Posted on 08/19/2003 6:15:43 AM PDT by NYer
MILWAUKEE (AP) _ More than 160 priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee have signed a letter arguing that married men should be allowed to enter the priesthood.
The letter marks the first time since the mid-1970s that a group of priests has spoken out in favor of loosening the rules on celibacy, said Dean Hoge, a sociologist at Catholic University of America. ``We join our voices to those of so many others at this time, voices urging that diocesan priesthood now be open to married men as well as to celibate men,'' the letter said. The priests hope the letter will prompt a dialogue about the issue of optional celibacy because of the shortage of priests, said the Rev. Tom Suriano, pastor of St. Patrick Church in Whitewater.
Catholic priests must take a vow of celibacy and the church forbids priest to be married. The Rev. Robert Silva, president of the National Federation of Priests' Councils, said he would request that the letter be discussed by the Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry, a subcommittee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan will chair that committee, beginning in November, Silva said. Archdiocesan spokesman Jerry Topczewski said Dolan did not attempt to stop the priests from circulating the letter. Topczewski also did not expect any fallout for priests who signed the letter.
Copies of the letter were mailed to 442 retired and active diocesan priests living in the 10-county archdiocese, and 128, or 29 percent, returned signed copies, the organizers said. Another 35 religious order priests signed copies. ``Given the present context of the scandals of the last several years, many see optional celibacy as something that needs to be discussed. It opens up the pool of candidates for the priesthood,'' Silva said.
AP-ES-08-19-03 0512EDT
It also opens up Pandora's box, raising many questions on who, how, where, what ... !
And the concept of "optional celibacy" is wholly and entirely alien to historic Christianity. No Apostolic church, Catholic, Orthodox or Monophysite permits priests to "choose" a mode of life after ordination. Once one is ordained one is confirmed in his state of life: those married before ordination must remain married, those unmarried before ordination must remain celibate.
That's the way it has always been in every church that traces its succession back to the Apostles.
I see nowhere in this letter (a more complete story is on the News/Activism forum) that these priests are asking for marriage for themselves.
It's also interesting that Dolan did nothing to stop the release of this letter, nor will there be any fallout for the priests who signed it.
If mandatory celibacy is as strong as many think it is, then it would certainly survive some spirited discussion, which seems to be what Dolan is thinking.
And since when has this dead horse not been recently beaten?
They use the term "optional celibacy" - which is very imprecise.
It's also interesting that Dolan did nothing to stop the release of this letter, nor will there be any fallout for the priests who signed it.
Given the marked and persistent leftism of the Milwaukee Archdiocese it's actually singularly uninteresting.
If mandatory celibacy is as strong as many think it is, then it would certainly survive some spirited discussion, which seems to be what Dolan is thinking.
If Apostolic authority is such as Catholics believe it to be, then it is highly inappropriate to discuss "optional celibacy" in a forum that has no authority to render decisions of any theological or disciplinary weight.
I disagree. We talk about it here all the time, to the chagrin of many Catholics who just can't stand it.
It's a discipline, and, if anything, it has been gradually relaxed over the last 40 years, with the reinstituion of the permanent diaconate and the Anglican dispensation (which admits not just Anglicans, but Lutherans and Methodists as well).
It is the man himself that is called to holiness, and that man can be married or single, as we've seen.
It is a discipline, not a matter of faith. And it's not closed; married men are being ordained every year, some Catholic, some Protestant converts.
I'd wager a very large sum that there is a great deal of support for optional celibacy among the bishops of most countries, no matter what public pronouncements they make.
Even Dolan, who's as orthodox as they come, sees no problem in priests advocating the discussion of celibacy.
(2) The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has no power to change it in the slightest. The clergy of the Milwaukee Archdiocese have much more pressing matters to attend to - like curbing their predilection for preaching heresy from Catholic pulpits every Sunday.
(3) If the Holy Spirit sees fit to change it then it will be changed through the same earthly authority through which it was originally authorized: the Holy See. Let Dolan stick to paying off the ex-boyfriends of his predecessor.
But the Holy Spirit works where He will, and not exclusively through the Vatican.
A half-truth: anyone can do anything and claim that the Holy Spirit is working through them.
That's why the Holy Spirit created an Apostolic succession and why Christ left authority over his Church to the successors of Peter. To give us a way of discerning the difference between godly movements and frauds.
When St. Francis was moved to form the Friars Minor according to a manner of life (mendicancy) that was outside the framework of Church discipline, he went to the Pope to seek his blessing - he didn't circulate a letter among the local clergy or try to stir a "popular" movement with which to challenge the Holy See.
That's Luther's strategy - not a Catholic's strategy.
Well, obviously married priests are of God, or the Church couldn't ordain them. The question then becomes, how many married men does the Church choose to ordain?
The question has already been answered: as many as the Holy See sees fit to ordain.
The discipline is reserved to the Holy See, not to a gaggle of self-described "liberal, progressive" clergymen from a diocese where even the Church's perennial teaching on sodomy cannot be forcibly preached from the pulpit.
If the Holy See needs their opinion, the Holy See will solicit it.
I find it hard to believe that every single parishioner in Milwaukee is fully and accurately catechized and in the habit of weekly assistance at Mass and monthly reception of absolution. Until the clergy of Milwaukee finish doing their job properly, they should hold off arrogating a higher role for themselves.
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