Vatican asks bishops to create ministry roles for priests who left to marry (Catholic Caucus)

Beliefnet ^ | October 7, 2011 | Rob Kerby

[NYer]

Facing a growing shortage of priests, the Roman Catholic Church is turning to former priests who left their callings to get married.

While the “dispensed” priests won’t be allowed to take confessions or celebrate mass — they will be asked to serve as teachers and lay workers in such roles as helping serve communion to the congregation, roles already filled by lay members of local congregations.

“The Vatican has appealed to diocesan bishops to encourage priests who have left ministry in order to get married to play a more active role in parish life,” reports Catholic Herald magazine, which reports that Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Prefect for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome, has written a letter giving more discretionary power to bishops for involving a dispensed cleric in parish life:

The letter, dated February 2, 2011, was sent to a priest who had written to the congregation on behalf of an Australian missionary society that is seeking a relaxation of the prohibitions on dispensed clergy.

Cardinal Dias wrote of his confidence that the Vatican’s reforms would enable dispensed priests to lead a more active life in the Church as committed Catholics under their bishop’s guidance.

In the past, former priests were prohibited from celebrating mass, delivering homilies (sermons), administering communion, teaching or working in seminaries. They were also restricted on how much teaching on the faith they could do in Catholic schools and universities.

The cardinal’s letter means that the enforcement of half of those prohibitions now come under the discretion of the local bishop.

Is this a move in the direction of allowing married ex-priests to return to the priesthood? Married Episcopal Church ministers who switch to the Catholic Church are now allowed to serve in the full capacity as priests — and remain married.

In February, a Lutheran preacher and married father of two was ordained as a Catholic priest. Harm Klueting, 61, a professor of theology at universities in Cologne and Switzerland, also ordained as a Lutheran minister is now serving as a Catholic priest. His wife has become a nun in the Carmelite order — and neither was required to take the traditional vows of celibacy nor chastity.

“The Vatican has tried repeatedly in recent years to avoid giving any credence to speculation, especially in North America, that the church may have to end mandatory celibacy in order to remedy the growing shortage of priests,” reported John Dart in the Los Angeles Times.

Pope John Paul II, he noted, made it clear that a married priesthood and celibacy were not on the agenda. Pope Benedict is even more strict.

However, the topic continues to be discussed.

[johniegrad]

There is nothing inherent that says that a deacon cannot eventually be allowed to say Mass. The order of Presbyter (commonly known as priests) can remain as was originally intended as an assistant to the Bishop in a certain location. All three levels of Holy Orders, Bishop, Presbyter and Deacon, could, with a fiat from the magisterium, say mass, hear confessions........

In the very early Church, before presbyters, there were Bishops and Deacons. The deacon at that time was an assistant to the Bishop and his ministry was one of service. Acts of the Apostles describes the first process that established the diaconate.

As time passed, the office of deacon became a transitional office, that is, it became a step in the process of ordination to the presbyterate. It eventually disappeared except in its transitional aspect.

The office of the permanent deacon, that is, a deacon ordained to be a deacon and not as a transition to the presbyterate, was reestablished at the Second Vatican Council specifically as a office of service. It was not, nor has it ever been, considered to be a sacerdotal office.

So, no, permanent deacons cannot offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or the Sacrament of the Sick. Nor are these sacraments reflective of what the diaconate was historically. They can currently baptize (as can anyone in an emergency) and witness marriages. The matrimonial witness is an interesting one since the Church views the ministers of the Sacrament to be the couple with all others serving only as witnesses. You will not see a change in the sacramental role of the permanent deacon and it could not be changed in the way that you have described.

Priests, on the other hand, could be allowed to marry if the Church was to see fit. Celibacy is a discipline and a great gift to those who have been given it although it has its challenges. Although THIS could be changed, you and I will never live to see it if it eventually happens.

[johniegrad]

Here. For the straight poop, scroll down to Chapter 3. Lumen Gentium.