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