Posted on 10/20/2009 7:53:46 AM PDT by Traianus
» 10/20/2009 16:11
VATICAN
Pope approves special rules and structures to welcome Anglican clergy, including married priests
Married clergymen and bishops will be ordained by the Catholic Church but will not be able to become ordinaries, this according to the forthcoming Apostolic Constitution approved by Benedict XVI. The purpose is to allow Anglicans to retain their traditions and liturgy, whilst professing fidelity to Rome.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Benedict XVI has decided to create a structure for Anglican clergy and groups who want to join the Catholic Church. The forthcoming Apostolic Constitution will provide for “Personal Ordinariates”, thus allowing “for the ordination as Catholic priests of married former Anglican clergy.”
The ordination of Anglican priests in the Catholic Church is nothing new. In 1982, John Paul II had approved provisions whereby married Anglican clerics who wanted to become Catholic priests could perform their ministerial service.
Benedict XVI has decided to provide a framework for such a situation, this according to a Note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church.
Personal Ordinariates “will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony. Under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, pastoral oversight and guidance will be provided for groups of former Anglicans through a Personal Ordinariate, whose Ordinary will usually be appointed from among former Anglican clergy.”
The Apostolic Constitution “provides a reasonable and even necessary response to a world-wide phenomenon, by offering a single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application. It provides for the ordination as Catholic priests of married former Anglican clergy. Historical and ecumenical reasons preclude the ordination of married men as bishops in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Constitution therefore stipulates that the Ordinary can be either a priest or an unmarried bishop.”
Ultimately, the papal document “seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be integrated into the Catholic Church.”
This, according to the Note, is due to events that occurred since the Second Vatican Council, most notably the decision by some Anglican communions to ordain women and “openly homosexual clergy” and bless “homosexual partnerships.”
Following such experiences, in addition to decisions by individuals, “Sometimes there have been groups of Anglicans who have entered while preserving some ‘corporate’ structure. Examples of this include, the Anglican diocese of Amritsar in India, and some individual parishes in the United States which maintained an Anglican identity when entering the Catholic Church under a ‘pastoral provision’ adopted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope John Paul II in 1982.”
“We have been trying to meet the requests for full communion that have come to us from Anglicans in different parts of the world in recent years in a uniform and equitable way,” said Card William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“They have declared that they share the common Catholic faith as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and accept the Petrine ministry as something Christ willed for the Church. For them, the time has come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion,” he added.
The provision of this new structure, the Note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said by way of conclusion, “is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church, particularly through the efforts of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.”
I was baptised and confirmed into the Anglican church when I was 14...
My family was Anglican for generations..
I’m a member of the Huguenot Society...
My family has been steeped in the Reformation for hundreds of years...
Yes, one result of this new change is that they will now allow married seminarians who convert to be ordained priests.
There has always been a provision to re-unite Priests from other traditions (mainly Orthodox) who accept the authority of Rome but who were in previously existing marriages at the time. Obviously the Church cannot bust-up a family by insisting that he leave the marriage as a result, so they’ve made the best possible accommodation. Such priests cannot remarry once thay have accepted Catholic priesthood.
If ths spouse dies they must remain celebate. So they are really just extending to Anglicans the same deal that they’ve had in place with other sects for a long time.
That being said...the perception of this is going to be very, very difficult for them. It looks so hypocritical on it’s fact that it is going to break open a whole kettle of worms again over the issue of celibacy. The average person is just going to see a Priest with family in tow show up in their parish one day and will not understand the nuances. Endless media coverage will no doubt stoke these flames.
Incorrect. The Pastoral Provision was approved in 1980.
The time for priests to be able to marry is long past due.
21 of the 22 Churches sui juris which comprise the Catholic Church ordain, as a norm, married men. Once ordained a single Priest may not marry, in any Rite; same as the Greek Orthodox Church. This has been the case for nearly two millenia.
I think it will also cut way down on the child abuse that has so plagued the various churches and faiths over the past few decades.
Explain the behavior of these protestants who are free to marry.
You also probably don't realize that any married Anglican pastor who converts to the Latin Rite and is ordained under this Pastoral Provision will have to agree, prior to ordination, that if his spouse precedes him in death he will then adopt the discipline of celibacy for the remainder of his life.
The discipline of celibacy is based upon the example and teachings of Christ, the Apostles and Saint Paul.
21 of the 22 Churches sui juris which comprise the Catholic Church, ordain, as a norm married men. Those Churches are in the Eastern Rites. The Latin Rite does not, as a norm, ordain married men.
While I do not personally agree with this stance, I understand and appreciate the dedication to this stance.
Then you disagree with Saint Paul:
"But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided." 1 Corinthians 7:32-33
Now, after many centuries; this stance has been abandoned - without any fanfare.
Incorrect.
Will the Catholic church welcome practicing Gay Priests?
"Advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers."
In the audience graciously granted on 23 January, 1961, to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, our Holy Father, Pope John XXIII, deigned to approve this Instruction and ordered that it be communicated to superiors of institutes of evangelical perfection.
Perhaps you should do some actual research before you attempt to opine authoritatively on a topic you have little knowledge of.
Incorrect. In the Latin Rite:
Can. 277 §1 Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven, and are therefore bound to celibacy. Celibacy is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and can dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and their neighbour.
§2 Clerics are to behave with due prudence in relation to persons whose company can be a danger to their obligation of preserving continence or can lead to scandal of the faithful.
§3 The diocesan Bishop has authority to establish more detailed rules concerning this matter, and to pass judgement on the observance of the obligation in particular cases.
The 1980 Pastoral Provision that these Anglican converts are ordained under grants a dispensation from the Canonical requirement of the adoption of the discipline of celibacy in the Latin Rite. It must be noted that these Anglican converts who seek ordination must agree, prior to ordination, that if their spouse precedes them in death, they will then adopt the discipline of celibacy for the remainder of their life. If they refuse to agree to this stipulation they will not be ordained.
The teachings of Christ are antiquated only to the ignorant.
Source for the claim of "hundreds"?
That is a gross exaggeration.
You are ignorant. A fact which has been proven repeatedly in the past and will continue to be proven repeatedly in the future on this forum.
Based upon your flawed interpretation of Scripture. Suggest you carefully read Hebrews 7 repeatedly until you can comprehend it, which most likely will never occur.
I think the same could be said of you; if you read my posts, I start off stating that I am not Catholic; but I do have questions. All of my posts positioned my question based upon my personal knowledge, I have never claimed any expertise in these matters.
So, before you flame away - you should take the time to learn whether my intent it to learn, or to inflame. Perhaps you have my posts confused with someone else, who is posting questions not in the spirit of seeking knowledge, but in the spirit of pettiness and to attack the church. I have no beef with the Catholic church. I may not believe as you do; but we are all brothers in Christ; I simply chose another path to the same destination we are all seeking. You feel as certain as to the validity of your path, as I do in mine.
Actually, the Roman Catholic Church has been ordaining married men as priests for quite some time. Married Lutheran and Episcopalian priests have been brought in. IIRC there have been numerous married Africans that have been so ordained. And there are the married priests of the Eastern Catholic Church, which is in full communion with the RCC.
I heard a little more about this new order proclaimed by the Pope while listening to Relavent Radio in my car today. It does not answer your question about married laymen becoming priests, although nothing I’ve read, or heard, has even brought up that question (except for you.)
The speaker did say that everyone converting — whether a priest or a layperson — would have their marriages examined for validity and an effort would be made to bring them into alignment with Catholic rules. IOW, if an Anglican is married to a previously divorced person (without the benefit of an annulment) that would have to be reconciled just like our current RCIA procedure.
All converting and seeking Communion with Rome would have to take lessons in the Catechism. All would have to make a profession of faith.
Etc., etc.
The only change from current practice is that the Roman Church will provide a structure, or vehicle, to make this go more smoothly for a group, rather than an individual process.
I very much doubt that unmarried men will be ordained and then allowed to marry. I don’t see that at all. Nor do I see females being ordained as priests. Nor do I see remarriages among priests being allowed.
But, I should add that I am not gifted with 2nd sight! LOL.
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