Posted on 01/25/2005 5:56:05 AM PST by Catholic54321
Australian Catholic priests are urging Rome to overturn its ban on married clergy as the church grapples with a chronic shortage of ordained priests.
The unprecedented submission to the Vatican directly challenges the obligation of celibacy, a prerequisite of the Catholic priesthood, and has reignited a debate within the church that has been simmering since the Middle Ages.
The National Council of Priests wrote to the Vatican's Synod of Bishops last month arguing that marriage should be no bar to ordination and asking the church to consider readmitting priests who had left the clergy to marry.
It also asked the church to extend the right held by thousands of married clergy who converted to Catholicism from other faiths to practise as priests to other married men.
About half of Australia's 1649 Catholic clergy, including 42 bishops and three cardinals, are members of the National Council of Priests, including the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell
The council's chairman, Father Hal Ranger, said the changes were necessary to ensure Catholics had continued access to the sacraments. Vast distances and cultural or lifestyle factors, combined with decreasing priest numbers, meant the opportunity for some Catholics to celebrate the eucharist was "drastically limited". It was important to take decisive action so that Sunday mass and celebration of the sacraments was reasonably available.
"We request that ... the Synod Fathers examine honestly the appropriateness of insisting upon a priesthood that is, with very few exceptions, obliged to be celibate. Priesthood is a gift, celibacy is a gift: they are not the same gift," said the statement, which was written in response to a discussion paper on the place of the Eucharist in Catholic life.
Father Ranger said Australian priests were loyal to Catholic traditions and adverse to liturgical abuse but "we are scandalised when the gnat of abuse is so carefully strained out while the camel of dying communities is being swallowed".
Last month the Sydney Catholic Diocese announced plans to "twin" more than 50 local parishes to overcome falling priest numbers. It came as a survey of more than 300 Australian priests presented to Catholic bishops showed little support for mandatory celibacy and linked celibacy with thoughts of resignation.
A Melbourne priest and statistician has warned that the Catholic Church in NSW faces a dire shortage of priests in the next 20 years as its clergy ages, retires or dies. Father Eric Hodgens predicted the church would have fewer than one-sixth the number needed to conduct Sunday Mass.
Celibacy was the single biggest obstacle to the priesthood, he said, but while admitting married men would make a difference to recruitment numbers it was not the only answer. "The package at the moment is male, full-time, life-long and celibate and I would think that whole package is difficult for most people to embrace," Father Hodgens said.
Cardinal Pell yesterday declined to say where he stood on the issue of celibacy, only that he agreed with much of what had been written by the council, but not all.
"Reflections on the lineamenta [discussion paper] are offered by the executive of the NCP as 'indications of the thinking of many Australian Catholic priests'.
"As a member of the NCP, I would agree with much of what they have written, but not all of it. There are many rooms in the Father's house," he said.
Kol, correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the Orthodox experiencing this same "shortage of priests" as the Roman Church is?
And if so, then this proves that the thesis "allowing priests to marry would solve the vocations crisis" to be untrue, would it not?
I believe I have read several articles stating that the Orthodox Church is lacking priests also. So are Protestant denominations as a matter of fact.
The vocations crisis in the Roman Church is tied to a lack of fidelity; simple as that. God always gives His people the results of their actions. He always allows them to suffer do to their stupidity (in the Catholic Church, it begain in the 1960s, and in some quarters, continues until this day.)
"Could it be a denial of grace as a chastisement because of the rampant faithlessness and apostasy of our clergy and laity?"
Bingo. Right on. Of course. Bump.
It means exactly what I said. What qualifies someone who isn't married to give advice to soneone who is? Telling people how to be better parents when they themselves know nothing of the day to day struggles of rasing a kid? Why not just say that you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before? And again, other christian religions allow the church leaders to marry. They live their lives, they raise families and still serve God.
I have met priests who have had women on the side. And, let's get out of denial about the amount of gays who enter the priesthood. Pedophiles are a whole different issue.
"What specific programs do you have for the young men and boys?"
We will have our third annual altar servers' camp (Sorry, NO GIRLS ALLOWED!) for the Latin Mass this summer at the beach. We'll have three days of Masses, rubrics/Latin training, help from two or three priests and two or three seminarians, fun at the beach, and will top it off with a High Mass and then a priestly ordination on Saturday.
What specific programs do you have for your parish's young men and boys?
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"What qualifies someone who isn't married to give advice to soneone who is?"
Based upon this same "logic," why should children listen to their parents? They have never been parents before and are "practicing" on their first-born. Why should the first-born listen to them?
The reason they are qualified is that the Church is wiser than any individuals. Based upon the current societal demise, I would think it should be obvious that whatever it is that parents are attempting to to do, (Oh, those who stay married) is simply not working.
Read what the Church teaches and apply it. For most, cutting off God's grace (through use of contraception) is probably the primary reason why things aren't working.
"And again, other christian religions allow the church leaders to marry. They live their lives, they raise families and still serve God."
And their divorce rates are HIGHER than the general population. And how is it exactly that they are serving God? By teaching heresy to their congregations in a schismatic "faith community"? Come again?
Matters are "complicated" now. The need in the Church is the Eucharist. Without priests, there is no Eucharist.
It seems that the Vatican would rather compromise the availability of the Eucharist than compromise on the marital status of the minister of the Eucharist.
The "problems" with married priests are all real problems. To me, the issue is, do those outweigh the declining availability of the Eucharist to Latin Rite Catholics?
That's actually not the case. Applications for rural churches are down, true, but there are more than adequate numbers of Protestant ministers of all denominations who apply to serve in urban congregations.
The vocations crisis in the Roman Church is tied to a lack of fidelity; simple as that.
If that's the case, why are the numbers of men being ordained to the permanent diaconate running at TWICE the number of men who are ordained to the priesthood every year (800 versus 400)?
It is simply not true that Catholic men don't want to serve the Church. It is true that they don't want to serve the Church as celibates.
God always gives His people the results of their actions. He always allows them to suffer do to their stupidity (in the Catholic Church, it begain in the 1960s, and in some quarters, continues until this day.)
Why does God seem to approve of married priests in every other Rite of the Catholic Church except the Latin? Are we Latin Riters the only "stupid" Catholics?
You got some statistical evidence for that? I've never read that the incidence of divorce for Protestant ministers is higher than for the population in general.
KNOCK IT OFF!
They don't like the answers, of course, but I'm answering them nonetheless.
Nobody's getting personal here; nobody's calling anybody a bad Catholic or anything or questioning his/her faith or trashing the Pope. I consider this the kind of debate we ought to have and the manner in which we ought to have it.
Mandatory celibacy is a legitimate issue in the Catholic Church, and it has nothing to do with dogmatic teaching.
Everything's fine so far, as far as I am concerned.
**But they never suggest fidelity to the Church's teaching as a solution, do they?**
One of the best places to put our faith is in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. The places where vocations to the priesthood are occurring is in the parishes that have 24/7 Adoration. (Reagrdless of the leanings of the bishop/archbishop.)
So if people want more and holy priests then they should be taking part in the 24/7 Adorations that are happening all across the U. S.
**"This is something that really makes no sense. Priests who are not married are giving marital and other family oriented advice to those that are?"**
This is a sweeping generality voiced by many non-Catholics. Our priest served for many years in the airline industry before answering the call to become a priest. He has dealt with many married couples in finding lost luggage, etc.
Another thing on the marital point -- don't you think that priests have a good idea of how marriage works or doesn't work for the perspective of their parents? Duh.
That would be fine if you were the Religion Moderator, but you're not. My warning stands.
Oops -- don't you think that priests have a good idea of how marriage works or doesn't work from the perspective of their parents?
You have a point about the married priesthood in the Eastern rite. However, if a priest wants to be considered for a bishop, doesn't he have to remain celebate? Why have married priests then?
**As a side note, there were about 800 seminarians at the Mass at the MCI Center prior to the March for Life in Washington, DC. This must account, I'm guessing, for about 1 out of every 5 or 6 seminiarians in the United States. This, to me, is evidence of the growing orthodoxy of our newer priests.**
Oh, what good news!!!!!
Thank you, God, for the gift of these seminarians!
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