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Francis has put the debate on ecclesiastical offices on a new track. Changes to the priesthood? The Pope's plans for lay ministries In Germany, Catholic reformers are calling for women to be ordained to the priesthood, seeing it as equal rights. But Pope Francis has taken a different path that could radically change the entire priesthood. Quietly, Pope Francis has set the debate about ministries in the Catholic Church on a new track this year with three short letters. While in Germany the Synodal Way and demonstrations of "Maria 2.0" call for the admission of women to all ecclesiastical offices...

Shock: Retiring monsignor announces plans to marryDetails: The Rev. Monsignor Howard Lincoln, who celebrated his final mass at Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert last week after leading the Catholic congregation for 20 years, has informed members of the church community that he plans to marry a woman as he moves into retirement, church leaders said this weekend.In a letter dated Saturday and posted on the church’s website, Pastor Gregory Elder and Parochial Vicar Tyler Tripp wrote: “It is with mixed emotion that we share with you the following message: On Wednesday, June 30, at the end of our farewell...

[Catholic Caucus] Lone Priest Administers Last Rites to Driver After Deadly Car Crash Father John Killackey came to the aid of several stranded on the road after a tragic six-car pileup in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Father John Killackey walking down Interstate 81 southbound on July 8, 2020. Father John Killackey came to the aid of several stranded on the road after a tragic six-car pileup in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. A picture of a lone priest walking along Highway 81 piqued the interest of thousands of Catholics this week. Drenched with so much rain, the image appears as a Norman Rockwell work of...

ROSARIO, Argentina – Three Spanish-born cardinals on Wednesday offered up their “red hats and cardinal rings” to any woman who wants to be a member of the Catholic Church’s most exclusive club. Yet, there’s a catch: they argue that there’s a need to rediscover the priesthood as Jesus perceived it, saying “it’s about service, not power.” “Women, like men, have to rediscover baptism and the dignity of being children of God that the baptism gives us,” said Cardinal Cristobal Lopez, archbishop of Rabat. “Our joy is not in being bishops or cardinals, ordained or not. Our joy must come from...

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Cardinal Kasper considered how Pope Francis could introduce female ministry. Here’s how it happened Pope Francis' call for official ministries for women is 'much bigger than the female diaconate' February 24, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – An idea about ministries for women presented by Cardinal Walter Kasper in a 2019 statement seems to have found its way into Pope Francis' post-synodal exhortation Querida Amazonia. The German cardinal had told LifeSite in June of 2019 that there are ways of giving women much more scope in the Church, and even a liturgical blessing, without giving them access to “sacramental ordination.” His idea was...

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5) There is no way to adequately explain priesthood without reference to mediation. A priest is a mediator between God and Man. From time to time over the years, I have had the verse from 1 Timothy pointed out to me with the argument that there cannot be any mediator other than Christ, and, thus, there cannot be any such thing as a “priest” within the Church. Sometimes the argument becomes even more pointed: I do not need to go to a...

Married priests? ‘John Henry Newman wouldn’t understand the reasons’ VATICAN CITY, October 12, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman would not have understood the reasons behind the contemporary push for married priests.  Fr. Ignatius Harrison of Newman’s own Birmingham Oratory is the Actor, that is, the petitioner, for the Cause of the great English cardinal’s canonization. Newman, a leading English religious and literary figure in his lifetime, will be raised to the altars this Sunday.  Even before he became a Roman Catholic, the Anglican John Henry Newman was a firm proponent of clerical celibacy. Fr. Harrison indicated...

St. Gallen Mafia’s long war to change priesthood will have decisive moment at Amazon Synod "The shortage of priests is only an obvious pretext to abolish practically (not theoretically) celibacy in the Latin Church. This has been the aim since Luther." —Bishop Athanasius Schneider  July 4, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Forty-four years before he successfully led the crusade to elect Pope Francis, then-Fr. Cormac Murphy-O’Connor—a future member of the St. Gallen mafia—attended a 1969 synod under Pope Paul VI.  Listening to all the radical speeches challenging clerical celibacy, he suddenly felt “a rush of blood to the head,” as he recalls...

The Sins of Priests Msgr. Charles Pope • November 12, 2018 • The Book of the Prophet Malachi is set forth as a kind “riv” (a Hebrew word for a lawsuit, indictment, or controversy) by God. The Lord presents a legal case of sorts, which convicts ancient Israel of numerous deficiencies and calls for their repentance. The case shows a body of evidence that is just as true today as it was then. God has plenty to say and we have much to hear, much of which to repent.As we consider the sins of the priests enumerated below, please...

When Honor Eclipses Truth Msgr. Charles Pope • September 21, 2017 • Every year at about this time we read St. Augustine’s sermon “On Pastors” in the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours. As you know, priests are required to read the Divine Office daily; St. Augustine’s sermon extends over the better part of two weeks. It amounts to a stern warning for priests who too easily live off the sheep instead of shepherding them rightly.There are tender moments in the sermon as well. At one point, commenting on a passage from Ezekiel rebuking bad shepherds...

Pray for Priests! An Urgent Call Based on a Teaching by Robert Cardinal Sarah Msgr. Charles Pope • June 29, 2017 • One of the most consistent concerns expressed both by my readers and by attendees at the various talks I give, is the large number of tepid and problematic clergy. We clergy give our people much to endure, yet for the most part they are so very patient and loving with us despite our foibles and idiosyncrasies.Most of the people are highly concerned about the widespread silence and/or vagueness of the clergy in the face of the grave...

Faithful Fathers Msgr. Charles Pope • June 18, 2017 • Priesthood Ordination 2017 – Photo Credit: Daphne StubboloSunday’s Feast of Corpus Christi brought the first Masses of the new priests ordained here in Washington. It was also Father’s Day. The readings for Corpus Christi suggest a kind of threefold office for the priest (related to teaching, governing, and sanctifying). I thought it might be good to present some of the notes from that homily on the blog today. Here, then, are three facets of a faithful Father—of a faithful priest.I. The Priest Announces the Truth – Throughout the readings...

When 19 college guys go to Jamaica for spring break, they usually hit the bar and the beach. Not Nicholas Morrison and his friends. Their trip to Montego Bay this March was far more medieval. Every morning they rose at 5:30 a.m. and prayed. Then they visited abandoned children with disabilities and dug an irrigation trench to protect the kids’ homes from flooding in the coming summer rains.

Denver, Colo., Apr 9, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In 1970, there was one priest for every 800 Catholics in the United States.Today, that number has more than doubled, with one priest for every 1,800 Catholics.Globally, the situation is worse. The number of Catholics per priest increased from 1,895 in 1980 to 3,126 in 2012, according to a report from CARA at Georgetown University. The Catholic Church in many parts of the world is experiencing what is being called a “priest shortage” or a “priest crisis.”Last month, Pope Francis answered a question about the priest shortage in a...

I had woken up content and looking forward to celebrating Mass in the parish. I sprang from bed, eager to get ready and to arrive early for my appointment with Our Lord and his people.Mass went beautifully.At the end, some women approached me, “Father, could you hear our confessions?”I said yes — there were only three of them — but after I’d finished hearing the confessions of the first three women, I saw more people had gotten in line, and then more and more … until three hours had passed. I was hungry, thirsty and ready for a break.I...

Crux has the scoop: https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/03/08/pope-francis-signals-openness-ordaining-married-men/ Pope Francis has expressed openness to a renewed consideration of married priests in the Catholic Church, especially the possibility of ordaining the so-called viri probati, meaning tested married men, who could be called into clerical service. “Then we have to consider what tasks they could perform, for instance in isolated communities,” the pontiff said. While the question put to Francis specifically referred to ordaining viri probati as deacons, many theologians and some bishops have also suggested they could be considered for priestly service. The pope’s comments came in a new interview with the German newspaperDie...

Never Give Up: St. Augustine’s Stirring Call to Pastors Msgr. Charles Pope • October 2, 2016 • Today I would like to present excerpts from a stirring sermon that St. Augustine delivered to the priests and people of Hippo. In times like these we must all be reminded of the need to preach the Word of God even if the recipients of that word revile us, labeling our very proclamation of love “hate speech.” This is not new; St. Augustine calls us to be resolute and to preach the Word of God in season and out of season. This...

A Warning from the Lord to Priests and a Request for Prayers Msgr. Charles Pope • August 17, 2016 • The first reading from today (Wednesday of the 20th week of the year) is a significant admonition for priests. In this post, permit this priest to wonder how this warning from the Lord might apply to priests and shepherds today.You who read these wonderings: please pray for priests, because we who have received much will also have much for which to account.The passage from Ezekiel 34 is in bold, blue italics; my reflections are in bold, black text.The word...

With all the hullabaloo on this topic, I have tried valiantly to avoid having a knee-jerk opinion on altar girls. Now, however, I have actually spent some time thinking about it. And I do have an opinion, based on my personal experience both as a Catholic mother and REGINA’s Editor. I raised a son and a daughter in the Catholic Church in Connecticut in the 1990’s and 2000’s. My daughter had zero interest in being an altar ‘server’ and I was somewhat dubious about then-popular claims that serving the altar would somehow prepare her to have a successful career. In...