Posted on 12/11/2006 1:08:44 PM PST by Joseph DeMaistre
An excommunicated Roman Catholic archbishop continued to defy the Vatican when he installed two married priests as bishops on Sunday. In front of a sea of reporters and photographers and several dozen congregants, Raymond A. Grosswirth of Rochester, N.Y., and Dominic Riccio, of the Newark Archdiocese, were installed by Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo at the Trinity Reformed Church. The ceremony concluded a two-day convention of Milingo's advocacy group, Married Priests Now!
In a visible break from tradition, the wives of both men helped their husbands on with their vestments before each man was anointed.
Milingo, 76, installed four married men as Roman Catholic bishops in September, including Peter Paul Brennan of New York and Patrick Trujillo of Newark. Milingo was later excommunicated by the Vatican, and Pope Benedict XVI followed that decision by convening a summit that reaffirmed mandatory celibacy for clergy.
Members of Milingo's group believe that reinstating priests who are married would help ease a shortage of priests. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, the number of priests has dropped from 58,600 in 1965 to 41,790 this year.
Milingo has called celibacy "outdated" and was married in 2001 to a Korean acupuncturist chosen for him by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in a mass wedding performed by Moon's Unification Church.
Milingo's ties to Moon, whose doctrines are considered beyond the bounds of traditional Christianity, have caused consternation in Catholic circles. Moon's American Clergy Leadership Conference paid for much of Milingo's conference this weekend.
As an Eastern Catholic, the idea of married priests doesn't bother me, but Milingo's arrogance is staggering. If the Latin Church wishes to require clerical celibacy that's its prerogative.
Instead of being a belligerent ninny, he could have requested a papal transfer to the Byzantine Catholic Church and canonically ordained married men.
>>Members of Milingo's group believe that reinstating priests who are married would help ease a shortage of priests. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, the number of priests has dropped from 58,600 in 1965 to 41,790 this year.
They begin with a false premise because groups such as the Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King don't have any vocations problems. Also churches that ordain married men, such as the Orthdoox, have their own vocations shortages.
There's faith shortage, and that's the problem.
You are the one posting this and helping to spread the news. Ignore the loser and all news about him
Milingo deserves our prayers, such that he might develop a spirit of humility and turn away from his defiance.
Maybe. I Think he deserves ignoring more :)
I don't see why he's such a big deal, either. He's totally illicit by any standards, and in addition, he has already been excommunicated.
That said, there is no way the Byzantine Catholic Rite would have accepted him - he was "married" after ordination to the priesthood (not permitted) and was also "married" while he was already a bishop. The Eastern Rite and the Orthodox Church do not have married bishops.
This is not to mention the fact that he does not accept the authority of his bishop, the authority of the Pope, or the authority of the Catholic Church. I think that all kind of disqualifies him....
As an Eastern Catholic, the idea of married priests doesn't bother me
I maintain two Catholic Ping Lists - Catholic and Eastern Catholic. Please freepmail me if you would like to be added to either or both of these lists.
To which Eastern Catholic Church do you belong? I am a RC practicing my faith in the Maronite Church.
I thought married men couldn't be bishops in the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches?? Priests, yes, but not bishops. He'd "still" be out of luck.
Nope. Married men can't be bishops.
Nope. Married men can't be bishops.
I read that Pius XII received a married bishop, in Brazil, into the Church back in the 1950s who had been consecrated by the Old Catholics. I guess it would have been by Indult.
You forgot to mention that this whole thing is encouraged by and funded by the Moonies... It's driven by a cult. I highly doubt that any benefit to the Church is desired here...
His Moonie "marriage" isn't in any sense valid either, for what that's worth.
Isn't Georgetown the school that recently removed the cross from the chapel as it might be "offeeensive" to some?
OK,
Dear Lord, may Milingo develop a spirit of humility and turn away from his defiance. Amen.
There.
Don't infer that I support Milingo in any way, shape or form. He's allowed himself to become a pawn of the anti-Catholic Left and has therefore made himself into an enemy of the Church. I posted this because I was incensed that the mainstream press considers this a story.
Still, I believe in extending Christian charity to even the gravest of sinners.
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