Posted on 03/08/2018 1:26:02 PM PST by ebb tide
The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has appointed members of a pre-synodal council who will collaborate with the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in preparation for the Pan-Amazonian synod next year.
Also announced was the theme of the October 2019 synod: Amazonia: new pathways for the Church and for an integral ecology.
Of particular, though not unexpected, interest are the appointments of Cardinal Claudio Hummes and retired Bishop Erwin Kräutler to the council. Both have advocated a change in discipline to allow married clergy in the Latin rite, and the Pan Amazonian synod is expected to provide a forum to at least discuss the matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
The less male priests -> the argument for married priests and the new womyn priests.
It's a vicious circle.
But deacons, too. We have great men serving. It seems to me that they are an indispensable link between the priests (who do tend sometimes to get cocooned up in their rectories) and the laity (out here in the Howling Secular Wilderness, Anxiety City and Mortgage World.)
It seems to me that a Bishop who can't attract and inspire men for the Priesthood, can't attract them for the Permanent Diaconate either.
I don't have any data to back me up, but it seems the priesthood and the diaconate are parallel lines. They would flourish or languish for the same reasons. They would go up or down in tandem.
It would be a good thing to study more about.
For a small diocese, Knoxville has, I think, pretty good numbers of both priests and deacons, and more of both "in the pipeline," in seminary/ training.
So...all the priests that have been proven to be pedos or have homo relationships are not married, but they are not celibate either. Are they still priests? How can they be if celibacy is a requirement for the job?
May I advise you to re-read the posted article?
These bishops who can't inspire single men for the priesthood are now advocating married priests. If that fails, what's next, womyn priests?
This is a catholic caucus.
My parish has such a wonderful and holy pastor, I wish that was true for every parish.
These priestless bishops don't have scads of deacons. They don't have secular priests, religious priests, deacons, monastics, nuns, ---they don't have anything.
They're not baptizing or marrying people in great numbers, either. They're losing their congregations.
They are not inspiring people to give their lives on any level, period.
They fail all the way down the line.
An abundant number of deacons doesn't correlate with a scarcity of priests, that I can see. Priests and deacons are not in competition, such that encouraging one kind of vocation would suppress the other.
That's my take on it, anyway.
Is the idea that men who *would* have been priests, decide instead to get married with the thought that they'll later go for deacon instead? Well, that's plausible, but I haven't seen the numbers. I'm interested in the hypothesis, but remain unpersuaded.
Show me. I'm the type that responds well to evidence.
But you seem to be proposing that scads of deacons could be their solution.
One thing that inhibits priests in very poor dioceses is the large amount of expensive academic preparation: usually the equivalent of an undergrad degree and 3+ years of graduate school. It takes huge amounts of time and money.
Deacons can be "on the ground" much faster. They aid priests without competing with or rivaling them.
That's what I've seen, anyhow, in our relatively small (population), yet geographically spread-out diocese. I can only reason their usefulness would be even more obvious in the Amazon region.
Those agitating for "womynpriests" have an entirely other agenda: overturning what they call the "gender binary". You'll notice they're generally against Scripture, Tradition, and Natural Law.
And the solution is married priests, who had no desire to be deacons?
What if the bishop doesn't get enough takers? What's next? Womyn priests?
A couple of points. Both you and I can baptize; you, being an RICA instructor trains Catechists, and any laymen can provide much in serving congregations that need them.
But what you, I, and deacons cannot do is forgive sins or consecrate the Body of Blood of Christ.
If a bishop cannot cultivate priests and deacons (married or not), what quality of married priests do you think he could cultivate?
My personal opinion is that recruiting priests from the ranks of the married would not really addresses the problems in the Amazon.
But I know little about the Amazon, actually. I'd like to learn more.
Why ask me? I haven’t been advocating married priests.
You’ve been advocating married deacons. And married deacons is now a stepping stone to married priests, in francischurch.
Your “first pope” Peter was married....
It needn’t be.
You forget that the first Pope was A MARRIED MAN.
In Mark’s Gospel Jesus did heal Peter’s mother-in-law.
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