Sunday, October 4, 2026

The Byzantine Forum: "The Catholic Church today already has married priests and they appear to be doing quite well."

Excerpts: "The Catholic Church today already has married priests and they appear to be doing quite well." "In 1596 the Ukrainian bishops and the papacy entered into the Union of Brest, pursuant to which the Ukrainians agreed to join the Catholic Church and to accept fully the authority of the pope on all matters of faith and dogma. In return, the Ukrainians were permitted to retain their Orthodox liturgy and rites and to continue the tradition that priests (but not bishops) could be married." "Although the spiritual and scriptural arguments that support celibacy are noble and complex and go back to the earliest days of the church, the concept of mandatory celibacy is not rooted in theological considerations, nor is it a dogma of the Catholic Church. Rather, it gathered momentum in the Middle Ages in response to a number of historical factors, became firmly entrenched with the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s, and is today an obligatory disciplinary rule imposed by the institutional Roman Catholic Church on its priests. But times have changed. The institution of priesthood, and with it the church as a whole, are passing through a moment of intense crisis and face an acute shortage of clergy." "The beauty of any such reform is that there is little need to gaze into a crystal ball and experiment: The Catholic Church today already has married priests and they appear to be doing quite well."

"Canadian bishops have been making requests for decades… politely but firmly proposing that an exception (to the law of celibacy) be made for sacerdotal ordination for aboriginal men,” said Canadian Church historian Michael Higgins (2019), distinguished professor of Catholic Thought at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. “These efforts went nowhere. Perhaps now they can be reconsidered in the light of the Amazon synod.”

“Canadian bishops have been making requests for decades… politely but firmly proposing that an exception (to the law of celibacy) be made for sacerdotal ordination for aboriginal men,” said Canadian Church historian Michael Higgins, distinguished professor of Catholic Thought at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. “These efforts went nowhere. Perhaps now they can be reconsidered in the light of the Amazon synod.” For American missionary Father Barry Bercier at St. Stephen’s in Igloolik, Nunavut, the need to ordain married men is clear. But the execution is complicated. “That particular canon law (against married priests) is just canon law. It came about for historical reasons that for the most part I don’t think really apply any more,” he said." Source: https://bccatholic.ca/settle-married-priests-issue-at-global-synod-former-cccb-head/

Comment posted Re Irish National Synodal Synthesis: "There are reports at the time of this writing on Oct. 4, 2026, that, while the call for married priests was raised in discussions (around 2022 or so), there is no mention of the call for married priests in the current working draft document. Thank you."

by Married Priests R&D: "There are reports at the time of this writing on Oct. 4, 2026, that, while the call for married priests was raised in discussions (around 2022 or so), there is no mention of the call for married priests in the current working draft document. Thank you." https://acireland.ie/the-irish-national-synodal-synthesis-august-16th-2022/

Friday, October 2, 2026

Priest Shortage (Belarus, 2026): "The president of the [Latin Rite] Belarusian bishops’ conference said this week that the number of priests in the country is diminishing, making the provision of pastoral care increasingly challenging in the eastern region." "Plans for a Belarusian center in Rome are on hold amid falling clergy numbers."

EXCERPT:

SOURCE:

Belarusian archbishop highlights growing priest shortage

Plans for a Belarusian center in Rome are on hold amid falling clergy numbers.

Luke Coppen

May 29, 2026

∙ Paid

The president of the Belarusian bishops’ conference said this week that the number of priests in the country is diminishing, making the provision of pastoral care increasingly challenging in the eastern region.