Posted on 06/03/2008 1:33:40 PM PDT by NYer
.- The secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato, said this week only men can be ordained to the priesthood because “the Catholic Church is not authorized to change the will of her founder, Jesus Christ."
"Therefore," the archbishop continued, "in the participation in the life and mission of the Church, women cannot receive the sacrament of Holy Orders and therefore, they cannot carry out the functions proper to the ministerial priesthood.”
In an interview with the Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, regarding the recent decree by the CDF on the “ordination” of women, Archbishop Amato explained, that the Church’s teaching on this matter is founded upon the “free and sovereign will of Jesus Christ, who only called men to be apostles.” The Church is bound by the decision of the Lord Himself, he stressed. “For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.”
Archbishop Amato said the CDF decree was necessary because of “false ordinations of women that have taken place in different parts of the world. The General Decree is also an aid to bishops to ensure a uniform response in the entire Church to these situations. In reality these are not true and proper ordinations,” he explained.
The archbishop went on to note that the decree imposes latae sententiae or immediately applied excommunication on those who attempt to ordain women to the priesthood and on women who attempt to receive Holy Orders. “The excommunication is automatic, ipso facto,” he stated.
Excommunication bars an individual from participating in the Mass and in the other sacraments of the Church and from exercising any kind of Church ministry. It is “reserved to the Holy See and is lifted when the persons in question show sincere repentance and promise to follow the Church’s doctrine and discipline."
“Excommunication is a medicinal punishment that invites the person to repentance, conversion and reparation of the scandal, as the act in question was a public one,” Archbishop Amato explained.
Crisis magazine has put together a list of arguments for priestly celibacy and responses to commonly heard criticisms. We hope it helps you better prepare for the future and the role all of us must play in restoring the moral authority of our Church.
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5 Arguments for Priestly Celibacy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This article originally appeared in the CRISIS Magazine e-Letter. It is printed with permission.
I’ve a question then:
St Peter was married. Yet he was the first Pope?
St Paul was celebate.
How does that work?
bump
It is the difference between practice and doctrine. At any time the Church could allow Latin Rite priests to marry. Other rites within the Church do have married priests (even some Latin Rite priests are married if they have converted from Anglican etc.)
This is completely different from the issue of ordination of women for instance where that is a matter of doctrine that only men can be ordained to the priesthood.
It is the goal of Liberation Theologists to get people to believe that Jesus was wrong, via political correctness. The rest would then be academic.
This is the key sentence.
My argument against priestly celibacy is:
A. It should be voluntary and not required.
B. It is not biblically necessary, nor forbidden.It is not the example of the earliest Church, to include Peter.
C. Nor is it required in the early era of the Church.
Unfortunately, none of those are dealt with above.
Big'ol freeper provided an excellent response. To that I would add that Peter was already married when he was called by our Lord. This explains why the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches allow married men to become priests. Once ordained into the priesthood, however, they may never remarry should their wife predecease them.
The question of celibacy is scriptural. It is a discipline based on Matt. 19:11-12, where Jesus says celibacy is a gift from God and whoever can bear it should bear it. Jesus praises and recommends celibacy for full-time ministers in the Church. In Matt. 19:29, Jesus says that whoever gives up children for the sake of His name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. Jesus praises celibacy when it is done for the sake of His kingdom.
There have been several articles posted to Free Republic on the topic of priestly celibacy. Here is one of the better postings.
As has already been posted, celibacy is a discipline, not a dogma. It is optional in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. My pastor's great grandfather was a priest :-). My pastor chose the celibate lifestyle.
It is not biblically necessary, nor forbidden.It is not the example of the earliest Church, to include Peter.
That is correct (see above). Peter was already married before Christ assumed His ministry. That's about all we know. Scripture does not speak of his wife once he is called to follow Jesus.
Nor is it required in the early era of the Church.
Again, celibacy is not 'required'; it is a discipline.
Excure the raciness...but where was Mrs. Peter ever mentioned in scripture....MIL was mentioned.
No problems with holy orders with widowers.
> Excure the raciness...but where was Mrs. Peter ever mentioned in scripture....MIL was mentioned.
I believe it is in a single verse in Acts, and I think it was via the reference to the MIL (there is no MIL without a wife...)
I will need to get to my copy of the Volume of Sacred Law to find it (I’m at my offices now).
Had his wife still been alive, his mother in law would not have arisen from her sickbed to wait on them - that would have been his wife's duty had she been alive.
Vatican reaffirms Church teaching on ordination to the priesthood
"He Called Them Forward" [Roger Cardinal Mahony]
Archbishop Burke to ordain nine to priesthood after making vocations 'top priority'
Vatican says prohibition against gays in seminaries is universal [Open]
The Male Priesthood: The Argument From Sacred Tradition
Priests: Ordinary Men Made Extraordinary by Grace [Holy Orders/Chrism Mass]
Book on Mary turns runaway youngster immersed in drugs and crime into a priest
The Nature of Priestly Ordination: Theological Background and Some Present Concerns
Priesthood Sunday -- October 28th -- Serra Club [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
The Priesthood of Jesus Christ - Body and Blood (Confessional ... Consecration ... and Calvary)
What You {Catholics} Need to Know: Celibacy [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
New priest finds joy in sacrifice
No shortage of priests in Atlanta, more than 50 seminarians
Debt, the Vocation Killer [Catholic Caucus]
Identical twins become Green Bay priests
A Modern Roman Rite Priest reports on Classical Roman Rite Training
Number of new priests expected to rise in 2007
Father, Mother, Sister, Brother [Part One of a series on Celibacy] -- Catholic Caucus
It Takes a Village of Vocations [Part Two of a series on Celibacy] -- Catholic Caucus
Living Single and Celibate in God’s Service [Part Three of a series on Celibacy] -- Catholic Caucus
Brothers and Sisters in Christ [Part Four of a series on Celibacy] -- Catholic Caucus
The Adventure of the Priesthood [Part Five of a series on Celibacy] -- Catholic Caucus
This Is the Body of Christ [Part Six of a series on Celibacy and Vocations] -- Catholic Caucus
14 men are ordained into the priesthood (at St. Patrick's Cathedral NYC)
To Know, To Love, To Lead (Pope Benedict XVI ordains 22 new priests)
The Indispensable Priesthood -- Holy Thursday, [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part Three[Cath/Orth/Angl Caucus]
Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part Two
Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part One [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Vatican Said (Again!) Not Revising Celibacy Rule
Lesson 21: Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders BY FATHER ROBERT ALTIER
Common Sense for an Uncommon Calling
RC Archdiocese, Lahore Pakistan, Ordains Largest Class of New Priests
Must be one of those pagan myths...LOL.
Ditch the wife and keep the MIL...Asteroth..Isis, no it must be Esmeralda....no that was one of the ugly sisters...
At one time he was. Scripture doesn't tell us anything about his wife. St Peter also had the following exchange with Christ.
"Then Peter answering, said to him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. And many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first." Matthew 19:27-30
"Then Peter said: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. Who said to them: Amen, I say to you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive much more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." Luke 18:28-30
We've heard your "arguments" before and we've explained the topic to you before but one more time:
A. It should be voluntary and not required.
It is. Acceptance of the discipline is freely taken after many years of discernment.
B. It is not biblically necessary, nor forbidden.It is not the example of the earliest Church, to include Peter.
It is a higher calling than marriage highly praised and exemplified by Christ, the Apostles and St. Paul. Your knowledge of both Scripture and the early Church are quite deficient. If you are sincerely interested in learning something and not simply trying to stir the pot, again, I suggest you read the following:
C. Nor is it required in the early era of the Church.
You are mistaken, yet again.
| ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS |
| Pope John Paul II |
| Apostolic Letter On Reserving Priestly Ordination To Men Alone 1. Priestly Ordination, which hands on the office entrusted by Christ to his Apostles of teaching, sanctifying, and governing the faithful, has in the Catholic Church from the beginning always been reserved to men alone. This tradition has also been faithfully maintained by the Oriental Churches. When the question of the ordination of women arose in the Anglican Communion, Pope Paul VI, out of fidelity to his office of safeguarding the Apostolic Tradition, and also with a view to removing a new obstacle placed in the way of Christian unity, reminded Anglicans of the position of the Catholic Church: "She holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church."[1] But since the question had also become the subject of debate among theologians and in certain Catholic circles, Paul VI directed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to set forth and expound the teaching of the Church on this matter. This was done through the Declaration <Inter Insigniores>, which the Supreme Pontiff approved and ordered to be published.[2] 2. The Declaration recalls and explains the fundamental reasons for this teaching, reasons expounded by Paul VI, and concludes that the Church "does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination."[3] To these fundamental reasons the document adds other theological reasons which illustrate the appropriateness of the divine provision, and it also shows clearly that Christ's way of acting did not proceed from sociological or cultural motives peculiar to his time. As Paul VI later explained: "The real reason is that, in giving the Church her fundamental constitution, her theological anthropology—thereafter always followed by the Church's Tradition—Christ established things in this way."[4] In the Apostolic Letter <Mulieris Dignitatem>, I myself wrote in this regard: "In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behaviour, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time."[5] In fact, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles attest that this call was made in accordance with God's eternal plan: Christ chose those whom he willed (cf. <Mk> 3:13-14; <Jn> 6:70), and he did so in union with the Father, "through the Holy Spirit" (<Acts> 1:2), after having spent the night in prayer (cf. <Lk> 6:12). Therefore, in granting admission to the ministerial priesthood,[6] the Church has always acknowledged as a perennial norm her Lord's way of acting in choosing twelve men whom he made the foundation of his Church (cf. <Rev> 21:14). These men did not in fact receive only a function which could thereafter be exercised by any member of the Church; rather they were specifically and intimately associated in the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. <Mt> 10:1, 7-8; 28:16-20; <Mk> 3:13- 16; 16:14-15). The Apostles did the same when they chose fellow workers[7] who would succeed them in their ministry.[8] Also included in this choice were those who, throughout the time of the Church, would carry on the Apostles' mission of representing Christ the Lord and Redeemer.[9] 3. Furthermore, the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-admission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them. Rather, it is to be seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the wisdom of the Lord of the universe. The presence and the role of women in the life and mission of the Church, although not linked to the ministerial priesthood, remain absolutely necessary and irreplaceable. As the Declaration <Inter Insigniores> points out, "the Church desires that Christian women should become fully aware of the greatness of their mission; today their role is of capital importance both for the renewal and humanization of society and for the rediscovery by believers of the true face of the Church".[10] The New Testament and the whole history of the Church give ample evidence of the presence in the Church of women, true disciples, witnesses to Christ in the family and in society, as well as to total consecration to the service of God and of the Gospel. "By defending the dignity of women and their vocation, the Church has shown honour and gratitude for those women who—faithful to the Gospel—have shared in every age in the apostolic mission of the whole People of God. They are the holy martyrs, virgins, and the mothers of families, who bravely bore witness to their faith and passed on the Church's faith and tradition by bringing up their children in the spirit of the Gospel".[11] Moreover, it is to the holiness of the faithful that the hierarchical structure of the Church is totally ordered. For this reason, the Declaration <Inter Insigniores> recalls: "the only better gift, which can and must be desired, is love (cf. <1 Cor> 12 and 13). The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints".[12] 4. Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church's judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force. Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. <Lk> 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful. Invoking an abundance of divine assistance upon you, venerable Brothers, and upon all the faithful, I impart my Apostolic Blessing. From the Vatican, on 22 May, the Solemnity of Pentecost, in the year 1994, the sixteenth of my Pontificate. NOTES 1. Paul VI, <Response to the Letter of His Grace the Most Reverend Dr. F. D. Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, concerning the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood> (30 November 1975): <AAS> 68 (1976), 599. 2. Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration <Inter Insigniores> on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (15 October 1976): <AAS> 69 (1977), 98-116. 3. <Ibid.>, 100. 4. Paul VI, <Address on the Role of Women in the Plan of Salvation (30 January 1977): <Insegnamenti>, XV (1977), 111. Cf. also John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation <Christifideles Laici> (30 December 1988), 31: <AAS> 81 (1989), 393-521; <Catechism of the Catholic Church>, No. 1577. 5. Apostolic Letter <Mulieris Dignitatem> (15 August 1988), 26; <AAS> 80 (1988), 1715. 6. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution <Lumen Gentium>, 28; Decree <Presbyterorum Ordinis>, 2b. 7 Cf. <1 Tim> 3:1-13; <2 Tim> 1:6; <Tit> 1:5-9. 8 Cf. <Catechism of the Catholic Church>, No. 1577. 9 Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church <Lumen Gentium>, 20, 21. 10 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration <Inter Insigniores>, 6: <AAS> 69 (1977), 115-116. 11 Apostolic Letter <Mulieris Dignitatem>, 27: <AAS> 80 (1988), 1719. 12 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration <Inter Insigniores>, 6: <AAS> 69 (1977), 115. |
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See NYer’s comments above at #10
See the comments directed at you, again.
I understand. I was just letting you know that the response of NY is similar to yours, but not quite as dogmatic.
I know we’ve discussed a number of things in the past, but I don’t recall discussing this subject before, priestly celibacy, that is.
Cunningham's response is far better than mine. I tried to post a more simplistic response.
Good post, thanks. I have a brother-in-law who swears the whole priest shortage would be solved by letting priests marry. Good info for rebuttal :)
Well, there’s this from 1 Corinthians 9:5...” Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”
St. Peter was likely still married at the time St. Paul wrote these words, as the quote would make little sense otherwise. All the same, it is undeniable that St. Paul lobbies with conviction in favor of celibacy for those who are called to it. And he makes it clear that those involved in full-time ministry are prime candidates for it, as noted in the article for this thread. The early Church favored it long before it mandated it in the West; and, before the fourth Century, it was very much the norm for the western clergy.
St. Peter’s wife is alluded to in 1 Corinthians 9:5, in the context of St. Paul talking (in the present tense) about the ability of Cephas (Peter) to have a wife.
The above comment is from nyer's original post. AA agrees that it is a discipline. You don't say anyplace if it is or is not a dogma.
In Paul's case we know he was not married. In the case of Peter, we know that he was married. There is silence regarding the other apostles, and while there is silence regarding Jesus, He is also the subject of scripture. Had he been married it's inconceivable that it would not have been mentioned.
Paul's comment in 1 Co 9 suggests that more than one Apostle was married, but it is only a possibility and not a certainty:
1Co 9:5 - Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?
One could also spend much time in Paul's statement that an elder, bishops being elders, should be the husband of one wife. Even if one eliminates the argument that Paul is requiring marriage of bishops, one cannot eliminate the argument that bishops are not denied marriage in the bible.
By definition, "discipline" is not "dogma." Dogma relates to Truths of the Faith, all of which are revealed by God and are immutable. Discipline has to do with practices or behaviors that are required or forbidden by positive Church laws, all of which are made by man and can be changed by man. Priestly celibacy is a discipline; it is required by the law in the Latin Rite. However, as it is not dogmatically based, it could, in theory, be changed tomorrow. However, the Church considers the reasons for priestly celibacy to be quite sound, and the chances of this requirement being abrogated are very remote indeed.
“In a society that is completely saturated with sex, celibate priests are living proof that sexual urges can be controlled and channeled in a positive way.”
That is precisely why we need to get Nuns back in habits and back in Catholic schools: as they did in the Sixties, the Sisters are living proof that you do NOT havetohavesexeverybdayoryoudie. What better confidante and mentor for a young woman beset by those who tell her suppressing “urges” will lead to insanity or “prove” she is a lesbian, than a well-adjusted celibate woman who is happy in her work?
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