld by the East. One case in point a mandated celibate clergy.
Finally, the East has a better appreciation of human nature and its theology emphasizes better and more correctly the Communitarian God. If a man chooses to live celibacy he should be living in a community of other celibates and in a ecclesial- life that respects, understands and supports the gift of celibacy. Why? Man is made in the image of a Triune God. The human person, including the priest, should be living in some kind of ecclesial community or domestic church rather than as individuals isolated, disconnected and alienated, which is the common experience of diocesan Latin Rite priests in the United States, today. Due to such isolation and alienation, many celibate priests live their celibacy selfishly – to spend it on themselves – to deal with the harmful effects of loneliness. They turn toward alcoholism, materialism, excessive traveling, sex, etc. The human person is social, communitarian by nature and needs intimate friendships, i.e. a community of some sort whether it be marriage, an oratory or a monastic group. Personally, I have found more times than not the Eastern married clergy much friendlier, humane, human, healthy, kind and down to earth than the Latin celibate clergy who tend to come across cold, institutional, bitter and defensive. Worse, in the celibate monarchical structure of the diocesan life too many priests live lives with little accountability to anyone. They live as bachelors. They tend to live better than most of their parishioners and do not have to make the sacrifices married men must for the sake of their families or a celibate living in a community where there is accountability and sacrifice. Married men who own their own businesses have the demands 24/7 of running a business along with the demands of family life and all the burdens to meet the family’s financial burdens. They are fortunate to have maybe one day to rest. Meanwhile, the celibate priest has a fairly comfortable life – guaranteed employment, guaranteed salary, guaranteed health insurance, guaranteed place to live, and takes one to two days off, takes vacation time, and for all intense and purposes is not accountable to anyone, etc. Frankly, a married man – priest and layman – often times lives a life of greater sacrifice in this Country than the celibate priest.
Second conclusion: God is Trinitarian – Communitarian. In Genesis, God created Eve so that man would not be alone in his mission. Even the Lord had Twelve Apostles with Him during His entire public ministry and before His death He entrusted Mary, His mother, to John. If the western Church will continue to mandate celibacy of her priests, the Institution needs to be reformed on how it is lived. It should never be lived in isolation, otherwise, such a state lends itself to becoming a psychological burden and a source of loneliness. In a culture predisposed toward rugged individualism it has taken a serious toll on the priesthood in the United States. What is more, the Church by nature is ecclesial and the the baptized person is called and made to live in community. Might this be part of the discussion!!!

Monastic, Not Priest, is "Most Perfectly Configured to Christ": Eastern Tradition (Fr. Loya in CWR)

 

Source: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/08/21/married-priesthood-celibacy-and-the-amazon-synod-an-eastern-catholic-priests-perspective/

Accessed: 8/30/2019

"Where there is a tradition of married priests in the Eastern Churches there are ancient rules concerning continence between a priest and his wife in regard to the celebration of the Eucharist. In this way the married priest (in cooperation with his wife) can give witness to the inherent eschatological dimension of the priesthood. The Eastern tradition also reminds us that it is actually the monastic who is most perfectly configured to the person of Christ and not the priest."


Fr. Thomas Loya is pastor of Annunciation of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois. He is also the host of “Light of the East,” a radio show that can be heard across the United States on several Catholic radio networks.

"Suggestion [of Married Priests] Being Made by the Majority": Robert Royal (EWTN)

Source: 

https://youtu.be/VJIExuW7jyI (10/25/19)

Paraphrase of Robert Royal: Request for married priests at Amazon Synod is a continuation of requests for married priests made to JP2 and B16.  Only difference is that this is a whole region requesting married priests.  "We'll see a suggestion being made by the majority."  

Married Priests "Subject Matter of a More Detailed Study": Synod Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, Africa (EWTN Interview)

Source: https://youtu.be/aNTjeWXrKWI (10/23/19) @ 2:00

Cardinal Turkson said that the situation in the Amazon is similar to other parts of the world like Africa.