[Mrs. Don-o]

Do accept that an Ecumenical Council has the authority to OK married deacons? And are you OK with the married clergy of the Byzantine Greek Catholic churches? The are small, but they are as Catholic and as ancient as the Western Church.

You realize this, of course, but so many people dom't: that the Catholic Church is a communion of 22 Churches, and 21 of the 22 accept ordinandi from the ranks of married men of proven virtuous life, viri probati. It's been that way since way, way before Vatican II.

So it would be interesting to get the perspective of our fellow Catholics --- for instance, Melkites, Maronites and Ukrainians --- on this.

[ebb tide]

I accept married deacons, but not incontinent deacons.

And I'm not talkiing about Eastern Churches. I'm talking about the Roman Catholic Church, of which I'm a member. I'm not a cafeteria Catholic who picks what pleases me.

Summary of the clerical continence debate and response to a recent Roman statement thereon