Posted on 02/15/2005 3:33:16 PM PST by siunevada
COMMENTARY & OPINION
by Dwight Longenecker
I’m a married man with four young children. There’s no reason why I could not be ordained as a Catholic priest. That’s because I’m a former Anglican minister who has converted to the Catholic Church.
How does it work? It’s simple. If a married former minister applies to his Catholic bishop and the diocese approves his application, the bishop can ask Rome to grant a dispensation from the vow of celibacy.
This means the married former minister can be ordained as a Catholic priest. Rome is not changing the rule on celibacy — it’s making an exception to the rule.
It’s not just former Anglicans either.
Those of us who work with convert clergy know that around the world, married former Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Pentecostals have all been granted a dispensation from the vow of celibacy and been ordained as Catholic priests.
In England, we have the largest concentration of married Catholic priests outside the Eastern Catholic churches. This is because of the large influx of Anglican clergy after the Church of England’s decision to ordain women just over 10 years ago.
For complicated reasons, no one can be sure just what the numbers of clergy converts from the Church of England were, but conservative estimates put the numbers at about 700 over 10 years. Nearly 500 of them have been ordained as Catholic priests; about 200 of those were married men.
Is this a careful experiment on the part of Rome to get the Church ready for a relaxation of the celibacy rule? Are the whispers correct that with a new pope, Rome will decide to adopt the Eastern rite and also Orthodox discipline that married men may be ordained priests, while priests will not be allowed to marry? Some people have this on the agenda and say it is only a matter of time until the Catholic Church ordains married men. Pressure groups have been established to get Rome to allow men who left the priesthood to get married to return to ministry.
Others are pushing for the rule to be relaxed completely, allowing men who are already ordained to marry if they wish. Voices from Africa and South America claim there are high levels of concubinage among the clergy. They say celibacy is foreign to their culture and that priests should be able to marry.
A careful look at the situation in England will help put the matter straight. Although the married former Anglicans are fully and totally Catholic priests, from a practical point of view, they function differently in the dioceses.
Rome has said that married men are not to be parish priests. Most of them serve as chaplains in schools, hospitals and prisons. Some have diocesan posts or teaching positions that help to supply the salary a family man needs. Many of them are retired and serve as assistant priests in parishes. They’re doing a great work, and they have been universally accepted and appreciated, but they are simply not as easy to deploy as a celibate priest.
Bishops recognize that a married man cannot simply be uprooted and moved to a new parish without great difficulty. Suddenly, there is a whole range of new considerations: the children’s school, the wife’s job and the need for a salaried post.
With a few exceptions, the Catholic Church in England has been very generous and the married former Anglicans have fit in well. They are making a wonderful contribution, but is this the thin edge of the wedge? Are married priests about to be introduced worldwide?
Could be. Theoretically, Rome could change the rule overnight. The celibate priesthood is not a matter of doctrine or divine revelation. It is simply a Church discipline.
There are many people who argue for married priests from a pragmatic point of view. They think that allowing priests to marry will solve the priest shortage, solve the sexual-abuse scandals and the loneliness of priests all in one quick fix.
These arguments are superficial. Catholics share a shortage in vocations with all the Christian denominations in the West. Protestants allow their ministers to marry, but they are still experiencing a shortage. Sex scandals exist in the denominations that allow their ministers to marry, and clergy marriages are notoriously difficult. It’s possible to be married and to be lonely. Marriage will not solve these problems, and if marriage could solve some problems that some priests encounter living their celibacy, it may very well create greater problems in the long term.
Those who want to have married clergy need to think carefully about the practical problems involved. St. Paul said to his fellow ministers, "I wish you to remain as I am (that is, single); a married man must please his wife, but a single man can serve only the Lord."
If the married man must look after his wife and family, so must the Church. I hear many people say they want to have married priests, but when I suggest that they would have to pay for this by giving sacrificially, they soon clam up.
Celibate priests can serve God for very little. It’s not fair to expect a man’s wife and children to suffer poverty and a life constantly on the move simply because he has a priestly vocation.
It’s true that a husband-and-wife team serving the Lord together can be a great asset to the Church. In New Testament times, the husband-and-wife team of Aquila and Priscilla were colleagues and assistant evangelists to St. Paul. It even seems that St. Peter’s wife may have traveled with him on his missionary journeys (I Corinthians 9:5). The experience of other Christian denominations shows this to be true today.
Husband-and-wife teams in the parish, or on the mission field, are a great example of the Christian family and are truly inspiring. However, in my experience as both a Protestant and a Catholic, these wonderful examples are the exception, not the rule. More often, Christian ministry puts intolerable strain on a marriage, and very few couples are up to the ideal that such a burden puts on their relationship.
Those who say they want married priests must consider the complicated situation of a clergy marriage. It looks good from the outside, but is rarely clear sailing.
The Church will need to face the problems that come with clergy marriage. How will they handle marriage breakdowns? What happens when the priest has marriage problems? What happens to his wife if they divorce? Who looks after her and the children? It is easy to look at the married couple serving God in the parish and idealize their relationship.
This is unrealistic. Marriage is tough. A vocation to the priesthood is tough. The Church, in her wisdom, realizes that one vocation of total self-giving is enough for any man. I was a celibate Anglican priest for seven years and a married priest for three. St. Paul was right. A single man can serve the Lord alone. A married man has to think of his wife and family, too, and that must lead to a conflict of interests.
Finally, there is one more practical problem that I have never heard mentioned. A Catholic priest is rightly expected to hold to all the Church’s teachings and live out those teachings in his own life. Have we forgotten that the Catholic Church teaches that artificial contraception is forbidden? We have to assume that a married Catholic priest would be living by the Church’s teachings. If he and his wife are of child-bearing age and are fertile, we would have to build bigger presbyteries, wouldn’t we?
Do dioceses and parishes want to invest in large clergy families? Maybe so. We’re pro-life. Maybe a rectory flowing over with little Catholics would be a great blessing, but could a father of six or seven or 12 children really be as devoted to his priestly vocation as he needs to be? I doubt it.
Here in England, the married former Anglican priests have made a wonderful contribution to the Church, but their presence is more of a historical blip than a radical experiment in the Church’s discipline. We’ve absorbed a large number of married former Anglicans, but most of the ones I talk to agree with me that they are not radical pioneers.
They’re grateful to have been admitted to the priesthood, but being a Catholic priest has put strains on their marriage, and it has been far harder than they had anticipated.
The married priests themselves are cautious about any change in the rule. Almost unanimously they agree that the culture in the whole Catholic Church would need a radical overhaul to be able to handle married clergy efficiently. Quite frankly, they don’t think it’s worth the trouble. The difficulties far outweigh the proposed advantages.
If you’re in favor of married priests, talk to the ones we already have. Most of them agree that the current discipline is best and that married priests are not only an exception, they’re the exception that proves the rule.
Dwight Longenecker’s book,
Adventures in Orthodoxy, is a creative
consideration of the Apostle’s Creed.
It is available through Dwightlongenecker.com.
Good one. Never thought about that.
Excellent article!
Thanks for posting this one!
While the Eastern Catholic Churches allow for married priests, they must make this decision before their ordination. Like their counterparts in the Western Church, once married they may not re-marry, should their spouse die, nor may they be elevated to bishop. In the Maronite Church, they may not leave Lebanon. The Lebanese born priest who serves our NY parish, is descended from a married priest. This pastor chose celibacy before ordination and will remain so.
He brings to the parish a dirth of linguistic and theological gifts. He speaks 8 languages fluently, has a working knowledge of 3 others, and reads Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew and Koine Greek. Like a father, he alone distributes communion to the parishioners, the homebound and the hospitalized. He asks for parish participation but returns the gifts through grateful acknowledgement.
He also delivers powerful homilies based on Scripture. In the Maronite Church, when the priest has finished reading the Gospel, he elevates the Book and proclaims "This is the Truth" and then blesses the congregation with the Book of the Gospels. This past Sunday's Gospel was on The Leper. Father pointed out that leprosy has, for the most part, disappeared from this world with the exception of certain pockets in India. He explained leprosy as a disease that eats from the outside, in. He took it from there, explaining modern day leprosy, 'sin', which eats from the inside, out. What a marvelous analogy!
This past Sunday, he sponsored a dinner for the parishioners and supporters of the parish. He is a priest in the true sense of the word.
Would that all of you would seek out a Maronite priest to minister to their spiritual needs!
"They say celibacy is foreign to their culture and that priests should be able to marry."
It was probably foreign to the pagan cultures of Europe, too.
Rome has said no such thing. All five of the married Anglican converts in our diocese are pastors. One is pastor of the largest parish in the diocese, and has a celibate associate and two permanent deacons.
Yes. I would agree with the author. We should talk to those who are married and are serving as Catholic priests. Some are in favor, others are not. Just like the celibate priests.
BTTT!
Pope: Priests Must Stay Celibate
Giving Thanks for the Good Shepherds ( A Defense of Priestly Celibacy)
Don't end celibacy for priests
The celibate superhero
Priestly Celibacy And Its Roots In Christ
How to Refute Arguments Against Priestly Celibacy
Priestly Celibacy Reflects Who - and Whose - We Are[Father George W.Rutler]
Celibacy
Tracing the Glorious Origins of Celibacy
God’s call to celibacy for the sake of His Kingdom - by Card. George
Vatican Says Celibacy Rule Nonnegotiable
Bishop Attacks Move to End Celibacy
A response to Fr. Joseph Wilson's defense of mandatory celibacy
The gift of Priestly celibacy as a sign of the charity of Christ, by Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Archbishop Dolan:"We Need to Be Renewing Our Pledge to Celibacy, Not Questioning It"
Celibacy is gift cherished by church
Celibacy Will Save the Priesthood
Celibacy Defended by EWTN's Fr. Levis
Call To Action: Dump Celibacy
The (Catholic) Church Has Always Prospered When Celibacy Is Honored
John Paul II Hails "Inestimable Value" of Priestly Celibacy
For Priests, Celibacy Is Not the Problem
Fr. Shannon Collins Discusses Celibacy
5 Arguments Against (Catholic) Priestly Celibacy and How to Refute Them
Why A Married Priesthood Won't Remedy the Priest Shortage
New Vatican Document on Homosexuality and the Priesthood Coming Before Fall 2005
Catholic priests demand the right to marry
Catholic priests urge Church to reconsider celibacy rules
Alternative Priests´ Council Hits Back on Mandatory Celibacy
Thanks for this! It's usually those that throw a dollar into the collection basket and think that priests are rolling in money, who say that they think priests should marry. Who is going to pay for housing, groceries, family medical bills, orthodontics, college etc. This has been my argument on marriage in the priesthood from just the practical side. Really wakes them up.
Mandatory celibacy for Latin Rite priests is not a Church teaching.
It is a discipline.
My humble apologies for the mix up. Nix "teachings" insert "discipline".
Your response will certainly hold water with those who cannot accept - or comprehend - the all too important spiritual aspects of celibacy: solitary dedication of purpose to God's service, and sacrifice of the flesh to benefit the soul.....and thus his service to other souls.
Regardless of the cited exceptions to mandatory celeibary stated above (which are a very tiny minority of priests), celibacy remains a very important companant to the priesthood. It is much more then a mere "discipline": it is the basis of the "wedding" of the priest to Christ's church.
I agree totally, celibacy is a gift. It's interesting to see the eyes glaze over when you speak of the spiritual aspects of celibacy. Hit them in the purse and they have new appreciation for celibacy. Sad but very effective.
Our church group discussed this issue recently. The Anglican bishop who ordained the priest much be able to trace his ordination lineage back to a pre-Henry VIII reformation bishop. In other words, one that predates the Anglican church itself.
This is not true. The Anglican priest is ordained in the Catholic Church as a Catholic priest. It doesn't matter what the lineage of the Anglican bishop who ordained him happens to be. I have this from one of the Anglican converts in our diocese of whom I've asked this question. He has no idea what his "ordination lineage" is.
The Anglican dispensation also has brought Lutheran and Methodist ministers into the priesthood, and they, obviously, have no lineage to pre-reformation bishops.
It's not.
Rome has said no such thing.
Perhaps his statement is particular to England and not universal. Well, it's obviously not universal since we do have married Anglican Rite pastors outside of England.
The priest is already married to the Church. Here is a good reason why he cannot be married to a woman.
Very good article.
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