Is it time to ordain married men to the Catholic priesthood?

Vivificat! - A Catholic Blog of Commentary and Opinion ^ | 7 April 2005 | Teófilo

[pa mom]

But I think it has been perverted and many in the Church view sex, and by extension women, as something evil.

The historical context could go either with celibacy or with married clergy. Has tradition created the celibate priesthood and therefore the sacrifice you describe?

[GerardPH]

You mean in the context of Protestantism.

[Tantumergo]

"Has tradition created the celibate priesthood and therefore the sacrifice you describe?"

If by tradition you mean Jesus Christ encouraging it, St. Paul encouraging it, numerous Saints and Popes over the centuries encouraging or mandating it, the Holy Spirit guiding the Church into accepting and revering it, then YES!.

We have married clergy in that we deacons in the West and the clergy of the Eastern Churches may be married and then ordained. However, the truly celibate priesthood of the Latin Church is a great gift from God which the rest of us should promote and honour.

[Teófilo]

"Is it time?

No, it isn't."

And I will happily give thanks and pay heed to the Magisterium of the Church if they continue upholding the current discipline of the Latin Rite, since discernment belongs to the Magisterium.

In Christ,
-Theo

[Teófilo]

Okay, so the subject has been beaten to death in FREP. Your point being... In Christ, -Theo

[Rytwyng]

You mean in the context of Protestantism.

I used to be Catholic; then I read the Bible.

[BlackElk]

The late Bishop Fulton Sheen once observed that, if the Roman Catholic Church were actually what its enemies claim, Fulton Sheen would have left the Church. Happily, the critics were wrong. Celibacy was imposed in the Roman Rite by Pope Gregory VII. The purpose had to do with the wealthy hiring the children of priests in order that the wealthy might control the substance of sermons.

We can well do without married priests.

We can certainly do without laywomen or laymen running parishes.

I can definitely think of some deacons that I would not ever want to be running parishes.

We'll get by because we will be importing actually Catholic Third World priests as necessary until the very promising seminarians of today are ready to lead the AmChurch back to Catholicism. Catholicism and materialism are separate categories. Doctrine and discipline are what count in Catholicism.

[BlackElk]

Repeat as often as possible. Superb post! Thanks. God bless you and yours.

[GerardPH]

I used to be Catholic; then I read the Bible.

You mean you were baptized a Catholic and never really learned what Catholicism was. Then somebody with an anti-Catholic agenda decided to pick you off by appealling to your misconceptions and providing erroneous arguments about the Bible.

It's a shame. You were a misinformed Catholic and now you are a misinformed "bible only christian". You have yet to actually meet Christ.

[Rytwyng]

Then somebody with an anti-Catholic agenda decided to pick you off by appealling to your misconceptions and providing erroneous arguments about the Bible.

The whole reason for the existence of Protestantism is the printing press. People compared the Scripture with the dogma, observed numerous irreconncilable contradictions, and the rest, regrettably, is history.

Go read it for yourself. Then we'll talk.

[Rytwyng]

...we will be importing actually Catholic Third World priests as necessary until the very promising seminarians of today are ready to lead the AmChurch back to Catholicism

Now this much, I agree with. If you can purge the sodomites and replace them with third-world priests, more power to you. The Anglican situation is very instructive here; the sodomites are solely a Western phenomenon (ugh!).

[GerardPH]

All you are describing is the propaganda that Luther spewed. He was an idiot heretic himself. The Bible belongs to the Catholic Church. What do you think Guttenberg's first printed book was?

You simply don't have a clue.

Learn some truth about Catholicism.

[ex 98C MI Dude]

A priest must be devoted to the Church, and to his flock in his parish. A married priest would be forced to divide his time between God, his parish, and the demands of a family. This speaks nothing to the idea of a divorced priest, as abhorrent as that would be. With the demands of modern life upon a family, I expect there would be many divorced priests. The Church would be poorer for it.

The argument about married priests leading to inheritance of property problems was actually a false one. The Church property belongs to the Church. The problem was the concept of inheriting the office and titles of the father (offices and titles were very big deals back then, less so now). So it was determined that priests should be required to practice celibacy. It was not a novel concept, but one dating back to Biblical times. It has worked well, until recently, when the decay of society seeped in.

The next Pope will have to reinforce the bulwarks against the decay, and turn back what has seeped in (especially in the American Church). It is a tall order.

[Teófilo]

Look, I am not an activitist for this thing, in the sense that I'm not going to defy whatever is the next decision of the Magisterium on the subject by acting like a liberal brat. Whatever the Magisterium finds, is fine with me.

My job-my unrequired, unrequested, unappointed, and maybe ultimately unnecessary job-is to point out possibilities that the Magisterium has legitimately open before it, and ordaining worthy married priests for the Latin Rite is one of them. Let us have this in mind and do not forget it:

- Married priests have been part of the Church for 2,000 years, 1,000 in the Latin Church, and up to this day in the Eastern Church, both those in union with Rome and those in schism.

- Married priests in the Eastern Rite set an example; to deny it is to deny that the Sacraments have any efficacy on them, particularly the graces of ordination and of frequent communion, not to speak of other works of mercy and asceticism.

- Married priests work today in the Latin Rite, following the 1980 permissions granted by the Holy See to returning Anglicans, and later extended to returning Lutherans, Methodists, and even Pentecostalists. They are here with us, *now*, with the permission of the Holy See. What do you suggest the Bishops do with them, should they be "canned out of here?"

- Ordaining married priests will not diminish the value of celibate chastity, in fact, it may exalt it further. Members of regular orders will still be required to remain celibate.

- The risk of a "divorced priest" and the subsequent scandal is a real one; so is the scandal of Catholics lacking priests. I find it illogical to say that "we cannot due something because if we do, we can create another problem." That's called "blowback" and that's a risk that we take in every endeavor in life.

The next Pope will do what the Spirit leads him to do on this and all other issues. I am at peace with whatever he decides to do.

In Christ,
Theo