Posted on 01/31/2004 5:52:33 AM PST by ninenot
Lay volunteers are surveying diocesan and religious order priests in at least 52 of the country's 195 Roman Catholic dioceses to document how many think the requirement of mandatory celibacy for diocesan priests should be openly discussed by church leaders.
The effort is being coordinated by two national reform groups that advocate the ordination of married men and of women - the Chicago-based Call to Action and the Cleveland-based FutureChurch.
It is another in a series of ripples that were set in motion last year when 169 priests in the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese sent signed letters to the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops advocating optional celibacy for diocesan priests as one way of keeping the sacraments available amid a worsening shortage of priests.
"Look what Milwaukee started," said Linda Pieczynski, a past president of Call to Action. "All we can hope at this point is to have some ongoing dialogue, because we recognize that none of the bishops is probably going to speak out against what Rome has said, not under this current pope."
Priest associations in several parts of the country echoed the Milwaukee priests' call or voiced support for open discussion without taking a position. However, they represented a minority of priests in their areas.
The National Federation of Priests' Councils, recognizing priests are divided, also urged the hierarchy to have open discussions.
Meanwhile, 90 diocesan priests, representing 60% of the priests in the Diocese of Arlington, Va., supported mandatory celibacy.
Organizers of the survey effort hope to provide better documentation - and thereby help keep the issue alive - by ensuring anonymity.
"Priests are fearful of negative responses from their boss, so they would be more apt to respond anonymously," said Sister Christine Schenk, executive director of FutureChurch.
Results from five dioceses produced high enough return rates to show generally strong support for the question, "Do you favor an open discussion of the mandatory celibacy rule for diocesan priests?"
Those results, excluding respondents who were unsure:
Dean Hoge, a sociologist at Catholic University of America who has written about and studied the priesthood extensively, said those results and return rates could be considered representative of all priests, with a margin of error of plus or minus 10%, even though response rates vary.
"You can say that a majority of the priests already favor the idea and an even higher percentage favor discussion of the idea," Hoge said. "This is not surprising, because past studies, even the best studies, have shown that priests are ready for discussing."
The most recent survey Hoge is aware of - one he worked on in 2001 - showed that 56% of all priests and 53% of diocesan priests thought celibacy should be a matter of personal choice for diocesan priests.
Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. bishops conference, has opposed reopening discussion of the issue, saying celibacy had been reaffirmed over the years by popes, the Second Vatican Council, subsequent synods of bishops, and national conferences of bishops.
Proponents were heartened last year when Chicago's Cardinal Francis George supported having some type of discussions and said he would bring the matter up with Gregory.
Chicago archdiocesan spokesman Jim Dwyer said Friday that no decisions had been made about such discussions.
Take a look at this article HERE regarding celibacy and the early Church:
http://www.inq7.net/opi/2003/jul/13/letter_1-1.htm
Here is a quote:
"It turns out that to speak of celibacy is not an adequate notion, since the early Church did not have an obligation for the clergy to be unmarried, as meant by the Latin word (caelebs). From this fact the conclusion is sometimes drawn that mandatory celibacy was an invention of the Papal Church in the Middle Ages. Those who pursue this line of argument often point to the Second Lateran Council in 1193, which declared marriages contracted after the reception of holy orders invalid. As a matter of fact, well into the Middle Ages no bishop, priest or deacon was required to be unmarried. The exclusive discipline of celibacy, in the strict sense of the word, according to canon law came into force only after the Council of Trent (1545-1563). In the first millennium, an unmarried clergyman was not exactly the exception, but he was not the rule either.
However, to concentrate on the question of married or unmarried clergy misses the point. Ecclesiastical legislation from as early as the fourth century was much concerned with regulating the life of the clergy, especially in matters of sexual conduct. Recent scholarship suggests that a discipline of clerical continence, more comprehensive than what we understand today as celibacy, was established from the very beginning. Not only the unmarried clergy were affected by such a rule; the married clergy (and their wives) were, too, for they were required to renounce all sexual relations after their ordination. The early Church knew of an obligation for all higher clerics, that is, bishops, deacons and priests, to abstain from sexual intercourse. Thus the present discipline of the Latin Church would appear to be in continuity with the original discipline of clerical continence. "
I am aware that the Orthodox do sometimes have wives and families.
Now, are you going to make me haul out my Durant? ;-)
Tia
You sure about that?
Look here: www.christendom-awake.org/pages/mcgovern/celhist1 for a pretty lengthy and erudite review of the history.
I have no tolerance for Jack Chick or anyone like him.
Tia
Father John is a gift from God.
Even our grandsons want to be alter boys, this is their decision.
BTW, I do not care for girl servers. But that is another story.
You are lucky to have such a good priest in this day and age!
Tia
Incorrect. The discipline of celibacy and the priesthood in the Church finds it's genesis with Melchisedech in the Old Testament and was practiced and taught by the Apostles. Suggest you study accurate history, as well as Matthew 19:27-30 and Luke 18:28-30 rather than simply regurgitating ignorant urban legends.
"ut quod apostoli docuerunt, et ipsa servavit antiquitas nos quoque custodiamus"
I HAVE studied Church history, of several flavors. I can back what I am saying up.
Now *I* am being friendly about this. Why aren't you?
Tia
Thank you for your post. Call to Action is bogus Catholicism. Fortunately, at the last CTA convention/conference, most of the participants were old. The Holy Spirit is diminishing their numbers. They are dying off, as are all the old radical, flaky, heretical religious that afflicted the Church immediately following Vatican II.
Yeah, pretty certain. It wasn't that the Church ever said that celibecy wasn't the best or correct thing (in fact, it was real consistent about that); rather I think that the social upheavels associated with the 10th century were so great that the Church was faced with a problem of significant numbers (though nothing near a majority) of priests and bishops who were taking wives. Rather than declare them all heretics or defrock them, there was a recognition that they were still valid priests (although I think that their children were barred from ever entering Holy Orders).
Celibecy continued to be considered the ideal though, and by about 1050 or 1100 (I think) the Church was able to reestablish the discipline as a requirement. I'll do a check on the exact time frame later when I have some time
You may speculate as to the motivation of the Church for a celibate priesthood, but what do you mean by "the Church"? Do you mean that Church councils met and decided to adopt a celibate priesthood to enrich "the Church"?
Actually, I think an anti-Catholic statement like yours is based less upon history and more upon opinion. St. Paul himself inspired celibacy, advising those who wanted to dedicate themselves to God's service to remain celibate. He said that a celibate would not be distracted by the wants and needs of a spouse. That, truly, is the motivation of the Church for a celibate priesthood. Conversely, a married clergy opposes Apostolic advice!
What fascinates me most is the fact that married Protestant clergy have a rate of sexual abuse 5 times higher than that for celibate clergy (Jenkins, Pennsylvania University). A married clergy is not a solution for clerical sexual abuse.
To discover the real early Church, may I suggest a study of the writings of early Church fathers? That is better repeating old and familiar antiCatholic diatribes.
Regards.
You don't have to. Rather, take a looka at this article here: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03481a.htm
Youl will note that celibacy very common (in fact, the norm) in the western church far earlier than the Middle Ages and was considered an ideal to be enforced as early as the Spanish Council of Elvira (between 295 and 302) in canon xxxiii
As I said, this has far more to do with the cultural divide between East and West then money or property. Interesting topic for discussion, though.
Have a good one...
This is basically what it comes down to, you either believe what 2 thousand years of theological study has developed into or your not a ROMAN Catholic. If we as Roman Catholics don't want to follow what Rome teaches, than we are protestents.
Why then try to change the Roman church, why not find a church that teaches what you believe?
I'm not trying to insult anyone, just trying to state the obvious.
Agreed. You are free to believe whatever you want in the USA, but you are simply being dishonest if you call the beliefs of Call To Action and Future Church "Catholic".
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