Scandal Crisis Prompts Revisiting Married Priest Question

The question of married Latin rite priests has resurfaced lately in light of Vigano's bombshell letter which claims an active homosexual network in the priesthood.

There are multiple ways to frame a case for dispensing from mandatory celibacy vis-a-vis the presumed validity of the active homosexual priesthood claim above.  One argument can be made as follows:

ARGUMENT #1:

Premise 1: The active homosexual priest abuse scandal is present throughout multiple levels of the Church.  No (arch)diocesan structures are immune.

Premise 2: Married men generally do not act on homosexual inclinations and/or predations.  This is particularly proven by the overall witness of 40,000 married deacons.

Premise 3: The crisis is compounded by public perception, whether founded or unfounded, which reacts unfavorably to the freely-chosen celibate life.  Public perception is also favorable to homosexual persons but not predatory homosexual persons.

Conclusion: A married priesthood, therefore, lessens the presence of predatory priests and gradually restores public confidence in the Catholic Church over time.

(Note 1: Conclusion substantially alleviates, not systemically resolves, current crisis.)

(Note 2: Conservative arguments hold that there is no or little correlation to celibacy and homosexuality.)

Continence-Celibacy Already "Removed Together" for Ordained Married Men

Deacon David Lopez concludes the following in his blog Sioux City Deacon Formation here which was accessed on March 21, 2017:


Therefore, I am lead to conclude (at least tentatively), Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI have all understood Canon 277.1 to involve one obligation, that of continence-and-celibacy, and not two separate obligations. In permitting married men to be ordained, both aspects of the one obligation are removed together.

__________________________________________________

Deacon Lopez's point above is important for two reasons:

First, it shows that the three Roman Pontiffs have understood the sense and meaning of continence in Canon 277 to mean that the obligation to celibacy and continence is already removed.

Second, in the current discussion of possibly ordaining married men to the priesthood, the continence canon does not impose a celibacy-continence obligation.  Case closed.

"Clarify This Canon Quickly" (Priest's Wife's Blog)

From a priest's wife's blog Fear Not Little Flock accessed here on March 21, 2017:


One question that has been posed a few times on various sites and which is not answered is- How does marital relations negatively effect an ordained married man's ministry? All married people are called to chastity and occasional continence. Ordained married men are no exception. Of course, discretion and dignity is key, but all married couples should be dignified in their public actions. I feel it is undignified to calculate conception dates and contemplate any person's sex life.

If the Church has allowed married men to be ordained as deacons in the Roman rite and are allowing a 'new wave' of married men to be ordained priests from the Anglican Church for the Roman rite, shouldn't there be new canons to address these issues?

She noted Dr. Peters and Fr. Z who raised the continence post-ordination issue.  Yes, dear priest's wife, you do have a say.

(She didn't note that Dr. Peters himself brought up the option of eliminating the continence canon, and that eliminating the continence canon can be done even though there may be no historical precedence in the West for doing so.)  The priest's wife brings up a good question about clarifying canonical issues.

According to this position, even if married men were ordained to the priesthood -- and diaconate -- for that matter, Canon 277 in the 1983 Code of Canon Law that calls for clerics to practice continence-- perpetual continence, that is.

Perhaps the simple approach is not so much eliminating the canon but granting simple dispensation from the canon on continence of married permanent deacons and married priests.....

....and there you go: Problem solved! 

Blessed Mykola "Nicholas" Konrad (Husband/Father, Grandfather, Priest, Teacher, Martyr)

Born: 1876

Married: 

Ordained: 1899 (served as teacher)

Martyred: 1941 (shot by communist agents in a forest)
Beatified: 2001 by St. John Paul II

Source 1: http://stjosaphat.ab.ca/blessed-mykola-nicholas-konrad/

(Source 2: Catholic Saints here)

Excerpt from Catholic Saints:

Also known as

• Nicholas Konrad

Memorial

• 26 June

Profile

Greek Catholic. Studied philosophy and theology at Rome, Italy. Ordained in 1899. Taught in high schools in Berezhony and Tereboblya. Taught at the TheologicalAcademy in 1930. Parish priest at Stradch. Pastor of the Archeparchy of Lviv for the Ukrainians. Martyr.

Born

• 16 May 1876 at Strusiv, Ternopil District, Ukraine

Died

• tortured and murdered by NKVD agents on 26 June1941 in the forest outside Stradch, Yavoriv, L’vivs’ka oblast’, Ukraine

Venerated

• 24 April 2001 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)

Beatified

• 27 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II at Ukraine

Additional Information

• other sites in english
  • Hagiography Circle
• sitios en español
  • Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
• fonti in italiano
  • Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition
  • Santi e Beati
• nettsteder i norsk
  • Den katolske kirke

MLA Citation

• “Blessed Mykola Konrad“. CatholicSaints.Info. 22 June 2017. Web. 9 November 2019. <http://catholicsaints.info/blessed-mykola-konrad/>

This is one source I could find of him being married here.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Blessed Emilian Kovch (Husband/Father, Priest, Martyr)

(1884-1944)

Born: 1884

Married: ? (father of 6 children)

Ordained: 1911 (served as chaplain to soldiers fighting Bolsheviks & served in Ukraine)

Martyred: 1944 (Majdanek Concentration Camp)
Beatified: 2001 by St. John Paul II

(Source: Catholic Online here)

Excerpt from Catholic Online:

Emilian graduated from the College of Sergius and Bachus in Rome. Married, and father of six. Ordained in 1911. Worked throughout Galacia, and with Ukrainian immigrants to Yugoslavia. Chaplain to Ukrainian soldiers fighting the Bolsheviks in 1919. Parish priest in 1922 at Peremyshliany, Ukraine, a village of 5,000, most of whom were Jewish. An active priest, he organized pilgrimages and youth groups, and welcomed poor and orphaned children of all faiths into his home.

When the Nazis invaded Ukraine, they began rounding up Jews. To save them, Father Emilian began baptizing them, and listing them as Christians. The Nazis were wise to this trick, and had prohibited it. Emilian continued, but was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1942. Deported to the Majdanek concentration camp in August 1943. There he ministered to prisoners, hearing confessions, and celebrating Mass when possible. Martyred in the ovens.

Last known words to his wife: "My dear, do not cry or be upset. God has put me here in this place of death and terror. Yesterday, 50 men were executed. Can you imagine? I was able to be with them in their last hours to bring them the consolation of God and Christ. Do not weep, I am here in fulfillment of God's Will!" (Source: contributor named Alexander Roman on Jan. 14, 2011, to Catholic Answers Forum here)

Cardinal Pietro Parolin: "Modifications" to Priestly Celibacy With Unity & God's Will

From article "Pope says married men could be ordained- if world's bishops agree," Tablet, here in 2014:


Last September the Vatican Secretary of State, then-Archbishop Pietro Parolin – who was then Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela – answered a question put to him by El Universal newspaper by stating that 

priestly celibacy “is not part of church dogma and the issue is open to discussion because it is an ecclesiastical tradition”.

“Modifications can be made, but these must always favour unity and God’s will,” he said.

“God speaks to us in many different ways. We need to pay attention to this voice that points us towards causes and solutions, for example the clergy shortage.”

Abrogate & "Abandon" Continence Obligation of Married Priests a Canonical Option (Dr. Edward Peters)

Dr. Edward Peters proposed 4 options for addressing obligatory continence for married clerics here:

Four ways to reconcile law-tradition and clerical practice are possible

I have avoided urging to the Church toward or away from any particular resolution of this issue. I see, however, only four possible ways to reconcile the current disconnect between tradition and canon law on the one hand and current clerical practice on the other, namely: the Roman Church can:

• reaffirm the unbroken tradition of perfect and perpetual continence for all clerics; or,
• reaffirm the continence obligation for all priests, but abandon it for married deacons; or,
• assert a temporary continence obligation for married priests (and possibly deacons); or,
• abandon any expectation of continence for married clerics (i.e., canonize the present situation).

The passage above was accessed today, March 15, 2017, and Dr. Peters's webpage on continence for married deacons was last updated on Jan. 16, 2017. 

It is the last of the 4 options that would allow canonical dispensation from continence of clerics (in this case, priests and deacons).

abandon any expectation of continence for married clerics (i.e., canonize the present situation).

The argument this abandonment position addresses is as follows:

ARGUMENT: Even if the tradition of "viri probati" includes ordination of married men (or deacons) to the priesthood, these viri probati would need to then undertake perpetual continence (i.e., no conjugal relations with a married priest's wife after ordination to the priesthood) as is the ancient tradition and canon law practice of the Western Church.

COUNTER-ARGUMENT TO OBLIGATORY CONTINENCE OF MARRIED LATIN RITE PRIESTS: However, just as married permanent deacons (viri probati) can be dispensed from the canon law requirement of continence, so too married priests of the Latin Catholic rite may and must be dispensed from the obligation of continence.

The perpetual continence discipline is not a matter of the Deposit of Faith and thus subject to pontifical change, even if it is true (as Dr. Peters's observes) that there is no basis for abandoning continence in the Roman rite Church's history.  (Perpetual continence does not appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but perpetual continence does appear more so in the 1983 Code of Canon Law demonstrating that it is part of the Church's discipline which is changeable.)

Therefore, a Pope that allows Latin rite married priests citing "viri probati" could AND would need to decree dispensation from this canonical requirement of perpetual continence.

Catholic Media: "Viri Probati" Applied to Married Deacons (America)

From America Magazine here:


Die Zeit asked: “What about viri probati, those men of proven virtue, who are married but can be ordained deacons because of their exemplary Catholic moral conduct?”

The pope answered: “We need to consider if viri probati could be a possibility. If so, we would need to determine what duties they could undertake, for example, in remote communities.”

The term viri probati comes from the Latin viri, meaning "men," and probati, for "proven" or "tested." It is an expression that has been raised in previous discussions of the possibility of a married Latin Rite priesthood and is used to refer to married men of strong faith and impeccable virtue.

Catholic Media: Possibly Ordain Married Deacons as Priests (Catholic Online)

"Pope Francis suggested it is possible that some deacons could be made priests." - Catholic Online

If that is the case, then maybe married men should first serve as deacons and then, after some time, possibly be considered for the priesthood.

The diaconate would thus really be a stepping stone to the priesthood for married men.

"Viri Probati" Does Not Focus on Extreme Circumstances

ARGUMENT #1 AGAINST MARRIED PRIESTS UNIVERSALLY (Strict interpretation of Viri Probati)

Rome Reports reports in this video here that viri probati includes the sense of extreme circumstances.

The video speaks of the specifically extreme circumstances of South America.  Is viri probati limited to geography?

If so, then married priests may only be allowed in this extreme circumstance in South America and not in the universal Catholic Church around the world.


REPLY TO ARGUMENT #1 AGAINST MARRIED PRIESTS UNIVERSALLY (Broader interpretation of Viri Probati - assuming assumption of strict interpretation)

However, if it is true that the sense of viri probati includes extreme circumstances of dearth of priests for an extended period of time, then the question should also be asked whether viri probati is defined simply in a geographical context.

It would need to be demonstrated that the original sense of viri probati is not geographically-bound or, at least, that there is no evidence that viri probati means that it is specifically limited to a geographical region of the universal Church.


Furthermore, even if viri probati is understood in a limited geographical context where there is the extreme circumstance of a dearth of priests for an extended period of time, then that means that viri probati would need to be applied to a broader sense that includes the global context of lack of priests instead of the mere regional context of South America.

South America thus is the impetus for discussing the global lack of priests around the world and to open up ordaining married priests not just in South America but in Roman rite dioceses throughout the world.


Finally, isn't the correct understanding of viri probati used to ordain married deacons?  The term viri probati is applied to married permanent deacons more than just geographical location and extreme circumstances.  Hence, the sense of viri probati is not limited to geography and can still serve as a theological and/or canonical and/or practical foundation for the ability of married men to serve as married priests. 

The local context and extreme circumstances would thus be irrelevant.  (Rome Reports may be excellent at journalism but not necessarily with this theological point about viri probati.)

Secular Media: Married Priests v. Priests Marrying

Delia Gallagher, for the most part, gets it right when she explains that married men may be ordained priests, but priests may not get married.  These are two different things.

A married man may be ordained, but an ordained man cannot marry.


CNN (through the male news anchor) didn't have to mention homosexuality and abortion.  These are doctrinal matters, but priestly celibacy is not a doctrinal matter.