Posted on 01/24/2018 8:50:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The cardinal who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy suggests in a new book that the Catholic Church should consider ordaining married men in some cases.
The Church shouldn’t be “closed or rigid” as it considers this topic, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy Cardinal Beniamino Stella wrote in Italian in All Francis’ Men, just released Monday. The Catholic Herald first translated Stella’s proposition.
In remote places “there is acute suffering because of a real ‘sacramental emergency,’ which the few priests present are not able to accommodate,” Stella wrote.
“Continuing to maintain their family and jobs and receiving a formation contextualized for their environment,” married priests “could offer part-time service to the community they come from in order to guarantee the sacraments, especially by presiding at the Eucharistic celebration,” the cardinal mused. The Church should see if “the [Holy] Spirit suggests something” and use “a widespread ecclesial discernment” on this topic.
Married men in Catholic Eastern Rites can already be – and regularly are – ordained priests. Similarly, some married Protestant pastors who become Catholic may be granted special permission to then be ordained Catholic priests.
Canon law says that although a married man can be ordained, already-ordained, celibate men may not marry.
“In the East as in the West a man who has already received the sacrament of Holy Orders can no longer marry,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains (CCC 1580).
Priestly celibacy is one of the hallmarks of the Latin Rite Church, even though it is not an official “doctrine.”
Since the Second Vatican Council, the number of Catholic priests around the world has plummeted.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...
The RCC needs to conform the NT principle on this issue...among others....that it’s ok to have married men serve as priests. Whether they marry as a priest or before becoming one. It’s un unnecessary burden the RCC has enacted on this issue.
For a church that claims to be pro-family, why should the organizational structure favor gay priests?
Obviously, it should not be favoring gay priests. That is a clearly a cancer and complete disaster. And it is also true that there already are married priest who do a great job, former Protestant ministers who were already married plus Eastern Rite priests.
But in defense of the general rule of unmarried priests in the Latin Rite, to me there can be (emphasis on ‘can’) something good about priests whose single life leaves them out of the rat race of normal family life. For example, the ideal unmarried priest is not pushing for his kid to be pitcher on the baseball team, he’s not trying to scrape away more cash to buy his wife a new car, he’s not doing all the angling that married men are required to... In theory, this should leave him less distracted and more singleminded and objective in his focus on his ministry. Is it working like that at present...? Obviously, there are enormous problems.
Also, keep in mind that the cardinals and bishops pushing for this change tend to be the most liberal / most pro-gay. They want to tear down all of the Church’s norms about marriage and sexuality, and they view married priests as a significant step in their campaign.
Married straight priests are better than single gay priests.
Ironically, while the RCC does not allow married men to become priests, if a married Episcopalian (the most liberal Protestant denomination out there) priest wants to convert to Catholicism, he’s allowed to and remain married.
See First Timothy, Chapter 3 for Saint Paul’s take on the idea.
“The unmarried man is busy with the Lord’s affairs, concerned with pleasing the Lord; but the married man is busy with this world’s demands and occupied with pleasing his wife. This means he is divided.
(1 Cor 7:32-33)
1 Timothy 3:1-13 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Titus 1:5-16 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
MUST BE married.
And why?
The reason is given.....
"for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?"
... they are sadly incorrect.
The discipline can change, and mirror the guidelines of the Eastern realm of His Church.
But, the change must occur for the holiest of reasons ... NOT for the politically correct, social justice warrior jackals.
If it had meant “must be married” it would have said “must be married”. But in fact the same Apostle wrote that it was better not to marry. Did he contradict himself? Of course not.
Breaking news: Vatican notices 1 Tim 4:3!
I guess if you can’t beat them, join them.
rwood
Must be the husband of one wife = must be a married man.
another good example of how when someone doesn’t like what Scripture says, they *interpret* it to mean something else.
So the Catholic church interprets *must be the husband of one wife* into *doesn’t mean married.*
Single priests have no idea how to deal with the interpersonal relationships that marriage and family provide and are not qualified to counsel others in how to successfully do it.
Besides, many of the apostles and disciples were married men. Where does the church get off demanding it of their priests?
Get ready Catholics, a married priesthood is coming.
Well we are used to it now. We have perminant deacons.
That is what I support, use the rules that guide the Eastern Rite Churches in regards to the priesthood.
Not really.
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