Cardinal Sarah: Allowing Married Latin Priests Require "Serious and Conscious Participation of All the Bishops of the World"

Source: http://m.ncregister.com/daily-news/cardinal-sarahs-cri-de-coeur-the-catholic-church-has-lost-its-sense-of-the
(9/24/19)

Why is the Pan-Amazon Synod so preoccupying to many people, including some respected cardinals? What are your own concerns about the Oct. 6-27 meeting?

Cardinal Robert Sarah:

I have heard that some people wanted to make this synod a laboratory for the universal Church, that others said that, after this synod, nothing would be the same as before. If that is true, this approach is dishonest and misleading. This synod has a specific and local goal: the evangelization of the Amazon.

I am afraid that some Westerners will confiscate this assembly to move their projects forward. I am thinking in particular of the ordination of married men, the creation of women’s ministries or giving jurisdiction to laypeople. These points concern the structure of the universal Church. They cannot be discussed in a particular and local synod. The importance of its subjects requires the serious and conscious participation of all the bishops of the world. Yet very few are invited to this synod. To take advantage of a particular synod to introduce these ideological projects would be an unworthy manipulation, a dishonest deception, an insult to God, who leads his Church and entrusts him with his plan of salvation.

In addition, I am shocked and outraged that the spiritual distress of the poor in the Amazon is being used as a pretext to support projects that are typical of bourgeois and worldly Christianity.

I come from a young Church. I knew the missionaries going from village to village to support the catechists. I have lived evangelization in my flesh. I know a young Church doesn’t need married priests. On the contrary. She needs priests who will give her the witness of the lived cross. A priest’s place is on the cross. When he celebrates Mass, he is at the source of his whole life, that is, at the cross.

Celibacy is one of the concrete ways in which we can live this mystery of the cross in our lives. Celibacy inscribes the cross into our flesh. That is why celibacy is unbearable for the modern world. Priestly celibacy is a scandal for the modern, because the cross “is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Some Westerners can no longer tolerate this scandal of the cross. I think it has become an unbearable reproach to them. They come to hate the priesthood and celibacy.

I believe that bishops, priests and the faithful everywhere in the world must rise up to express their love for the cross, the priesthood and celibacy. These attacks against the priesthood come from the richest. Some people think they are all-powerful because they finance poorer churches. But we must not be intimidated by their power and money.

A man on his knees is more powerful than the world. It is an impregnable bulwark against atheism and the madness of men. A man on his knees makes Satan’s pride tremble. All of you who, in the eyes of men, are without power and influence, but who know how to remain on your knees before God, do not be afraid of those who want to intimidate you.

We must build a bulwark of prayers and sacrifices so that no breach will hurt the beauty of the Catholic priesthood. I am convinced that Pope Francis will never allow such a destruction of the priesthood. On his return from World Youth Day in Panama on Jan. 27, he told journalists, quoting Pope Paul VI: “I would rather give my life than change the law of celibacy.” He added: “It is a courageous phrase, in a more difficult moment than this, 1968/1970. ... Personally, I think that celibacy is a gift for the Church. Second, I don’t agree with allowing optional celibacy, No.”

Abp. Cob of Ecuador: "Viri Probati Respond to Very Concrete Challenge in Amazon" & Not Meant to Question Celibacy

Source: https://cruxnow.com/amazon-synod/2019/09/16/amazon-archbishop-backs-ordination-of-married-priests/ (9/20/19)

Excerpt from article:

“The viri probati respond to a very concrete challenge in the Amazon region, and it’s not meant to question the ordinary norm of celibacy,” Cob said.

The Amazon, the bishop said, presents “great geographical challenges,” in addition to a lack of candidates for the priesthood willing to adhere to the norm of celibacy because, he argued, it’s not something indigenous peoples understand. In addition, he said, the number of missionary priests willing to go to these remote areas has dropped significantly.

Asked if he believes the viri probati could be applied to other regions of the world, Cob said the door is open, but “they will have to be able to explain why they need it, to analyze the root causes of the problem and, as Pope Francis urged, to propose bold solutions.”

He insisted the Amazonian push for married priests is not about ending celibacy, but advocating, as a reaction to the region’s very specific reality, the possibility of ordaining elderly men who are married and highly respected by the community.

Muller: Amazon Synod Focused on "Practical Aspects," Not Spiritual Aspects, "In Accordance w/the World"

Source: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?re (9/20/19)

Cardinal Muller on celibacy:

InfoVaticana: Are you worried about what might come out of the Amazon Synod?

Cardinal Müller: What I have seen so far is very superfluous. The reason for the lack of priests is not celibacy, it is the lack of preparation for the priestly vocation. Such a vocation comes from God and it is up to us to listen and respond to this vocation of God, which is a spiritual act. The Church must foster a good pastoral care of vocations. Celibacy is a spiritual reality and those who do not think of the Spirit of God cannot understand it. As Jesus said: the people of the world do not understand what celibacy is, to give one's life and not to live in marriage, which for us is a sacrament. With celibacy we also bear witness to the eschatological dimension of hope for eternal life. Because human life, Christian life, does not end in this terrestrial world. We have a hope beyond this life. All those who speak (about and) who have their aspirations in this Synod of the Amazon, speak only of some practical aspects of the matter. And they don't enter profoundly into the issues. They think more in accordance with the world than in a spiritual way.

Married Priests in Amazon a "Foregone Conclusion": Dr. Taylor Marshall

Video of Tim & Taylor analysis

Instrumentum Laboris, Amazon Synod 2019, Married Priests

Part III, Chapter IV, on suggestion to discuss married priests among proven men (viri probati):

Affirming that celibacy is a gift for the Church, it is requested that, for the most remote areas of the region, the possibility be studied for the priestly ordination of elderly people, preferably indigenous ones, respected and accepted by their community, even if they already have an established and stable family, in order to ensure the [availability of the] Sacraments that accompany and sustain the Christian life.

Pope Says Exception Possible But No Change to Latin Celibacy: Synod Cardinal Mark Ouellet's Skepticism of Married Latin Priests

Source: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/10/02/cardinal-ouellet-defends-priestly-celibacy-ahead-of-amazon-synod/
(10/3/19)

Excerpt:

“I am not against the fact that there is a debate, but I think at this time of history and of the Church there is a need of reflection…” he said. “And so, my intervention is to substantiate the debate, to give something substantial to aid discernment.”

“I remain skeptical out of convictions and knowledge of the Catholic tradition in the Latin rite, so I think this has to be very much taken care of in the debate,” he continued, adding that he remains open to what will happen during the synod.

Ouellet also noted he knows Pope Francis has mentioned having no intention to change Church practice on priestly celibacy in the Latin rite, but that he has not excluded the possibility of an exception.

Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy, Pray For Us

Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy

Our Lady of the Clergy

Cardinal Muller Did Not Directly/Explicitly Oppose Married Priests (In EWTN Interview)

Source: https://youtu.be/_-4GFYKULSE (9/20/19)

Church Can "Regulate & Govern" Discipline of Celibacy: Dragani

Source: https://east2west.org/articles/mandatory_clerical_celibacy/
Accessed: 8/30/2019

The direct quote follows here:

Thus, clerical celibacy is clearly a discipline that the Church has the authority to regulate and govern. This fact bears witness against it being a tradition “demanded by the apostles.”[68] So is clerical celibacy “really necessary and indispensable to the priesthood?”[69] The answer is a resounding no.

This article originally appeared in Eastern Churches Journal.

French Archbishop Wintzer: Married Men "Still Continuing" Jobs, Family & Professional Life While Serving as Married Priests...

 ..like married permanent deacons.  

This model means that like married deacons, married priests would continue professional careers, and married priests would need to be financially self-sufficent.  

This model addresses concerns that married priests would need higher salaries in that the model is that of married permanent deacons that are not paid a salary by the Church.  A married priest with a professional career would be like a married deacon with a professional career already in progress or retired.

Here is a direct quote from the La Croix article citing Archbishop Wintzer:

"But I think that, as in the Eastern Churches, married men could be called to be priests, while still continuing in their jobs," he added.

They will still be able to maintain "their family and professional lives," Wintzer said.

"On Sundays, they will preside over the liturgical assembly, will lead prayer and preach the Gospel," he explained.

Source: https://international.la-croix.com/news/french-bishop-backs-ordination-of-married-men/9670 

St. Patrick, Son of a Deacon, and Grandson of Clergyman

According to https://www.biography.com/people/st-patrick-9434729, St. Patrick's dad was a deacon and his grandfather was a member of the clergy.  Here is an except:



"His father, Calphurnius, was a deacon from a Roman family of high social standing. Patrick's mother, Conchessa, was a close relative of the great patron St. Martin of Tours. Patrick's grandfather, Pontius, was also a member of the clergy."