Posted on 03/18/2007 2:11:30 PM PDT by NYer
Part of the background to a puff piece on the ordination of a married Anglican convert for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles:
In the 12th century, when the Catholic Church adopted a celibacy requirement, it was as much about protecting property as it was committing priestly intimacy to God, said the Rev. Thomas Rausch, a Jesuit professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University. "The church was worried about church property going to the descendents of priests," he said.
Historically accurate? Somehow I doubt it's the whole story.
Note the topspin on the shot: the insinuation that the spiritual reasons for celibacy are a pious myth and the real explanation (for those not afraid to look at the facts) is to be sought in economics. This is the sort of reductivist account our parents might have heard from a Marxist professor of history; we get it from the senior clergy.
A young man whose father tells him that monogamy is, at bottom, a ruse concocted by women to get their housekeeping expenses paid will surmise that his father's own experience of marriage was not especially gratifying, and that, to the extent his father was a faithful husband to his mother, this fidelity was motivated less by love than fear. By the same token, when Catholics hear from celibate priests that celibacy, at bottom, concerns property control, they are unlikely to believe that such priests find the "religious side" of their lives fulfilling. We can imagine a man taken in by a scam in his gullible youth who later come to see through the hoax; but once the fraud was exposed, who would continue to play the dupe except a profound cynic or a weakling?
Some of us, perhaps, are old enough to feel residual shock at the profane apathy of the conciliar generation of clergy who, like Waugh's Dr. Beamish, are "much embittered by the fulfillment of their early hopes," and who console themselves with animal comforts or politics. Younger Catholics, I find, either accept the world-view of the 1970s liberals (in which case they drop the institutional-religion-thing altogether) or else they reject the programmatic cynicism and -- by employing a severe ex opere operato theology -- make use of "massing priests" to confect the sacraments (for lack of an alternative) while directing their spiritual attention elsewhere. Jody Bottum's article in last October's First Things touches on the same subject:
A few years ago, I was out in Southern California, visiting a school in Orange County. I can't remember the name of the parish to which the students took me for Mass, but what has stayed with me ever since is the conversation as they drove me back to the hotel. Talk about the homily's content didn't interest them; even talk about the homily's lack of content didn't interest them. "I just kind of tune it out," the driver said, and the others all agreed. "I just go to church for confession, to pray, and to take Communion," added the young woman in the back. "At least the priests can do that."
[chop]
"You remember how, you know, the old hippie types used to say, 'Never trust anyone over thirty'? Well, they were right. Only it was their own generation they were talking about," the thin, quiet one in the back announced as we pulled up to the hotel. "You can see it clearly out here in California. That whole generation of Catholics in America, basically everybody formed before 1978, is screwed up. Left, Right, whatever. ...The best of them were failures, and the worst of them were monsters."
Is this dismissiveness an instance of the impatience that every emergent generation displays towards the failings (real or perceived) of its predecessor? In part. But as Bottum points out, "These were serious Catholic kids -- daily communicants, pro-life marchers, soup-kitchen volunteers, members of perpetual-adoration societies." In the 1950s, a young Catholic could purchase esteem by partaking of these activities; to be recognized as a participant would gratify almost everyone whom it was important to gratify. But today such allegiances come at a cost. They put the Catholic at odds with profs, with fellow students, with prospective employers, sometimes with parents and pastors as well; they teach him what it's like to be an outsider -- at least an outsider to those on the make, to those who are "upwardly mobile."
In view of this, I don't think the priestly disparagement of celibacy will do much damage in the long term. It's patronizing. And young people hate to be patronized. Those who have paid a price, however modest, for a stronger-than-required religious fidelity are simply not interested in the worldlings' boredom with spiritual realities -- or, indeed, in their opinion on anything else.
CAMARILLO - When Bill Lowe preaches his first sermon as a Catholic priest in May, he will be the only clergyman in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles with his wife, children and grandchildren listening from the pews.
Lowe, 68, is about to become the first married priest in the history of the country's largest Roman Catholic diocese.
"People are ready for this. They are ready for some married clergy," said Lowe, who retired in 2001 after 29 years as an Episcopal priest and unexpectedly converted to Catholicism soon after.
Lowe does not represent a sea change for the centuries-old requirement that priests remain celibate. Instead, he is the benefactor of an obscure order that Pope John Paul II issued in 1980.
That Pastoral Provision has allowed about 80 married men, all former Episcopal priests, to continue utilizing their gift for pastoral ministry after Catholic conversion. (Married former Lutheran pastors also have been permitted through a different provision.)
"We see it as a gift, his coming to the Catholic Church," said Bishop Thomas J. Curry, who leads the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, which includes Ventura County. "He has a lot of experience. He's ministered to a lot of people
Growing up in a fundamentalist Baptist home in Pasadena, Lowe decided at 15 he would become a priest.
"No matter how miserable the day at the parish, I always felt like I was doing what I should be doing," said Lowe, who was known in Massachusetts as the "burying parson" because of his gift for consoling the bereaved.
Rethinking celibacy
As an assistant pastor at Blessed Junipero Serra Catholic Church in Camarillo, Lowe will again be able to use his gifts for comforting and preaching.
Some priests and parishioners, however, hope Lowe brings more than experience - that his ordination will help fuel the discussion about whether celibacy should be optional, as it was for the church's first 1,000 years.
"This move is not only historic but prophetic," Monsignor Padraic Loftus, pastor of St. Mel Catholic Church in Woodland Hills, wrote in his parish's Feb.18 bulletin. "Having a married priest in our midst must surely make us pause and reconsider, at this time of rapidly diminishing priests, why this privilege given to this couple could not be more widely granted."
Since 1985 - for various reasons not limited to celibacy - the number of active U.S. priests has plummeted from 57,317 to 41,794, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
One proposed solution, rejected by the Vatican, is to drop the celibacy mandate. After John Paul died two years ago, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found 63percent of U.S. Catholics thought priests should be able to marry.
Rule to protect land
The biblical basis for celibacy comes from the Gospel of Matthew: "Others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
But in the 12th century, when the Catholic Church adopted a celibacy requirement, it was as much about protecting property as it was committing priestly intimacy to God, said the Rev. Thomas Rausch, a Jesuit professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University.
"The church was worried about church property going to the descendents of priests," he said.
The internal drive against the celibacy requirement dates to at least the Reformation.
Celibacy has caused thousands of priests to leave ministry since the end of the Second Vatican Council 42 years ago, according to Corpus, an organization that pushes for priesthood reform.
"I am a married priest," said Russ Ditzel, the organization's president.
But to marry, Ditzel had to leave ministry in 1978, though he technically remains an ordained priest. Others, he said, have surreptitiously married and remained behind the altar - "leading a double life."
Though Lowe agrees change is needed, he said he doesn't want to be a cause c l bre. He just wants to get back to his calling.
`Where God wants us'
Lowe's journey began in early 2001, after retiring from the 100-family Parish of the Messiah in Newton, Mass.
Lowe and his wife, Linda, began celebrating Mass with friends at various Catholic churches. The liturgical experience was familiar, but he noticed the parish pews overflowing with Catholics, something he had not experienced in the shrinking Episcopal Church.
"I said to Linda, `This is where it is happening,"' Lowe recalled.
And then, around Easter of that year, Linda told her husband they needed to make the switch official.
"We don't think of it as a conversion because we weren't changing. We were growing into something," said Linda, 66, who grew up in Glendale and was raised Presbyterian. "We feel very much now that this is where God wants us to be."
About that time, Lowe was finding retirement a bore. So, in 2002, he scheduled a meeting with Cardinal Bernard Law of the Archdiocese of Boston, whose nomination he sought for the Pastoral Provision.
But three days before the meeting, the Boston Globe broke the clergy sex-abuse scandal. That slowed the process for Lowe, as did his family's decision to return to California to care for Linda's ailing parents.
Pursuit of priesthood
They moved to Camarillo and joined Junipero Serra Church, which is known as Padre Serra Parish. Lowe continued his pursuit of the priesthood, which included reading 50 books in seven theological areas - including ethics, church history and dogmatic theology - a daylong psychological exam and an all-day oral exam.
"It was like getting a doctorate," he said.
On Dec. 1, he joined the church staff as a lay employee handling bereavement and counseling. Last month, amid much celebration, Curry ordained him a deacon.
"Everybody was grinning from ear to ear," said Anne Hansen, a two-decade parishioner of Padre Serra.
On May 6, Lowe's five-year pilgrimage from retirement to the priesthood will conclude when he is ordained by Cardinal Roger Mahony.
"It's finally happening," Lowe said, standing in his cramped office at Padre Serra, a Southwestern-style parish adjacent St. John's Seminary. "It is getting back to work and doing what I love to do.
"Yesterday, for example - going to a funeral, to a hospital, visiting a baby, writing a sermon. It's getting back to what I love to do."
Highlight - mine. Given the 30+ years of his liberal example, one has to look at the story in the context of Cardinal Mahony.
Wow! I did NOT know of this....
Lowe does not represent a sea change for the centuries-old requirement that priests remain celibate. Instead, he is the benefactor of an obscure order that Pope John Paul II issued in 1980.
And I tink I agree with what I think is the thrust of the article. The young men I know lining up to enter novitiates or seminaries see their celibacy as part of a heroic response to a heroic call, and the "Who's counting, anyway" attitude of the "spirit of Vatican II" mob is increasingly obviously rather sad and ridiculous.
And well you shouldn't but I believe freeper Mad Dawg has touched on some sensitive aspects regarding this particular ordination. Excuse my suspicious nature but married priest converts have been accepted into the Catholic Church since 1980 (with scrupulosity by the local ordinary). It strikes me a bit strange that over the span of the past 27 years, this is the first Anglican married priest to be considered as 'worthy' by Roger Cardinal Mahony.
You're absolutely right ... there is nothing wrong with admiting married men to the priesthood. This has been the practice of all the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches since the 1st century. So, in the Diocese of Los Angeles, why now? Why this particular priest?
As you already know, I am a Roman Catholic practicing my faith in the Maronite Catholic (Eastern) Church. In October 2005, Pope Benedict XVI convened a Synod of bishops to discuss various issues, including a married priesthood. As expected, the Eastern Catholic bishops came out in support of this but one of them delved deeper into the topic.
Speaking to the 11th General Synod Fathers, gathered for their eighth meeting this morning at the Vatican, Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, who is Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites in Lebanon--a Catholic rite which allows for married priests--addressed the issue, which has been brought up by many, particularly in light of the U.S. sex abuse scandal, of commonly permitting married priests in the Roman rite.
Vatican City, Oct. 07, 2005 (CNA) - The Cardinal defended the practice of the celibate priesthood and discussed the beauty of the tradition, calling it the "most precious jewel in the treasury of the Catholic Church."
While pointing out that "the Maronite Church admits married priests" and that "half of our diocesan priests are married", the Cardinal Patriarch said that "it must be recognized that if admitting married men resolves one problem, it creates others just as serious."
"A married priest", he said, "has the duty to look after his wife and family, ensuring his children receive a good education and overseeing their entry into society. ... Another difficulty facing a married priest arises if he does not enjoy a good relationship with his parishioners; his bishop cannot transfer him because of the difficulty of transferring his whole family.
He noted that "married priests have perpetuated the faith among people whose difficult lives they shared, and without them this faith would no longer exist."
"On the other hand," he said, "celibacy is the most precious jewel in the treasury of the Catholic Church,"
Lamenting a culture which is all but outright opposed to purity, the Cardinal asked: "How can [celibacy] be conserved in an atmosphere laden with eroticism? Newspapers, Internet, billboards, shows, everything appears shameless and constantly offends the virtue of chastity."
Suggesting that their are no easy solutions to the problem of priest shortages in the Church--an oft brought up point during the Synod--he noted that, "Of course a priest, once ordained, can no longer get married. Sending priests to countries where they are lacking, taking them from a country that has many, is not the ideal solution if one bears in mind the question of tradition, customs and mentality. The problem remains."
The Maronite Catholic Church has always held strong bonds to the Holy Father. The Patriarch allows for married men to enter the priesthood but, most wisely, acknowledges that their first vow is to their spouse. For that reason, the Maronite Church still advocates and only sends single, celibate priests to serve in the diaspora. Over the past century, the Maronite Catholic Church has spread to every continent in the world. Surprisingly, the largest growth of this Church has been in Mexico, Australia, South America and the US.
The Maronite Catholic Church has been a veritable blessing in my life, especially in a RC diocese subjected to 30+ years under a bishop of the caliber of Roger Cardinal Mahony. As I continue to read and post articles about the Catholic Church as a whole, it comforts and consoles me to see the shift we are all witnessing towards the more definitive teachings of the Catholic Church as a whole. God bless our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI!
How is a parish support to "pay" a decent salary for a married priest to be married with, say - a large family of 8 children? The food, clothing, education of these children would be paid by each parish? How would the priest make a good father to his own children when he is "fathering" all his flock? I DO NOT see this working.
It's remarkable to me how many RC's don't get even the pay part. You've got to look at retirement and bennies for a family, not just one man. What does the diocesan Health Plan do with pregnancy, hmmmm? Vaccinations and kid ailments? Education for the kiddies?
And it can be VERY rough when it's showdown time and the compost has hit the air conditioner and suddenly the collection plate is kinda skimpy AND everyone is snubbing the missus at the Piggly Wiggly. And, yeah, everyone's expectation have to change. In Protestant churches (at least in my experience) the congregations don't expect the same level of service as is provided by the three priests that serve our huge University Parish. In the Episcopal Church the priesthood was generally a financially comfortable career. All sorts of funds and endowments were set up to help with education expenses and things of that kind. It's A HUGE Cultural difference, and that's before we even get to talking about the spiritual side of celibacy.
"How is a parish support to "pay" a decent salary for a married priest to be married with, say - a large family of 8 children? The food, clothing, education of these children would be paid by each parish? How would the priest make a good father to his own children when he is "fathering" all his flock? I DO NOT see this working."
But the fact is, it does work and has for 2000 years in the Eastern Church. Does it cost more money? You bet! Parishioners have to dig deeper...but sacrificial giving is a blessing in and of itself. It also means less money for the looney ideas and practices of certain religious orders and hierarchs. A married priesthood does have its own problems, but with all due respect to +Nasrallah, they don't rise to the level of what the Latin Church has faced with the sex scandals and all of the other problems which arise when celibates try to function "in the world" instead of "in the desert". Nevertheless, celibacy of the diocesan clergy is a tradition of the Latin Church and as such should not be changed because of pressures from outside or complaints from improperly formed priests.
Well, no surprise, I totally disagree! Our parish can't support the cost of one priest, much less a family. In fact, they can't support the cost of the current building (our original Church burned to the ground 60 years ago).
A married priesthood does have its own problems, but with all due respect to +Nasrallah, they don't rise to the level of what the Latin Church has faced with the sex scandals and all of the other problems which arise when celibates try to function "in the world" instead of "in the desert".
Puhlease! Such nonsense! These 'scandals' have not been a factor in the Maronite Church and you know it. The majority of our priests here in the US come from Lebanon, are highly educated and are polyglots. Many of them are bi-ritual, Maronite and Latin Rite. Our pastor has one set of vestments - white - and wears donated Latin vestments during Advent and Lent. There is barely enough money to support him, much less a wife and children. He has voluntarily chosen to live a celibate life, as have ALL the other priests serving in the US, Mexico, South America, Australia, etc.
Oh I don't know. We just have a new priest here in Pasadena this year, another new one two years before. They are both orthodox, too. The Lord is in charge. I did hear a Monseignor at the liberal church we RCIA'd in mention, "I'm having a hard time finding new priests. All the new ones coming out of Seminary are conservative (and we want a liberal one)." I still think the problem is in the liberals' eyes.
The sex scandals (with extremely rare exceptions) have nothing to do with celibacy. They have to do with homosexuality. It's not celibacy that leads men to hit on adolescent boys, almost universally.
This struck me as a red flag as well, as did Father Lowe's rather vacuous comments (""I said to Linda, `This is where it is happening,"' Lowe recalled") cited in the article. It's difficult to discern truth through the fog of this "journalalism", but this does not appear to be a John Henry Newman situation.
This struck me as a red flag as well, as did Father Lowe's rather vacuous comments (""I said to Linda, `This is where it is happening,"' Lowe recalled") cited in the article. It's difficult to discern truth through the fog of this "journalism", but this does not appear to be a John Henry Newman situation.
This struck me as a red flag as well, as did Father Lowe's rather vacuous comments (""I said to Linda, `This is where it is happening,"' Lowe recalled") cited in the article. It's difficult to discern truth through the fog of this "journalism", but this does not appear to be a John Henry Newman situation.
"The sex scandals (with extremely rare exceptions) have nothing to do with celibacy. They have to do with homosexuality. It's not celibacy that leads men to hit on adolescent boys, almost universally."
You are right. But TC, the fact is that the celibate priesthood has attracted homosexuals in proportions rather beyond their presence in the general community. Being out in the world in parishes, as opposed to closed up in a monastery, just provides "opportunities", the "near occassions of sin" for them and some of them act on it. I am not suggesting that for that reason celibacy should be done away with, but making the Latin Rite priesthood less attractive as a "hiding place" for gays seems a good idea.
JUST a theory ....
If I am not mistaken our Archdiocese has two married priests, formerly Anglican, serving now as fully ordained Catholic priests.
I agree ... but the fact that they have been ordained is a function of ideology, not of celibacy. The American Catholic heirarchy has been loaded with leftists, and they've tended to cuddle gays instead of monitoring or dismissing them.
The Boy Scouts realized the problem and instituted highly-effective screening procedures, along with security procedures for every adult, in about the same time period that the Church leaders here were going limp. It's a phenomenon of recent history, in my opinion, and the celibate priesthood is not a recent invention.
It's interesting that the public schools have not yet made the slightest effort to protect the students from sexual predation, either by teachers or by other students. One suspects this is because they are even more sheltered from (ahem) feedback than the Church heirarchy.
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