Posted on 10/25/2009 2:48:17 PM PDT by NYer
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 23, 2009 (Zenit.org).- When priests are given the choice between marriage and celibacy, the tendency is to choose celibacy, at least according to the experience of the bishop of Cairo of the Chaldeans.Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf said this today in response to a question concerning married priests at a press conference to present the final message of the synod on Africa.
The question was asked in light of the announcement this week that Benedict XVI will publish an apostolic constitution that will allow groups of Anglicans seeking communion with the Church to do so through personal ordinariates.
Within it, Anglican married priests will be allowed to be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church and to exercise their ministry maintaining their married family life.
The journalist asked if the introduction of former Anglican, married priests to the Church would cause celibate Catholic priests to stray.
The bishop of Cairo noted in his response that in Egypt, married Catholic priests belonging to the Eastern Catholic Churches and celibate priests coexist without problems.
He also said that even where the ordination of married priests is allowed, there is a tendency to celibacy that many priests embrace voluntarily.
"This doesn't create problems," the bishop clarified. "It's something that is absolutely normal.
"The tendency is rather to celibacy, but not the contrary, at least according to the experience in Egypt."
Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, president of the commission given the responsibility to write the synod's final message, said that the dispensation of celibacy to former Anglican priests would "not have a fundamental impact" on the clergy in Africa.
Ping!
While I have not interviewed many priests, I do have some experience with this issue. My son is almost 18 now, and is going into seminary next fall.
He has been going through discernment for several years now. Up until the last month, he had never dated. He had never really had the urge to do so. He enjoyed having friends of both sexes, and that was enough. He decided this year, as a senior, he would like to date a girl in his band. They have been friends for many years, but he wanted to take a girl to homecoming and the prom this year since it is his last.
He has been dating her (defined very loosely here. They have been to 2 movies and played mini golf once) for about 3 weeks. She knows of his calling to the priesthood. He has already told me that he knows he is called to celibacy. This experience has shown him that God has given him all he needs to remain celibate in his life. While the vast majority of people are NOT called to celibacy, God grants this gift (yes, GIFT) to those he calls into a vocation that requires it.
Men who feel called to serve God yet marry, are encouraged to become deacons. Women who feel called to marry have many opportunities to serve God through ministries within the Church. There is no either/or, its all about what God calls the individual to. The only folks who say priests should marry or should be allowed to be female are confusing their desire (or deliberately fanning the flames of discord within the Catholic Church) with a true calling from God to a vocation. God does not call people to a vocation, or a lifestyle choice that would be contrary to His teachings. That is primarily reserved to us fallen creatures who confuse our desires and pride with Gods will for our lives.
There is no surprise that most priests would embrace celibacy. They do feel lonely sometimes, so do married folks (affairs, cheating, etc) but they are never alone. People would do well to understand WHY priests are celibate before deciding they just shouldn’t be.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
I think the incoming Anglicans are going to find this to be the case as well. “Anglo Catholic” (very High Church Anglican) clergy in the 19th century often adopted celibacy, even though it wasn’t required. Now that they’re in a situation where it’s not weird and doesn’t mean you’re secretly gay, I think you’ll see a lot more of those who are not married now opting for celibacy.
Of this I have no doubt. In every other denomination, priests truly called to serve would be looked at in the most unusual way for opting to remain celibate.
We have reduced the sexual act in humanity to animal level; anyone who doesn’t choose to do it must be crazy or gay. That is in direct contradiction to scriptures such as the one that celebrate becoming a eunich for the kingdom or st paul saying it would be better to remain single as he was, and Jesus was. It is also pointed out that single men and women can devote all their attention to the Lord, where married men and women must think of their spouses, thereby dividing their attentions, especially when there are family struggles with children or the marriage itself.
I always found it strange for married clergy, even when I was a baptist. Many of the families do suffer, and they do so in silence. Pastoring is even more demanding on time than being a surgeon or obstetrician. It can overwhelm even the strongest marriage.
“”The tendency is rather to celibacy, but not the contrary, at least according to the experience in Egypt.””
Celibates belong in monasteries.
I have seen that in the families of Orthodox priests. It’s an enormous strain for all concerned, not just the priest, and there were a lot of seriously dysfunctional families among them.
While I know this example does not pertain to this directly, it may be wise to consider it in a vocation;
You cannot serve 2 masters, you will love one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and mammon.
I believe it is a greater effort to exercise restraint from this natural tendency toward a woman than the contrary. However, there is duty, will power, and discipline that a normal celibate man must employ in order to maintain his commitment to God.
This isn't true if you are generally Asexual or homosexual with a God fearing conscience. If the latter, you don't want to marry a woman in the first place so there is nothing to suppress in that respect. So your tendency would indeed be toward celibacy if you have a God fearing conscience because your understand of such an abomination forces you to suppress it much more so than a heterosexual tendency.
Your bishops live in monasteries?
True. Each day the married priest must choose between having sex with his wife and celebrating the Holy Eucharist. According to Tradition, the two cannot be done on the same day. Knowing the infinite value of the Holy Eucharist, in a reasonable world this would be an easy decision to make. Yet there are plenty of priests having kids. Hmmm....
Why is that?
“Your bishops live in monasteries?”
Many do as a matter of fact.
A monastery would be a good place for you. Plenty of time for contemplative prayer, which would do you a world of good.
“You cannot serve 2 masters, you will love one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and mammon.”
Is this something the Latin Church figured out since it adopted celibacy as the norm at the 2nd Lateran Council? Does it only apply to Latin priests or are all Eastern Rite married Catholic priests and all Orthodox married priests in a position where they hate God and love their wives or vice versa?
Daily Divine Liturgies are not at all the norm in Orthodox parishes anywhere. Many monasteries have a daily liturgy, but they, of course, are populated with celibates.
Abstention from marital relations is a form of fasting and just as we lay people and clergy fast from food for 12 hours before receiving communion, so also do we abstain from relations before communion.
“A monastery would be a good place for you. Plenty of time for contemplative prayer, which would do you a world of good.”
No doubt about it, AAC. +John Chrysostomos to the contrary notwithstanding, I am the greatest of sinners.
I have got to say, I am aware that you belong to a rite that allows married priests. I belong to a rite that has celibate priests.
I am fully aware that I am not going to change your mind, nor will you change mine. My study of the WHY has convinced me that celibate priests are preferred. I do not intend to convert you, and my observations are not church law, they are my observations. If you are secure in your belief, then my observations are no threat to them. I speak from the Roman Catholic rites point of view.
“I am fully aware that I am not going to change your mind, nor will you change mine.”
It is not my intention to change your mind. Rome’s discipline regarding celibacy is 100% Rome’s call just as the discipline of ordaining married men to the priesthood is the call of the rest of The Church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.