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 ...
"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."
I wouldn't call you lowly or think such because you are a Protestant, nor would the vast majority of Catholics posting on this forum, so let's nix that right off.
I'm not entirely in agreement with the premise. We in the U.S. are a bit spoiled in that we've had so many priests available to us in the past. In many countries, parishioners are lucky if they get to see a priest more than a couple of times a year.
I don't think that celibacy is the issue in any case. There are Diocese in the U.S. that have outstanding vocations programs and more than enough priests. Two examples are the Diocese of Lincoln and Arlington. In my view the issue is more one of inspiration and leadership than celibacy.
Sorry...not very inclusive, was I? Eastern Catholics have their own traditions, for which I have great and deep respect. My comment was directed at my own Roman Catholic community.
"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."
So wealthy American parishes are somehow 'entitled' to the priests that they can't or won't generate themselves?
In my view, parishes that can't or won't find even one inspired man to become a priest have a whole lot more wrong with them than a lack of vocations.
Many of us posting FR go to tiny parishes that seem to have a wealth of vocations. In spite of the relative economic poverty of those parishes. In spite of the celibacy requirements.
Even if this were true, St. Peter has been dead for over 1900 years.
"This is definitely the exception to the rule..."
No it isn't. We have the same situation in Plainfield, IL.
"Sorry...not very inclusive, was I? Eastern Catholics have their own traditions, for which I have great and deep respect. My comment was directed at my own Roman Catholic community."
I assumed so, but I just had to get in the plug. :-)
There are different sets of traditions within the universal Catholic church that are sometimes at polar opposites. The celibate Priesthood is one example.
I agree that this appears to be an internal Catholic matter, but it really makes no sense from an objective viewpoint.
The Catholic argument is that a single man will devote all his energy to his congregation, while a married man would end up short-changing his congregation because he must also devote time and energy to his wife and children.
How can that be squared with letting an exception to the rule here? It really makes no sense.
Good for you. It may be a blessing in disguise that laymen are assuming more responsibility in the Church. Priests will focus on the sacramental ministry, and lay people will do everything else.
How can that be squared with letting an exception to the rule here? It really makes no sense.
The fact is that there are 15000 permanent deacons in America, many of them working full time, and most of them married.
The "time" argument is falling by the wayside as a valid argument when Catholics see that it is possible to balance ministry and family.
It's a little-known fact --- not even most Catholics seem to grasp this --- that the "Church" is actually a number of Churches in communion with the Bishop of Rome, but each with its own distinct traditions, and some with their own separate Canon Law. The Catechism lists these seven Catholic rites: the Latin Church (Western); and the Byzantine, Alexandrian, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean Churches (the "Eastern" Churches.)
Returning to the question of priestly celibacy, it is ONLY the Latin rite which has historically required an unmarried priesthood. All the other Catholic Churches ordain married men.
This underlines the fact that clerical celibacy is NOT a doctrine or dogma of the Catholic Church. It is only a devout custom (a "discipline") of the Latin, Western tradition. It is a valuable custom, a 1,000-year-old custom, and not one which I think is likely to change. But it COULD change. That's the point.
So the Catholic Church is not betraying its principles by ordaining formerly-Episcopalian married clergy under the Pastoral Provision. It's just startling (and maybe disturbing) to some because the Western Church has been so dominant that all its customs seem absolute and unchangeable, when in fact they are not.
Do not confuse this with the bedrock doctrines on faith and morals which really ARE unchangeable.
I wonder how many men who would have made wonderful priests were dissuaded from service by the celebacy requirement. The shortage of priests seems to demand a change.
"God said priests could not be married??"
Actually, that was the recommendation of St. Paul.
Excellent Point!!!!!!!!
Between 1965 and 2000, roughly 25000 priests left the ministry, the vast majority to get married.
These were men who were already in service. There's no way to know how many potential candidates demur due to the celibacy requirement, especially since the bishops have never bothered to find out.
I'll admit that there has been a lot of confusion and contradiction through the centuries, owing to the inroads made by heresies, from Manichaeism to Jansenism (and not even the saints were immune to these influences), but the doctrine of the Church has always insisted on Sacramentality of marital relations.
And when you speak of "uncleanness," -please understand that both in Judaism and Christianity, this is a ritual, not a moral category. For instance, contact with blood-- even animal blood --- is unclean, but not immoral. Emission of semen (even, for instance, in wet dreams) made a man ritually unclean, but not bad or wicked or evil.
The origins of this idea of ritual uncleanness are Biblical, but their meaning or purpose is unclear to me. In any case, ritual uncleanness, as a Jewish and Catholic concept, does not imply moral guilt.
Dear sinkspur,
"Hey, that's fine. But, priests are dying off in the West and not being replaced in the same numbers..."
That's a bit of a misconstruction of how things really are.
In places like Los Angeles, where the ordinary seems unconcerned with trivial matters like Catholic orthodoxy, there are nearly no vocations at all. In the Archdiocese of Washington, on the other hand, although our numbers of priests will decline modestly over the next decade or two as the boomers all retire and die, the longer term prospects, at current rates of ordination, are for the numbers of priests to grow in proportion with the Catholic population.
Of course, sinkspur, your entire argument is based on an entirely false premise, which is that overall, the United States is woefully short of Catholic priests, and places like Africa have more priests than they can handle.
Actually, the ratio of priests to Catholics in the United States is higher than most other countries of the world, including most countries in Africa.
Here are a few statistics that belie your premise (all derived from www.catholic-hierarchy.com - kudos to David M. Cheney):
Country - Catholics - Priests - Catholics:Priests
European/European Heritage Countries
United States - 64,621,000 - 44,906 - 1,439:1
Italy - 57,665,000 - 50,148 - 1,150:1
France - 44,499,000 - 21,930 - 2,029:1
Latin America - Largest Catholic Populations
Brazil - 145,446,000 - 16,853 - 8,630:1
Mexico - 123,393,000 - 14,618 - 8,441:1
Columbia - 38,406,000 - 7,920 - 4,849:1
Oceania - Largest Catholic Population
Phillipines - 69,630,000 - 7,335 - 9,493:1
African Countries - Largest Catholic Populations
Congo - 29,500,000 - 4,306 - 6,851:1
Nigeria - 17,906,000 - 4,437 - 4,036:1
Uganda - 11,219,000 - 1,584 - 7,083:1
Asian Countries - Largest Catholic Populations
India - 17,005,000 - 19,946 - 853:1
Indonesia - 6,439,000 - 3,038 - 2119:1
Vietnam - 5,658,000 - 2,668 - 2121:1
As you can see, among countries with large Catholic populations, the United States is near the top in terms of the ratio of Catholics to priests.
sitetest
Even if this were true, St. Peter has been dead for over 1900 years.
It is true see Mathew 16 , even in the butchered King James mistranslation. Binding, loosing, keys to Heaven: bad news for PROTESTants.
Quick Note: Peter has legimitmate successors as did other Apostles. But you know all this.
This is a thread about a Catholic ordination what the hell are you doing here ?
Does your wife know you feel this way?
I'm not a priest, so a wife is no cross.
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