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A synod of Catholic bishops has clearly reaffirmed priestly celibacy and ruled out allowing clergy to marry as a solution to the crisis of vocations facing the church worldwide. The working sessions of the three-week synod, the first of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy, closed with 50 propositions and a message to the world from the more than 250 bishops. Overall, the synod's decisions have dashed the hopes of some liberal Catholics for movement on issues such as married priests, celibacy and the divorced faithful.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A lack of priests coupled with people's great need for spiritual nourishment must prompt the church to be open to considering a role for married priests in the life of the church, said some members of the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. Coadjutor Bishop Arnold Orowae of Wabag, Papua New Guinea, told synod participants that Catholics who live in remote villages did not have "the opportunity for frequent celebration and reception of the Eucharist." In his speech Oct. 6, he asked how these communities would then be able to make the Eucharist the source and...

- H. Em. Card. Nasrallah Pierre SFEIR, Patriarch of Antiochia of the Maronites, Head of the Synod of the Maronite Church (LEBANON) 1. I refer to the relatio ante disceptationem, chapter a2 entitled the tested men, where there is a question about the celibacy of Catholic priests. The text says: “To overcome the lack of priests, some, guided by the principle of salus animarum suprema lex, advance the request for the ordination of married faithful, of proven faith and virtue”, rather than leaving the parishes without any priestly service. 1. There is a problem there that nobody ignores. We should...

Under Pope John Paul II, the question was barely up for debate. But over the last week, the deep shortage of Roman Catholic priests has dominated the first gathering of bishops under the new pope, Benedict XVI, with an openness and urgency that the Vatican has not been used to in recent years. "Celibacy has no theological foundation," Gregorios III Laham, who attended the synod as the patriarch of the Melkite Catholics, an Eastern Rite church, said at an early session, official briefers reported. "Married priests are admitted," he said. SNIP "It's one thing to listen and to allow conversations,"...

Three Catholic issues drive critics nuts. Articles criticizing Pope Benedict XVI keep singling out three issues: the celibacy of priests, the all-male priesthood and the prohibition of artificial contraception. During May, our editorials will look at each of them, starting this week with celibacy, which is a little bit different from the other two. It isn’t a teaching on faith or morals - the Church doesn’t teach that it is impossible for a married man to be a priest. In fact, celibacy wasn’t required of priests for the first millennium of the Church’s history (though most priests were, in fact,...

Priests tell bishops: Marriage enhances ministry Milwaukee example spurs growing letter-writing campaign urging reevaluation of celibacy By DICK RYAN Bishop Wilton Gregory’s mailbox has been stuffed with more than Christmas cards this year. In the last few months, there has been a windstorm of letters from priests all across the country asking the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to urge the discussion of optional celibacy for priests. With the decline of vocations, the large number of aging priests and the increasing workload of priests who, because of thinning ranks and clustered parishes, find themselves overworked and frustrated,...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MY HUSBAND, THE PRIESTCan the church afford to ignore these men? Amy Welborn In a way, ours is like any other marriage, a union of souls, raising children, paying the bills. In a way, too, it is like any other second marriage embarked on by two people in their early middle age. Both accustomed to being in charge, running our own and the lives of those in our care, unaccustomed, at first, to making joint decisions, to even asking the other what he or she thinks about it. As is the case with any second marriage, both with histories...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Wanderer Home PageIssue Date August 28, 2003 The Milwaukee Petition . . . Do The Faithful Realize The Problems With Optional Celibacy? By FR. JOSEPH F. WILSON From Milwaukee comes word that over 160 priests have signed a petition requesting that the Church consider allowing optional celibacy in the Roman Rite, and requesting that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) take this subject up for deliberation. I wish heartily to second their proposal, to this extent: We should all definitely stop and think about this petition, and the fact that it has been put forward...

MILWAUKEE (AP) _ More than 160 priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee have signed a letter arguing that married men should be allowed to enter the priesthood. The letter marks the first time since the mid-1970s that a group of priests has spoken out in favor of loosening the rules on celibacy, said Dean Hoge, a sociologist at Catholic University of America. ``We join our voices to those of so many others at this time, voices urging that diocesan priesthood now be open to married men as well as to celibate men,'' the letter said. The priests hope...

My Priest Fr. Christopher G. Phillips of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, TX will be the guest on The Journey Home on EWTN tonight August 12th at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central. He was the first Priest ordained under the Pastoral Provision which allowed for certain married clergy of other faiths to become Roman Catholic Priests, and for the establishment of Anglican Use Parishes in the Roman Catholic Church. He recently celebrated the Anglican Use Mass at Mother Angelica's Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL. He has also been featured on past EWTN specials,...

These Catholic priests have parishes and families, too Father John Gremmels, pastor of the largest Catholic parish in the Diocese of Fort Worth, excuses himself from a telephone interview to take what he says is an important call on his cell phone. "Hello. Yes, Mom's on her way to get you," he says. "OK. Love you. Bye." "That was my daughter," the priest says of Alban, who just turned 16. "She needs a ride from ballet." No, this isn't another scandal in a church besieged by allegations of sexual abuse by priests and cover-ups by prominent bishops. The three Gremmels...

St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church has called a new rector who will become the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta's first openly gay rector. The Rev. William quot;Macquot; McCord Thigpen III is scheduled to start as St. Bartholomew's rector on April 28, says Cary Patrick, a diocesan spokesman. Thigpen, 46, will be joined by his partner of seven years, John Lavier. St. Bartholomew's, in DeKalb County on LaVista Road, has a large gay and lesbian membership. The church, which has about 1,200 members, has had openly gay priests before, but not one serving as rector, the priest in charge of a parish. Patrick,...