Posted on 12/27/2007 7:36:24 AM PST by NYer
A SPLINTER Catholic Church called the Catholic Apostolic National Church of Zambia has been launched with Archbishop-elect, Luciano Mbewe, calling for more priests to join the church and fulfill their God-given role by marrying.
Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) spokesperson, Paul Samasumo, said in reaction that he did not have much information about the newly formed church but was aware that the Catholic bishops in Zambia would preside over the matter next month.
Father Samasumo said in an interview in Lusaka that the newly formed church had created parallel structures in the Roman Catholic Church and could not claim to be part of the Church.
Archbishop Mbewe said during the launch of the new church which has strong links with excommunicated prelate Emmanuel Milingo that the hour had come for priests in the Roman Catholic Church to start marrying and taking care of their forsaken children.
Archbishop Mbewe who is also the apostolic administrator of the new church said over the years most priests had laboured quietly and prudently to advocate for the restoration of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church.
Archbishop Mbewe said during the ceremony held at Peace Embassy that there were moments that the priests hoped the restoration of married priests would be made possible.
Other church leaders who had since been co-opted in the church attended the lunch.
"We feel duty bound now to found our own Catholic church, an independent Catholic church where we can truly enjoy the freedom enjoyed by children of God. It should surprise no one to hear of yet another Catholic church," he said.
Archbishop Mbewe said there were other independent churches that came into existence especially in the 1870 AD when some bishops broke away from Rome over the issue of Papal infallibility.
He said freedom of worship as enshrined in the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) charters stipulated that it was an inalienable right to found churches and worship God without any interference from any quarter.
Archbishop Mbewe who served as a Roman Catholic priest for over 17 years said the problem of mandatory and compulsory celibacy for priests in the Roman Catholic Church was crucial.
He said profound pain and suffering had been caused to priests as a result of celibacy and that most of this pain and suffering was uncalled for.
He said the celibacy found in the Bible was not compulsory but optional. Archbishop Mbewe said Jesus Christ refused to make celibacy compulsory but left it optional.
"The majority of these priests and bishops do not have this gift, they are like the majority of humanity and they deserve to marry and still continue to minister to God's people," he said.
Archbishop Mbewe said it was a known fact that nearly all the apostles to Jesus and the first Pope, Peter were married and so were the other 28 Popes as the Holy Bible stated that being accompanied by a wife in the ministry was not a minus but a great asset.
He said celibacy was made compulsory in the 12th Century for dubious reasons but it was never accepted in practice.
Ping!
LOL heretics
Priestly celibacy was the universal discipline of the Latin Rite long before the 12th century.
The only married Apostle that we know of for certain was Peter.
There were popes who were married, but there weren't 28.
Of the married Popes not one on record lived a married life as Pope. Of the ones on record, some were widowers and others had wives who took vows as nuns when their husbands took priestly vows.
Moreover not a single Pope or other bishop or priest in the history of Christianity ever got married after their ordination or consecration.
Ever.
And this fake church is being formed specifically to allow ordained priests to get married after their ordination: a complete departure from the entire history of the Church.
Is allowing married clergy heresy?
There isn’t anything in this article that indicates these people are promoting doctrine contrary to the teachings of the prophets, apostles and the Lord Himself.
News flash once it splinters it is no longer a Catholic Church. I can call my house the White House and my office the Oval Office but I sure as heck ain’t POTUS.
As a new Catholic, I am not qualified to say this is heresy, but I sure do know that it is disobedience to the Church!
Oh, darn. I was going to ask you for a pardon.
They will be excommunicated in short order.
Of course people have been casting themselves into the outer darkness from Catholic orthodoxy for 2,000 years, but Our Lord told Peter that the gates of Hell wouldn’t prevail against the Church founded on the rock of Peter.
My dear let us not be hasty I have a pardon price list right cheer. What crime? Larceny, GTA, wearing white shoes in Novembe? More than 8 items in express?
Correction: A new protestant denomination called the "My genitals run my life National Church of Zambia" ...
Clerical celibacy is not a doctrine like the divinity and humanity of Christ. It is a discipline of the Roman Catholic Church that has its origins in the essetic movements of the later Roman Empire. You will not find a command in the Scriptures that prohibits priests and bishops from getting married.
The Roman Catholic Church clings to clerical celibacy because it believes clergy are more effective if they are not tied down with a wife and children. They put a theological spin on it by saying that because Christ was single, so should the priests in his church be single (Catholics believe the priest is “in place of Christ”).
Rather than demanding that Rome change their ways, these people in Zambia have done the honest thing: start their own church. As long as they can say the Nicene Creed without perjuring themselves, then I don’t have a problem with them. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.