Posted on 03/28/2011 11:01:16 AM PDT by marshmallow
The prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, explained March 23 that priestly celibacy “cries out” to the secular world that God is always present.
“Celibacy is a gift of the Lord that the priest is called to freely embrace and live in fullness,” the cardinal said in an article for L’Osservatore Romano.
He added that only “an incorrect hermeneutic of the documents of Vatican II” would lead one to see celibacy as something “from which we must liberate ourselves.”
“Such a position,” the cardinal said, “is not only historically, theologically and doctrinally erroneous, but it is also harmful to spiritual, pastoral, missionary and vocational aspects.”
Cardinal Piacenza underscored the need for proper doctrinal formation for those who will live priestly celibacy because “one cannot live what one does not understand through reason.”
“Celibacy is a matter of evangelical radicalism” he added.
“Poverty, chastity and obedience are not counsels reserved exclusively to the religious. They are virtues that should be lived with intense missionary zeal. We cannot dumb down the level of formation and the demands of the faith,” the cardinal stated.
“In a secularized world it is always difficult to understand the reasons for celibacy. However,” he pointed out, “we must have the courage as the Church to ask ourselves whether we want to resign ourselves to this situation and accept the progressive secularization of societies and cultures as inevitable, or whether we are ready for the task of profound and real new evangelization, at the service of the Gospel, and therefore, of the truth about man.”
“In this sense I think that enthusiastic support for celibacy and appropriate appreciation for it in the Church and the world can represent some of the most efficacious ways of overcoming secularization,” the cardinal said.
“We must not allow ourselves to become conditioned or intimidated by those who do not understand celibacy and want to change Church discipline. Rather, we must recover an enthusiastic awareness that celibacy challenges the mentality of the world and puts its secularism and agnosticism into crisis and cries out throughout the centuries that God is present.”
Forgive me, but the good Cardinal preaching celibacy while the church is found to be repeatedly covering up the sexual exploits of the clergy is just a tad...ridiculous. The Cardinal and the church need to clean up the log in their eye before they go preaching about the speck in anyone elses.
Sounds nice in principle.
In practice, however, the clerical celibacy doctrine has resulted in a creation of a safe haven for repressed homosexual pederasts, and a serious black eye to an organization that has done much more good in the world than it gets credit for.
Any reasonable person accepts the reality that the vast majority of priests are honorable men that take their vows and their calling seriously, but the small minority of perverts that hide behind the collar have done serious damage to the brand. If the choice is between ending the celibacy doctrine or allowing the Church to become marginalized due to its bad actors, I would hope common sense would prevail and priests would be allowed to marry, as they were in the Church's first millenium.
This is quite correct. Poverty, chastity, and obedience are to be observed, in different ways, by Christians in every state of life. There is a form of chastity appropriate to married people, and another that is appropriate to unmarried people.
Priests were never allowed to marry in the Catholic, Orthodox or “oriental” Orthodox Churches. According to their various disciplines married men are allowed to become priests, and do so with a lesser or greater frequency.
Freegards
Extolling the virtues of real losers. Poverty because
you’re too damn lazy. Celibacy because you’re not
acceptable to the opposite sex. Obedience because
you lack vision and leadership skills.
Too bad that old monk got distracted and forgot
to use the spelling checker. Celibate and celebrate
are very different outcomes.
The Cardinal is not preaching about the "speck in anyone else's" eye. This should not be taken as a denunciation of marriage nor of those who can not embrace the celibate lifestyle. He's not being negative; he's saying something positive.... something very simple; namely renunciation of perfectly legitimate marital relations in order to commit oneself totally to the service of God, is a sign to an unbelieving world.
As Scripture says:
Who said to them: All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it."
Matt 19:11-12.
As Scripture says, not everyone can take it. That does not diminish the witness of those who can and do.
The Cardinal's words are not addressed to non-Catholics nor those who are already married. He is the Secretary of the Congregation of the Clergy and his words are addressed primarily to priests and to those who may be considering a priestly vocation. They are words of encouragement.
Would you be complaining as well if he extolled marriage for priests since far more child abuse occurs within marriages than the media hype tells us about the church?
Actually, we really have little idea of what’s actually happened in the catholic church given how aggressively they’ve covered things up both in the US and abroad.
You say celibacy is stupid.
Would you say that to Jesus Christ, to John the Baptist who both live celibate lives??
I didn't say that.. as you've spun it.. Are you a democrat?..
Suggest re-reading what I did say.. But if you're a democrat it would be wasted effort..
On the other hand; I'm not too smart either, I'm a republican..
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2695907/posts?page=3#3
I must me seeing things. And I got my new glasses today.
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