Posted on 02/10/2006 3:55:07 PM PST by LouAvul
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - A former Episcopalian priest who converted to Catholicism became the first married cleric ordained in the Diocese of San Bernardino under an unusual provision.
As his wife and two children looked on at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral, Gregory Elder was ordained into the Roman Catholic clergy Friday through a rarely invoked exemption to Canon Law called the Pastoral Provision.
"I'm humbled, it's an honor, and only God could have made this happen," Elder told The Associated Press. "I didn't leave the Episcopal Church because I was mad at them. I wanted to join the church of history. I love my Episcopal friends."
Since 1983, about 80 former Episcopal priests in the United States have been ordained as Catholic priests through the provision, said the Rev. William Stetson, director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C.
About 43,400 Catholic priests reside in the United States, according to the center.
"The provision is very unusual, because priests are asked to be celibate, are asked not the marry. This is definitely the exception to the rule, because with the Pastoral Provision, you get to stay married," said the Rev. Paul Granillo, spokesman for the San Bernardino diocese.
Approved by the late Pope John Paul II, the provision requires eligible Episcopalian candidates to convert to Catholicism and find a bishop to sponsor them.
(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
And the Eastern Churches are tiny in the West in terms of numbers.
There are going to continue to be differences of opinion on this disciplinary matter of celibacy. Besides, most of the posters seem to agree that mandatory celibacy has outlived its usefulness.
And I wouldn't be so quick to say that Catholics don't know anything about celibacy. They know all about it, and don't care if their priests are married or celibate. They just want men who are good priests.
well let me go on record I am pro celibate priest lol.
Touche!!! ROFL!!! Kudos ... to a convert!
1 Timothy 4
Instructions to Timothy
1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
What principles are we talking about the catholic church or the Word of God?
"don't play games here with Gods' word"
Perhaps it's the church's spin on God's word that is the problem.
Paul was celibate.
Ah, the voice of the faithful.
You would be quite surprised at how fast they are growing. Size is of little consequence, anyway. The issue is much deeper and has been addressed by Eastern Patriarchs who are far more familiar with the workings of integrating married priests into their Church.
Sandro Magister recorded Nasrallah Peter Cardinal Sfeir's presentation to the Vatican Synod, last October.
Curiously, the most serious criticisms of ordaining married men came from exponents of the Eastern Rite Churches, in which married priesthood is the norm.
Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronites of Lebanon, said:
“Half of our diocesan priests are married. However, we must admit that the marriage of priests, even if resolving one problem, also creates other serious problems. A married priest has the duty of taking care of his wife and children, to ensure their education, to secure for them a certain social standing. The priesthood was also a means of social promotion in Lebanon. Another problem arises for a married priest, that of not having misunderstandings with the parishioners. Despite this, it can be the case that the bishop cannot transfer him, due to the impossibility of his family to move with him.”
If this is how the discussion went at the synod, it is unlikely that it will give rise to a decision to modify the discipline of clerical celibacy now in force in the Western Church.
The Maronite Catholic Church has a long history of ordained priests. And still, the majority of them choose celibacy, as you did, when you were ordained a Deacon.
God said priests could not be married??
He left it up to direct subordinate left in charge of loosing and binding : St Peter.
The key issue is: does he abide by the teaching of the Church? Many priests do not.
The priest having a wife is just a cross he will have to bear.
The Word of God, of course.
"His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with [his] wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All [men] cannot receive this saying, save [they] to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from [their] mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive [it], let him receive [it]." - Matthew 19:10-12
Perhaps this passage is missing from your Bible?
You do not speak for the majority of Catholics.
Shocking though it may be to you, there are many of us conservative Catholics. The ratios simply depend on where you live.
Sainthood is one area where many of the churches restrictions fall away. There have been many married saints from the church itself (St. Peter, St. Siricius, St. Felix III, S. Hormisdas, St. Silverius, St. Agatho). There have been numerous other married and female saints from the laity over the centuries who have been so ordained without any kind of challenge to either their sex or marital status.
As a cradle Roman Catholic, I never paid this topic any heed until I joined this forum and met Orthodox with married priests. Only last week did the light bulb turn on. Peter was married before he was called into service by our Lord. He was one of the original disciples and his first vow was to his wife. He kept it until his death.
It was an "ahaa" moment. The Eastern practice of allowing married men to become priests suddenly made sense, as did the Latin practice of following Paul's admonition, after receiving the Word from our Lord.
A vow is a vow. Once broken, there is no reconciling the differences. The Episcopal priest in this article, never took a vow of celibacy. He began with a marriage vow. Now that he has been ordained a Catholic priest, his vow of celibacy kicks in, if and when his wife dies. It all makes perfect sense. A priest is married to his bride, the Church. His children are the parishioners who look up to him for guidance and counsel. My pastor, God bless this holy man, is a celibate Maronite priest who gives his all to the parish and community at large. He has sacrificed a wife and children to care for us. And care, he does, with heart and soul, enflamed with love for our Lord.
Good ... not that you can do anything to change the situation :-).
The disintegration of the Episcopalians has been visible on the horizon for some time. I think that's probably why the Church has made this limited exception - since many Episcopalians are One Step From Rome anyhow, and the faithful ones are being left homeless by the sinful antics of the national church. Things have just accelerated with the "consecration" of Vicky G. and the ensuing fallout.
And you are right, the new priests DO take a vow of future celibacy - once ordained, they cannot marry again if widowed. And that's as it should be.
As a Protestant, I have always thought required celibacy for priests to be a strange and unnatural practice.
Look at the Jewish practice: Rabbis are not celibate: indeed, they are encouraged to have large families, which are a point of pride for their congregations.
I am impressed by the large number of famous, talented men in Anglo-American history who were the sons of ministers. There is no such parallel, obviously, among Catholics. Insofar as the priestly calling attracts natural talent, that talent is rather systematically bred out of a population which practices priestly celibacy. (I bet I'll be in for it for mentioning that!)
The Catholic church is short of priests. A reasonable, practical, and humane solution would be to keep priestly celibacy for those who desire it, but to allow separate orders of married priests to exist in parallel. But I am just a lowly Protestant, so I doubt that the Pope would listen to me on this point.
Why? The Pope put the issue in front of the synod of bishops this year for discussion. The bishops decided they weren't even going to address the issue, except to reaffirm the current practice.
Hey, that's fine. But, priests are dying off in the West and not being replaced in the same numbers and that situation is not going to improve over the next decade. So, eventually, those in rural and some city parishes will have deacons or lay administrators of their parishes. And, except for a Sunday Mass or two, everything else will be done by non-priests.
The Africans have made clear that they need every priest they are ordaining (plus they don't want their guys to come to the West and get a taste of our decadent lifestyle because they will likely want to stay).
I don't know about you, but I predict that, sooner or later, American Catholics, who are the financial backbone of the Church at large, will tire of supporting parishes with no resident priest.
Or, they may decide that having circuit rider priests are just fine, with laymen running everything else.
Whatever happens, the face of the Church is going to change, and change dramatically in the next generation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.