Posted on 09/18/2013 3:41:28 PM PDT by NYer
No.
The subject of married priests is one raised only last weekend at my Maronite Catholic parish. As a Roman Catholic, practicing my faith in an Eastern Catholic Church, I was prepared for the question.
In October 2005, Cardinal Sfeir, (then) Patriarch of the Maronite Church, addressed this topic at the 11th General Synod Fathers, gathered for their eighth meeting at the Vatican. 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,"
It should be pointed out that the Maronite Catholic Church, in respect of priestly celibacy practiced by the Latin Church, only sends celibate priests to serve outside of Lebanon. Our pastor is a celibate priest and missionary, and member of a monastic community.
Once this information had been conveyed, the visiting RC caught on very quickly, saying he had never considered these other aspects and the ramifications they would have on a local parish. For the most part, here in the US, parish communities are much smaller than their Latin Rite counterparts. We can barely support a celibate priest, much less one that is married with children.
It should also be noted that with regard to married priests, the process is to marry first. Essentially, a married man with a wife and family applies to become a priest. The marriage is carefully scrutinized so as not to give scandal. Ultimately, the marriage vow precedes that of the priest; hence, the family is the primary responsibility, not the parish.
Roman Catholics already have married priests.
When a Orthodox clergy or Church of England clergy converts to Catholic, he is normally permitted to be a Roman Catholic priest, and to retain his wife, if he has one.
The pope is confusing me. He states that homos won’t go to hell and you really don’t have to believe in God and is now considering priests getting married. Will he allow them to wed nuns, other priests. I’m not being sarcastic, I am really confused
What the press says the pope says is not necessarily what the pope says.
Perhaps they’re accurate, but don’t bet on it.
Reminds me of the south park episode where they mistranslated the word “celebrate”
Even if the disciplined was relaxed, currently unmarried priests would not be able to get married. They have already made their vows.
You come across as more sarcastic than confused. Sorry. Just being honest.
Dating Priests,
Divorced Priests,
Roaming Priests,
....what could go wrong?
lol! It THIS isn’t a future Oprah episode, I don’t know what is..
The whole question is moot since there were no priests in the Christian church to marry or not marry.
I doubt it; however, I think he had a girlfriend and was in love before he decided to become a priest. In some of the eastern rites, priests do marry, but most of the parishes are small and don’t require as much time. It must be very costly for the parish to support a priest and his family.
3:1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife (emphasis added), vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) (emphasis added)
And unless God "repealed" that passage, I don't know why the Roman Catholic Church prohibits priests from marrying.
Insights, corrections welcome.
But that does beg the question, why is nobody asking about nuns getting married? Doesn’t it at least warrant discussion? If it is that crucial for men, it should also at least be considered for women.
The question the Pope of Rome is raising is, as the article amply pointed out, whether the discipline peculiar to the Latin Rite, might be replaced with the normal practice of the Eastern Churches, both us Orthodox and the Uniates: priests may not marry, but married men may be ordained to the priesthood.
In Eastern usage, ordination to the priesthood, or even the diaconate, requires the consent of the wife. Either married couples embark in the route toward the husband’s ordination together, or an unmarried man, who does not wish to embrace life-long celibacy, having completed seminary, waits (usually as a reader, since in Russian usage, even subdeacons may not marry) until he finds an marries a woman who wants to be a presbytera (or matushka or khouria, depending on which Old Country language you favor) who wishes to marry him, marries, and is ordained.
Very often daughters of priests find the idea of living less fully immersed in the rhythm of church life than they were while growing up unappealing, and if celibacy and a monastic profession not for them, try to marry seminarians before their ordination.
The male analogue of a nun is a monk, not a priest. And no one (with any sense) is advovating or even considering letting priests marry — that is universally forbidden by ancient canons. The discussion is solely whether married men ought be ordained to the priesthood, as they are in the Eastern Churches and your Anglican Ordinariate, in the Latin rite generally.
Not related to this discussion which is to life celibacy as a discipline in for seminarians in the Latin Church.
Priest, be they Latin or Eastern Rite may NEVER marry. The discussion is about lifting the discipline of celibacy for seminarians.
“Will the Pope give up the whole ‘religion’ thing and embrace communism?”
Seriously, where do they come up with this stuff?
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